BBC Focus Magazine

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22491025

I am a huge Star Wars fan as I'm sure some of you are. However, this new addition of 3 films to be set after the Return of the Jedi leaves me perturbed.

Are we going to be subjected to Hans Solo and Princess Lea discussing their exploits over liver and onions at the retirement home? How on earth are they going to make a further 3 films ...

This week's guide to science on the telly and radio…


Sun 12 May

The Fantastic Mr Feynman
BBC Two, 9.30-10.30pm

Twenty-five years after his death, this fascinating documentary tells the story of one of the most charismatic and inspirational scientists of the 20th century. It’s a tale that takes in atomic bombs, the Challenger Shuttle disaster, and a Nobel Prize.


Tues 14 May

The Life Scientific
BBC Radio 4, 9.00-9.30am

Jim Al-Khalili returns with his ...

One Small Step

Documentary series offering audiences a unique chance to glimpse an astronaut's view of spaceflight. The story of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's trip to the moon. (R)

It's one of science fiction's greatest unfulfilled promises, right up there with teleportation and time travel.
And, no, Terrafugia hasn't built us a Tardis or promised to beam us up. But they say they're closer than ever to giving us a flying car.
This week, the Woburn, Massachussetts-based aerospace company announced it has begun feasibility studies on a car capable of vertical takeoffs and landings. The TF-X would be a four-seat, plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, ...

Take a pair of hi-fi speakers, an old radio, a couple of DVD players and countless other household appliances, apply some ingenuity and what do you get?
If you're Mark Haywood, an ex-cop turned robot maker, you get HEX -- a four foot, three-inch tall humanoid robot.
"Frankly, I think of it as a very large toy. I think that mindset helped me get the build done, because it's such a daunting task," said Haygood. ...

People have reported seeing a bright light, thought to be a meteor, in the sky in parts of England and Wales.

Sightings of the celestial body were reported on Twitter in areas such as Cornwall, Hampshire, Lancashire, south Wales and Worcestershire.

Suzy Buttress, of Basingstoke, described witnessing the bright light as a "once in a lifetime thing".

One scientist said it could have been a "random small piece of rock, probably from the asteroid belt".

...

If s=your speed as a percentage of c (light speed), how accurate is my guess at the following equation?

Your percentage increase in mass when moving, compared to when you are stationary, is tan(0.9*s)*100.

All I'm going by is the shape of a tangent graph and what I know happens at 0m/s and c.

Am I vaguely close?

This is your captain speaking..., well not really because there isn't one.

Oh and apologies, I cannot recall if this is one of those sites not visible in the UK so apologies if you cannot see it :oops:

Image Credit: BAE Systems

It is a familiar part of flying. As you taxi towards the runway, a crackly voice is heard over the intercom. The pilot’s brief ...

The world's first gun made with 3D printer technology has been successfully fired in the US.

The controversial group which created the firearm, Defense Distributed, plans to make the blueprints available online.

The group has spent a year trying to create the firearm, which was successfully tested on Saturday at a firing range south of Austin, Texas.

Anti-gun campaigners have criticised the project.

Europe's law enforcement agency said it was monitoring developments.

Victoria Baines, from ...

Hello,

As I need to do some insulation at home, it made me think.
Most (all?) insulation material seem to take the approach of using a material with a low heat transfer coefficient and then fill it with as much air as possible.

My thought was, is it possible to make a really thin material that act more like infrared mirror instead rather than using materials with low heat transfer coefficient?