Saturday, December 4, 2010

Downwind faster than the wind


In July 2009 I wrote a post about wind-powered vehicles that travel directly downwind faster than the wind, giving links to videos explaining why this surprising idea is in fact possible.
I've now noticed that in July 2010 a fantastic team of enthusiasts fasterthanthewind.org indeed demonstrated a single-person wind-powered vehicle that goes more than twice as fast as the wind, directly downwind. Don't you just love engineers?!

Friday, December 3, 2010

Science, Engineering and Technology Award for DECC 2050 Pathways Team

DECC 2050 team members
At the Civil Service Awards last month, the Science, Engineering and Technology Award was won by the DECC 2050 Pathways Team for their work, which I highlighted in July.
From right to left, the photo shows Gus O'Donnell (Cabinet Secretary) giving the award to Katherine Randall, Tom Counsell, Clare Maltby, and James Geddes at Buckingham Palace. (To their left are two staff from the Government Office of Science.)