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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 04/18/2006 : 21:44:15
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From National Geographic:quote:
Manufacturing firm Micreon GmbH submitted the insect's picture for the Bilder der Forschung (Photos of Science) 2005 competition. Selected images were on display last week in a Munich shopping center.
Micreon, based in Hannover, Germany (see map), created the fly's eyewear using ultrafast laser micro-machining. The firm notes on its Web site that the process can create objects with high precision at scales of less than a thousandth of a millimeter.
Thanks to Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" for bringing this wonderful advancement to my attention. Colbert himself objected, and likened making spectacles for flies to giving bears nunchucks. Me, I think this makes the fly look both more hip and intellectual. In fact, he looks downright regal, a true Lord of the Flies.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
Edited by - HalfMooner on 04/18/2006 21:47:20
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pleco
SFN Addict
USA
2998 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2006 : 21:47:24 [Permalink]
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| Next question: Will Peta have a problem with this? |
by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2006 : 22:04:01 [Permalink]
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I don't know how PETA will handle this sensitive issue. Hopefully, it will be with their usual thoughtfulness, consistency, and good taste. I just hope they don't announce their abhorrence of the involuntary modelling session, then later get caught dumping the contents of their office fly zapper beside some rural road.
But, can't you just see the fly above wearing a beret, and reciting his Beat poetry over a cappuccino? This guy's cool, man, cool.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 04/18/2006 : 22:16:46 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by HalfMooner
Colbert himself objected, and likened making spectacles for flies to giving bears nunchucks.
LOL!
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 04/19/2006 : 01:30:17 [Permalink]
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Shall I pick a nit, here? It's not really a very nice thing to do....
Ah, whaddahell -- when was I ever called "nice?"
What, if I may be so bold as to ask, protection does a pair of cool, if cheap, shades lend to large, compound eyes They don't got enouth facets in 'em.
But even so, he's a pretty cool Musca.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 04/19/2006 : 04:45:04 [Permalink]
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quote:
Shall I pick a nit, here? It's not really a very nice thing to do....
Ah, whaddahell -- when was I ever called "nice?"
What, if I may be so bold as to ask, protection does a pair of cool, if cheap, shades lend to large, compound eyes They don't got enouth facets in 'em.
But even so, he's a pretty cool Musca.
I really wish, Filthy, that you hadn't swatted this innocent posting down. That flies in the face of good forum manners. Not enough facets? Seems to me the coolness facet should be enough. Musc you take this so seriously, thoroughly insecting every comment another poster makes? Buzz off!
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 04/19/2006 : 05:19:05 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by HalfMooner
quote:
Shall I pick a nit, here? It's not really a very nice thing to do....
Ah, whaddahell -- when was I ever called "nice?"
What, if I may be so bold as to ask, protection does a pair of cool, if cheap, shades lend to large, compound eyes They don't got enouth facets in 'em.
But even so, he's a pretty cool Musca.
I really wish, Filthy, that you hadn't swatted this innocent posting down. That flies in the face of good forum manners. Not enough facets? Seems to me the coolness facet should be enough. Musc you take this so seriously, thoroughly insecting every comment another poster makes? Buzz off!
I apologize! I will make it up to you! Like Jesus raisin the dead, I shall raise the fly.... after I take a leak.
There. Slap a set of rose tinted Ray-Bans on that sucker and all will be as it was. 
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
Posted - 04/19/2006 : 05:32:18 [Permalink]
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filthy wrote: quote:
I apologize! I will make it up to you! Like Jesus raisin the dead, I shall raise the fly.... after I take a leak.
Viva anthropomorphism! |
"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 04/19/2006 : 13:31:28 [Permalink]
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| Hey, I thought the same thing. That fly needs wraparounds. Wouldn't matter if they were compound eyes or not. Typical human thinking of everything in human terms. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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JohnOAS
SFN Regular
Australia
800 Posts |
Posted - 04/19/2006 : 16:30:13 [Permalink]
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We weren't creative enough to want to accessorise insects, however we did give them a small shot at participation. The following pic is of a 1 micron hole we made in a moth wing about 10 years ago. The other holes and structure were all provided by the biggest mother of all, nature.
The full size image, along with other examples, can be found. here. This site is a bit old, and I don't think it's linked any more from the current CLA website, which can be found here.
Some of the guys I worked with now also run a spin off which does contract laser micro machining, you might want to have a look out some of their cool examples. Here's one just in time for easter:
A couple of those were machined using my old code. I haven't actually been a part of the group for about 8 years, although I still do some contracting for them occasionally. Apart from the investigation of the photonics itself, I was responsible for developing all of the motion control code and image translation stuff. We couldn't steer the beam (and still don't, most of the time), so we had to translate the sample around under the spot, and shutter the beam on and off appropriately. Writing software that makes something in the real world actually move is quite fun, I must say.
Edit: Fixed typo from "phonics" to "photonics". Quite misleading typo, that. |
John's just this guy, you know. |
| Edited by - JohnOAS on 04/19/2006 18:50:31 |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 04/19/2006 : 18:17:19 [Permalink]
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Cool work, John! It seems almost incredible to me what you people in the micromachining field are now capable of doing.
Then there's the molecular car, from LiveScience:
I think this tiny, light-powered vehicle was made chemically, though, not via micromachining. The article was not very clear about its construction, and did not provide an actual electron photomicrograph. Too bad it's far too small to provide sporty wheels for our cool fly.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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