matt, Author at Peak Geek - Page 36 of 114

Scientists have long viewed the geckos’ remarkably grippy feet with envy and attempts to replicate that in the lab have actually yielded some success (like this one). The latest is Geckskin, which actually beats the performance of a real gecko’s feet! Instead of emulating the tiny hairs on the geckos’ feet, this one uses a stiff base layer to hold tension, and a soft gripping layer to conform to the irregularities in the surface it’s being stuck to. I don’t think the applications for this are quite so numerous…but for the right application, it’s a great material.

The video below gives some idea of how well this can hold to various surfaces.

(via Gizmag)

I’d already reported on the carbon fiber wheels Koenigsegg is using (see this post), but I came across a cool twelve minute video showing the manufacturing process of these wheels. Neat video, still a bit excessive, but if you see the value in a 280mph street car, wheels like these do make sense!

So I was joking with my wife that someone should make an activity tracker for dogs. It seemed like a useless, stupid idea. Then someone went and did it? Amazing. But then, the Pet Rock was a stupid idea too, and, well, I wish I had done that. But some stupid ideas should remain in the recesses of our mind (the Jump to Conclusions Mat, for example).

So anyway, there’s an activity tracker for dogs now. True story. It’s the Whistle, and costs $129 (note – you can get an entire dog for less than that if you’re not too picky). As a novelty gadget gift, it’s pretty awesome, but I really fail to see the value it brings beyond that.

It straps to about any collar which is nice, and is waterproof which is really just common sense for the target demographic. It tracks your dog’s rest and activity throughout the day, naturally syncing to a smartphone app. Surprisingly, the company recommends it for use on dogs greater than 10 pounds…which makes me question the use of stainless steel in the enclosure rather than lighter aluminum? But oh well. The battery should last around a week, at which point you can charge it via a USB cable.

So yeah, I’m a skeptic…but my Beau, my beagle pictured above, would be happy to test one out if they’ll send me one for review! 🙂

You can buy one at the link above, or at PetSmart.

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A recent poll by the AP shows that people accept some science, reject other, which probably isn’t a big surprise to anyone who pays attention to such things. The poll queried 1000 people, which the AP says is good for a margin of error of about 3% (ok, so I’m not accepting the science behind that error calculation, but let’s play along for now). 80% are ‘strongly confident’ that smoking causes cancer, yay! Sadly, only about half believe vaccines are safe and effective (though an extra 30% were ‘somewhat confident’ of that statement); 33% accepted mankind’s role in climate change, and 31% accepted that life on Earth evolved. Not surprisingly though, in keeping with the rejecting of science is an acceptance of hypocrisy – while 31% accept that life on Earth evolved to get to where it is now, 65% accept that antibiotic overuse led to drug-resistant bacteria (so, they accept only limited evolution?). 36% reject the idea that the Earth is 4.5 billion years old.

We live in a society where the media and many politicians help perpetuate scientific ignorance…and until that changes, I don’t see poll numbers like these changing.

You can view the full results in this PDF or read more over at ArsTechnica.

Author: matt

Geckskin – gecko-inspired adhesive

Koenigsegg Carbon Fiber Wheels

Activity tracker for dogs?

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Poll shows people aren’t eager to accept science