The Guild of Scientific Troubadours

The Guild of Scientific Troubadours

ex scientia, sono

  • Home
  • Join the Guild
  • The Scientific Troubadour Pledge
  • The SONGS

aeronautics

Scientific illustration of a quadrocopter drone's propeller directions.

Science Art: Scheme of quadrocopter impellent (X and H configuration), by Ulrich Heither

18 April 2021 grant 0

This looks like a heraldic emblem to me, but it’s not. It’s also not merely an abstract diagram of circular forces, though that’s a little closer. It’s a schematic… Read the rest “Science Art: Scheme of quadrocopter impellent (X and H configuration), by Ulrich Heither”

Flying taxi by Toyota

2 September 2020 grant 0

Endgadget (yes, I know) enthuses over the Toyota-backed SkyDrive flying car, tested with a pilot at a Toyota facility:

The SD-03 is billed as the smallest electric VTOL (vertical take-off

… Read the rest “Flying taxi by Toyota”
A scientific illustration (in the form of a cartoon) depicting the coming age of helicopters, when police will simply be able to hover by your high-rise apartment window to conduct their inquiries.

Science Art: From The Helicopters Are Coming, 1944.

5 January 2020 grant 0

A scientific illustration (in the form of a cartoon) depicting the coming age of helicopters, when police will simply be able to hover by your high-rise apartment window to conduct their inquiries. Click to embiggen
This illustration, by Erik Nitsche and Roslyn Welcher, is from a book by CBF Macauley that claims to be “the first complete work ever dedicated to the subject of helicopters.”… Read the rest “Science Art: From The Helicopters Are Coming, 1944.”

scientific illustration of a blended wing aircraft, or hybrid wing body, a jet concept tested by NASA

Science Art: Hybrid Wing Body, NASA, 2013

8 December 2019 grant 0

scientific illustration of a blended wing aircraft, or hybrid wing body, a jet concept tested by NASAClick to embiggen

NASA, for a while, was looking at different ways an aircraft’s body could be used to generate lift, rather than having wings sort of stuck on the fuselage after the… Read the rest “Science Art: Hybrid Wing Body, NASA, 2013”

Scientific illustration of Rufus Porter's airship, dubbed the "aeroport"

Science Art: Rufus Porter’s “Travelling Balloon,” later renamed the “aeroport,” from Mechanics magazine, Nov. 8, 1834

6 May 2019 grant 0

Scientific illustration of Rufus Porter's airship, dubbed the "aeroport"

This airship is a kind of ancestor of the blimp or dirigible, designed by 19th-century American artist and inventor Rufus Porter, who’s perhaps best remembered today not for his … Read the rest “Science Art: Rufus Porter’s “Travelling Balloon,” later renamed the “aeroport,” from Mechanics magazine, Nov. 8, 1834”

from https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/dress_for_altitude_detail.html

Science Art: The Goodrich XH-5 Tomato-Worm Suit

1 October 2018 grant 0

from https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/dress_for_altitude_detail.htmlClick to embiggen

This might be the greatest contribution gardening ever made to space travel.

In the middle of World War II, engineers were trying to figure out how to make pressurized suits… Read the rest “Science Art: The Goodrich XH-5 Tomato-Worm Suit”

Half-blimp, half-plane flying machine built with safety in mind.

3 November 2017 grant 0

Popular Science introduces us to “The Plimp,” a vehicle that hopes to be a nearly unsinkable aircraft:

With a rigid, winged body held underneath a massive helium-containing

… Read the rest “Half-blimp, half-plane flying machine built with safety in mind.”

Science Art: Engine, by ESA

27 August 2017 grant 0

from http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2016/05/Engine
Click to embiggen

The European Space Agency has a way with names. This is in their image library as “Engine.”

The description offers little more detail: The ducted fan engine… Read the rest “Science Art: Engine, by ESA”

Science Art: Blackbird SR-71 engine nozzle, 2011

14 May 2017 grant 0

from : https://archive.org/stream/astronomianovaai00kepl#page/4/mode/2up
Click to embiggen

“Internal view of a Pratt & Whitney J58 afterburner and exhaust nozzle.”

Found on Wikimedia Commons.

Science Art: 16-Foot Transonic Tunnel, 1990

14 November 2016 grant 0

16foot_transonic_tunnel
Click to embiggen

This might look like a jet plane’s engine, but it’s really a thing to test jet planes – supersonic ones. It’s a really big fan (with wooden blades!)… Read the rest “Science Art: 16-Foot Transonic Tunnel, 1990”

So ISIS is using homemade drones. Here’s how they work.

9 November 2016 grant 0

Popular Science looks at the the backyard engineering that goes into an effective homemade military drone:

To better understand ISIS drones, I spoke with an investigator at Conflict Armament

… Read the rest “So ISIS is using homemade drones. Here’s how they work.”

Science Art: Dressing for Altitude, NASA.

4 September 2016 grant 0

From NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/dress_for_altitude_detail.html
Click to embiggen

This is an image from this NASA eBook on high-flying fashions:

Although space suits, which differ from pressure suits in subtle, but important ways, have been well covered

… Read the rest “Science Art: Dressing for Altitude, NASA.”

The world’s most embarrassingly shaped airship is debuting in England.

10 August 2016 grant 0

Reuters tells the story behind the one-time spy airship entering civilian service as “the flying bum”:

The Airlander 10, known in Britain as ‘the flying bum’

… Read the rest “The world’s most embarrassingly shaped airship is debuting in England.”

Again, airships. With a little difference.

12 February 2015 grant 0

CityMetric takes a look at why the zeppelins went down in the end… and how one new system might bring them back
Today, the Van Wagner group, an airship organisation, estimates that
… Read the rest “Again, airships. With a little difference.”

NASA breaks scientific boundaries… in ballooning.

31 December 2014 grant 0

Nature profiles the amazing new high-atmosphere vehicle for exploring space from Antarctica:

If all continues smoothly, experts expect the flight to last for 100 days or longer. The current

… Read the rest “NASA breaks scientific boundaries… in ballooning.”

Posts pagination

« 1 2 3 4 »

Follow on Bandcamp

Something to Believe In

GRANT: something to believe in

You could write a review of this album here on iTunes.

That would be generous.

Fellow Travelers

  • 314.Action
  • Bioephemera
  • Breakfast in the Ruins
  • Carabus
  • Discover
  • Fluxblog
  • Giant-Killer
  • grant (archive)
  • grant (bandcamp)
  • Hello, Poindexter!
  • ideonexus
  • junior kitchen
  • Keep Your Pebbles
  • LiveScience
  • Mindless Ones
  • Nature
  • New Scientist
  • NIMBioS: Science Songwriters-in-Residence
  • Peculiar Velocity
  • PhysOrg
  • Science Daily
  • Science Magazine
  • Science News
  • Science Writers Daily
  • Scientific American
  • Singing Science Records
  • Songfight!
  • Space.com
  • Stereo Sanctity
  • The Great Beyond
  • The Other Adam Ford
  • The Periodic Table of Poetry
  • Voyages Extraordinaires

Tags

acoustics aeronautics agronomy anatomy anthropology archaeology astronomy biochemistry biology botany chemistry climatology computer science ecology economics electrical engineering electronics engineering entomology epidemiology evolution genetics geology linguistics marine biology mathematics medicine meteorology microbiology microscopy nanotechnology neurology oceanography optics paleontology pharmacology physics psychology quantum physics research robotics sociology space exploration theremin zoology
RSS Help Wanted: ScienceCareers
  • Baylor College of Medicine: Postdoctoral Associate - AI for Brain Tumors
  • Boston Children's Hospital - Division of Pulmonary Medicine : Faculty Position – Transformative Pulmonary Science & Genomic Engineering
  • Northwestern University: Postdoctoral Fellow
  • Kapoose Creek Bio: Neurobiology Lead – Drug Discovery (Scientist to VP level)
  • Case University Department of Physiology & Biophysics: Postdoctoral Fellow
  • Midwestern University - Downers Grove: Assistant Professor- IL- Pathology
Honorary Troubadours
  • Jonathan Coulton, Contributing Troubadour for Popular Science.
  • Laura Veirs, who knows her way around a polysyllable.
  • Thomas Dolby, godfather of scientific pop.
  • Squeaky, fact-based rock about fusion containment & rocket science.
  • Cosmos II, a.k.a. Boston University astronomer Alan Marscher.
  • Dr. Fiorella Terenzi, astrophysicist who makes music from cosmic radio sources.
  • Dr. Jim Webb, astronomy professor and acoustic guitarist.
  • Artichoke, the band behind 26 Scientists, Vols. I and II.
  • They Might Be Giants, unrelenting proponents of scientific popular song.
  • Symphonies of Science, the people who make Carl Sagan and others sing.
  • Giant Squid, doom metal about the sublime horrors of marine biology.
  • Gethan Dick,6 scientists, 6 musicians, 1 great album
Related Projects
  • Squid Pro Crow
  • Grant Bandcamp
  • Grant Soundcloud
  • Penitential Originals Playlist
https://guildofscientifictroubadours.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/01-gravity-song.mp3

 
"Is it a fact—or have I dreamt it—that, by means of electricity, the world of matter has become a great nerve, vibrating thousands of miles in a breathless point of time?"
— Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables, 1851

grant balfour made this website.

Member institution: Duct Tape Aesthetic Laboratories
Tools
  • Subscribe via Email
     
  • View as PDF (via FiveFingers)
     
  • Is Facebook Electric?
     
  •   Yes, yes, we RSS!

     
Fields of Inquiry
  • Cold Storage
  • Featured
  • Guild Affairs
  • Music
    • Songs
      • Penitential Covers
  • Science
    • Science Art

Copyright © 2026 | WordPress Theme by MH Themes

Social Media Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com