http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (AP)—Luo Shiqiang sat near chunks of concrete, bricks and a ripped orange sofa and told how his grandfather was just returning from feeding chickens when their house collapsed and crushed him to death in this weekend's powerful earthquake in southwestern China. http://phys.org/news285763696.html Space & Earth Sun, 21 Apr 2013 11:48:34 EST news285763696 Researchers from the University of Granada have patented a new system, based on placing modules as the foundations for building cheaper, inflatable hydraulic dams, which can be assembled and dismantled very easily. http://phys.org/news285330051.html Technology Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:21:10 EST news285330051 (Phys.org) —German technology company Festo has unveiled the BionicOpter, a fully functional robotic dragonfly. It can fly forwards, backwards, hover and even fly sideways—just like a real dragonfly. Its introduction marks another step forward in robotics engineering. http://phys.org/news284031157.html Electronics Mon, 01 Apr 2013 10:50:02 EST news284031157 It's the land where Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier, where the space shuttle fleet rolled off the assembly line and where the first private manned rocketship climbed to space. http://phys.org/news283581388.html Technology Wed, 27 Mar 2013 05:36:34 EST news283581388 Effective 21st-century warfare requires the ability to conduct airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and strike mobile targets anywhere, around the clock. Current technologies, however, have their limitations. Helicopters are relatively limited in the distance and flight time. Fixed-wing manned and unmanned aircraft can fly farther and longer but require either aircraft carriers or large, fixed land bases with runways often longer than a mile. Moreover, establishing these bases or deploying carriers requires substantial financial, diplomatic and security commitments that are incompatible with rapid response. http://phys.org/news281608050.html Technology Mon, 04 Mar 2013 08:40:05 EST news281608050 (Phys.org)—A Minnesota-based trio running a company called QFO Labs, with the focus on "high tech gaming concepts," will be the first to assure that their game idea can in no way be confused with the mall variety of remote-controlled toy helicopters. For the past five years they have been working on a game system called the NanoQ Copter with Mimix Tilt-to-Fly Controller. For those gaming enthusiasts who like the idea of answering a "rotor fight" challenge, this is what the product title suggests: a palm, sized quad-rotor helicopter, flown wirelessly, with the use of a Mimix controller, which works with a simple one-handed wrist tilt. http://phys.org/news271487608.html Electronics Wed, 07 Nov 2012 05:50:01 EST news271487608 (Phys.org)—Chengyu Cao sees a day in the not-so-distant future when intelligent robots will be working alongside humans on a wide range of important tasks from advancing science, to performing deep sea rescues, to monitoring our natural habitats. http://phys.org/news268570436.html Technology Thu, 04 Oct 2012 11:54:03 EST news268570436 Authorities declared a state of emergency in northern California, ravaged by fires at a time when several other western US states are also fighting flames. http://phys.org/news264916362.html Space & Earth Thu, 23 Aug 2012 04:52:48 EST news264916362 For decades, academic and industry researchers have been working on control algorithms for autonomous helicopters — robotic helicopters that pilot themselves, rather than requiring remote human guidance. Dozens of research teams have competed in a series of autonomous-helicopter challenges posed by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI); progress has been so rapid that the last two challenges have involved indoor navigation without the use of GPS. http://phys.org/news263797564.html Technology Fri, 10 Aug 2012 06:06:37 EST news263797564 (AP) — Allegations that China used stolen U.S. technology to develop a modern military attack helicopter were "severe deviations" from the facts, the Chinese Defense Ministry said Thursday. http://phys.org/news262509621.html Technology Thu, 26 Jul 2012 08:20:27 EST news262509621 (AP) — A division of United Technologies Corp. pleaded guilty on Thursday to crimes related to the illegal export of software that U.S. officials say was used by China to develop the country's first modern military attack helicopter. http://phys.org/news260116790.html Technology Thu, 28 Jun 2012 15:40:15 EST news260116790 (Phys.org) -- On June 20, students on the Gamera II human-powered helicopter team from the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering set a new, unofficial flight duration record of approximately 35 seconds. If verified by the National Aeronautic Association, this new time will supersede the team’s previous world record of 11.4 seconds set last July. http://phys.org/news259484992.html Technology Thu, 21 Jun 2012 08:11:21 EST news259484992 Claus Mortensen is a private Kenyan rancher with a passion -- endangered rhinos -- and now a mission: to save his herd from slaughter by ruthless poachers who sell their horns to Asia, where they are prized as a miracle drug. http://phys.org/news255929976.html Biology Fri, 11 May 2012 04:40:01 EST news255929976 Within the framework of the EU project sFly, researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a new type of flying robot that can be navigated using only on-board cameras and a miniature computer. The micro helicopters require neither GPS nor remote control, thus reaching a new level of autonomy. http://phys.org/news254472266.html Electronics Tue, 24 Apr 2012 07:44:55 EST news254472266 (PhysOrg.com) -- An 800-pound, 45-foot-long paper airplane with a 24-foot wingspan may be the largest paper airplane ever to glide across the sky. After being hoisted to a height of 2,703 feet by a helicopter last Wednesday, the plane was released and glided for an estimated 7-10 seconds, reaching speeds of close to 100 mph. http://phys.org/news252063390.html Technology Tue, 27 Mar 2012 10:36:50 EST news252063390 (AP) -- In his first interviews since his January arrest in New Zealand, Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom says he will prevail in what he calls a "political" Internet piracy case against him. http://phys.org/news249798677.html Technology Thu, 01 Mar 2012 04:31:30 EST news249798677 (AP) -- Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom made his fortune and even took his name from the Internet, but now he's barred from logging on. http://phys.org/news249210553.html Technology Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:09:19 EST news249210553 By carrying a more accurate rifle scope, U.S. warfighters can increase their standoff distance when engaging enemies. Increased standoff distance can help protect warfighter lives. This is especially true when an infrared scope is needed for nighttime action. Technologies exist for cooled infrared imaging at greater distances, but such imaging systems are limited by size, weight and power (SWaP) to large platforms such as tanks or helicopters. http://phys.org/news249123849.html Technology Wed, 22 Feb 2012 09:04:20 EST news249123849 (PhysOrg.com) -- Whale researchers have known for some time that humpback whales are able to perform feats of underwater acrobatics that belie their huge size and that some of that ability is partly due to the bumps they have on the leading edge of their dorsal fins. Now, engineers at the DLR Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology in Germany have applied the same idea to the leading edges of helicopter rotors and have found that doing so allows for greater stability and faster flight. http://phys.org/news247316797.html Technology Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:07:00 EST news247316797 Information on military aircraft and nuclear power plants may have been stolen in a series of cyberattacks on Japanese defence contractor Mitsubishi Heavy, a report said Monday. http://phys.org/news238657636.html Technology Mon, 24 Oct 2011 06:47:58 EST news238657636 (PhysOrg.com) -- Normally, when a helicopter loses power in flight due to engine failure, the pilot reverts to using a technique called autorotation to avoid crashing. What happens is the rotors keep spinning automatically due to the air rushing past as the aircraft descends, which prevents the aircraft from picking up speed as it descends, eventually leading to a reasonably safe landing. The problem though, is that controlling such a descent is quite difficult due to the lack of power adjustments to the angle of the rotors, which can lead to pitching. In a sense it’s much like the difference between regular and power brakes. The pilot is forced to rely on a lot of muscle power. To make things easier for pilots, and thus safer for all concerned, Eurocopter, the biggest maker of helicopters in the world, has come up with a way to allow a pilot to more easily maintain control of the rotors while descending and landing using an electric motor add-on. http://phys.org/news237800320.html Technology Fri, 14 Oct 2011 09:40:01 EST news237800320 A salvage crew on Thursday made a daring landing on a crippled container ship leaking oil off New Zealand, as the vessel's owners apologised for the country's worst sea pollution crisis. http://phys.org/news237719564.html Space & Earth Thu, 13 Oct 2011 10:12:51 EST news237719564 NASA Langley's Bell UH-1H Huey helicopter returned to the Center Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2011, after a five-year long stint supporting space shuttle operations at Kennedy Space Center. The KSC work added another chapter to the Huey's more than 40-year history. It was manufactured in 1968 and, according to records, spent part of its life as a MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) helicopter in Viet Nam. http://phys.org/news234087705.html Space & Earth Thu, 01 Sep 2011 09:21:58 EST news234087705 The seeds that drop from maple trees each fall, whirring softly to the ground like silent one-winged helicopters, are the inspiration for a new kind of flying machine that could be useful for military information-gathering. http://phys.org/news232646478.html Electronics Mon, 15 Aug 2011 17:03:19 EST news232646478 University of Maryland students flew past a world record after the human-powered helicopter Gamera hovered more than twelve seconds inside the campus' Reckord Armory in early July. http://phys.org/news232104943.html Technology Tue, 09 Aug 2011 11:20:01 EST news232104943 (AP) -- One of three major wildfires burning in Arizona is now fully contained, and a second fire is nearly extinguished. http://phys.org/news228325005.html Space & Earth Sun, 26 Jun 2011 16:36:52 EST news228325005 A European research program is studying the feasibility of a new kind of individual transport that avoids traffic jams by taking to the skies. Two laboratories at EPFL participate in this project. http://phys.org/news227780017.html Technology Mon, 20 Jun 2011 09:13:51 EST news227780017 (PhysOrg.com) -- If you asked a child how they would make a helicopter go faster, they would probably tell you to add another engine. The answer would be Zen simple and dead right. The engineers at Eurocopter also seem to have that same mentality and it worked. http://phys.org/news225116760.html Technology Fri, 20 May 2011 14:20:02 EST news225116760 (PhysOrg.com) -- In a step toward winning the Sikorsky Prize, a team of A. James Clark School of Engineering students will attempt for the first time to test-fly their human-powered helicopter, called Gamera. http://phys.org/news223796920.html Technology Thu, 05 May 2011 06:49:24 EST news223796920 An IT consultant in the Pakistan city of Abbottabad was an Internet celebrity on Monday after unwittingly providing a real-time account of the attack that killed Osama bin Laden. http://phys.org/news223530328.html Technology Mon, 02 May 2011 05:00:01 EST news223530328