This is the Thames Hub airport, part of an 80 billion dollar project that would include a railway terminal connecting to England and Europe through high speed trains, huge depots and a port. Total cost: $80 billion.

This thing is crazy. It aims to be a central hub for absolutely everything, with multi-level underground railroads and highways that will connect it with London, the rest of Britain and to Europe through the Channel … Read More → "The craziest megalomaniac engineering project since the pyramids is in England"

When you’re done wasting time on this watered down version, go here to Jeri Ellsworth’s great hands on version

Heinz Maier takes some of the most beautiful stop motion water droplet photos I’ve ever seen. These look like delicate glass sculptures, don’t they? Stunning.

Check out his whole flickr photostream here

And here’s his Read More → "Take a look at the amazing water droplet photography of Heinz Maier"

The cameras in Mikami Seiko’s “Desire of Codes” move and track visitors like an insect swarm. (Photo: Ryuichi Maruo (YCAM)

In a large, dark room, cameras on articulated robotic arms swing from the ceiling and track your face, only inches away.

On a nearby wall, 90 small robotic arms, some equipped with sensors and cameras, whirr and click like so many metallic caterpillars as they track your movements.

< … Read More → "Tokyo gallery showcases robots as art"

Eyes autofocus better than anything we know of, so why not model camera autofocus design after our own eyes?

Johannes Burge, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas, and his advisor Wilson Geisler, wondered how it was that the eyes of humans and many other animals were able to focus so much more efficiently than most digital cameras. In a traditional autofocus system, the camera uses only one … Read More → "Giving cameras the best autofocus possible, autofocus from the human eye"

If you’ve ever had to endure a diagnostic session in a magnetic resonance (MRI) machine, you know that lying motionless for up to 45 minutes can be uncomfortable at best. Add in the countless ear-ringing thumps, bangs and knocks and you have a procedure that begs for any sort of abbreviation. Thanks to a new algorithm developed by an MIT research team, the time spent in that claustrophobic tube may soon be appreciably shortened, without much loss of accuracy. … Read More → "New algorithm could significantly reduce MRI scan time"

Bicycle gear and accessories brand BioLogic is set to release its strongest product yet—the completely weather- and shock-proof ReeCharge iPhone case. What makes this adventure-ready case truly unique is the integrated lithium polymer battery that keeps the battery charged, thus making the fully enclosed case perfect for cold weather—which typically drains battery life—and able to sustain longer adventures on the ski slopes or in the saddle.

The … Read More → "A new rugged case and free app keep you on track and your iPhone safe while cycling"

We all know that driving to and from work every day is costly, but exactly how much of a toll does each mile of commuting take on your finances? This True Cost of Commuting graphic breaks it down. via Lifehacker

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Currently, NASA uses a variety of techniques to collect extraterrestrial samples. With Stardust, a space probe launched in 1999, the Agency used aerogel to gather samples as it flew through the coma of comet Wild 2. A capsule returned the samples in 2006. NASA’s next rover to Mars, Curiosity, will drill and scoop samples from the Martian surface and then carry out detailed analyses of the materials with one of the rover’s many onboard instruments, including the Goddard-built Sample … Read More → "NASA studying ways to make ‘tractor beams’ a reality"

In high-crime, gang-controlled areas like Los Angeles’s Hollenbeck Division (which includes the neighborhoods of Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, and El Sereno), it can be difficult to figure out even the most basic info about gang violence. That’s why UCLA created an algorithm that can fill in the blanks.

Working with the Los Angeles Police Department, researchers at UCLA analyzed over 1,000 gang crimes and suspected gang crimes, many unsolved, over a 10-year period in Hollenbeck, an area known for gang violence. The area is home to 30 gangs and almost 70 gang rivalries, meaning the list of … Read More → "Mathematicians take on East LA gangs with crime-solving algorithm"