Meet the world’s fastest bike

Meet the world’s fastest bike

You are about to see the world’s fastest bike. Yes, that’s it below. It’s not under a cover or anything, this is the final design. The weird looking shape is actually an aerodynamic shell to allow the bike to cut through the wind at such high speeds. The design comes from The University of Liverpool Velocipede Team who are aiming to break the World record for the fastest human powered vehicle in both male and female divisions, representing the UK.

[Image Courtesy of ULVC]

Dubbed the Arion 1, it is attempting to travel faster than the current record of 83.1 miles per hour held by the Dutch made XeloX3. Although still in design stage, calculations show that the bike is capable of breaching 90 miles per hour and to do this, the rider has to produce 700 watts of power. Fastco Design calculate that “in comparison, the average fit cyclist can generate 100 to 200 watts of cycling hour for a sustainable period, and 500 or more watts in bursts of up to a few minutes.”

They are hoping to manufacture the bike ready for testing in May 2015, with the final test being in September 2015 at the International Human Powered Vehicle Association (IHPVA) event in Battle Mountain, Nevada, where teams from all over the world will battle it out racing across the desert.

[Image Courtesy of ULVC]

Under that cover is a bicycle where the rider will lie down and as close to the floor as possible to cut down on wind resistance. As the bike is completely covered, a camera and monitor will be used to allow the rider to see where he is going.

The aerodynamic shell has been designed much like an airplane’s wing with an inverted tear shape, keeping resistance as low as possible. This is similar to the shape that fishes have evolved into over millions of years of evolution as they need to swim fast through ‘thick’ water, so this design has been Mother Nature approved.

[Image Courtesy of ULVC]

Check out this GIF of the current world record holder flying past at over 80 miles per hour:

Ring of Fire Solar Eclipse: Live Webcast

On Tuesday, April 29 at 0517 GMT, the moon will begin to eclipse the sun in the first of two total solar eclipses set to happen this year. When the moon is directly between the sun and the Earth, only the edges of the sun will be visible, resembling a “ring of fire.” 

The best view of the eclipse will be a small D-shaped 500 km² region in Antarctica, though a partial eclipse will be visible to many Australians. Those living in Perth will see about 55% of the sun eclipsed, while those in Sydney will see about 50%.

Image credit: NASA/Goddard

Image credit: NASA/Goddard/Sinclair

Remember: staring at the sun is not a great idea. Trying to observe the eclipse through binoculars or a telescope without an appropriate solar filter will cause damage to the retina that cannot be fixed. Specialized solar eclipse glasses are available to make viewing the eclipse safer. If you don’t have time to get the proper protection, a pinhole camera can be used to view the eclipse safely. Punch a small hole into cardboard or heavy, dark paper and hold a piece of white paper under it. The eclipse will be nicely displayed, like this:

Image credit: Eugene Kim

If you do not live in an area where the eclipse will be visible, you don’t have to miss out! The Slooh Space Camera will be providing a live webcast of the event, no special eyewear necessary!

Until then, check out this simulation of what the eclipse is expected to look like at its maximum.

Ring of Fire Solar Eclipse: Live Webcast

April 24, 2014 | by Lisa Winter

Photo credit: NASA/Goddard/

Share4.7K Tweet542 27 Reddit13 200

On Tuesday, April 29 at 0517 GMT, the moon will begin to eclipse the sun in the first of two total solar eclipses set to happen this year. When the moon is directly between the sun and the Earth, only the edges of the sun will be visible, resembling a “ring of fire.”
The best view of the eclipse will be a small D-shaped 500 km² region in Antarctica, though a partial eclipse will be visible to many Australians. Those living in Perth will see about 55% of the sun eclipsed, while those in Sydney will see about 50%.

Image credit: NASA/Goddard

Image credit: NASA/Goddard/Sinclair
Remember: staring at the sun is not a great idea. Trying to observe the eclipse through binoculars or a telescope without an appropriate solar filter will cause damage to the retina that cannot be fixed. Specialized solar eclipse glasses are available to make viewing the eclipse safer. If you don’t have time to get the proper protection, a pinhole camera can be used to view the eclipse safely. Punch a small hole into cardboard or heavy, dark paper and hold a piece of white paper under it. The eclipse will be nicely displayed, like this:

Image credit: Eugene Kim
If you do not live in an area where the eclipse will be visible, you don’t have to miss out! The Slooh Space Camera will be providing a live webcast of the event, no special eyewear necessary!
Until then, check out this simulation of what the eclipse is expected to look like at its maximum.

Read more at http://www.iflscience.com/space/ring-fire-solar-eclipse-live-webcast#u65KJdhhiXwMW2AM.99

Bodhidharma

Bodhidharma (AD 520)

 who went to China to spread Buddhism, is said to be from Kanchipuram. He stayed at the Shaolin Monastery and preached Buddhist ideologies. At that time he supposedly trained the local people in the art of Varmakkalai.

 

History of Bodhidharma

Bodhidharma was a Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th/6th century and is traditionally credited as the leading patriarch and transmitter of Zen (Chinese: Chán, Sanskrit: Dhyana) to China. According to Chinese legend, he also began the physical training of the Shaolin monks that led to the creation of Shaolinquan. However, martial arts historians have shown this legend stems from a 17th century qigong manual known as the Yijin Jing.
Little contemporary biographical information on Bodhidharma is extant, and subsequent accounts became layered with legend, but many accounts state that he was from a Brahmin family in southern India and possibly of royal lineage. Scholars have concluded his place of birth to be Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu.


After becoming a Buddhist monk, Bodhidharma traveled to China. The accounts differ on the date of his arrival, with one early account claiming that he arrived during the Liú Sòng Dynasty (420-479) and later accounts dating his arrival to the Liáng Dynasty (502-557). Bodhidharma was primarily active in the lands of the Northern Wèi Dynasty (386-534). Modern scholarship dates him to about the early 5th century.
Throughout Buddhist art, Bodhidharma is depicted as a rather ill-tempered, profusely bearded and wide-eyed barbarian. He is described as "The Blue-Eyed Barbarian" in Chinese texts. The Anthology of the Patriarchal Hall (952) identifies Bodhidharma as the 28th Patriarch of Buddhism in an uninterrupted line that extends all the way back to the Buddha himself. D.T. Suzuki contends that Chán's growth in popularity during the 7th and 8th centuries attracted criticism that it had "no authorized records of its direct transmission from the founder of Buddhism" and that Chán historians made Bodhidharma the 28th patriarch of Buddhism in response to such attacks

Research Notes

The earliest historical record of Bodhidharma was compiled in 547 by Yang Xuanzhi, the Record of the Buddhist Monasteries of Luoyang, in which Yang identifies Bodhidharma as a Persian Central Asian (Wade-Giles: po-szu kuo hu-jen) (Broughton, 1999, p. 54, p.138).
However, Broughton notes that Yáng may have actually been referring to another monk named Boddhidharma, not related to the historical founder of Chan Buddhism. This book is considered to be unreliable, full of exaggeration and mirabilia. John Jorgensen (Inventing Hui-neng, the Sixth Patriarch) believes that Yang just confused Pahalva with Pallava. Pahalva means Persian. Bodhidharma's disciple Tanlin identifies his master as South Indian Brahmin(Broughton, 1999, p. 8).
The Biography is part of the Long Scroll of the Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices, which Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki found in 1935 by going through the Dunhuang collection of the Chinese National Library. Bodhidharma's birth name Bodhitara. Throughout Buddhist art, Bodhidharma is depicted as a rather ill-tempered, profusely bearded and wide-eyed barbarian. He is described as "The Blue-Eyed Barbarian" in Chinese texts.
His landing place was later called Xi Lai Chu Di ('first landfall on journeying from the west'), and is the site of Hualin temple. About his Kanchipuram origin - Bodhidharma, the founder of the Chan (Zen) school of Buddhism in China, is a prince of the Pallava dynasty, a contemporary of Skandavarman IV and Nandivarman I and the son of Simhavarman II. Other accounts say that he was black in color (this comes from the paintings on shaolin cave walls of a black Dravidian teacher).
And why did he go to China in the first place? In 526, the 28th Buddhist patriarch Ta Mo (Bodhidharma) came to China by sea; the downfall of Buddhism in the country of its origin had forced him and many of his coreligionists to seek a new home in China, 'cliicllyin Layong', where 5000 Indians are said to have lived in the 6th century A.D. (India as known to the ancient world - Dr. G Banerjee). Sadly Bodhidharma was killed by poisoning, though the reports are not conclusive. According to Dàoxuan's chronology, Bodhidharma's death must have occurred prior to 534, the date of the Northern Wei Dynasty's fall, because Huike subsequently leaves Luoyang for Ye