Anyone who’s had to navigate around potholes knows how inefficient humans can be at fixing infrastructure—which is why one group of researchers at the UK’s University of Leeds is now looking into enlisting fleets of drones to solve our repair woes.

The university is teaming up with the city of Leeds to develop fleets of drones designed to recognize and fix basic infrastructure issues. The key … Read More → "Researchers are developing pothole-repairing drones"

‘A team of scientists from Beijing’s Tsinghua University have reportedly devised a means of producing uniform embryonic stem cells with a 3D printer. These cells stack like organic Lego bricks and could form the structural basis for future lab-grown organs. “It was really exciting to see that we could grow embryoid body in such a controlled manner,” lead author Wei Sun said in a statement. “The grown embryoid body is uniform and homogenous, and … Read More → "Researchers 3D print ‘Lego bricks’ of functional stem cells"

The footage was created from images captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which has been monitoring the Sun from space since 2010. Every 12 seconds, the SDO images the Sun in 10 wavelengths of invisible ultraviolet light. Each is assigned a unique color and used to highlight a different temperature of solar material. The images are presented in ultra-HD, which is eight times the resolution of normal HD video. One minute of the footage above is the result of about 10 hours … Read More → "NASA releases footage of the sun in ultra-HD"

… Read More → "MIT PhD student builds an autonomous drone capable of avoiding obstacles while flying at 30mph"

Netflix has just added a series of videos that will allow parents to perfectly troll their young kids who refuse to go to bed on time. Picture the common situation: child is watching TV when bedtime rolls around. Parent tells them it’s time to turn it off, but child begs and pleads for “just one more show,” then they’ll promise to go to bed. Now, thanks to Netflix, parents can say “fine, just one more show,” … Read More → "Netflix now has 5-minute shows for kids negotiating bedtime"

Despite growing concerns over safety, privacy, and legality of drones, it seems that Google will still be pushing through with a drone-powered service of its own in two years’ time. After all, since when did similar concerns stop Google from pushing through with its completely autonomous self-driving cars? Apparently, Google plans to commercially launch its drone delivery service, currently codenamed “Project Wing” by 2017. That is according to David Vos, and he should know, since he’s the current … Read More → "Google “Project Wing” drone delivery taking flight in 2017"

Tired of the preprogramed junk that makes up radio? Don’t curse the DJ; seize the airwaves! An FM transmitter is a simple device that connects to your music player and broadcasts your tunes through a weak radio signal. This signal can be picked up by receivers in the immediate vicinity, but with a few tweaks you can strengthen it and reach up to 100 feet. Although it may not be much, it can turn your car  … Read More → "How to make your own pirate radio station"

Have you always wanted to leave your mark on buildings, box cars, and overpasses but were too self-conscious of your non-existent graffiti skills? The SprayPrinter is a clip-on accessory that turns cans of spray paint into handheld dot matrix printers that can perfectly reproduce almost any design.

The hardware is actually made of two key components: the SprayPrinter can attachment that controls the nozzle, releasing tiny blasts of paint to build up an … Read More → "Computer-controlled spray paint lets you print graffiti"

National Sawdust is an event space that took five years (and a bunch of engineering magic) to realize. Based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the building is a nonprofit looking into the creative process behind making music. Which we’re sure is fascinating, but it’s the design that caught our attention. Early into the project designers conceived of a box-in-box arrangement, keeping the outers shell, but building something new inside it. While it solved several design issues, it also … Read More → "This NYC music venue uses water springs to soundproof itself"

Voyager 1, the deep space probe launched in 1977 and thought to have left the Solar System hasn’t entirely escaped the parts of space where Sol holds sway.

So says a new contribution to The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Triangulation of the interstellar magnetic field .

Boffins have debated whether Voyager 1 has left the Solar System for a few years now, after NASA declared it could no … Read More → "Has Voyager 1 escaped the Sun yet? Yes, but also no, say boffins"