The Science & Technology Interest Group meets in the Mount Baker Room at 10:30 the first Tuesday of each month.  Occasionally we also tour a research laboratory, manufacturing plant or processing facility in the area, or offer a documentary movie of special interest.  Many of our residents have  given talks on topics where they have expertise, and we’ve hosted visiting speakers from UW, SU and local professional organizations.   When speakers are not available, our programs center around science videos accompanied by discussion.  Skyline residents are invited and encouraged to  suggest both speakers and subjects for future meetings.

Residents are also invited to join the Skyline Science & Technology Planning Committee which meets occasionally to share ideas on the future direction of the S&T Interest Group.  The Committee also prepares an annual budget request to the Skyline Residents Association.  Current and past budget requests have included PBS DVD sets, scientific magazine subscriptions and books used to support program topics.  After use, all of these items are available to residents in the library.  We also purchased a 16″ standing World Globe for geographic reference and planning.  It will be located in the 5th floor livingroom.

For more information related to S&T planning please contact either Gordon Gray gordongray80@gmail.com, or Al MacRae.  Starting in 2017, Al MacRae will lead the Interest Group.

Coming S&T Programs:  We’re always on the lookout for speakers.  If you would like to lead a discussion or present a subject of special interest to you, please contact Al MacRae.  If you know of a good speaker who’d be willing to talk to our group, let Al know.  Skyline offers guest speakers a complimentry lunch or dinner, and valet parking.  Absent a live speaker, we turn to several excellent electronic resources:  PBS and BBC documentaries, TED talks and a numbwer of private DVD collections.

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                                        NOTES

                        ********************************************                                  Can there be too much of a good thing?  http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a22228/texas-is-drowning-in-wind-energy/?mag=pop&list=nl_pnl_news&src=nl&date=080916                                   **********************************************

So much for the “Romance of the Range”.  I wanted to see it lasso one of the ponies. 

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The Greatest Scientific “Oops” of all time?https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-greatest-scientific-mishaps-of-all-time  *********************************************

For the “birders” among us (and others who are naturally curious)  http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a21614/frigatebird-study-how-birds-fly/    *********************************************

Here’s a pretty unique 4th of July story

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Laundry Day (an answer for those arthritic joints!)  http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a21130/foldimate-laundry-folding-machine/?mag=pop&list=nl_pnl_news&src=nl&date=060416

**********************************    Cartographic Curiosity

The night was warm and inviting and the stars shone in all their tropical brilliance. Captain Phillips relaxed in a dark corner of the bridge, quietly puffing a cigar with all the contentment that comes to a sailor when he knows the voyage is half over. His ship, the Warrimoo, was gliding through the waters of the mid-Pacific on her way from Vancouver, BC to Australia when the navigator brought him their ship’s position.

It was latitude 0 degrees 30 minutes North and longitude 179 degrees 30 minutes West. The date was December 30, 1899. First Mate Dayldon exclaimed, ‘Captain, do you know what this means? We’re only a few miles from the intersection of the Equator and the International Date Line’.

Captain Phillips knew exactly what it meant, and he was enough of a practical joker to take advantage of an opportunity to achieve the navigational freak of a lifetime. During an ordinary crossing of the Date Line it is confusing enough for passengers, but the possibilities he had before him were sure to confound them for the rest of their lives. He immediately summoned four more navigators to the bridge to check and double-check the ship’s position every few minutes. He altered course ever so slightly to bear directly on his mark. Then he carefully adjusted the engine speed so that he would strike it at just the right moment.

The calm weather, the clear night and the eager cooperation of his entire crew worked very much in his favor. On the dot of midnight local time, the Warrimoo lay precisely on the Equator, exactly at the point where it crosses the International Date Line!

This has a number of very interesting consequences. If the Date Line is crossed just as midnight strikes, December 31 never really happens. The date immediately jumps to January 1.

In addition, as with the Warrimoo, once the Date Line is crossed at the Equator, for a moment the bow of the ship is in the Southern Hemisphere, where it is summer, while the stern is in the Northern Hemisphere, where it is winter. On this occasion the ship, was not only on two different days, during two different months and two different years, in two different seasons, it was also in two different centuries – all at the same time! Captain Phillips said later: ‘I have never heard of it happening before and I guess it won’t happen again for another one hundred years.’ And, as far as we know, it hasn’t happened. By travelling the other way, of course, party-goers can enjoy two New Year’s Eve Parties.         ************************************* 

  Worried about your cognitive powers?  Try this one!      ******************************************

Seattle Seawall poster

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                           ***************************************                 April 22nd – Today is “Earth Day”!  Here’s how they celebrated the event at the Perimeter Institute, Waterloo, Ontario (Canada’s Center for Advanced Studies in Theoretical Physics)  http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/news/three-ways-physics-could-help-save-humanity     ***************************************           

                                    Crazy High-Speed Science 

*************************************************************Extreme Technology!   http://www.liveleak.com/ll_embed?f=c83358ee7d5c

Every city should have one of these.  – Would cut down on Handicap Parking Space violators!  *********************************************                   Clearly, you can “over advocate” technology! 

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Making a purchase “in the blink of an eye”?  Hmm – my spendable allowance already disappears too quickly!  http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/techflash/2016/03/at-amazon-snapping-a-selfie-and-blinking-may.html?ana=e_tf&s=newsletter&ed=2016-03-15&u=Y5iHS0lNP0XeUYhZ3eWTXQ031739a2&t=1458148805&j=71444392    ****************************************

Label this one “Out to Launch”                           Pretty good  on “full screen”

About half way through, watch a Washington State ferry being made (time lapse photography.)

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                     Here’s a little propaganda our port is putting out.  This monstrous ship actually arrived today (2/29), and you can see it if you look south toward the docks.  Best view from the 24th or 25th floors. ******************************************************                  Coming back from orbit http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/news/a19635/ron-garan-intervew-soyuz-niagara-barrel-fire/?mag=pop&list=nl_pnl_news&src=nl&date=022716    **********************************************************     I hope this robot doesn’t hold a grudge!  Bully it too much and it could come after you in the night!     

Here’s another pretty amazing robot –

*********************************************** The new Allen Brain Institute!

    

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   A Sad STEM story:  http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/techflash/2016/02/in-my-experience-why-girls-in-stem-change-majors.html?ana=e_sea_rdup&s=newsletter&ed=2016-02-19&u=Y5iHS0lNP0XeUYhZ3eWTXQ031739a2&t=1455913015         ********************************************* Looks like we’ll need new rules for body building and beauty contests !  “No 3D printed muscles or other parts.”

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a19443/3d-printer-bone-cartilidge-and-muscle/?mag=pop&list=nl_pnl_news&src=nl&date=021616      ********************************************************

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Monster  Ship coming to Seattle!  http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/2016/02/container-ship-larger-than-the-empire-state.html?ana=e_du_wknd&s=article_du&ed=2016-02-13&u=Y5iHS0lNP0XeUYhZ3eWTXQ031739a2&t=1455383437#g1   *********************************************

The physics behind the “domino effect”  

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Ever Seen an Underwater “Cloud”?

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/techflash/2016/02/microsofts-underwater-datacenter-could-solve-some.html?ana=e_tf&s=newsletter&ed=2016-02-02&u=Y5iHS0lNP0XeUYhZ3eWTXQ031739a2&t=1454453111#i1 To read the article about this project go to the upper right hand corner of the picture page and click on “back to article”.

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I think this is a good summary of this program and I’m glad the government is putting money in it.  http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/techflash/2016/01/president-obama-unveils-computer-science.html?ana=e_tf&s=newsletter&ed=2016-02-01&u=Y5iHS0lNP0XeUYhZ3eWTXQ031739a2&t=1454368070

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 “Mirror, mirror on the wall”  Is there any science here?

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Better technology is on the way for surgeons and dermatologists. (Clicking on the link below will probably bring up a picture of the microscope.  To get to the article (on my computer) I click on a small “back to article” note in the upper right of the screen.  http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/techflash/2016/01/uws-new-pen-sized-microscope-could-id-cancer-cells.html?ana=e_tf&s=newsletter&ed=2016-01-26&u=Y5iHS0lNP0XeUYhZ3eWTXQ031739a2&t=1453852014#i2

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Cool new cruise boats  coming soon!  They’re made locally and are designed to get close to our beautiful scenery.  http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2016/01/26/puget-sound-shipyard-to-build-two-cruise-ships-in.html?ana=e_du_pub&s=article_du&ed=2016-01-26&u=Y5iHS0lNP0XeUYhZ3eWTXQ031739a2&t=1453850727

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 Science & Technology “party game”  – pizza slicing contest! http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a18899/mathematicians-create-new-models-perfectly-slice-pizza/?mag=pop&list=nl_pnl_news&src=nl&date=011116

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I had to watch this several times to absorb its many implications.  Very slick and insightful.  Familiar local names in the credits.

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Always nice to start a year with positive  TECHNOLOGY news! https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/wind-solar-power-soar-in-spite-of-bargain-prices-for-fossil-fuels/2015/12/30/754758b8-af19-11e5-9ab0-884d1cc4b33e_story.html

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China from a drone — So much more than from the ground.  Too bad the smog remains!

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Exciting idea!!  Start teaching the kids Chinese.  http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/techflash/2015/11/uw-tsinghua-launch-first-global-innovation.html?ana=e_tf&s=newsletter&ed=2015-11-09&u=Y5iHS0lNP0XeUYhZ3eWTXQ031739a2&t=1447111699

 ************************************************************http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3301682/Flatulence-2-186-sheep-Singapore-Airlines-plane-forced-aircraft-make-emergency-landing-excess-gas-set-smoke-alarms.html#ixzz3qQvWNW9r%20

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Gigapixel camera  Meet the Gigapixel Camera: The photo in the following link shows about 700,000 people. http://www.gigapixel.com/mobile/?id=79995

The picture was taken with a 70,000 x 30,000 pixel camera  (2100 Mega  Pixels.)  These cameras are not sold to the public but are being installed in strategic crowd-monitoring locations.   The camera, with available computer algorithms, can easily identify a face among the multitude.  Hard to disappear in a crowd anymore!

Try it out.   Put your cursor on a small part of the crowd, click a couple of times — wait — click a few more times and see how clear each individual face  becomes each time. (Or use the wheel on your mouse.)
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“We’re at Grandma’s having a great visit”…..                                                 

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An engineer’s thesis

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Creative use for basic science http://www.path.org/blog/2015/05/se200/

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Sidewalk Superintendents – Enjoy!

Best viewed full screen

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Technology for the Taste Buds! http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/techflash/2015/03/get-it-while-its-hot-starbucks-tobring-mobile.html?ana=e_sea_rdup&s=newsletter&ed=2015-03-10&u=Y5iHS0lNP0XeUYhZ3eWTXQ031739a2&t=1426009221&page=all

Technology in action all around us!    http://www.safeshare.tv/w/LEFEsQlbSI

Are you ready for a mechanical pet?  

Or a personal aide?   http://www.gizmag.com/robear-riken/36219/

More about Graphene.

The Operating Room of the Future?  http://safeshare.tv/w/DTAINyElxY

Fascinating NASA Photo of Andromeda Galaxy – the most detailed ever created by the Hubble telescope.                                                                                          Use your mouse to scroll for great detail (scale shown at bottom of image.) http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1502a/zoomable/  (Scroll slowly and be patient while the picture clarifies.)  Full story at http://www.gizmag.com/hubble-space-telescope-andromeda-galaxy-15-billion-pixels/35728/

Miniature Air Ambulance

The Cicret Bracelet  (Will it work on hairy arms?)

​ ​Here’s your chance to see Bill Gates drink water made from human waste

Anti-tremor Utensils Coming!   

Secret Rocket Successfully Fired Somewhere in Asia (Definitely not a “hush-hush” project.

 

The ‘President”

This giant sequoia stands 247 feet tall and the trunk measures 27 feet across.  It is estimated to be over 3,200 years old.  Because of its size, this tree has never been photographed in its entirety, until now.  A team of National Geographic photographers working with scientists have created this first complete photo.  They climbed the tree with pulleys and levers and took thousands of photos.  Of those, 126 were selected and stitched together to get this portrait.

 New Tissue-making Technology Worth Watching

 Man-made ligament  New ACLs just around the corner?

Learning about 3D printing early  3D printed prosthetic turtle leg

Combine recycling with some rudimentary hydro-engineering resourcefulness and this is what you get – 

 

Hmm – not sure I’m ready to have micro-scallops swimming around in my tissues, but technology marches on.

“Bullet” elevators are coming to the neighborhood! http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/blog/2015/01/new-elevator-deal-lifts-fifth-columbia-high-rise.html?ana=e_du_pub&s=article_du&ed=2015-01-06&u=Y5iHS0lNP0XeUYhZ3eWTXQ031739a2&t=1420609617

Maybe we could get them to “soup up” some of our elevators while they’re at it.  Note the last sentence in the article – “The [building] design is modeled after Audrey Hepburn’s silhouette in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and is “intended to represent the sexy sophistication the actress was known for .”