As new models are announced every week, 3D printers are slowly but steadily becoming as common as iPhone cases. But thankfully there are a few standouts that boast features other than a cheaper price tag, like the Zeus from AIO Robotics that’s set to premiere on Kickstarter in just a few weeks. It’s a 3D printer that doubles as … Read More → "This 3D Printer could also be the world’s first 3D fax machine"
Left up to Tomás Saraceno, the buildings of the future might look a lot like kites. Not just any kite, either. In his most recent work, the Argentinian artist re-imagines buildings as massive, shimmering pyramids that would lift off land and float in the air on a windy day. Commissioned to accompany the Maasvlakte 2 expansion of Rotterdam’s port, Saraceno’s Solar Bell sculpture is a … Read More → "This might be the coolest kite ever"
What do you do when you’re fighting a fire with your helicopter but aren’t near any lake or river? Easy, you just dunk your bucket in a nearby pool and head back to the fire. This pilot is amazing.
via Jalopnik
… Read More → "Watch a fire-fighting helicopter steal water from a pool"
When it comes to music, what we see may be even more important than what we hear.
In a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Chia-Jung Tsay had participants predict the winners of musical competitions based on recordings — some audio-only, some videos with audio, and some … Read More → "Study: How music sounds may not be as important as how it looks"
Most correctional officers today do not carry firearms, unless they’re isolated away from the prison population. But back in the olden days, prison guards on their rounds needed a little backup power in their hands, especially when opening cell doors—usually a two-handed job.
So came the birth of jailer key guns, a cell door key that doubles as a primitive one-shooter. Filled with gunpowder, “turnkeys” could fire the miniature … Read More → "Tiny pistols built into old jailers’ keys"
If someone were looking at a letter of the alphabet that was blocked from your view, would you be able to accurately guess what that letter was? Well, if you were at Radboud University Nijmegen in The Netherlands, you might not have to guess or call in a psychic. Scientists there have used an MRI scanner and a mathematical model to read observed letters, right out of test subjects’ brains.
The researchers started … Read More → "Scientists read peoples’ brains to identify letters"
Over the past decade there’s been a big push for cheaper alternatives to space travel. Blasting man-made objects into orbit has never been a cheap endeavour, and a company called Titan Aerospace thinks gigantic solar-powered drones could even be a far more affordable alternative to launching satellites.
… Read More → "These solar-powered giant winged drones could replace satellites"
In the recently released sci-fi film Elysium, we’re presented with a new kind of machine-assisted healthcare that can cure cancer and reconstruct body parts (see the fictional Med-Pod 3000 pictured above), a development that could make many humans virtually immortal. But as medical science and technology converge, we’re increasingly finding ourselves asking the question as a species: Do we really < … Read More → "Study: Most Americans not interested in immortality"
SpaceX, billionaire Elon Musk’s private spaceflight company, appears to be on a hiring spree. On its careers page, the company–which currently employs more than 3,000 people–lists nearly 200 open positions. The page is up to date, SpaceX spokeswoman Hannah Post tells Popular Science.
Many of the openings are for different types of engineers, but there’s room for … Read More → "The 4 weirdest jobs you could get at SpaceX right now"
From September 6th to the 28th, a nine-car train will cross the US hosting artists, musicians, and performers as it makes stops between New York and San Francisco, creating a mobile art installation called Station to Station. Coordinated by video and experimental artist Doug Aitkin, Station to Station</ … Read More → "In two weeks, a TV-covered train full of yurts and artists will begin its cross-country tour"
