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Blimp Power

The Canadian startup Magenn Power has started testing its airship-based wind turbines. The Magenn Power Air Rotor System, or MARS, consists of a blimp-like device that is tethered to the ground, and rotates about its horizontal axis in the breeze. This action generates electrical energy, which is sent down the tether to a transformer, and eventually routed through to the grid.

Dead Bodies for Live Crash Tests

Does GM use human bodies as crash test dummies? That's not the plot of a 1970s cult classic; it's the claim of one car-safety specialist in Sweden, who told newspaper Expressen that GM recently wrapped up a multiyear research study using human cadavers in car-crash simulations. The man says Saab cars were involved in the project, which reportedly involved people who had donated their own bodies—assumedly in the name of scientific research—not political dissidents. Well, that's a relief.

The World's Spookiest Weapons