Fridaygram: Global Impact, lunar mapping, transforming robot
By Scott Knaster, Google
Developers Blog Editor
This week
Google Giving launched the
Global
Impact Awards, to recognize and reward achievements that use technology to improve
people’s lives. The awards go to groups that have already accomplished dramatic results and
provide continued funding so they can keep changing the world by providing clean water,
protecting endangered species, and doing other wonderful things.
If you want to find out more about the Global Impact Awards, visit
the home page, or learn
about the other
grant programs of
Google Giving.
Meanwhile, near the moon, scientists have published the
first mapping
images from the tandem spacecraft
Ebb and
Flow, which reached lunar orbit about a year ago. This program, called GRAIL
(Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory), uses the two spacecraft to study lunar features in
great detail, providing unprecedented information about Earth’s moon. So far, the data shows
craters, peaks, and volcanic formations, but no huge surprises like giant alien transformer
robots.
Speaking of transformer robots,
here’s one you
can enjoy on video. Sure, it’s neither giant nor alien, but it’s still very cool,
don’t you think? Have a great weekend!
On Fridays we depart from our usual developer topics and post a Fridaygram,
which features interesting nerdy stuff for fun and knowledge. This week we acknowledge Walt
Disney’s eleventy-first birthday, and the happy news that his creation Oswald the Lucky
Rabbit will finally get a
voice after 85 years of silence.
