SURF'S UP IN THE POOL: Wavegarden in Spain have created a wave pool that works for surfers. A specially shaped submerged sled creates a wave as it's dragged through the water. A prototype created small, hollow waves with tubes. Grab your board and head for Spain. Wired has the story and video.
PAK AND ROLL: Russia has a new stealth fighter jet: the Sukhoi T-50, also known as the PAK FA — the Advanced Frontline Aircraft System. Specs are top secret, but the plane was flying at the international air show near Moscow. It can cruise at supersonic speed, and a special coating makes it less visible to radar. Pilots report that it's safe and comfortable to fly. It flies, it banks, it rolls.
Russia Today tell what they know. Check out the video here.
MORE BANG: The US Office of Naval Research have a new explosive made from a mix of metals and polymers. It's dense but strong and can explode with up to 5 times the energy of existing armaments. But the High-Density Reactive Material casings are the important part. Rather than just packing explosives inside steel the new explosives combine with the casing. The whole lot explodes only when the projectile hits the target, dissipating both chemical and kinetic energy into the target itself. Initially the explosives will be used in larger weapons such as missiles. Look out Russian fighter jets. BBC has more.
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SWEEP HAND: The Tacit is a Hand-Mounted Haptic Feedback Sonar Obstacle Avoidance Asstance Device for visually impaired people. Worn like a glove, it uses sonar to measure the distance to things and expresses it as pressure on the wrist. It responds quickly enough that the wearer can just sweep their hand around to detect nearby objects. No university research project, this is an Arduino project with circuit and software released under a Creative Commons license. Get making.
Grathio Labs invented it.
