http://cns.miis.edu/multimedia/interactive_files/cw_dumping.htmBetween 1918 and 1970, the U.S. alone dumped CW agents in waters worldwide on at least 74 occasions. These disposals were no small undertaking, taking one fair example from this tour, in 1945 the U.S. military dumped 1,154 55ga drums of arsenic trichloride, 375T of adamsite smoke candles, 75,852 4.2in distilled mustard shells, ~56,000 smoke canisters, and ~23,000 smoke projectiles. This represents only one of dozens of dumpings conducted off the U.S. coast. While some dumping operations were carefully undertaken, including the keeping of detailed records; other dumping operations were done haphazardly with no or minimal written accounts of the disposal locations, quantities disposed or depths. So far the staff at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (http://cns.miis.edu) have located and chronicled 127 locations where either human exposure to or disposal of chemical weapons agents and/or munitions has occurred. We are virtually certain there are more disposal sites requiring attention hence we present this material in hopes of garnering further interest into this subject. Read more on "Chemical Weapon Munitions Dumped at Sea"
20101215
Unmanned drones track Arctic ice and seals simultaneously
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-12/15/arctic-drones 
So two groups of researchers have got together for a joint observation project. Environmental scientists interested in declining sea ice levels and biologists studying seals realised how closely their two fields are interlinked. Fluctuating ice levels -- dictated by global warming, weather patterns and pollution -- have a direct knock-on effect on bearded, ringed, spotted, and ribbon seals, who rely on the sea ice for breeding, resting and hiding from predators. So the two groups of researchers teamed up to launch an unmanned drone, hooked up with cameras, to survey the areas without risking pilots or observers. The aircraft, owned and operated by the University of Alaska, has a 10-foot wingspan and flies three- to five-mile-long stretches at altitudes ranging from 100-350 metres. But while clumps of ice are shown in immaculate detail, the seals are little more than ambiguous dots and smudges on the photos. For any human analyst, it would be a laborious process to pick out every animal in the snaps -- in fact, you can try for yourself at the University of Colorado's Where's Wally-esque " Find the Seals" page. So the team went to Boulder Labs Inc, in Colorado, after hearing about their successes in facial recognition. "If they're able to tell faces out of the crowd and identify who is who, I thought they might be able to use that expertise with our problem up in the Arctic," said Elizabeth Weatherhead of the University of Colorado. The newly developed software is a huge success, and was used throughout 2009 and 2010 to automate the identificaton of seals in 27,000 images. "We can send an unmanned craft out from a ship, collect 4,000 images, and have them analyzed before dinner," said Weatherhead. This new data is giving scientists more insight into problems plaguing the Arctic, and is changing the way that biologists monitor seal populations. Just this month, NOAA proposed that ringed and bearded seals be put on the endangered species list.
By Mark Brown | 15 December 10 _ Via Ollie Palmer
The icy seas of the Arctic are not the most inviting location for scientific researchers. These remote, frosty areas are extremely dangerous places for observers and manned vehicles, meaning very little data is collected in this area.
Next, both teams have further ambitions for the drones. They hope to answer questions about how the ice is moving, and how polar bears are affected by the changes in ice levels.
Unmanned drones track Arctic ice and seals simultaneously
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-12/15/arctic-drones
So two groups of researchers have got together for a joint observation project. Environmental scientists interested in declining sea ice levels and biologists studying seals realised how closely their two fields are interlinked. Fluctuating ice levels -- dictated by global warming, weather patterns and pollution -- have a direct knock-on effect on bearded, ringed, spotted, and ribbon seals, who rely on the sea ice for breeding, resting and hiding from predators. So the two groups of researchers teamed up to launch an unmanned drone, hooked up with cameras, to survey the areas without risking pilots or observers. The aircraft, owned and operated by the University of Alaska, has a 10-foot wingspan and flies three- to five-mile-long stretches at altitudes ranging from 100-350 metres. But while clumps of ice are shown in immaculate detail, the seals are little more than ambiguous dots and smudges on the photos. For any human analyst, it would be a laborious process to pick out every animal in the snaps -- in fact, you can try for yourself at the University of Colorado's Where's Wally-esque " Find the Seals" page. So the team went to Boulder Labs Inc, in Colorado, after hearing about their successes in facial recognition. "If they're able to tell faces out of the crowd and identify who is who, I thought they might be able to use that expertise with our problem up in the Arctic," said Elizabeth Weatherhead of the University of Colorado. The newly developed software is a huge success, and was used throughout 2009 and 2010 to automate the identificaton of seals in 27,000 images. "We can send an unmanned craft out from a ship, collect 4,000 images, and have them analyzed before dinner," said Weatherhead. This new data is giving scientists more insight into problems plaguing the Arctic, and is changing the way that biologists monitor seal populations. Just this month, NOAA proposed that ringed and bearded seals be put on the endangered species list.
By Mark Brown | 15 December 10 _ Via Ollie Palmer
The icy seas of the Arctic are not the most inviting location for scientific researchers. These remote, frosty areas are extremely dangerous places for observers and manned vehicles, meaning very little data is collected in this area.
Next, both teams have further ambitions for the drones. They hope to answer questions about how the ice is moving, and how polar bears are affected by the changes in ice levels.
Unmanned drones track Arctic ice and seals simultaneously
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-12/15/arctic-drones
So two groups of researchers have got together for a joint observation project. Environmental scientists interested in declining sea ice levels and biologists studying seals realised how closely their two fields are interlinked. Fluctuating ice levels -- dictated by global warming, weather patterns and pollution -- have a direct knock-on effect on bearded, ringed, spotted, and ribbon seals, who rely on the sea ice for breeding, resting and hiding from predators. So the two groups of researchers teamed up to launch an unmanned drone, hooked up with cameras, to survey the areas without risking pilots or observers. The aircraft, owned and operated by the University of Alaska, has a 10-foot wingspan and flies three- to five-mile-long stretches at altitudes ranging from 100-350 metres. But while clumps of ice are shown in immaculate detail, the seals are little more than ambiguous dots and smudges on the photos. For any human analyst, it would be a laborious process to pick out every animal in the snaps -- in fact, you can try for yourself at the University of Colorado's Where's Wally-esque " Find the Seals" page. So the team went to Boulder Labs Inc, in Colorado, after hearing about their successes in facial recognition. "If they're able to tell faces out of the crowd and identify who is who, I thought they might be able to use that expertise with our problem up in the Arctic," said Elizabeth Weatherhead of the University of Colorado. The newly developed software is a huge success, and was used throughout 2009 and 2010 to automate the identificaton of seals in 27,000 images. "We can send an unmanned craft out from a ship, collect 4,000 images, and have them analyzed before dinner," said Weatherhead. This new data is giving scientists more insight into problems plaguing the Arctic, and is changing the way that biologists monitor seal populations. Just this month, NOAA proposed that ringed and bearded seals be put on the endangered species list.
By Mark Brown | 15 December 10
The icy seas of the Arctic are not the most inviting location for scientific researchers. These remote, frosty areas are extremely dangerous places for observers and manned vehicles, meaning very little data is collected in this area.
Next, both teams have further ambitions for the drones. They hope to answer questions about how the ice is moving, and how polar bears are affected by the changes in ice levels.
20101111
Protei, Oil Spill Collecting Sailing Drones @ TEDxMidAtlantic
A few days ago, I was lucky to be on stage of TEDxMidAtlantic to present Protei, a technology in development I am working on with a bunch of brilliant people (Open_Sailing, randomwalks and V2_ folks).
Protei would be a Fleet of Oil Spill Collecting Sailing Drones. I just made this 7 minutes video that explains how it would work (also on youtube if you want to share / embed / rate). I am now working on the collaborative website and the documentation to meet Open Hardware standards - long way to go :) The video of the talk may come up sometimes, meanwhile you have my explanation here :) Sorry for my terrible french accent, hehehe
We are currently looking for ways to fund this project, if you have ideas of grants, competitions, Institutions or companies that would be interested in working on this, please comment, thanks !
Protei, Oil Spill collecting drone @ TEDxMidAtlantic
A few days ago, I was lucky to be on stage of TEDxMidAtlantic to present Protei, a technology in development I am working on with a bunch of brilliant people (Open_Sailing, randomwalks and V2_ folks).
Protei would be a Fleet of Oil Spill Collecting Sailing Drones. I just made this 7 minutes video that explains how it would work (also on youtube if you want to share / embed / rate). I am now working on the collaborative website and the documentation to meet Open Hardware standards - long way to go :) The video of the talk may come up sometimes, meanwhile you have my explanation here :) Sorry for my terrible french accent, hehehe
We are currently looking for ways to fund this project, if you have ideas of grants, competitions, Institutions or companies that would be interested in working on this, please comment, thanks !
20100727
Grassroots mapping
A couple of days ago, we went with the folks of LA Bucket Brigade (again!) to do some grassroots mapping in the Bay Jimmy & Wilkinson Bayou (29.45193, -89.89812), and it was superb ~ and dystopic :/
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Seen from up there is so different from what you see from the ground :
We went in those super cool (noisy though) boats :
Boat seen from the balloon (!!!) :
I took a chance to try to enhance the "photography cabin" with Sue Stoessel, Bennie Gregory and Hunter Daniel (in a previous mapping trip though):
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I'm in love with this technique Gonzo Earth and Grassrootsmapping keep on improving, also because I really need it to assess the efficiency of the oil spill collecting robot I am working on : protei.org. Here we were testing the long tail, to see how well we can sail upwind with a long tail :
I took a chance to try to enhance the "photography cabin" with Sue Stoessel, Bennie Gregory and Hunter Daniel (in a previous mapping trip though): >
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I'm in love with this technique Gonzo Earth and Grassrootsmapping keep on improving, also because I really need it to assess the efficiency of the oil spill collecting robot I am working on : protei.org. Here we were testing the long tail, to see how well we can sail upwind with a long tail : that's the robot I am prototyping this week :
If you want to help on the making of the protei robot, or do some aerial photography of the oil spill, get involved at LA Bucket Brigade, contact Shannon Dosemagen <shannon@labucketbrigade.org>, or Hunter Daniel <hunterdaniel@gmail.com> 901-550-7667 directly by phone to arrange a trip in the sun :)
20100726
TEDxBoston : the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill
This is NOT an Official TED video, it is simply an archive of the TEDxBoston Adventure.
What academic light can two Boston College professors shed on the nation’s largest environmental disaster?
What lessons for oil extraction, transport, crisis prevention, and response can be drawn from this present calamity? Meanwhile, can a 2010 TED Fellow on the frontline in the Gulf contribute to the design of autonomous robots that collect oil?
Join Boston College Professors Noah Snyder of the Geology and Geophysics department and Zygmunt Plater of the Law School for an interactive briefing on the situation in the Gulf. Professor Snyder is the Director of BC's interdisciplinary Environmental Studies program. Professor Plater served on the State of Alaska Oil Spill Commission during the Exxon Valdez crisis; he has been involved with Alaskan efforts to assist Gulf communities in the aftermath of the BP Gulf blowout and attempts to draw systemic lessons for the future from the Exxon Valdez and the BP blowout. We also will be joined via Skype by Cesar Harada, a former MIT researcher in New Orleans. Ask critical questions about environmental science and law, as well as some of Harada’s other ambitions, from creating the International Ocean Station as an open-source architecture project to crowdsourcing environmental data on the web.
What lessons for oil extraction, transport, crisis prevention, and response can be drawn from this present calamity? Meanwhile, can a 2010 TED Fellow on the frontline in the Gulf contribute to the design of autonomous robots that collect oil?
Join Boston College Professors Noah Snyder of the Geology and Geophysics department and Zygmunt Plater of the Law School for an interactive briefing on the situation in the Gulf. Professor Snyder is the Director of BC's interdisciplinary Environmental Studies program. Professor Plater served on the State of Alaska Oil Spill Commission during the Exxon Valdez crisis; he has been involved with Alaskan efforts to assist Gulf communities in the aftermath of the BP Gulf blowout and attempts to draw systemic lessons for the future from the Exxon Valdez and the BP blowout. We also will be joined via Skype by Cesar Harada, a former MIT researcher in New Orleans. Ask critical questions about environmental science and law, as well as some of Harada’s other ambitions, from creating the International Ocean Station as an open-source architecture project to crowdsourcing environmental data on the web.
Thanks to John Werner and Grier Tumas.
Devlin Hall, Room 201, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, 02467
DATE: Thursday, July 22nd, late morning TEDxBoston : http://tedxboston.org/
John Werner : http://www.citizenschools.org
Zygmunt Plater : http://bc.edu/schools/law/fac-staff/deans-faculty/platerz.html
Noah Snyder : http://www2.bc.edu/~snyderno/
Shannon Dosemagem : http://labucketbrigade.org/
Cesar Harada : http://cesarharada.com/
Oil collecting Robot : http://protei.org
John Werner : http://www.citizenschools.org
Zygmunt Plater : http://bc.edu/schools/law/fac-staff/deans-faculty/platerz.html
Noah Snyder : http://www2.bc.edu/~snyderno/
Shannon Dosemagem : http://labucketbrigade.org/
Cesar Harada : http://cesarharada.com/
Oil collecting Robot : http://protei.org
20100412
Energy_Animal, concept for renewable hybrid generator
Dear Fellows, straight after TED Long Beach, I went on to playing in the water, and that's what I have been doing :
Read the full report here if you're curious : https://sites.google.com/a/opensailing.net/www/labs/energy_animal/Energy_Animal001
A longer 15 minutes technical video will come up when I have more time.
We need a green energy revolution now.Hybrid renewable energy
Recycled materials
Probiotic Impact
Distributed Intelligence
Lightweight & Reconfigurable
Open-Source & Evolutionaryenergyanimal.org
Recycled materials
Probiotic Impact
Distributed Intelligence
Lightweight & Reconfigurable
Open-Source & Evolutionaryenergyanimal.org
20100407
TEDxNASA - Dennis Hong - superb robots, superb method
Via Ollie Palmer.Good method:
1. Sparkle idea -> database
2. Brainstorm (no criticism, refinement)
3. Education
4. Work smart, work hard, have fun!
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