Author: David Cantatore

Paper airplane touches the edge of space, glides back safely

cool, links, science

Link: Paper airplane touches the edge of space, glides back safely | ITworld

Think you built some pretty cool paper airplanes as a kid?

Did you and your grew-up-to-be-engineer buddies build elaborate models and R/C boats and erector-set creations that stunned the other boys until they discovered girls and first-person-shooters and started calling you a geek?

Cower in awe before Brits Steve Daniels, John Oates and Lester Haines , who built a one-wing glider from paper, lofted it to the edge of space at 90,000 feet with a helium balloon, and posted sound and video recordings from the plane as it glided safely back to the ground.

California Dreaming

video

California Dreaming (via VPROinternational)

California is a strong brand, the state of new beginnings, dreams and movie stars, of surfers and a wonderful climate. But the Golden State is bankrupt and the city of Los Angeles is running out of cash. Public services are being cut and unemployment keeps rising. At the same time, optimism, entrepreneurship and the belief in the power of America are stronger than ever.
In Los Angeles, we meet five people who are going through a transformation in their lives during this crisis. Justin and Christine lost their jobs and are now living in a van with their two young sons. Charles has gotten out of prison after fourteen years. Mizuko prepares her children for the future by making them at ease in virtual reality. Laura has taken advantage of the crisis by buying land cheaply and starting an urban farm and artists collective Fallen Fruit maps the abundant free ‘public fruit’ available in the city. Who are the pioneers who are reinventing the new America and how do they see the future?

BBC News – Electric current to the brain ‘boosts maths ability’

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Link: BBC News – Electric current to the brain ‘boosts maths ability’

Applying a tiny electrical current to the brain could make you better at learning maths, according to Oxford University scientists.

They found that targeting a part of the brain called the parietal lobe improved the ability of volunteers to solve numerical problems.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11692799

Interactive documentary set in highrises around the world – Boing Boing

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Link: Interactive documentary set in highrises around the world – Boing Boing

HIGHRISE/Out My Window is a brand-new interactive documentary. It features first-person stories from 13 cities internationally, with an eclectic soundtrack, exploring the experience of life in the concrete highrise – the most common built form of the last century.

Designed to be experienced online, the project launches the viewer inside a 360-degree panorama, into an almost game-like environment. Toronto-based documentary maker Katerina Cizek directed the project largely via Skype, Facebook and email, in a collaborative process with photographers, journalists, architects, researchers, activists, digital developers and artists from around the world. The credit list rivals a feature film.

The stories of Out My Window span the globe: from Latin America’s largest squat in Sao Paolo to a hugely renovated post-soviet concrete suburb in the south of Prague. Durdane in Istanbul describes how her squatter highrise community came about in the eighties, as people moved from the countryside and built towers one floor at a time. John from Johannesburg talks about the phenomenon of ‘highjacked buildings,’ where tenants are forced to pay rent to illegal landlords even as their buildings fall to ruin. Amchok from Toronto, who escaped Chinese-controlled Tibet by walking to India, talks about how his work as music teacher and performer brought him to Canada and helps make a home in his building in Toronto.