In 1953, Joseph Stalin signed the plans for a top-secret nuclear submarine base that would become the operational home for the fearsome Soviet Black Sea Fleet.

Hidden inside the base of a mountain in the port town of Balaklava on Ukraine’s Crimean coast, the 153,000 square-foot facility took nine years to build and its entrance camouflaged from spy planes. It could survive a direct nuclear hit and at maximum capacity could hold 3,000 people … Read More → "Driving Inside the Soviets’ Secret Submarine Lair"

Not long ago, solar cells were all huge, heavy, stiff devices. Recently that’s been changing—and the latest development is a new breed of cells which are thinner than spider silk and can even be wrapped around objects as small as a human hair.

According to research published in Nature Communications, a team of scientists from Austria and Japan has created these new, thin-film … Read More → "Scientists can now make solar cells thinner than spider silk"

Printers can make mugs, chocolate and even blood vessels. Now, MIT scientists want to add robo-assistants to the list of printable goodies.

Today, MIT announced a new project, “An Expedition in Computing Printable Programmable Machines,” that aims to give everyone a chance to have his or her own robot.

Need help peering into that unreasonably hard-to-reach cabinet, or wiping down your grimy 15th-story windows? Walk on … Read More → "MIT project aims to deliver printable, mass-market robots"

Apparently human beings are still Tree Enemy Number One, sneaking past beavers and termites. In fact, if you are reading this in America, you personally killed 5.57 40-foot trees last year thanks to all of your paper usage. But don’t feel too bad: Belgians consumed a whopping 8.5 trees per person, which is like taking four Rockefeller Center Christmas trees and setting them on fire.
via Read More → "We’re using way more paper than we ever have before"

If you own an oscilloscope, sooner or later the urge to see something other than signals on the screen will strike. Some people ignore the urge and go about their normal business while others give in, spending hours carefully crafting images, games, and more. The process is time consuming and tricky& … Read More → "Oscilloscope drawing made easy"

Nasa has unveiled an astounding new image of our galactic neighbourhood – a new star atlas for the entire universe.

The atlas includes a catalogue of the entire infrared sky, over half a billion stars, galaxies and more captured by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission.

Edward Wright, WISE principal investigator at UCLA, said: “Today, WISE delivers the fruit of 14 years of effort to the astronomical community.” Wright began … Read More → "The whole universe in one photo"

In North America, gamers are now generally divided into two distinct generations: those that grew up in the midst of the vibrant video arcade culture of the ’70s and ’80s; and those born since.

The latter group’s experience with arcades is primarily through redemption-machine-filled restaurants like Dave & Busters and maybe a few neglected cabinets at their local movie theater or bowling alley. But in Japan, this divide … Read More → "Documentary explores why Japan’s arcades didn’t die"

American scientists are announcing this week that they’ve got plans to release new unmanned aircraft with capabilities for months of flight without refueling. These new drones would be nuclear-powered and will be developed by Sandia National Laboratories – this being the US government’s principal research and development agency. They’re also working with defense contractor Northrop Grumman, who are the ones who specifically noted that these drones will have … Read More → "USA nuclear drones capable of ‘months’ of flight"

An interesting new entry in the solar power market is blooming in a desert in Southern Spain. A system of 50 mirrors track the sun and reflect its light into a 115-foot high tulip shaped tower; the concentrated rays cause the air in the bulb to heat up to over 1800 degrees Fahrenheit. The super heated air is then forced into a combustion chamber where it expands, powering a turbine generator … Read More → "115-foot ‘tulip’ harnesses sun’s rays to power villages"

This arrangement of The Beatles Come Together for a drum kit and three hubophones (yes, hubophones) might be one of the most, er, expensive displays of robotic music on record. Yes, I know, that drummer is no Ringo, but otherwise, it’s probably the most heartfelt and moving hubophone version of this song that we’ve ever heard.

Considering that each HUBO, an advanced humanoid developed at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), will run you between $300,000 and $400,000, you’re looking at a $1.5 million-ish production here, which I’ … Read More → "Four HUBO robots come together for Beatles cover"