Aug 01
If Playing God taught us anything, it’s that surgeons with shaky hands and crippling prescription painkiller addictions are not long for their profession. That’s why robots like the Da Vinci
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Jul 31
While Boeing’s Dreamliner can’t seem to stop blowing batteries, there’s a new breed of light aircraft
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Jul 30
The Tick Hunter
Posted in: Today's Chili
Among animals you don’t want sucking sucking your blood, ticks are near the top of the list. These hemophilic arachnids don’t just help themselves to your vital fluids, they are also host to nearly a dozen human pathogens including Lyme disease, which afflicted more than 24,000 people in 2011 alone, and the Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever that claimed the life of a six year old North Carolina girl earlier this year. Lucky for us, ticks are pretty stupid. They’ll hop aboard anything that so much as looks and smells like a suitable host—even if it’s coated in pesticide. It’s this overzealous nature that Virginia Military Institute engineers hope to exploit with their ingenious new tick-hunting rover.
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Jul 29
Just because Fermilab shut off its famous Tevartron back in 2011 doesn’t mean the entire facility closed down with it. In fact, the Chicago-area physics lab is embarking on an auspicious plan to develop some of the world’s most powerful proton beam technology by the end of the decade. But first, researchers have to install a 50-foot diameter electromagnet shipped in from 3,000 miles away and unlock the secret lives of elusive subatomic particles. No sweat, right?
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Jul 26
Modern medical techniques, specifically stringent sterilization practices, have led to a dramatic drop in the number of post-op infections—assuming the facility has the necessary electricity and equipment to do so. However, in the remote regions of developing countries like India, neither of those is guaranteed. But that’s where Rice University’s new solar steamer comes in. This ingenious device cheaply and easily captures the Sun’s rays to sterilize anything from scalpels to human excrement. Huzzah, no more infections from backwoods surgeries! And—bonus—your shit no longer stinks.
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Jul 25
When an American aircraft goes down, be it over a remote training ground or behind enemy lines, the Air Force’s crack teams of pararescue forces jump into action. The new HC-130J Combat King II is the plane that delivers them when Blackhawks can’t, even into active combat zones.
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Jul 24
With an olfactory potency hundreds of times more sensitive than ours, a dog’s nose is an invaluable tool in the service of humans. But understanding exactly what your dog’s nose is picking up has traditionally been limited to specific yes/no answers, such as airport drug dogs ("do you smell weed on this suitcase, yes or no?"). A new device from the Georgia Institute of Technology, though, aims to drastically expand your dog’s vocabulary.
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Jul 23
Remember, only you can prevent forest fires. But that doesn’t stop them from happening with frightening regularity and increasingly destructive force
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Jul 22
One problem with conventional ROVs is that while their propellers are plenty strong enough to kick up columns of silt from the sea floor, they typically lack the power to effectively navigate in strong currents, which limits where and how well they can survey a given area. But this new underwater explorer sidesteps both of these problems by skittering around the sea floor like a crab.
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Jul 19
Nobody wants to drink their own processed urine like Kevin Costner did in Waterworld. Lord no, that’s disgusting. But drinking your own sweat like Kyle MacLachlan from Dune, now that’s the ticket. And with the help of this new distillation device, people living in even the most parched environments will have easy access to potable water derived from their own bodily fluids.
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