NASA’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) satellite has been open for less than two weeks, and already it’s returned the first images from its mission to study the Sun’s atmosphere. The combined ultraviolet telescope and spectrograph is pulling in amazing views as well as valuable data on energy transfer in the Sun’s interface region.
via Read More → "Check out the first amazing pictures of the Sun from NASA’s IRIS"

Capturing and storing greenhouse gases beneath the earth could allow climate change to be mitigated, but researchers still need to find a method that can both permanently and safely contain the gases. Now researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) believe that they may have found an option: they’ve begun injecting … Read More → "Scientists hope volcanic rock can contain climate change"

… Read More → "An interactive ruler shows how OLEDs will make mundane objects smarter (video)"

If the movies have taught us anything, it’s that chopping a futuristic death robot’s leg off does not significantly diminish its capacity to hunt you down. Want to know where that capacity for being utterly unstoppable came from? It’s this, right here. . . 

The cool bit about this recovery model is that it doesn’t require any specific information about what parts are malfunctioning or missing. … Read More → "Hexapod figures out how to walk after you chop its leg off (video)"

“Get your ass to Mars,” as Arnold Schwarzenegger said in “Total Recall.” OK, but if you actually land there, can you come back?

Sure, if you’re aboard an ambitious mission to the Red Planet conceived by British scientists. It isn’t just a flyby.

Not only will you be able to return to Earth after your Martian vacation, you’ll have … Read More → "How to get to and from Mars: A simple guide"

The researchers at the global network of labs, established in 2008, aren’t only concerned with theme park thrills. They’re on the bleeding edge of some of the most exciting interaction design happening anywhere today. Aireal, a device that lets users feel ghostly objects created purely with puffs of air, is their latest wonder.

If you’ … Read More → "Disney’s amazing air cannons let you touch the digital world (video)"

3D printing technology has already made the move from engineering workshop to the home, and now it’s set to make its mark in space. NASA has hot-fire tested 3D-printed rocket engine components, which have managed to withstand incredibly high temperatures and pressures to the same standard as traditionally manufactured parts. Being cheaper and faster to produce, 3D-printed parts have the potential to revolutionize the manufacturing of rocket engine components and save the space agency considerable time and money.</ … Read More → "3D-printed rocket parts stand up to the heat in NASA hot-fire tests"

… Read More → "Here’s a bike that lays down and pops bubble wrap as you ride it (video)"

Why not watch 167 theremin players perform variations on Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9? . . . The players here are using devices called Matryomins. They’re single-oscillator theremins that happen to be contained inside a matryoshka doll, also known as a Russian nesting doll.
via Read More → "167 theremin players perform Beethoven (video)"

If you’ve ever been frustrated by erratic memories, spare a thought for the mice involved in a study published in the journal Science. Researchers have been able to consistently create a “false memory,” making a mouse fearful of a place it has no reason to fear. The memory was implanted by shining blue light into the mouse’s brain, … Read More → "Fake memory implanted in mice with a beam of light"