It was just another day for the Aquanauts exploring the warm, crystal waters of Conch Reef when a storm hit. The divers registered the 10-degree temperature drop on their skin a moment after the visibility went from 60 feet down to a dozen. More »
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days.
Whether you’ve got your head in the clouds, or your feet firmly locked on terra firma (or is that terrorist firma?) the last seven days in Alt have something for you. We look at a massive aircraft, that could revolutionize air travel as we know it, as well as look back at a real-world project that heralded a significant shift even further up in the sky. There’s the NASA logo that never came to be, and lastly, for those less fond of heights, we hear how a US government department is heading in the other direction — albeit culturally — all in the fight against terror. This is alt-week.
Continue reading Alt-week 7.21.12: Outer space, flying hotels and federal trolls
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Science, Internet
Alt-week 7.21.12: Outer space, flying hotels and federal trolls originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Jul 2012 14:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
The Aquanauts had killed the power and strapped on their emergency air masks. Someone smelled burning. In a rich-oxygen environment like Aquarius, fires can spread with ferocity; any hint of combustion is taken with utter seriousness. The air wasn’t circulating as it was supposed to, and, up above, the life support buoy sounded like it was going to explode. Instead of a steady, even hum, the generator sounded like something between a between a bark and like it was gagging. More »
Once, in the middle of a storm, while everyone was asleep in the undersea base, the fuel that’s stored in the life support buoy sloshed around enough to stop one of the two generators. The generators power the air supply compressor that keeps everyone in the Aquarius undersea base alive. So what do the Aquanauts have to do if the air quality is at risk? Nothing. The Watch Desk is always watching. More »
This video seems out of a Chuck Jones cartoon of the Roadrunner and the Coyote, but it’s real. It happened in Konakova, Russia. A BASE jumper jumped off the top of an electric post, 393 feet (120 meters) over the snow surface below. Unfortunately, his parachute failed. More »
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
