Gabriele Niccolai, an engineering model maker from Florence, Italy, stands next to one of the models he's created from the original drawings of renaissance master mind Leonardo Di Vinci at the Sydney preview of the DA VINCI SECRETS - 'Anatomy to Robots' exhibition.

A display copy of the Codex Atlanticus from which a number of Da Vinci's machines have been recreated by Gabriele Niccolai, from Florence, Italy.

Besides his skills as an engineer, Niccolai was further aided in his tasks by being able to read Da Vinci's handwriting on the original documents dating from the 1500s

The models created by Gabriele Niccolai from the original drawings from the renaissance master show Da Vinci's amazing understanding for mechanics.

A model of Da Vinci's famous flying wing created as part of the travelling exhibition.

The Florentine team behind the show's exhibits are Elena Sardelli, who created the anatomical models, Gabriele Niccolai, responsible for the engineering models and Fresco artist Antonio de Vito at the opening address for the DA VINCI SECRETS - 'Anatomy to Robots' exhibition.

Detail of the chest pullies inside Robot - Complete Mechanism, created from the original drawings found in the Da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus F579r and reproduced by Gabriele Niccolai.

A model shows the discoveries Da Vinci made about the structure of the human body and documented through his detailed sketches and drawings.

Was Da Vinci's Robot - Motion of the Arms, recreated from drawings in the Codex Atlanticus F579r, really the inspiration for the YouTube classic?

Detail of the Robot Motion of the Arms created by engineer Gabriele Niccolai from drawings in the Codex Atlanticus F579r.

Detail of the Robot Drummer created by engineer Gabriele Niccolai from the original sketches.

Detail of the Robot Drummer. The tempo of the drum beats can be altered by changing the grooves the pin runs down as the mechanical handle is turned.

Detail of the Robot Drummer (from the Codex Atlanticus 55r) created by Gabriele Niccolai.

Detail of the study for mechanical foot (from the Codex Madrid) created by Gabriele Niccolai.

What makes this machine unique is that Da Vinci has copied the walking motion of an animal rather than human.

Fresco artist Antonio de Vito's copy of Da Vinci's famous Last Supper.

Another section of the final fresco is completed at every location the exhibition travels to.

A model of a device for breathing underwater on show at DA VINCI SECRETS - 'Anatomy to Robots' exhibition at the Lower Level of Sydney Town Hall, which runs from May 20 - August 2, 2010.

Detail of the Robot - Complete Mechanism, created from the original drawings found in the Da Vinci's Codex Atlanticus F579r and reproduced by engineer Gabriele Niccolai.

A guest looks at a model of 'Robot - complete mechanism' at the DA VINCI SECRETS - 'Anatomy to Robots' exhibition at the Lower Level of Sydney Town Hall

Fresco artist Antonio de Vito works on a copy of Da Vinci's famous Last Supper at DA VINCI SECRETS - 'Anatomy to Robots' exhibition at the Lower Level of Sydney Town.

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The world's first personal supercomputer - a machine 250 times faster than the average PC - has been unveiled in Britain.

It will go on sale for more than pound £4000 ($9100), beyond the reach of most consumers but a fraction of what computers with similar capabilities usually cost. The supercomputers, released in the US last month, will initially be sold to the scientific and research community and universities. PC maker Dell, however, said it would soon be mass-producing them for the general consumer market.

The Tesla supercomputers have such immense power they should be able to help doctors to process the results for brain and body scans much more quickly, allowing them to tell patients within hours instead of days whether they have a tumour.

Scientists believe they could help to find cures for diseases such as cancer and malaria faster than traditional research, because they can run hundreds of thousands of simulations to create a shortlist of the drugs most likely to offer a potential cure.

Previous supercomputers have been massive systems consisting of thousands of machines housed in huge rooms, costing millions to build and maintain. Tesla personal supercomputers look like the PCs many people already have in their homes.

"These supercomputers can improve the time it takes to process information by 1000 times," Dr Kirk said.

"If you imagine it takes a week to get a result (from running an experiment), you can only do it 52 times a year. If it takes you minutes, you can do it constantly, and learn just as much in a day."

The new computers use innovative "graphics processing units" - a technological breakthrough, the company says, that could bring lightning speeds to the next generation of computers for the consumer market.

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A £1m clock called the "time eater" has been unveiled at Cambridge University by Professor Stephen Hawking.

The author of A Brief History of Time was guest of honour when the unique clock, which has no hands or numbers, was revealed at Corpus Christi College. 

Dubbed the strangest clock in the world, it features a giant grasshopper and has 60 slits cut into its face which light up to show the time.
Its creator John Taylor said he "wanted to make timekeeping interesting". 

The Corpus Clock will stand outside the college's library and will be on view to the public.

Tribute : Dr Taylor is an inventor and horologist - one who studies the measurement of time - and was a student at Corpus Christi in the 1950s. He has given the clock as a gift to his former college. 
The grasshopper or "chronophage", meaning "time eater", advances around the 4ft-wide face, each step marking a second. Its movement triggers blue flashing lights which travel across the face eventually stopping at the correct hour and minute. But the clock is only accurate once every five minutes - the rest of the time the lights are simply for decoration.


Harrison also invented the grasshopper escapement - a tiny internal device that releases a clock's gears at each swing of its pendulum. 

Dr Taylor told the Daily Mail newspaper he decided "to turn the clock inside out... so you can see the seconds being eaten up".

The clock has taken five years and a million pounds to construct. The Corpus Clock is wound up by an electric motor which will last for the next 25 years. It took a team of eight engineers and craftsman five years to mould the 24-carat gold-plated face. 

Alan Midleton, curator of the British Horological Institute, said: "It's a wonderful idea. 

"Only time will tell whether it will become as famous as Big Ben - I doubt it, actually." 

Dr Taylor made his fortune developing the kettle thermostat.

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Sir Sean Connery unveils his new book entitled Being A Scott at the Edinburgh book festival August 25, 2008 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The launch of the actors memoirs book coincides with his 78th birthday.




The actor, who purists and the elderly claim, “was the greatest Bond of all time,” has released his memoirs. Finally.


In the first extract from his book, Sean Connery describes his childhood in an Edinburgh tenement and the surprising course that made him an actor.




He's recognized around the world as the iconic face of James Bond. But in Britain, Sean Connery is also well known as a proud Scot.








Happy 78th birthday you Sexy man! Yes I think he is one of the sexiest man in the world....

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