Florida Declares State Of Emergency As Red Tide Spreads

The harmful algae bloom has fouled the state’s waters for months.

10 Outrageous Soft Serve Flavors To Eat Before Summer Ends

Squid ink, hot sauce, beets and pickles have somehow made their way into ice cream. And they’re delicious.

Little Leaguer Who Went Viral Tells Jimmy Kimmel How To Hit Dingers

“Keep your eye on the ball.”

Stranded Parrot Curses Out Firefighter During Rescue Attempt

Who’s a potty-mouthed girl, then?

How NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Can Survive Inside the Corona of the Sun

The sun is a crazy hot place. Just step outside in any of the summer months in Texas and you know this is true. The other day we talked a bit about the NASA Parker Solar Probe and how it would eventually become the fastest man-made object ever. At the time, I wondered how the probe could fly so close to the surface of the sun and not melt. It turns out NASA has an explanation for that.

The probe will travel through the corona of the sun where temperatures are greater than a million degrees Fahrenheit. The first reason it won’t simply melt is the probe’s fancy custom heat shield. In addition, the probe is designed to automatically face its heat shield in the proper direction, and it also packs a radiator-based cooling system. In addition, the low density of the plasma in the solar corona means a relatively small amount of heat will transfer to the probe.

The heat shield’s material is a carbon composite foam sandwiched between carbon plates. It is covered with white ceramic paint and can withstand temperatures up to 3,000º F. The video below shows just a tiny bit of how heat resistant the carbon composite material is, as its heated with a blowtorch to around 200º F. It would be interesting to see how well it works at full temperature.

Adequate Man What Is Your Go-To Cliché?

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Lego's Voltron Is Wonderful Proof That Fans Are Sometimes Worth Listening To

Listening to what customers want is crucial for any company to survive, but in 2008 Lego took that idea farther than most by enlisting its dedicated fanbase to actually help it design new sets. The approach has led to some of the company’s most memorable creations to date, including a towering new Voltron set that…

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Yuneec's Mantis Q drone packs 4K and voice control for $500

DJI’s Spark isn’t the only game in town if you want a small, relatively powerful drone with a semi-reasonable price tag. Yuneec has launched US pre-orders for the Mantis Q, a robotic flier that blurs the lines between ‘budget’ drones like the Spark…

Microsoft Your Phone app available already on Windows 10 version 1803

Microsoft has been giving Insiders a foretaste of features and changes that are coming in the next Windows 10 version. Naturally, it is presumed that those features won’t actually be arriving until that version rolls out later this year. That was definitely the presumption for the “Your Phone” app that promises a seamless connection between Windows 10 and, at least … Continue reading

OPPO F9 brings the tiniest notch to the masses

Some manufacturers have wholeheartedly embraced the notch. Others, like Samsung, continue to ignore it. Still others have tried to come up with different ways to compromise. Like Vivo before it, OPPO played with an elevating mechanism in the Find X to mixed results, only to return to a notch. But this is no Apple notch in the OPPO F9. It … Continue reading