You can’t unring a bell, but you can unboil an egg. Gregory Weiss, a professor of biochemistry at the University of California at Irvine, and his colleagues untangled the proteins of cooked egg whites to return a key protein to its previous uncooked state. A press release quotes Weiss:

“Yes, we have invented a way to unboil a hen egg,” said Gregory Weiss, UCI professor of … Read More → "Scientists figure out how to unboil an egg"

Researchers from the University of California have developed acid-fueled micro-machines capable of traveling and delivering cargo directly inside a living creature. It’s a breakthrough that’s expected to significantly advance the field of medical nano-robotics.

Scientists have developed drug-delivering micro-machines before, but these systems were only tested under < … Read More → "The first demonstration of self-propelled nanobots in a living animal"

Meet Yuki-taro, a self-guided, GPS and camera equipped robot snowplow that somehow manages to look as cute as Pokemon’s Pikachu – this is Japan, after all! 

Snow? In Japan? Yes indeed, and not just on top of Mount Fuji. Some parts of northern Japan can receive a surprising amount of snow in wintertime, enough to block … Read More → "Robot snow plow in Japan scoops up snow in its “mouth” and leaves igloo bricks behind"

If you’ve ever wanted to see yourself in a few different outfits before deciding on your next wardrobe, Neiman Marcus now lets you view them side by side. The retailer’s Memory Mirror takes video and stills of what you try on for comparison, in addition to 360-degree views so you can see all the angles and items in different colors. As you might expect, snapshots from the digital mirror can … Read More → "Neiman Marcus’ digital mirror compares clothes side by side"

Noctiluca scintillans, a species of bioluminescent plankton, illuminated a stretch of coastline near Hong Kong yesterday in a stunning display that was captured in long exposure photos by photographer Kin Cheung. Unfortunately, as The Atlantic reports, the glowing bloom is caused by farm pollution. The plankton is also known as “Sea Sparkle.”
via … Read More → "Bioluminescent plankton illuminate the waters off Hong Kong"

For hundreds of years, workers broke and hauled salt out of the Salina Turda mine in Romania. That stopped in the 20th century. Since 1992, the huge chambers left behind have been a tourist attraction, which became a full-fledged theme park in 2010. The features include a 65-foot-tall Ferris wheel, an amphitheater, bowling alleys, a miniature golf course, and a lake where you can ride a boat, all contained in the huge underground chambers.
… Read More → "The subterranean theme park 390ft down in a Transylvanian salt mine"

Musician and researcher Mason Bretan plays jazz with a backup band of four robots in what at first glance appears to be a clever application of dancing robots and pre-recorded tracks, but is actually something much more remarkable. While two of the robots do indeed play prerecorded percussion, the other two are actually improvising along with Bretan’s … Read More → "Researcher develops jazz music-playing robots that can improvise with a human musician"

On August 8, 1963, a Royal Mail train puffed toward London carrying £2.6 million in cash. It was the dead of night, and the old tattered bank notes were destined for a government furnace, where they’d be permanently taken out of circulation. But 15 crooks hiding in the darkness had different plans. Wielding crowbars, the thieves held up the train. The criminals worked quickly, tossing 120 sacks of dough off the train and onto a getaway truck. When the heist … Read More → "How a game of Monopoly put 15 criminals behind bars"

A panorama from one of the highest elevations that NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has reached in its 11 years on Mars includes the U.S. flag at the summit.

The view is from the top of “Cape Tribulation,” a raised section of the rim of Endeavour Crater. The panorama spans the interior of the 14-mile-wide (22-kilometer-wide) crater and extends to the rim of another crater on the horizon.
via < … Read More → "Hilltop panorama marks Mars Rover’s 11th anniversary"

A team at the University of Utah has discovered that two species of cone snail have a seemingly unique way to hunt — by releasing fish insulin into the water to slow down the metabolism of the fish they seek to eat.

According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the two fish-hunting cone snails that have … Read More → "Fish-eating snails stun their prey with insulin"