theatlantic: Q: What Became of the Parachute That Delivered Curiosity to Mars? A: It sits on the Red Planet, flapping a little creepily in the wind. [Image: NASA] WInd, terrestrial or otherwise, is pretty amazing. From Mars to Earth to Jupiter, the movement is constant. Wherever there’s any bit of atmosphere, there’s always winds of change. I may or may not be working on an episode about wind at the moment :)
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theatlantic:

Q: What Became of the Parachute That Delivered Curiosity to Mars?

A: It sits on the Red Planet, flapping a little creepily in the wind.

[Image: NASA]

WInd, terrestrial or otherwise, is pretty amazing. From Mars to Earth to Jupiter, the movement is constant. Wherever there’s any bit of atmosphere, there’s always winds of change.

I may or may not be working on an episode about wind at the moment :)

Here’s a website you’ll want to keep an eye on for the next few days: Visualizing America’s Wind Patterns. I’ve always thought the live, animated wind maps there were beautiful, one of my favorite science visualizations. But Sandy’s swirling, massive footprint of stormy chaos (in that map view I just captured) is turning the whole eastern half of the country into “Starry Night”! Whoa.
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Here’s a website you’ll want to keep an eye on for the next few days: Visualizing America’s Wind Patterns.

I’ve always thought the live, animated wind maps there were beautiful, one of my favorite science visualizations. But Sandy’s swirling, massive footprint of stormy chaos (in that map view I just captured) is turning the whole eastern half of the country into “Starry Night”!

Whoa.

Winds of Change for U.S. Electricity This is what an innovative energy policy looks like. Wind energy was second only to natural gas in new energy projects in 2011. This is just fantastic news for green energy and shows real progress in moving toward clean electricity and trying to reduce our impact on the climate. Be sure to check out the full report from the Department of Energy, with lots more infographic goodness.
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Winds of Change for U.S. Electricity This is what an innovative energy policy looks like. Wind energy was second only to natural gas in new energy projects in 2011. This is just fantastic news for green energy and shows real progress in moving toward clean electricity and trying to reduce our impact on the climate. Be sure to check out the full report from the Department of Energy, with lots more infographic goodness.
Zoom Info

Winds of Change for U.S. Electricity

This is what an innovative energy policy looks like. Wind energy was second only to natural gas in new energy projects in 2011. This is just fantastic news for green energy and shows real progress in moving toward clean electricity and trying to reduce our impact on the climate.

Be sure to check out the full report from the Department of Energy, with lots more infographic goodness.

unlikelywords: Holy crap this wind map is gorgeous. Click the image so you can watch it move. “This map shows you the delicate tracery of wind flowing over the US right now.” Via @anildash You really need to click through and look at this. Orders of magnitude more amazing when you can watch it move in real-time. If you’re feeling windy today, you should also check out this kinetic sculpture by Charles Sowers called “Windswept”, made of 612 freely-rotating wind arrows. Stunningly hypnotic video:
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unlikelywords:

Holy crap this wind map is gorgeous. Click the image so you can watch it move. “This map shows you the delicate tracery of wind flowing over the US right now.”

Via @anildash

You really need to click through and look at this. Orders of magnitude more amazing when you can watch it move in real-time.

If you’re feeling windy today, you should also check out this kinetic sculpture by Charles Sowers called “Windswept”, made of 612 freely-rotating wind arrows. Stunningly hypnotic video:

CRAP! Like, the moment I post this, NASA announces a radio glitch that scrubs the launch until at least Friday … stay tuned. TONIGHT!! NASA Jet Stream Study Will Provide Free Fireworks Show Over U.S. East Coast whoops, notsomuch. There’s a layer of our atmosphere about 60 miles up where winds scream by at 200-300 mph. It’s not quite space, and not quite Earth. We know relatively little about the dynamics and patterns of this high-altitude jet stream (different from the lower jet stream), and NASA’s ATREX project aims to change that tonight. Between midnight and 1:30 AM ET, they will launch five rockets in five minutes off the mid-Atlantic coast, where they will scream toward the thermosphere and release a chemical that can trace the wind patterns via forming milky white cloud patterns. Skywatchers from New Jersey to South Carolina might be able to see it in person tonight, and you can watch via this webcast! (ᔥ NASA)
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CRAP! Like, the moment I post this, NASA announces a radio glitch that scrubs the launch until at least Friday … stay tuned.

TONIGHT!! NASA Jet Stream Study Will Provide Free Fireworks Show Over U.S. East Coast whoops, notsomuch.

There’s a layer of our atmosphere about 60 miles up where winds scream by at 200-300 mph. It’s not quite space, and not quite Earth. We know relatively little about the dynamics and patterns of this high-altitude jet stream (different from the lower jet stream), and NASA’s ATREX project aims to change that tonight.

Between midnight and 1:30 AM ET, they will launch five rockets in five minutes off the mid-Atlantic coast, where they will scream toward the thermosphere and release a chemical that can trace the wind patterns via forming milky white cloud patterns.

Skywatchers from New Jersey to South Carolina might be able to see it in person tonight, and you can watch via this webcast!

(ᔥ NASA)

Source: nasa.gov

Wind Energy Without the Blades? What if we could harness wind energy without the fields of enormous blade turbines that have come to be associated with modern wind farms. It would certainly help eliminate the “spinning blades of death” that many birds have to deal with, as well. Levant Power of Cambridge, MA turned to nature for an inspired alternative: The proposed design calls for 1,203 ““stalks,” each 180-feet high with concrete bases that are between about 33- and 66-feet wide. The carbon-fiber stalks, reinforced with resin, are about a foot wide at the base tapering to about 2 inches at the top. Each stalk will contain alternating layers of electrodes and ceramic discs made from piezoelectric material, which generates a current when put under pressure. In the case of the stalks, the discs will compress as they sway in the wind, creating a charge. Not to mention that I wouldn’t mind having one of these near my house at night … just beautiful. If this doesn’t work, then all we have to turn to is purple turbines. (via DiscoveryNews)
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Wind Energy Without the Blades? What if we could harness wind energy without the fields of enormous blade turbines that have come to be associated with modern wind farms. It would certainly help eliminate the “spinning blades of death” that many birds have to deal with, as well. Levant Power of Cambridge, MA turned to nature for an inspired alternative: The proposed design calls for 1,203 ““stalks,” each 180-feet high with concrete bases that are between about 33- and 66-feet wide. The carbon-fiber stalks, reinforced with resin, are about a foot wide at the base tapering to about 2 inches at the top. Each stalk will contain alternating layers of electrodes and ceramic discs made from piezoelectric material, which generates a current when put under pressure. In the case of the stalks, the discs will compress as they sway in the wind, creating a charge. Not to mention that I wouldn’t mind having one of these near my house at night … just beautiful. If this doesn’t work, then all we have to turn to is purple turbines. (via DiscoveryNews)
Zoom Info

Wind Energy Without the Blades?

What if we could harness wind energy without the fields of enormous blade turbines that have come to be associated with modern wind farms. It would certainly help eliminate the “spinning blades of death” that many birds have to deal with, as well. Levant Power of Cambridge, MA turned to nature for an inspired alternative:

The proposed design calls for 1,203 ““stalks,” each 180-feet high with concrete bases that are between about 33- and 66-feet wide. The carbon-fiber stalks, reinforced with resin, are about a foot wide at the base tapering to about 2 inches at the top. Each stalk will contain alternating layers of electrodes and ceramic discs made from piezoelectric material, which generates a current when put under pressure. In the case of the stalks, the discs will compress as they sway in the wind, creating a charge.

Not to mention that I wouldn’t mind having one of these near my house at night … just beautiful. If this doesn’t work, then all we have to turn to is purple turbines.

(via DiscoveryNews)

Source: news.discovery.com