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A Cry Heard Round The World: Kim Sun-Il died desperate and alone, but he did not die unheard.
Looking At And Longing For Mars: Reflections on a childhood dream.
A Robot May Not Harm a Human Being. Is The Opposite True?: Thoughts on the future rights of artificial intelligence.
Long After The Boys Of Summer Have Gone: What makes a relationship work?
Winter Of Our Feline Discontent: What the cat wants, the cat gets. But what DOES it want?
To Tell The Truth: There may be no honor among thieves, but can't we find it even in a few good men and women?
Should The Human Brain Retire?: We know that we cannot win forever. We know that machines will continue to improve. So why don't we let the human brain retire gracefully now, with honors?
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Published: Sep 16, 2005 01:40 PM
Tue - October 21, 2003
Shaking and Baking: Solar Powered Car Proves No Laggard
It looks like a tortoise, performs
like a hare.
It's
a real achievement to best your opponents by 50 km. on the first day of an auto
race. It's particularly impressive when none
of you has fuel in your
cars.
Yet that's the accomplishment scored today by Nuna II in the seventh World Solar Challenge, a race which 22 competitors will travel the length of Australia using only the Sun's power. Built by a Dutch team with the help of metallurgical technologies developed for the European Space Agency, Nuna II looks more like an aircraft carrier on wheels than a race car. But appearances can be deceiving: The car averages 100 km/hr and has a theoretical top speed of 170 km/hr (about 105 mph.).
The same Dutch team holds the record for the trans-Australia crossing in a time of 32 hours and 39 minutes.Update: Meanwhile, on the battery-powered side of the fence, Rolland Piquepaille takes a look at the fastest electric vehicle in the world—the tzero—which does 0 to 60 mph. in 3.6 seconds. At $220,000, it won't grace most garages any time soon.