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ROBOT BIRDS - PART 2
Flying in the Micro Aviary

Mixing Hollywood wizardry and video game technology, engineers at Wright Patterson Air Force Research Lab are teaching computers to fly tiny aircraft.

After being strategically outfitted with white markers, the aircraft are flown in an infra-red “micro aviary.” There, dozens of special cameras use motion capture to track each flight, just like the movements of an athlete are tracked when creating a sports video game.

The goal is to design sophisticated micro air vehicles with capabilities far beyond the toys used in these experiments. “It's a very exciting time to be a scientist,” says Aeronautical Engineer Ryan Carr.

[flv image="http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/Beam_me_up.jpg"]http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/robot_birds_pt2.flv[/flv]

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ROBOT BIRDS - Part 1:
Designing Micro Air Vehicles

From his upturned palm, aeronautical engineer Ryan Carr launches, then expertly flies what appears to be a remote-controlled bird. Later, the aeronautical engineer uses special equipment to examine the machine's flight characteristics.

Welcome to the world of micro air vehicles (MAVs) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Here hobby-store aircraft are helping scientists design a futuristic line of miniature flying spy vehicles.

"We take the technology that we have and we try to design something that does the same thing as a hummingbird or dragonfly does," explains Carr.

[flv image="http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/Beam_me_up.jpg"]http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/Printing_new_Skin.flv[/flv]

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PRINTING NEW SKIN:
Saving Lives with Ink Jet Printers

By modifying an ink jet printer and growing skin cells taken from a patient's body, a U.S. Army research lab has developed an amazing treatment for severe burns: printing new skin.

Once the patient's skin cells are in a sterile ink cartridge, a computer uses a three dimensional map of the wound to guide the printing.

The bio-printer drops each type of cell precisely where it needs to go," explains Kyle Binder, a biomedical scientist at the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine's Wake Forest lab. "The wound gets filled in and then those cells will become new skin.”

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IT'S A BLAST!
Teenage rocket scientists compete in The Plains, Virginia

Gathering in the name of rocket science, and fun, 100 teenage teams competed for top honors in this year's Team American Rocketry Challenge, the world's largest contest of its kind.

The teams of middle and high school contestants were challenged to build a rocket that flies 750 feet into the sky, and then parachutes down so softly that two egg passengers, tucked inside its capsule, arrived safely back on Earth.

The winners shared a prize pool of more than $60,000 with the top team going to London for a fly-off against the winners of the United Kingdom Aerospace Youth Rocketry Challenge.

"It's really taking math and science principles that people think are not interesting and it makes them fun," says contestant Kevin.

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HOW HIGH?:
Pilot Safety at Serious Altitude

Here at the Brooks City Air Force Research Lab in San Antonio, Texas, scientists and technicians are studying the upper atmosphere's extreme conditions, and the equipment and training needed to keep pilots safe. That includes having pilots remove their masks during simulations in the chamber.

Adjusting the hypobaric chamber's pressure setting, Air Force Staff Sgt. Andre Scott gradually duplicates the conditions of higher altitudes. When the altimeter reads 54 mmHg, which is an altitude of 60,000 feet, a cylinder of water in the chamber boils.

"You can get dizzy and for a lot of people their skin starts to turn blue," Scott says. "We want them to experience their symptoms so if it happens to them, they know what they're looking for.”

[flv image="http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/Beam_me_up.jpg"]http://stemresources.wm.edu/videos/Hot_Stuff.flv[/flv]

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HOT STUFF!:
Active Denial From Very Hot to Suddenly Not

Air Force Research Laboratory scientists at Kirtland Air Force Base are developing a non-lethal way to keep U.S. forces and interests safe. Called Active Denial, the technology emits a harmless invisible energy wave that tricks the body into feeling extreme heat.

Move away and the pain is gone, no damage done.

"It is very similar to if you were to reach out and touch a hot stove, and you were to jerk your hand back almost before you even think about it,” explains David Williams, a lab mathematician at New Mexico base. “It's an instinct.”

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BEAM ME UP:
Air Force scientists work on the technology of science fiction

Lasers were just the stuff of science fiction not long ago, but can now be found all around us in everyday life. You'll find lasers in supermarket bar code scanners and in the CD and DVD players in our homes.

Not as common are the lasers that still fit the sci-fi genre. One place they can be found, though, is the Air Force Laser Effects Lab in Albuquerque, New Mexico. There, scientists and engineers work with all types of lasers, including big hulking ones that can shoot down high speed missiles.

Scientists like Alfie Philipe also are creating new types of solid state lasers and ways to make them more portable. The fiber lasers under development can be bent around a corner or over a wall. "Much like a water hose in your yard," Philipe says.

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FLAME PROOF:
Inventing New Composites

Lighter, stronger and resistant to flames. That’s what researchers at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division - China Lake want from materials that will be used to build future ships, jets and space craft.

These chemical and materials scientists start with molecules 100,000 times tinier than the width of a human hair. They end with exotic materials called composites.

Their creations are subjected to flame, crushing and other abuse. “We only make so much, so we have to test small samples,” says Eric Abernethy, a materials engineer. “Otherwise it's just too expensive and too difficult to work with.”

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FIGHTING MALARIA:
The Army's New Weapon Against a Killer

Physician Scientist Peter Weina and his team at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research have declared war on the world's most deadly disease, Malaria.

Malaria kills over six million people each year, most of them in South America, Africa, India, and Southeast Asia. It is a nasty disease caused by a tiny protozoa and transmitted by mosquitoes. The current treatment is a 300 year old drug named quinine and it doesn't work very well.

The scientists turned to a common weed, Sweet Wormwood, and found a compound that kills the Malaria protozoa. And now, after eight years of chemical engineering and testing, they have an amazing new drug, Artesunate. "People are getting better virtually before your eyes!" says Dr. Weina.

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EYE IN THE SKY:
40 Pounds of Amazing Aircraft

Launched using a portable catapult and captured by a hook when its mission is over, the Scan Eagle is 40 pounds of amazing aircraft. The plane and its payloads are tested at a Navy Research Lab in China Lake.

Flying all day on just a little gas and remotely controlled by mouse clicks, the unmanned aerial vehicle returns live video that helps keep Navy and Marine units safe in the field.

"It keeps the human away from the danger,” says T.J. Zacman, an aircraft engineer. “You can fly down to 1,000 feet and not worry about getting shot down.”