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Transportation

Communication, transportation, information technology and commerce have also been inextricably intertwined since the beginning of human history, and they still remain closely related today.

“The success of the first electronic telegraph line in 1844 opened an era of modern communication in America. Before the telegraph there existed no separation between transportation and communication. Information traveled only as fast as the messenger who carried it.” — D. J. Czitrom, Media and the American Mind

Transportation is the movement of people, cattle, animals and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline, and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles, and operations. Transport is important since it enables trade between peoples, which in turn establishes civilizations. — Wikipedia

Wingsuit Rush!(9/21/2018)-Hey, adrenaline junkies, how about a quick fix? Remember all of those action movies where people jump out of airplanes or off of buildings wearing wingsuits? Did you ever think it would be cool to do that for real? Well, now you can get a sense of what it would be like. Here are some … Continue reading Wingsuit Rush!

When cars fly…(3/8/2018)-The Geneva International Motor Show is going on now, so watch for the latest and greatest cars to be in the news for the next few weeks. Of all the cool new cars this year, the PAL-V Liberty is getting more buzz than most of the others, and that’s because it can fly! Yes, that’s … Continue reading When cars fly…

Visioning Spacesteads(8/8/2018)-Space, the final frontier… Humans have been imagining what it would be like to setup homesteads and live in space for about as long as they’ve been imagining how to get there, but the process didn’t really take off until after we actually got there. Back in the 1970’s NASA dedicated some resources to the … Continue reading Visioning Spacesteads

Up, Up and Away(8/31/2017)-How about a ten minute break from all of the news about the epic flooding (NPR), massive asteroid (NASA) and scary politics (The Economist)? Here are some nifty 360° Videos that will take you on some fairly realistic virtual rides in hot air balloons! This first clip is from the The Golden Ring of Russia … Continue reading Up, Up and Away

Trippy Tech(1/10/2019)-You might notice an uptick in news about “future tech” crossing your radar over the next week or so. That’s because the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is going on in Las Vegas this week, and pretty much every news outlet sends someone to cover it. That’s partly because they need something fun to talk about … Continue reading Trippy Tech

To touch the Sun(6/1/2017)-The big “space” news this week is that NASA has announced that they renamed the Solar Probe Plus spacecraft the “Parker Solar Probe” in honor of Eugene N. Parker, the astrophysicist from the University of Chicago who predicted the solar wind. The probe is scheduled to launch next summer and become the first mission to … Continue reading To touch the Sun

Tall Ships(6/17/2017)-Over 50 Tall Ships are in Boston as part of the festivities related to the Rendez‑Vous 2017 Tall Ships Regatta, a transatlantic race to six countries taking place over the course of five months. The race started at Royal Greenwich in Great Britain on April 13 and will finish in Le Havre, France between August … Continue reading Tall Ships

Super Bowl of Astronomy(1/15/2018)-The annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society, a.k.a. the “Super Bowl of Astronomy” was held in Washington DC last week. While it might not have as much cachet as the Consumer Electronics Show, great tidbits from the conference do slip into the mainstream media from time to time. For example, Phys.org did a nice … Continue reading Super Bowl of Astronomy

Start your engines!(5/27/2018)-Postscript (May 28, 2018) The 102nd running of the Indy 500 has come and gone. It definitely wasn’t the most exciting race in history. Still, it was the Indy 500, so it can only be so boring. Here’s a clip that recaps the whole race in all of its glory in just three and a … Continue reading Start your engines!

Space Rocks!(1/4/2019)-It was a fantastic holiday season for space fans! In fact, there was so much going on, it was almost impossible to keep up with it all. According to your news sources and interests, you have probably heard about at least some of the amazing things that happened, but chances are you haven’t heard about … Continue reading Space Rocks!

Space Art & Junk(1/30/2018)-In certain circles it is not uncommon to trip across the debate “Is graffiti art?” You can also find scads about it online if you are so inclined (Google). However, the debate doesn’t come up all that often in the context of conversations about satellites or space… until now. Earlier this month a company named … Continue reading Space Art & Junk

RIP Rossetta!(10/1/2016)-The “Little Mission that Could” has come to an end, but what a mission it was to watch! Rosetta Concludes Mission with a Crash (Megan Gannon, Scientific American) Rosetta Mission Ends With Spacecraft’s Dive Into Comet (Kenneth Chang, New York Times) It was such a joy to watch each historic milestone the mission passed over … Continue reading RIP Rossetta!

Perspectives on Earth(11/23/2017)-Last week NASA released this fascinating video entitled Our Living Planet based upon 20 years of data from satellites that observe all plant life at the surface of the land and ocean. You can find out more about the video from this article. The Changing Colors of our Living Planet (NASA) Of course, releasing fantastic … Continue reading Perspectives on Earth

Octopuses from Space!(5/20/2018)-Did you hear the one about the octopuses from space? It sounds like the title of a cheesy sci-fi movie, doesn’t it? But it isn’t, this time, or at least, yet. Instead, it’s actually an oddball theory that’s been put forth in a recently published “scientific” article that’s getting quite a lot of buzz in … Continue reading Octopuses from Space!

NASA’s Excellent Adventures(9/13/2017)-NOTE: This post was updated on the morning of September 15th, see new videos below. NASA is always up to something fascinating. There are so many milestones and discoveries, it’s hard to resist featuring them in every post. However, there are a few events that definitely deserve special attention right now. First, August 20th and … Continue reading NASA’s Excellent Adventures

Mars 3D(11/16/2016)-Mars is getting even more attention than usual this week, and that is “mostly” because National Geographic began airing their special six part Mars series on Monday nights (9/8c). Here’s a trailer and links about it… Virtual Trip to Mars Offers Ultimate Preview to Crewed Mission (Nadia Drake, National Geographic) Inside Nat Geo’s Incredible Documentary … Continue reading Mars 3D

Jellyfish Therapy(1/24/2019)-Feeling stressed out and need to relax? How about a nice swim in a swarm of jellyfish? What, that’s not a remedy for stress, you say! You mean by using imaginative thinking, right? Well, no, I do mean it literally. There’s an actual place called Jellyfish Lake on Eil Malk island in Palau where you … Continue reading Jellyfish Therapy

Island Escapes(1/3/2018)-One of the more entertaining stories to hit the net over the New Year’s weekend was a tale of some hearty Kiwis who successfully got away from a local alcohol ban by building their own island in nearby international waters. New Zealanders build island in bid to avoid alcohol ban (BBC News) To Avoid New … Continue reading Island Escapes

Hot car from the future…(11/8/2017)-No, this isn’t about “That Car“ — this is about a new Lamborghini that is making a debut at MIT’s EmTech Conference this week. The Terzo Millennio is a hot new “concept” car that is the product of a collaboration between Lamborghini and MIT, and here is a one minute glimpse of this newest sensation … Continue reading Hot car from the future…

Gulliver’s Gate(9/20/2017)-Remember when you read or watched Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (Wikipedia). Did you ever think it would be cool to see the world from the Lilliputian’s perspective? Well, now you can, and you can even take a trip around the world in 80 minutes to boot 🙂 All you have to do is visit Gulliver’s … Continue reading Gulliver’s Gate

Great Views of Earth(4/22/2018)-April 22nd is Earth Day! In honor of that, here are some great ways to see the honoree. First, you can get a nice view from this neat 360° Video from Seeker. It essentially shows you what it would feel like if you could just fly straight up and see the Earth from space. National … Continue reading Great Views of Earth

Go for a fly!(1/17/2019)-Want a quick break? Why go for a walk or coffee when you go for a fly instead? Here are some short 360° videos that will have you soaring like a bird in a jiffy! This first video from The New York Times Daily 360 will take you paragliding over Peru. Next, this video from … Continue reading Go for a fly!

Get Lost in Space!(9/14/2018)-Way back in August, in anticipation of the start of a new school year, I set out to update the pages on this site related to space. Those pages tend to be popular among the teachers and students who use Cosma, and I happen to enjoy updating them, too. It sounded like a short, fun … Continue reading Get Lost in Space!

Exoplanet Junket(6/2/2018)-I’m on a vacation of sorts, so it’s no surprise that stories about travel tend to catch my eye. However, it is surprising if the story happens to be about something that NASA’s done. This week NASA released a new project that they’ve dubbed the Exoplanet Travel Bureau. The core of the project consists of … Continue reading Exoplanet Junket

Enterprise(1/22/2017)-Star Trek fans, take notice. Here’s a cool new 360° video that takes you where you’ve never gone before… or well, at least not outside of a 2D screen. It’s a grand up-close tour of the Enterprise, and it was posted by CBS to promote the series. Check it out! (This is a 360° YouTube … Continue reading Enterprise

Asteroids Galore!(6/27/2018)-Head’s up! You’re going to hear a lot about asteroids over the next week or so. The good news is that none of it is related to any specific asteroid hitting us. This media blitz is due to a trifecta of asteroid related events this week. One big reason you’ll hear so much about asteroids … Continue reading Asteroids Galore!

A Golden Gift(11/28/2017)-If you’re looking for a perfect gift for your favorite geek, look no further. Now you can give them a copy of the Voyager Golden Record. Up until a year ago, you couldn’t buy a copy, but in 2016 Ozma Records ran a brilliant Kickstarter campaign to issue a limited vinyl edition. The campaign was … Continue reading A Golden Gift

It's widely accepted that automated photo enforcement programs targeting speeding help reduce collisions and promote safe driving. Now a new study suggests they can also significantly reduce crime in the neighborhoods in which they are deployed. […]

A new virtual tool could help planners choose the best places to install bikes lanes in cities. The data-based tool builds on previous research that validated the safety benefits of bike lanes for cyclists and motorists. […]

As self-driving cars continue to develop, there will be plenty of data amassed through cars' navigational technologies. Questions regarding privacy, ownership, cybersecurity and public safety arise, as heavily guarded mapping data is collected and leveraged by companies. The geospatial data can be used to draw new maps identifying the spaces where we live and travel; yet, is currently housed in technological and corporate black boxes. These black boxes require greater transparency, researchers […]

A group of researchers has recently developed a new software aimed at the analysis of energy generation systems based on kites and drones. They used the software to study the behavior of these systems while transforming the kinetic energy of the wind into useful electrical energy. […]

Desert ants are extraordinary solitary navigators. Researchers were inspired by these ants as they designed AntBot, the first walking robot that can explore its environment randomly and go home automatically, without GPS or mapping. This work opens up new strategies for navigation in autonomous vehicles and robotics. […]

By zeroing in on humans' gait, body symmetry and foot placement, researchers are teaching self-driving cars to recognize and predict pedestrian movements with greater precision than current technologies. […]

A new virtual tool could help planners choose the best places to install bikes lanes in cities. The data-based tool builds on previous research that validated the safety benefits of bike lanes for cyclists and motorists. […]