One of the most attention grabbing concepts in the recent AUVSI symposium (the biggest in the UAV community) was the VARIOUS by Lockheed. Its name must be one of the most elaborate (or silly) and stands for "VTOL Advanced Reconnaissance Insertion Organic Unmanned System". As its name suggests it is a VTOL aircraft that can perform various missions and can be operated from sea vessels. Its main technology point is the fan in wing (or vertifan) that allow it to take off and land vertically.

Custom chopper bikes have long departed from tuning and engineering, for decades now this field is moving to an area between what we can consider as expensive toys (performance bikes where performance is a mean, not the aim) and art. Shinya Kimura is one of the best examples of what inspired custom bikes could and even should be.

The Mitchell Institute for Airpower Studies have published an extensive analysis on the history of UAVs in the US armed forces. The author of the report is Dr. Thomas P. Ehrhard and the 88 page document covers in detail a very wide spectrum, from the first efforts in the late '50s until the recent UCAV concepts.

This weekend on the MotoGP race in Sachsenring Germany the always-innovative Ducati Corse team is racing the Ducati GP10 with a new fairing. As you can see from the photos the big difference are the two small winglets just behind the front wheel. According to Ducati the small wings on the Desmosedici GP10 fairing "help prevent wheelies around the dramatic undulations of this circuit". But how exactly do they function? Read below for a small analysis.

The fastest production car in the world is again a Bugatti Veyron. This time the new Super Sport version driven by Pierre Henri Raphanel (test driver for Bugatti) established a world record of 431km/h average speed during two opposite passes in the proving grounds of the Volkswagen Group at Ehra-Lessien (near Wolfsburg). The record is certified from the Guinness book of records representatives and the test runs were monitored by the TÜV authorities.

The Sky-Y is a medium altitude long endurance (MALE) technology demonstrator UAV by Alenia. It is design and developed in-house in-order to gain expertise in this sector. Sky-Y is similar in dimensions with the established Predator A which is already in use by the Italian Air Force.

The 2010 Pikes Peak hillclimb race was hard enough to keep the times over 10 minutes for yet another year. This year the race was even more special because it was the last time that the course was partially gravel. Next year most of the gravel part will be paved and the 2012 it will be an all-tarmac race. Nobuhiro 'Monster' Tajima a veteran of the race won again. Tajima has the all time best time from 2007 (10:01.408) but he was unable to break it this time and break the 10' barrier.

Small Gecko lizards have the amazing ability to climb and run on vertical surfaces even when they are completely smooth like glass. The adhesion ability of their foot doesn't function like glue or a sticky tape, usually our first thought when we see them running upwards a wall. If they used a glue-like physiology not only they would accumulate dirt and thus become incapacitated but they would also need a huge effort in order to unstick their foot in every step. The amazing mechanism that natural selection have provided the gecko is the subject of study in order to form similar functions artificially.

This is a textbook case of great design through extreme simplicity. Common sense dictates that a toothbrush shouldn't contact other surfaces in order to stay clean. Placing the toothbrush to its stand however is usually inconvenient. The Dews toothbrush solves this problem by placing a weight in its rounded handle. The Dews toothbrush can stand by itself thus keeping its tip out of contact.