How hot is your house?
Scosche’s RDTX is a radiation detector for your iPhone. Seriously, it turns your iPhone into a Geiger counter—you just attach the wand to your iPhone and the RDTX will tell you the radiation levels around you…
Continue reading… “iPhone peripheral turns phone into Geiger counter”
The laws of light speed still apply.
Last June, researchers from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology published the results of an experiment that proved that light does not move faster than light—specifically, that single photons can’t move faster than the official speed of light under certain conditions.
Today, Skulls in the Stars—the nom de Internet of a UNC Charlotte physics professor—hasa really great blog post up about this paper. It’s very much worth a read. After all, this was basically a test to double check something we were already pretty sure was true. And what’s the benefit to proving something you already knew?
Continue reading… “What we don’t understand about the speed of light”
No negative thoughts here!
Good news: your brain is hardwired for good news
Bad news: your brain is hardwired for good news
Why don’t people stop smoking even after hearing bazillion public service messages that doing so will give them cancer? Why do people get married even though the rate of divorce is 50%?
Neuroscientists have the answer: it’s because the human brain rejects negative thoughts (and yes, sometimes to the detriment of the brain’s host)…
Continue reading… “Brain rejects negative thoughts”
Graduate Student Jian Shi and Materials Science and Engineering Professor Xudong Wang
demonstrate a material that could be used to capture energy from respiration.
The same piezoelectric effect that ignites your gas grill with the push of a button could one day power sensors in your body via the respiration in your nose…
Continue reading… “Electricity from the nose: Engineers make power from human respiration”
Serious powder!
…and it’s only a few hundred million miles away. Better fuel up your rocket and get started today, however, because we’re talking about Saturn’s moon Enceladus and the incredibly fine, snowy powder that covers its surface:
“The particles are only a fraction of a millimeter in size … even finer than talcum powder,” study leader Paul Schenk, a planetary scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas, said in a statement. “This would make for the finest powder a skier could hope for…”
Continue reading… “Scientists discover the best skiing In the Solar System”
Paris is innovating again.
When Paris’ now famous bike share system Velib’ in 2007, it was a pioneer in the field. Now similar programs are popping up in major cities all over the world, and Paris is looking to break the mold again. This week the City launched Autolib’ – a car sharing system that works the same way…
Continue reading… “Paris launches a vehicle sharing program with 3,000 electric cars”
Totally trippy!
Milan design group Carnovsky created what is probably the most psychedelic fun wallpaper you’ll ever see today (without having to ingest anything)…
Continue reading… “3D RGB Wall Art by Carnovsky”
Are you serious about using your jacuzzi? Are you ready to take it to the max, or do you just use it to relax? If the latter, then you’re definitely not ready to participate in the sport of extreme jacuzzing, which involves sitting in a jacuzzi in the most extreme environments. In the past, this band of daredevils has warmed up in a jacuzzi at the top of an Alpine peak. For their latest stunt, they suspended a jacuzzi 39 meters below a bridge in the Switzerland…
Continue reading… “Extreme jacuzzing”
A whole new way to garden.
If there ever was a product that best demonstrated our increasing disconnect with nature, this one may be it. Click & Grow is an electronic gardening set that includes a soil-less pot, plant ‘cartridges’ and yep, even batteries. The premise is that people are either too busy or too much of a brownthumb to grow their own plants, so why not let some gadget do all the hard work?
Developed by an Estonian entrepreneur, Click & Grow is the result of a meshing of hydroponics and aeroponics, all reduced to a series of sensors, processors and software, which surround the seeds in the disposable cartridge…
Continue reading… “Electronic gardening kit”
Netherlands has a new outlook on alcohol.
Starting December 1st, the Netherlands will be giving their drunk drivers a holiday gift. Drivers who have been pulled over with high blood alcohol content will be given “alcolocks” to install into their cars. The device acts as a breathalyzer that can keep an engine turned off…
Continue reading… “Dutch mandates alcolocks”
Will he be tossed soon?
If one Florida legislator gets his way, “Big Brother” will no longer trample the freedom of Floridians to enjoy a good old fashioned dwarf tossing contest…
Continue reading… “Will ending the ban on dwarf tossing improve the economy”
Underwater exploring in a whole different way.
Despite being blind from birth, Robert Ainsley-Raffel has never let his disabilities stop him achieving his ambitions. He is already well on the way to becoming a qualified plumber, and even trains his own greyhound. Now the 25-year-old from Hexham is training as an underwater diver. Robert passed his dive theory test with a flying 100% mark and is now looking forward to his first open water dives en route to a full Ocean Diver qualification…
Continue reading… “Blind man trained to be a scuba diver along with his white stick”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.