Back in 2011, scientists reported the creation of the “world’s first practical artificial leaf” that mimics the ability of real leaves to produce energy from sunlight and water. Touted as a potentially inexpensive source of electricity for those in developing countries and remote areas, the leaf’s creators have now given it a capability that would be especially beneficial in such environments – the ability to self heal and therefore produce … Read More → "Self-healing “artificial leaf” produces energy from dirty water"

Prior to 1849, there was no such thing as a “normal chess set.” At least not like we think of it today. Over the centuries that chess had been played, innumerable varieties of sets of pieces were created, with regional differences in designation and appearance. As the game proliferated throughout southern Europe in the early 11th century, the rules began to evolve, the movement of the pieces were formalized, and the pieces themselves were drastically … Read More → "How the chess set got its look and feel"

The mysteries of the human mind might soon be revealed, now that a consortium of experts has figured out how to render entire brains transparent — meaning that researchers will be able to analyze grey matter with unprecedented levels of detail.

A team of chemical engineers and neuroscientists at Stanford University collaborated on the new federally-funded technique, known as CLARITY, which was described today in the journal Nature</ … Read More → "Technique to create transparent brains could transform neuroscience (video)"

It may not be as easy as print, plug, and play, but designer J.C. Karich is proving that you can make a pair of working headphones with nothing but raw materials, a 3D printer, open source designs, and a little gumption.

Karich 3D-printed the body of his headphones, which others have done before, but he made his designs with DIY function in mind. He created the speakers by coiling copper wire around a … Read More → "3D printed headphones you can build from the ground up"

From the Smithsonian Institute Image Collections:

This portfolio of hand-tinted lithographs purports to illustrate the “discovery of life on the moon.” In 1836, Richard E. Locke, writing for the New York Sun, claimed that the noted British astronomer Sir John Herschel had discovered life on the moon. Flora and fauna included bat-men, moon maidens (with luna-moth wings), moon bison, and other extravagant life forms. Locke proposed an expedition … Read More → "Life on the Moon as imagined in 1836"

If you need to wrap a pigeon for aircraft-drop, this will help. From the surprisingly useful Pigeon Service Manual, Air Ministry, 1919 (featuring “Some meritorious performaces,” “Writing the message,” and more).

via Boing Boing

Phase one of the London Array usurped the UK’s Greater Gabbard to become the largest operational offshore wind farm in the world when its final turbine (its 175th) was commissioned on Saturday afternoon. Though construction was completed back in December, it is only now that all of the farm’s turbines are supplying the UK’s national grid with electrical power. The array has a total capacity of 630 MW.
via < … Read More → "World’s largest wind farm, London Array, brought fully online"

The Oculus Rift might be something out of Demolition Man. Or it might be a Virtual Boy. However it turns out, it’s deeply ambitious, and iFixit has the first look at what’s inside the new VR headset.

To start, the OR—a development sample here—has a single 1280 x 800 resolution LCD (640×800 viewable per eye) with a horizontal field of view over 90 degrees, and vertical over 110.
via < … Read More → "What’s inside the Oculus Rift Virtual Reality Headset?"

Four academics from West Point and Samford University in Alabama set out to answer a seemingly simple question: how would one write a computer program to issue speeding tickets? After all, speed limits are fairly simple—you’re either driving faster than the posted number or you’re not.

In the age of Google and its competitors making … Read More → "If you hate red-light cameras, you’ll really hate speeding ticket robots"

The spleen’s job is to filter our blood. When people are critically ill or have received traumatic injuries, however, the spleen alone is sometimes not able to remove enough of the pathogens on its own – potentially-fatal sepsis is the result. In order to help avert such an outcome in those situations, scientists from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University are developing a device known as the spleen-on-a-chip.
via Read More → "Spleen-on-a-chip could treat bloodstream infections"