NASA Brings More Than 50 Patents Into The Public Domain To Help Boost The High-tech Industry

During the Apollo 17 mission, in 1972, the rear fender of the lunar rover broke and lunar dust soon became a problem. This is how astronauts Cernan and Schmitt repaired the fender, with clamps, duct tape and lunar maps. [3000 x 3000]

Source: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/apollo/apollo17/hires/as17-137-20979.jpg

Eevee Cupcakes! buttercream swirl with fondant ears/details!  prolly been about 6 months since I have done anything fondant. I also ended up cleaning out my tool box and I threw out all my died up gels so I had only 3 primary colors and black to dye the buttercream on these guys. Hence why leafeon ended up camo instead of liek a sandy/tan sort of brown. sorry leafy. Who’s everyones fave?

16 National Geographic Images Of Cherry Blossom In Japan

Science, Technology, Engineering and Math: STEM

Today is College Signing Day and we’re working with the White House to celebrate all graduating seniors and inspire more young people to Reach Higher and enroll in higher education.

Additionally, choosing a degree within a STEM (Science, Math, Engineering and Technology) field enables the United States to remain the global economic and technological leader. We feel that it’s our duty to help inspire the next generation of scientists, technologists, engineers and astronauts.

It’s important that each and every student feels empowered and equipped with the knowledge to solve tough problems, evaluate evidence and analyze information. These are all skills students can learn through studying a subjects in STEM.

College is one of the stepping stones to many careers, including becoming an astronaut! Here are a few of our astronauts on their college graduation day, along with their astronaut portrait. 

Astronaut Victor Glover

Undergraduate: California Polytechnic State University Graduate: Air University and Naval Postgraduate School Astronaut Class: 2013

Astronaut Reid Wiseman

Undergraduate: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Graduate: Johns hopkins University Astronaut Class: 2009

Astronaut Thomas Marshburn

Undergraduate: Davidson College Graduate: University of Virginia, Wake Forest University and University of Texas medical Branch Astronaut Class: 2004

Astronaut Karen Nyberg

Undergraduate: University of North Dakota Graduate: University of Texas at Austin Astronaut Class: 2000

Astronaut Bob Behnken

Undergraduate: Washington University Graduate: California Institute of Technology Astronaut Class: 2000

Astronaut Peggy Whitson

Undergraduate: Iowa Wesleyan College Graduate: Rice University Astronaut Class: 1996

Astronaut Joseph Acaba

Undergraduate: University of California Graduate: University of Arizona Astronaut Class: 2004

Astronaut Rex Walheim

Undergraduate: University of California, Berkeley Graduate: University of Houston Astronaut Class: 1996

Whether you want to be an astronaut, an engineer or the administrator of NASA, a college education opens a universe of possibilities:

Administrator Charles Bolden

Here, Administrator Bolden wears the jersey of Keenan Reynolds, a scholar athlete who graduates from the Naval Academy this year. His jersey is on its way to the college football hall of fame. Bolden holds a drawing of himself as a midshipman in the Navy. 

Deputy Administrator Dava Newman

Deputy Administrator Dava Newman sports her college shirt, along with Lisa Guerra, Technical Assistant to the Associate Administrator. Both women studied aerospace engineering at Notre Dame. 

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Scientists record heat moving through materials at speed of sound

Providing unprecedented insight into roles played by individual atomic and nano-scale features, researchers have recorded the first-ever videos showing how heat moves through materials at the nano-scale traveling at the speed of sound.

The groundbreaking videos were made using a state-of-the-art ultrafast electron microscope called FEI Tecnai Femto, which is capable of examining the dynamics of materials at the atomic and molecular scale over time spans measured in femtoseconds (one millionth of a billionth of a second).

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The Division: Before The Launch

If you’re a nerd like me who’s only social life includes talking with people through a microphone from the comfort of your own room, you’ve probably heard of The Division, which will be released on the 8th of March on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

THE BULLETPOINTS:

- Open world, third person shooter.

- Character customisability.

- Supports both single and multiplayer gameplay.

- Loot-based system.

- PvP and PvE.

- Realtime weather affects gameplay.

- No Microtransactions

Plot

A smallpox pandemic spreads on Black Friday across the United States, plunging the country into chaos. As the player, you assume the role of a Strategic Homeland Division (SHD) agent as you rebuild and battle through a torn Manhattan and the gangs that inhabit and pillage the city.

World

The world is essentially divided (pun intended) into several sections or districts that vary according Base of Operations, Safe House and the PvP arenas known as the Dark Zone.

The Base of Operations is the only place in the game that belongs personally to the player. This is the place you go to upgrade your character, access your stash box, restock your ammunition, and barter with your vendors.

The Safe Houses are like a scaled-down version of the Base of Operations found in the Dark Zone, that’s a lot of Italics. Here you have access to premium vendors which sell higher level loot and armour. Although, getting to these areas would mean having to go through the Dark Zone which can be a little tricky when six-year old Timmy is in a trolling mood.

The Dark Zone represents a PvP area complete with NPCs, enemies, and other players who want to shoot your well-groomed, moisturised face. There is a completely different rank system in the Dark Zone as compared to the other portions of the map. For starters, they have a different form of experience points and currency known quite aptly as DZ XP and DZ Currency respectively. The loot in the Dark Zone is also said to be of a higher rarity and value compare to what you’d normally find in the normal map.

It is important to note that Ubisoft Massive’s creative director, Magnus Jansen, has mentioned that while the map scales by difficulty from South to North, the Dark Zone will entirely re-populate upon the player hitting level 30 with new challenges and enemies suited to that level.

Rank System and Classes

There are no fixed classes per se in The Division. The player is given the freedom to upgrade their character as they see fit according to their style of play. For example, someone who predominantly plays with a clan would see fit to assume role-oriented skills that compliment your team like a medic having the First Aid skill which heals your squad within the small area it is deployed in. Alternatively, if you’re more of a lone wolf, you would prefer to make your character more well-rounded, employing skills from different roles into a package that suits your play style.

The upgrades are separated into three skill trees; Medical, Tech, and Security which are upgradeable from your Base of Operations.

Loot

The loot system is similar to what you would find in a game like Borderlands or Destiny. Basically, an undisclosed variety of weapons with infinite possible combination of attributes. As I touched on earlier, the loot found in the normal map and in the Dark Zone vary in terms of value. You would have a better chance of getting a more kick-ass weapon in the Dark Zone as compared to the normal map.

Crafting

In the Base of Operations, you’ll also be able to craft new weapons, mods, and armour. When you find a blueprint in the map and the right combination of materials, you can come back to the Base of Operations to build up or strip down gear.

Character Customisation

From my understanding, the usual character customisation rules apply. Choose a gender, a face, and a body type and off you go. What I found particularly interesting is in The Division armour is separated into two categories, namely cosmetic gear, and armour. The cosmetic gear adds no value to your overall gear whereas armour would have certain attributes added to them to buff up your character. This, to me, is a really nifty feature to truly make your character stand out so by end-game, not everyone will look the same.

PvP

Personally, I’m not the biggest purveyor of PvP. I normally like keeping to myself and not messing with other players but I’m polite like that. However, if you find that your trigger finger’s just a little too itchy, you can shoot another player and attain a Rogue Agent status. This basically means that you will be visible to every other player on the map who will hunt you down for the sweet bounty on your head. As you survive wave after wave of players and take their loot, the higher the bounty on your head becomes. This isn’t ideal, especially when you have to call for extraction at specific points in the map to keep your loot. So you kill the other players, steal their loot, and somehow survive the waves of bloodthirsty players while waiting for your chopper at the extraction point, good news, you get to keep the bounty on your head for yourself and the loot as well.

Final Thoughts

I haven’t had a chance to play any of the BETA for The Division but I’m generally hearing very positive things about it. I’ve pre-ordered it at my local game store and I look forward to diving into a snowy, miserable, dangerous New York City on the eighth of March.

My only hope is that it lives up to the hype and doesn’t fall short like how Destiny did.

@Regrann from @gamevice - Wednesday vibes courtesy of Skychasers #gamevice #gamevicelive #skychasers #ios #whatsyourvice #wednesday #Regrann #2dgame #gaming #gamer #game #design #2ddesign

Watch a robotic snake swim eerily like the real thing via /r/gadgets http://ift.tt/1Sp62VD

HooliNerd zockt: THE BINDING OF ISAAC - DEBIRTH

Wiik

Music video from Singapore, with track by Yllis and put together by Brandon Tay, employs lo-fi 3D rendering and distortions - recommended in 1080p HD for pixel fidelity:

Our introduction to the image of experimental electronic artist Yllis is an eyeless, robotic mask. Plastered onto art canvases and propped up on pedestals in a computer generated universe, it sings.

wiik traverses a surreal psychic landscape barraged by its own post-internet neuroses. And just like the music, the slick, calculated edges of technology here mingle and dance with he flawed fragility of man.

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