mad science

11.22.09

DARPA Wants Cryogenic Technology on the Battlefield to Freeze Traumatic Brain Injury in its Tracks

The Pentagon's mad science lab is trying to create a device that can cool traumatized brains and slow secondary damage from blasts

By Jeremy Hsu Posted 11.16.2009 at 1:29 pm 1 Comment

Blasts from improvised explosives and RPGs can cause traumatic brain injuries among soldiers, which can leave permanent damage. Sounds like a challenge for the Pentagon's mad science lab DARPA, which has issued a call for a brain freeze device that could stop the after-effects of brain trauma in its tracks, Wired's Danger Room reports.

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READ MORE ABOUT > blasts, darpa, explosions, explosive devices, freeze, ieds, injuries, mad science, soldiers, tbi, trauma, traumatic brain injury, warfighters

The Fastest (and Most Dangerous) Way to Light a Grill

Go from cold to cooking in 30 seconds with a big can of liquid oxygen

By Mike Haney Posted 09.15.2009 at 11:15 am 16 Comments

About a year ago, when resident mad scientist Theo Gray pitched me a Gray Matter column on liquid oxygen, an extremely ~~flammable~~ energetic form of the element, he first proposed showing how to use it to light a grill nearly instantaneously. The lawyers, however, suggested we go a more tame route, so instead we showed how you could make a few drops of the hooch yourself.

But of course, when left to his own devices (and free of legal oversight), Theo couldn't help himself.

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READ MORE ABOUT > food, gray matter, grill, instructables, liquid oxygen, lox, mad science, Theodore Gray