This is a fantastic TED talk by the CEO of XCOR, one of the Mohave rocket startups. It is rather interesting that he left a (lucrative) job at Intel to do this, and that his main motivation was that we have regressed from where we were relative to the 1960's.
I have long argued that the Apollo program was a mixed success for the United States. The enormous expenditures and pressure of the Cold War had the effect of reaching into the 21st century, and borrowing a decade from the future. The downside is that we have languished ever since. I find it interesting that most of the excitement and progress these days is in the startup world--an while they are certainly not at the point of a moon launch, they are making progress.
This is a nice documentary/PR piece by Festo on building a flapping robotic seagull. There are quite a few details about the trials and tribulations of getting something like this to work, managing the center of gravity, and making the entire structure light enough for flight. All in all, worth the time to watch.
PS: I'll try to keep this blog a bit more updated than it has been.