Have you ever heard of a twistlock? Unless you’re a stevedore, probably not. Yet this little mechanism is what makes it possible to stack shipping containers onto cargo ships larger than city blocks—enabling a global trade network that brought most of your belongings to your doorstep. And we have a relatively little-known Californian mechanical engineer to thank for it.
     |
You might not realize it, but quitting our addiction to oil means more than just finding something besides gasoline to put in our cars. If we really want to stop using fossil fuels, we have to change the way we make roads—and cooking oil might just be the answer.
| |
Space is a weird place, and the quest to explore its mysteries in person has been no small source of strangeness and surprise. Here are some lesser-known facts about humanity’s ongoing missions beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
| |
It’s one of science’s ultimate goals, and perhaps the only thing that could prevent humanity’s ultimate depletion of the Earth’s resources — the ability to create more energy than is used to make it. Now, a new nuclear breakthrough has brought that feat even closer to becoming a reality.
| |
Describing the sculptures of Austrian designer Klemens Torggler as "doors" feels like an insult. These aren’t doors—they’re magical pieces of engineering, half kinetic sculpture and half magic trick, that you happen to walk through. So, how do they work?
| |
Technologically speaking, smaller is virtually always better. So it’s perhaps no surprise that scientists have developed the first ever single-molecule LED. But why is it potentially such a big deal?
| |
Middle America’s decorative water towers—not those nasty things in New York
| |
Being shot into space puts spacecraft under extreme stress—but did you know that the sound of the rocket launch can damage a craft? Inside the Large European Acoustic Facility, engineers recreate the incredible noise of a launch to make sure satellites can survive it. According to the ESA, "no human could survive" the sound.
| |
To anyone who has ever dropped a wine glass or broken a window, you might have a thing or two to learn from mollusks. A new technique inspired by natural materials such as mollusk shells or tooth enamel can make glass 200 times stronger. Weirdly enough, it works by weakening the glass with microscopic cracks.
| |
Like a silent bionic army, the era of the cyborg has crept upon us. Or so a group of reviewers said recently when they evaluated where the science of cyborgs has led.
| |
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.
