Ever dreamed of a 3D visualization system that doesn’t involve goofy goggles? Researchers at MIT might soon have you covered.
A new project at MIT’s SENSEable City Lab (the same folks who are working on the London Cloud) involves miniature LED-fitted helicopters that can be programmed to rearrange themselves into shapes and images while they hover in front of you.
We all know Leonardo Da Vinci as the famous Italian Renaissance painter behind the Mona Lisa’s mysterious smile, but you may not know that he was also a prolific inventor and, by modern standards, an engineer. Da Vinci was constantly sketching and planning new contraptions, from parachutes and flying machines to musical instruments, many of which would not be realized for hundreds of years after his death.
Recently Discovery Channel News reported that Da Vinci had yet another unrealized masterpiece in his oeuvre: the flawless design of a colossal horse statue. For a long time historians and engineers thought that the horse had never been made because of technical difficulties, however recently researchers have discovered that this was not the case. Leonardo’s ingenious bronze casting system was perfect, and, had he had sufficient materials to make the statue, it would have likely succeeded.
The future may look greener for New York City: Belgian firm Vincent Callebaut Architectures has designed a winged vertical farm for Roosevelt Island in NYC, called the Dragonfly. This funky, wind and solar-powered structure would stand over 600 meters (close to 2,000 feet) and house the equivalent of 28 agricultural fields. Read more here.
Everyone take out your cardboard glasses, because these days more and more movies seem to be reaching into the next dimension. 3D movies have been around since the Great Depression and even enjoyed a brief surge of popularity in the 1950s, but recently this immersive format has returned with a vengeance.
This week Fox will release the 3D animated sci-fi movie Avatar, directed by James Cameron (who’s other projects include Terminator I and II, Alien).
