• DIY

    Guess This Part, Win a Tool

    By Vin Marshall Posted on 11.16.2009 75 Comments

    Since we inaugurated Guess This Tool, you've all proven way too hard to stump, so for this week's contest, we're mixing it up a bit and giving you a mystery part rather than a tool.

    11.17.2009 at 02:17pm - Comment by mjfr226

    a lock nut similar to http://news.thomasnet.com/images/large/459/459810.jpg

  • Technology

    Geoengineering Moscow Mayor Promises No Snow This Winter

    By Jeremy Hsu Posted on 10.19.2009 8 Comments

    Controlling the weather with cloud seeding has previously proved popular with Chinese and Russian officials, but Moscow's mayor does not seem content with just keeping the rain off his roofs. Now Mayor Yury Luzhkov has hired the cash-strapped Russian Air Force to chemically spray clouds so that no snow will fall within his city limits.

    10.19.2009 at 01:31pm - Comment by mjfr226

    Trying to apply to NY.....If NY spends more than $1mill per inch (this is approx.) for plowing snow and salt... the cost of seeding would probably be cost effective.

  • Technology

    China Designs Indigenous UAV Stealth Fighter, and Bootlegs Some US Models

    By Posted on 10.15.2009 33 Comments

    When I hear the phrase "knock-off Chinese products", I usually think of either the bootleg DVDs I get on the subway or the cheap electronics I get in Midtown. But a new report in Defense Professionals notes that the Chinese military has channeled that same skill for replication towards closing their UAV technology gap. By simply copying US technology, China has created a stock of advanced drones, and gained the technical knowledge to create some interesting native UAVs as well.

    10.15.2009 at 11:12am - Comment by mjfr226

    the name prolly sounds less cornier in chinese.

  • Technology

    Pew! Airborne Military Laser Takes Out Truck on Video

    By Stuart Fox Posted on 10.6.2009 41 Comments

    In a recent test at the White Sands Missile Range, a specially equipped C-130 plane fried a parked truck with a powerful laser. And while we still haven't seen evidence of the laser "defeating" a ground target, as Boeing puts it, a video of it scorching a direct hit on the hood of a truck is still pretty amazing.

    10.5.2009 at 10:05am - Comment by mjfr226

    I guess i'll just have a missile with mirrors... too bad the video doesn't show a moving target. I'm not yet impressed.

  • Technology

    Video: DARPA's Remote-Controlled Cyborg Beetle Takes Flight

    By Stuart Fox Posted on 10.6.2009 6 Comments

    In January, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, told a stunned conference audience that they had managed to create a remote-controlled cyborg beetle by attaching a computer chip to the brain of a giant insect. Now, the paper explaining how they did it has been published in the journal Frontiers In Neuroscience, and they have released a video of the cyber-bug in action.

    9.27.2009 at 06:54pm - Comment by mjfr226

    it's like attaching a radio-controlled collar to a blind horse... that would simulate a horse drawn carriage.

  • Science

    Birds Have Got the Beat

    By Brooke Borel Posted on 4.30.2009 5 Comments

    Previously, it was believed that dancing was unique to humans. Now, two separate studies have shown that parrots have the ability to bob their heads and tap their feet to a number of different beats, proving that humans aren't the only ones with rhythm. One of the birds studied even has a favorite song: "Everybody" by the Backstreet Boys.

    4.30.2009 at 12:11pm - Comment by mjfr226

    I'm no expert, but I would say dancing evolved from...those mating dance... it's all about sex appeal.

  • Boeing Advanced Tactical Laser

    By Posted on 11.23.2008 Comments

    Truck-mounted IED-destroying lasers have already been tested in Iraq, but firing lasers from an airplane is a more difficult proposition. The first successful test of a plane-mounted laser gun came on August 7, when Boeing’s 18-ton chemical laser fired a beam from a C-130H aircraft and destroyed a three-by-three-foot target on the ground. It was the first time all of the ATL’s lab-tested pieces came together to vaporize a target. Why use a beam instead of a bomb?

    12.4.2008 at 02:02pm - Comment by mjfr226

    So i'll just put a mirror on a missile so that it can deflect the laser back at the jet.. that would suck...

  • Technology

    A Silent Electric Plane

    By Amanda Schupak Posted on 12.4.2008 26 Comments

    In August, at the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Randall Fishman’s ElectraFlyer-C made a virtually silent pass over the audience at a mere 200 feet. What they were seeing (but not hearing) might be the world’s first fully electric-powered airplane—representing, said one EAA official, “a groundbreaking technology that would be aviation’s first true alternative to a fossil-fuel engine.”

    12.4.2008 at 01:54pm - Comment by mjfr226

    This is awesome! It does look like an oversized RC plane lol. The fact that it can recharge itself is quite a feat in this technology. The wingspan is large enough to house some solar panels as well... why not? lol

  • Science

    Creating Diamonds from Tequila

    By Jaya Jiwatram Posted on 11.11.2008 9 Comments

    Tequila may be just another drink to those out in the town, but to a team of scientists in Mexico their country's native alcohol turned out to be a gem; a diamond, to be precise. Javier Morales, Luis Apátiga and Victor Castaño at the National Autonomous University of Mexico made the alchemist-worthy discovery while experimenting turning various organic solutions, such as acetone and ethanol, into diamonds. The scientists noted that 80-proof tequila (40 percent alcohol) had the ideal proportion of ethanol to water to create diamond films.

    Article Rating:
    11.11.2008 at 01:58pm - Comment by mjfr226

    that's awesome. I could use a diamond-film protected screen on my iphone... i could also use a shot of tequila right about now. cheers!



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