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science
Historic, Gigantic Atom Smasher to Be Demolished
Lawrence Berkeley National Labratory's Bevatron was the world's largest atom smasher when it was build for $9 million in the early '50s. Soon, it'll be reduced to a pile of rubble. More » -
science
You Guys, 12:34:56 7/8/9 Is a Once in a Lifetime… Oh, You Missed It
Once every hundred years, our time and calendar line up to make the amazing time of 12:34:56 7/8/9. And since this post went up exactly at that time, you totally missed it. More » -
art
Apparently, the Secret of the Order of the Universe Is the Lego Brick
Little knew Democritus—the ancient greek philosopher, mathematician, and biologist who first postulated the atom in the 4th century BC—that his Great Order of the Universe would look like Godtfred Kirk Cristiansen' Patent #3,005,282 for Lego blocks. More » -
brains
Scientists Create Eerie Ambient Music Using Human Brains, MRI Machines
A professor at Trinity College in Connecticut has written what is essentially a MIDI player for the human brain, converting MRI imagery into a sort of bleeping, blooping ambient music.
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science
Sixty Videos to Explain Sixty Symbols of Physics and Astronomy
Do you know what the hell is the Schwarzschild radius? I didn't have a clue, but now I know that if you compress Earth to an 8mm radius ball, you will get a black hole. My fascination didn't stop there. More » -
science
Explained: Fireworks vs Firecrackers vs Sparklers
While prepping for our nation's independence, we came across this excellent explanation as to how most basic fireworks function. The clip takes about a minute of your time and will imbue you with impressive knowledge for this July 4th. [HowStuffWorks] -
space
The Aliens of the Star Iota Horologii Are Just Watching Captain Kangaroo Now
When our broadcasts leave Earth, they slowly travel into space. There is, however, a sizable delay between what we watch and what distant aliens watch. This convenient chart shows us what TV various stars are receiving today. [AbstruseGoose via TDW] -
science
Disgusting Sewer Creature Update: IT'S F#$%ING REAL!
Remember the disgusting video of some mysterious creature in the North Carolina sewers I posted yesterday? I cynically assumed it was a viral ad for some upcoming movie. Sweet merciful christ, I was wrong. These things are actually real. More » -
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eclipse
Chase a Total Eclipse in an Airplane, Hope Your Seat Is on the Right Side
Interested in seeing a total eclipse from above the clouds? An Indian airline is offering a flight that'll offer the closest seat you could possibly get to the show. More » -
movies
Whiz Kids Shows Science and Math Students Kicking Ass, Taking Names
Whiz Kids is a documentary about kids competing in the Science Talent Search, showing that not every American kid is a lazy deadbeat only good at texting and Halo. Like Revenge of the Nerds, but with less madcap zaniness. [YouTube] -
science
Independent Jury Rules On Steorn's Free Energy Machine: Guilty (Of Not Working)
Remember how Steorn, the company who built, hyped, then failed to demonstrate the Orb free energy machine, convened a hand-selected "jury" to evaluate the technology? No? Well, anyway, they've disbanded, unanimously unconvinced. More » -
science
Synthetic Tree Will Hopefully Capture Tons of Carbon Dioxide, Save the Planet
Scientists at Columbia University are working on a sort of synthetic tree that aims to capture about 1,000 times as much carbon dioxide as more organic versions. They're hoping to extend the technology even to heavy-emitting cars and planes. More » -
medicine
New Treatment Filters Bacteria From the Bloodstream with an Electromagnet
This may sound like something out of Iron Man, but it's very real. Don Ingber has developed a machine that uses an electromagnet to suck sepsis-causing bacteria out of the blood. More » -
apocalypse
Doomsday Postponed Until October
An electrical fault has delayed the LHC startup to October. The silver lining is events have aligned in such a way that I can wear my Higgs Boson costume with confidence. October, as you know, is home to Halloween. [MSNBC] -
zap
Omega Recoil Makes Art With Tesla Coils
Art is great, sure. But art made from bolts of electricity fired from tesla coils? That's my kind of art. More » -
movies
Yes! Star Trek Is Cool Because a Pie Chart Says So!
Sci Fi Wire makes a convincing argument, in both authoritarian pie chart form and debatable exposition, as to why Star Trek is cool (again). But what's missing from the chart? Two words: Lens flare. More » -
space
Theoretical Warp Drives Theorized To Be Black Hole-Creating Doomsday Devices
I still think we should and will reach the stars, but today I'm forced to concede that using a theoretical "warp drive" might not be the best way to go: More » -
displays
The World's Tiniest VGA Display Uses Pixels the Size of Cells
This 0.27-inch LCD display has a 600x480 resolution...so what good does that do you? Potentially quite a bit. More » -
cars
ZMP RoboCar Helps Scientists Research Automotive Autonomy, Adorability
In the future, when your car can drive itself, you may well have this little guy to thank. Alternatively, when it gains sentience, bitterly plots against its owner and drives you into a wall, RoboCar will sit, watch and laugh. More » -
science
Holy Crap, Storm Chasers Captured Footage Inside a Tornado
Storm chasers drive towards tornados, hoping to photograph them from up close and study them as they're happening. But usually they just get close. Not last week, when these storm chasers went inside a twister. More » -
future tech
Scientists Discover Superconducting Material That's Just Two Atoms Thick
University of Texas researchers stumbled upon a new superconducting metal that is the world's thinnest at a mere two atoms—slightly thicker than a marathon runner by comparison. More » -
robots
A Sushi Chef for a Post Robot Apocalyptic World
Something about a robot-operated dismembered hand placing raw fish on my plate just sounds...yummy! More » -
science
Stem Cell Contact Lenses Cure Blindness in Less Than a Month
Here's something that people with poor or no vision will be excited about: three patients had their sight restored in less than a month by contact lenses cultured with stem cells. More » -
pew pew
World's Largest Laser Now Open for Business
The $3.5 billion National Ignition Facility is finally open for business. Housed in a 10 story building as wide as three football fields, it will aim 192 laser beams at a 2mm ball of frozen hydrogen gas to achieve nuclear fusion—in 2040. More » -
science
Scientists Nearing Creation of Sound Cloak, Breaking Laws of Physics
While some work toward an invisibility cloak, University of Illinois professor Nicholas Fang is taking steps to create a similar material, only for sound, that could, for example, make ships invisible to SONAR. To successfully do this, of course, requires we break the laws of physics. But, you know, whatever. More » -
strange questions
What Gender Is Your Roomba?
Why do we assign genders to robots, even when they look like Wall-E or a Roomba vacuum cleaner? That was the subject of a panel at WisCon, where a roboticist debated sexbots and macho tanks with writers and science fiction fans. [io9] -
science
Nanobot Uses Bacteria Swarm for Propulsion
Canadian researcher Sylvain Martel has developed a ultra tiny machine that can be propelled and steered through a swarm of 3,000 bacteria. More » -
movies
Is the New Star Trek Film Scientifically Sound?
Discover has an excellent piece that dissects the new Star Trek movie by its major scenes and examines the scientific validity behind the admitted pseudoscience. There are SPOILERS, but passages like this make it great: More » -
science
OLED Displays Go Rubbery
Researchers from the University of Tokyo have created OLED displays that have all the durability of a super ball. More » -
sizemodo
Kindle DX vs Magazines, Journals, and Newspapers
The Amazon Kindle DX is 10.4" x 7.2" x 0.38". Bezos says it's for reading newspapers, magazines, journals, and your own PDF documents more easily. But how does it stack against its deadtree counterparts? More » -
science
This Is How The Swine Flu Gets Released
While the effects of the Swine Flu could be lethal, I watch this 3D visualization of the influenza type-a virus' antigenic shift and I can't help but to admire its hideous beauty. [Thanks Carlos] -
look into my eyes
Scientists Use Laser Beams and Engineered Algae Viruses to Control Your Mind
That's right: Scientists will achieve mind control. By shining laser beams. Directly at cells in your brain. Which have been intentionally infected. By a blue-light sensitive virus. That they made in a lab. From algae. More » -
science
10 Things You Didn't Know About Antimatter
Discovery Channel compiled a mind-frakking list of 10 things you didn't know about antimatter—the stuff that, when mixed with matter, powers the warp engines of Star Trek. And this excerpt made my brain dizzy: More » -
displays
Step Aside, Multitouch and Haptics: This Touchscreen Has Buttons
A couple of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, apparently tired of this whole touchscreen vs. button debate, have decided to just do away with the distinction entirely. More » -
science
Obama Pledges 3%+ of GDP—as Much as Defense Spending—to Scientific Research
This morning, Obama made a huge pledge to focus more money on scientific research—more than the US spent during the space race. In fact, it's almost as much as we spend on defense. More » -
science
Bucky Balls Are Like Silly Putty Made with Rare-Earth Magnets
Bucky Balls are tiny little powerful magnets that look like little round pellets. They stick together and can form basically any 3D object that you want. They are awesome. More » -
cloning
Panayiotis Zavos Has Cloned Dead Humans, Implanted Other Cloned Embryos
This is Cady, who died at age 10 in a car accident. More recently, Dr. Panayiotis Zavos infused her DNA into a cow's egg to study human cloning. More » -
stephen hawking
Stephen Hawking Expected to Make Recovery
Super genius and physicist Stephen Hawking is supposed to make a full recovery from his chest infection, but is being kept for observation in the mean time. [MSNBC] -
science
Seating a Tire Quickly Using Fire and Science
In this video, a guyinflates a tirere-seats a tire bead in about a second using starter fluid and a match. It sure is impressive; so impressive, I feel like I'm being tricked. Am I? [Flickr via Kottke] -
green
Apparently We Can Turn Carbon Dioxide Into Eco-Friendly Biofuels Now
Singaporean researchers at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology have devised a way to convert carbon dioxide into clean-burning biofuel methanol, using a safe, non-toxic process. Has mankind defeated the final boss of Global Warming? More »










































