For a machine the size of a virus, the rules of locomotion are weird and surprising. Water behaves like jittery molasses. Solids are sticky. Just hovering near certain surfaces can repel a tiny vehicle like a same-pole magnet would.

The nanoworld is also vast compared to the macroscopic one, and suitable materials to build motors for nanobots are limited at best.

“Trying to move a nano device at the speed … Read More → "Why is it so hard to get around a nanoscopic world?"

With the cost of fuel hitting family budgets harder and harder, Ford of Europe has commenced production of its most fuel efficient (and lowest CO2 emissions) passenger car ever. The company’s new Fiesta ECOnetic Technology is powered by a 1.6-liter Duratorq TDCi diesel engine providing 205 Nm of torque that offers fuel economy figures of 3.3 l/100 km (71 mpg US / 86 mpg UK) with CO2 emissions of 87 g/km.
via Read More → "Ford’s most fuel efficient passenger car ever"

Maskull Lasserre, a Canadian sculptor, made this beautiful, realistic skull (“Incarnate”) by clamping a collection of obsolete computer manuals together and carving away at the pages. 
Colossal via Boing Boing 

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xkcd

As part of its own Great Paper Airplane project, Pima Air & Space Museum built and flew a45-foot-long paper airplane with a 24-foot wingspan over the Arizona desert. The plane, dubbed Arturo’s Desert Eagle, was helped into the sky by a Sikorsky S58T helicopter, and upon reaching 2,703 feet up, was let loose to fly.

The team initially wanted to tow Arturo’s Desert Eagle up … Read More → "45-foot paper airplane flies over desert"

Bowing to pressure from travelers, the FAA has decided to “revisit” the de facto ban on the use of gadgets during take-off and landing. Depending on the outcome of this re-examination of the rules, the future may well allow us to remain glued to our screens for an extra fifteen minutes at each end of a flight. But is this really a future we should be welcoming?

While nothing will change in the immediate future, this “revisit” opens the door to end-to-end gadgetry: if the rules change we will be glued to … Read More → "Shutting down your gadgets at takeoff and landing: not such a bad idea"

I didn’t know whether to take my Ph.D. adviser’s remark as a compliment. “You don’t write like a scientist,” he said, handing me back the progress report for a grant that I had written for him. In my dream world, tears would have come to his eyes, and he would have squealed, “You write like a poet!”

In reality, though, he just frowned. He had meant it as a criticism. I don’t write like a scientist, and apparently that’ … Read More → "How to write like a scientist"

A magician will instantly see the truth behind any colleague’s illusion. But we have a bit of an advantage: We know we are being fooled. Scientists are instinctive doubters who employ a rigorous method to zero in on the truth, but they aren’t necessarily trained to expect deception by subjects and collaborators.

We can’t make magicians out of scientists — we wouldn’t want to — but we can help scientists “think in the groove” — think like a magician. And we should.
via Read More → "Why magicians are a scientist’s best friend"

For the record, I’m pretty keen on robots. I don’t think they’re evil (unlike some people). Even still, I’d balk at this many-limbed ‘bot reaching for my noggin with an electric razor. A man identified only as “Tim” decided to sit down in the barber chair, and, boy, did he ever get a unique haircut.

The robot barber is a Multi-Arm Unmanned Ground Vehicle built by Maryland-based Intelligent Automation Inc., or IAI. 
via Read More → "Would you trust a robot to cut your hair?"

What if you could put a few bacterial cells into a USB stick, plug it into your laptop, and get back a complete DNA sequence in a matter of minutes?

Oxford Nanopore has built a USB device that will do just that. At least, that’s what the company says. Known as MinION, the device received a hefty amount of press when it was announced in February, and it’ … Read More → "Can you really sequence DNA with a USB thumb drive?"