It looks like the days of shampoo bottles striking fear into the hearts of airport security everywhere might be numbered. Thanks to Los Alamos scientists, a new type of detection technology could give airports the tools they need to finally tell if a liquid is a potential threat—all with one simple scan.

Today, a large part of the reason we have such a limited on-board liquid allotment is that it’s nearly impossible for airport security to tell the difference between liquids in-bottle.
via … Read More → "New airport screening method may finally end the absurd liquid ban"

Moët & Chandon, a French champagne producer, is responsible for this vending machine at a Selfridge’s department store in London. For about $29 dollars, you can a 6.7 fluid ounce swig of the good stuff. Each little bottle is decorated with Swarovski crystals for extra high-falutin’ class.
via Neatorama

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If its 18 rotors aren’t enough to get you excited, this crazy flying machine has a “pleasant sonorous sound,” according to German engineers who built the Volocopter VC200.

The successor to the even more outrageous Volocopter VC1 is being billed as “the world’s first green helicopter,” but a number of other projects have also claimed that title.
via … Read More → "18-rotor electric helicopter makes maiden flight"

An entire country will soon be wiped off the map because of rising seas caused by climate change. Kiribati, an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, will start to disappear around 2030, according to a feature by Bloomberg Businessweek. President Anote Tong is faced with the difficult task of trying to attract aid and investment to his nation of 33 islands, while also … Read More → "An island nation in the Pacific Ocean is about to be drowned by climate change"

There could be hope for diabetics who are tired of giving themselves insulin injections on a daily basis. Researchers at North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are developing a system in which a single injection of nanoparticles could deliver insulin internally for days at a time – with a little help from pulses of ultrasound.

The biocompatible and biodegradable nanoparticles are made of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid), and … Read More → "Ultrasound pulses could replace daily injections for diabetics"

Neuroscientist James Fallon knows what a psychopathic brain scan looks like, because he’s studied the differences in brain activity between normal brains and those of people with various anomalies and impairments. While studying scans of his own family members in a study of Alzheiner’s disease, he recognized one that had all the hallmarks of a psychopath. His curiosity got the best of him, and he looked up who it was. It was his … Read More → "The neuroscientist who discovered he was a psychopath"

It’s a starkly utilitarian idea: if you are already infected with HIV, receiving a transplant from another HIV-positive person doesn’t threaten to make your life any worse; if anything, it could help prolong it. That’s the premise behind the newly approved law that has passed through both legislative chambers of the American government and was yesterday signed and enacted … Read More → "Organ transplants between HIV-positive patients now possible thanks to new law"

Kumi Yamashita, whose mind-blowing shadow artworks have been featured before, uses a single, unbroken thread wrapped around thousands of nails to create stunning portraits of women and men.

In the ongoing series entitled Constellation (a nod to the Greek tradition of tracing mythical figures in the sky), the Japanese artist (living and working in New York) uses three simple materials … Read More → "Portraits made from a single thread wrapped around thousands of nails"

When dreaming up that world-changing invention, wouldn’t it be great if you could just sketch out the circuits and have them magically work? That’s the idea behind Circuit Scribe, a ballpoint pen that’s full of quick-drying ink that’ll help you doodle your circuits on notebook paper. Emerging out of research from the University of Illinois, the team is now accepting your cash through Kickstarter to help … Read More → "You can draw circuit boards onto paper with this pen"

“A once-shuttered warehouse is now a state-of-the-art lab where new workers are mastering the 3D printing that has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything.” This is the first line you’ll hear when you start playing the 39-second voice clip from “voice sculptor” Gilles Azzaro’s Next Industrial Revolution, an artistic reworking of President Barack … Read More → "This is how you turn Obama’s speech about 3D printing into a 3D-printed sculpture"