MARIANO TOMATISWONDER INJECTORItalian writer and magician
|
 Fulfilling archetypal dreamsTodd Reichert’s wing flapping aircraft Posted on saturday 16 august 2014• Written by Mariano TomatisBefore leaving home for San Francisco by airplane I cited Louis C.K.’s routine about the (forgotten) joy of “partaking the miracle of human flight.” Yet I couldn’t imagine that at the Science Foo 2014 I would have encountered someone that actually had partaken the experience more than anyone else! I met Todd Reichert at Googleplex because our exhibits were very close and he explained me that his dream was to fly simply flapping wings. In order to fulfill such an archetypical desire, with a group of University of Toronto students he designed a Human-Powered Ornithopter — “The Snowbird”. Tested on 2 August 2010, the contraption enabled him to fly for around 20 seconds, covering approximately 150 meters at 25 km/h — powered solely by the power of his muscles. The video of the impressive performance elicited a number of loud wows! and can be seen here: Discover the Human-Powered Ornithopter Project clicking here. You could be interested also in:
|
Science Foo Camp (or “Sci Foo”) is an invitation-only gathering organized by Digital Science, O'Reilly Media, and Google, with support from Nature. The 9th edition of Sci Foo takes place on 8-10 August 2014 at the Googleplex in Mountain View, CA. Lord Martin Rees has defined it as “a sort of mini Woodstock of the Mind”. Participants include researchers, writers, educators, artists, policy makers, investors, and other thought leaders, all doing groundbreaking work in diverse areas of science and technology.