Science Art: “One Today,” by Richard Blanco
Miami-raised poet and engineer Richard Blanco was selected to write a poem for today’s presidential inauguration. It begins and ends with the sky. Here’s what […]
engineering
Panasonic builds a power loader
It’s a robot exoskeleton, Aliens-style. And it really works.
Science Art: Pneumatische Fundation (Senkkasten Caisson), from Meyers Konversationslexikon, 1889
A caisson is a machine for working under water. Meyers Konversations-Lexikon is a German encyclopedia. Rise, German engineers. Rise. Dive, German engineers. Dive. Image found […]
Science Art: Fig. 100 (Outside-Spring Indicator) from Steam-engine Theory and Practice by William Ripper, 1922
This, the text tells me, is an “outside-spring indicator, by Messrs. Elliott Bros.” The spring is not exposed to high temperature, which makes it better […]
Climbing cukes clinch kinky springs.
Say that five times fast. Harvard Gazette wraps its tendrils around a new way to build springs based on the coiling shoots of cucumber vines: […]
Bill Gates to build a better toilet.
Mac fans should have a *field day* coming up with headlines for this ABC.net.au piece on Bill Gates’ noble new quest – to reinvent the […]
Spider web glass protects birds on the Holy Island
I can’t outdo the BBC’s headline on this story about a beautiful application for a strange, new material: A lookout tower at Lindisfarne has installed […]
Olympics 2016: powered by waterfall.
The Creators Project is already turning attention from London to Rio, where Swiss engineers are planning to erect a giant, power-generating waterfall: Designed by Swiss […]
Science Art: Giant Excavator, Wills’ Cigarettes.
Click to embiggen About 100 years ago, cigarette companies like Wills put collectible cards in their packs of cigarettes just like bubblegum companies did. Only […]
They built a living jellyfish out of a rat’s heart.
Nature voyages to the Island of Dr. Moreau… or at least in the same region… to speak with a scientist who enthusiastically made a living […]
Spray-on battery turns *anything* into a power source.
Scientific American takes a page from the Acme corporation and introduces the world’s first battery in an aerosol can: The paint-on battery, like all lithium […]
Silly putty pothole repair
Science magazine shores up our infrastructure with a report on how a kid’s toy can save our streets: …[U]ndergraduates at Case Western Reserve University in […]
The music of spider-silk strings.
BBC reveals a Japanese project that combines biology, engineering and beauty – spinning violin strings out of spider silk: Shigeyoshi Osaki of Japan’s Nara Medical […]
Science Art: Building the Forth Bridge, by Charles J. de Laoy, 1909
Click to embiggen This is the Forth Bridge, spanning the famous Firth of Forth (on the way to Fife)*. And for Archibald Williams, editor of […]
“The first human-humanoid handshake in space.”
That’s how ISS Commander Daniel Burbank describes his interaction with Robonaut 2 yesterday. PhysOrg has more on the space station’s new, robot crew member: On […]