Get your own Iron Man ‘suit’ for $2,000
posted by Laura Domela
If you’re like most people, you don’t have a billion or so dollars laying around to spend on developing a real life Iron Man suit as worn by super-hero Tony Stark of comic book and movie fame. And if you’re like me in particular, you’re sick of waiting on Elon Musk to build on himself. (Geez is he lazy.)
Fortunately thanks to a new crowdfunding campaign that launched today, you can have the next best thing: A suit that looks and feels exactly like the Iron Man Mark III armor worn by Robert Downy Jr. in the movies. (Basically, it’s a costume.)
The suit itself is crafted from 3D printed parts and feature metal joints, a helmet that slides up to reveal your face, and even a LED-powered fake arc reactor embedded into the chest plate. (For non geeks, that’s the artificial glowing heart.) It’ll set you back $2,000, which would be worth it for the ultimate Iron Man fan.
via Venture Beat
The Soviet Union spent $1 billion on mind-control experiments
posted by Larra Morris
The Soviet Union's arms race with the United States during the Cold War included an expensive effort to develop mind-control weapons, the Physics arXiv Blog reports. Drawing on a new paper published by researcher Serge Kernbach, the blog describes the USSR's extensive efforts around what they called "psychotronics" — the equivalent of America's own experiments with parapsychology. Among the results: the Soviets developed a device called a "cerpan" intended to generate and store high-frequency electromagnetic radiation produced by the human brain in hopes of influencing other objects.
via The Verge
You can now 3D print a fully functional speaker
posted by Larra Morris
There's no doubt that 3D printing is going to play a huge part in the future of manufacturing, especially now that researchers at Cornell University have managed to print every component of a fully functional speaker—including the cone, the wiring, and even the magnet.
via Gizmodo
Icy Europa may be first alien world with active plate tectonics
posted by Larra Morris
Scientists may have spotted the first evidence for active plate tectonics on another world. Jupiter’s moon Europa is covered in an ice crust bearing scars that may reveal movement similar to that of Earth’s rocky plates.
Europa was already considered to be among the most scientifically intriguing bodies in the solar system and one of the most promising places to hunt for life in the solar system because of the liquid ocean that resides beneath its crust. If the latest findings turn out to be true, it could be another point in favor of the moon’s potential habitability by providing a way to get nutrients from the surface down into the ocean.
via Wired
Image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Pigmented fish look like creatures made from neon lights
posted by Larra Morris
Because it never gets boring to look inside creatures, living or dead, here's Cleared: a photo series by Adam Summers that straddles the super-narrow divide between science and art, showing deceased fish in various states of transparency to expose their complex insides...
As it turns out, the 40-year-old staining techniques he employs to view and examine the swimmers' skeletal tissues produce absolutely stunning results—but not before the specimens have been dyed and bleached, their flesh dissolved, and the remains bathed in glycerine, where he then poses and shoots them fully submerged
via Gizmodo
New species of wacky monkey-porcupine hybrid discovered In Brazil
posted by Larra Morris
Biologists from the Federal University of Paraíba in Brazil have discovered a new species of porcupine that – to the uninitiated – basically just looks like an amazing, pug-nosed, spiky monkey.
With a prehensile tail, these Coendou porcupines are very similar to most internet writers we know: nocturnal, solitary, prickly, and slow-moving. Found only in Central and South America, the monkey-pines live in trees, where they spend their nights collecting leaves and fruit for food. Their tail operates as a fifth hand for balance in the treetops; unfortunately, they’re incapable of jumping, and have to climb all the way down if they want to venture into a new tree.
via Geekosystem
The 1929 rocket car
posted by Larra Morris
In 1929, they built their Solar & Interstellar Rocket Car, dubbed the "Shirley Lois Moon Girl" after Daniel's daughter. Made largely of cardboard and linoleum, a 1921 Chevy chassis, and powered by a set of gasoline-burning rocket motors, the thing must have been a fearsome sight on the back roads of rural New York. The lightweight building materials were a safety consideration. "In case of trouble," Daniel said, "I wanted to be able to kick my way out." Amazingly enough, they got the thing registered and licensed in the State of New York.
The rocket car could travel up to 70 miles per hour!
via Neatorama
5 historical attempts to ban coffee
posted by Larra Morris
4. SWEDEN
Sweden gave coffee the ax in 1746. The government also banned “coffee paraphernalia”—with cops confiscating cups and dishes. King Gustav III even ordered convicted murderers to drink coffee while doctors monitored how long the cups of joe took to kill them, which was great for convicts and boring for the doctors.
via Mental Floss
At long last, small hamburgers will be delivered in a pneumatic tube
posted by Larra Morris
A mainstay of drive-up bank tellers for decades, a New Zealand cafe is finally taking the pneumatic tube to its logical conclusion: as a delivery mechanism for delicious, nutritive sliders. The Press reports the story of Christchurch's C1 restaurant, which is in the midst of installing a network of vacuum tubing to connect its kitchen with every single table; when the system is complete late next year, cooks will be able to shoot burgers directly to their customers at over 80 miles per hour inside reinforced aluminum canisters.
via The Verge
Notice – Forest, tiny paper tree sculptures made out of disposable bags
posted by Larra Morris
Artist Yuken Teruya cut tiny paper trees out of disposable paper bags and then installed them inside the bags in his sculpture series “Notice – Forest.”
via Laughing Squid
