background preloader

SCIENCE: What happens when a cannonball is dropped in mercury

SWITL scoops oozy goop with amazing robotic precision (video) Look, sometimes, not often, but sometimes we'll miss a truly spectacular and mind bending story that requires a double-back. The SWITL robotic hand is just such a case. The patent-pending technology looks to have been revealed on video back in late October showing the Furukawa Kikou robot deftly lifting a ketchup and mayonnaise mess from a table and then replacing it unchanged from its original shape. The tech was developed for bakeries with the intention of automating the handling of soft substances that were either too malleable or too icky for human hands. Comments

Nike Hindsight by Billy May Nike Hindsight Gives You Unparalleled Vision The urban jungle isn’t exactly the safest place for bicyclists. You need the right tools to keep you one step ahead of irresponsible motorists. They work similar to bifocals except for your peripheral vision. A rider’s clear benefit is in the early warning of approaching vehicles, but a less obvious advantage is reducing the necessary head rotation to check behind. Designer: Billy May

Blog Physica Japanese Museum Unveils A Giant Globe Made of 10,000 Live-Updating OLED Panels Geo-Cosmos If you want to see what Earth looks like from space, become an astronaut (or, barring that, a space tourist). For the next best view, pay a visit to Tokyo’s National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation where a massive, nearly 20-foot spherical OLED orb--the world’s first large scale spherical OLED --offers a satellite’s-eye view of the planet in super high resolution. “Geo-Cosmos” is made up of 10,362 OLED panels that display continuously-updating satellite footage of our tiny blue marble, representing what our planet looks like from space in something close to realtime. It replaces an earlier model covered in LED panels, offering museum-goers a full 10 million pixels, a resolution 10 times greater than its predecessor. And like any good museum exhibit, Geo-Cosmos is interactive. [ Tokyo Tek ]

IdeaPaint: Turn Your Entire Office Into a Whiteboard Why didn't you think of this? John Goscha, at the ripe old age of 25 ditched a job offer at Goldman Sachs, and instead began marketing IdeaPaint, which is simply a paint that turns any paintable surface into a dry-erase board. The benefit--besides being able to brainstorm on almost every inch of your office--is that the paint is half the cost of whiteboard and better-performing--you can leave marks up indefinitely, and they won't stain the wall. [Inc. via Dieline] Anamorphic Graffiti French collective Paper Donut has painted a series of walls with three-dimensional shapes. (Above) The image is part of an ad campaign for fashion store Sqwear, and the other two visuals are personal projects. See also: “Are you ready for a paper breakfast?” Photos © Paper Donut Link via Unurth

New camera promises to capture your whole life - tech - 16 October 2009 A camera you can wear as a pendant to record every moment of your life will soon be launched by a UK-based firm. Originally invented to help jog the memories of people with Alzheimer's disease, it might one day be used by consumers to create "lifelogs" that archive their entire lives. Worn on a cord around the neck, the camera takes pictures automatically as often as once every 30 seconds. It also uses an accelerometer and light sensors to snap an image when a person enters a new environment, and an infrared sensor to take one when it detects the body heat of a person in front of the wearer. It can fit 30,000 images onto its 1-gigabyte memory. The ViconRevue was originally developed as the SenseCam by Microsoft Research Cambridge, UK, for researchers studying Alzheimer's and other dementias. See some images taken using a SenseCam during trials in Cambridge, UK. Can't get enough Lifelogging "Once you have that mass market, that brings the prices down." More From New Scientist More from the web

Vicon Revue Introducing the next generation Revue. Revue 3MP has four times more storage and a 3 megapixel sensor. For detailed product information including new features, example images and a downloadable brochure click here . Revue is a digital camera designed to take photos without intervention whilst being worn by the user.

Almost Untouched Nature - Waterfall Restaurant, Philippines Image credit Visiting this interesting Waterfall Restaurant located in San Pablo City, Philippines at the Villa Escudero Plantations and Resort can be a truly unique and memorable experience. Visitors can enjoy in lunch served on bamboo dining tables while the crystalline running water flows under their feet. Besides enjoying the authentic local cuisine, you can enjoy the almost untouched nature of the region formerly occupied by a farm and coconut plantations. Image credit Also, guests have the opportunity to watch the Philippine Experience Show where the country’s rich culture comes to life, from its ethnic diversity to its colonial legacy. Image credit Image credit If you are admirer of bird watching this is the place for you. With close to 600 recorded bird species, 30% (181) found only in our islands, the Philippines has the highest rate of avifauna biodiversity per square kilometer in the world. Image credit Image credit Source: 1, 2, 3, 4

Art genius: Nine-year-old painter tipped for greatness after buyers from across the world snap up his work Only started painting lessons in 2008Work bought by international collectors for tens of thousands of poundsPaints three pictures a weekProud mum has written book about his prodigal success By Daily Mail Reporter Published: 13:59 GMT, 12 July 2012 | Updated: 20:04 GMT, 12 July 2012 Nine-year-old Kieron Williamson's latest set of paintings sold within minutes fetching £250,000. A nine-year-old art genius nicknamed 'Mini Monet' is about to become a millionaire after selling his latest collection of 24 paintings for £250,000. Kieron Williamson, from Norfolk, had his landscape pictures snapped up by telephone and internet buyers from around the world in just 15 minutes during a recent sale. The youngster only started painting during a family trip to Devon and Cornwall in 2008 - before then he had just coloured in dinosaurs his parents had drawn for him. But since then he has become an international art sensation with some of his pieces being bought for tens of thousands of pounds.

Penny Countertop Last September we finished our butcher block countertops, but we didn’t do our bar area. I mentioned in that post that I was open to suggestions and got the great idea to cover it in pennies and epoxy. Well, EIGHT months later it is finally finished! I started in December when I got the supplies for Christmas… then it was one of my No Spend February goals…then it was one of my projects for the contest over at Every Creative Endeavor….then we finally finished it in April and I put off blogging about it because I didn’t want to write the post. And that brings us to now. This is one of those projects that if I was to do it again it would be super easy. However, if any of y’all want to make a penny countertop, then you are going to LOVE me for saving you a headache. First we de-laminated the contertop to make it easy to get to the nails to remove it… except that there was NO WAY that sucker was coming off. Next we had to figure out how we wanted our pennies. So whats the best way?

Shortcut When his wife grew ill in the early 1960s, Indian farmhand Dashrath Manjhi took her from their home in Gelaur to the hospital in the neighboring town of Wazirganj. Unfortunately, this meant a journey of 19 kilometers, as a hillock of solid rock lay between the two villages. When he returned to Gelaur, Manjhi resolved to improve matters. When Dasrath died in 2007, the Indian state of Bihar gave him a state funeral. See A for Effort. (Thanks, Jebadiah.) Judith Ann Braun's Fingers Are Magical With an art career spanning more than three decades, Judith Ann Braun has tested the limits of her artistic musculature. She began as a self-described “realistic figure painter,” and worked through the struggles common to anyone who endeavors upon an artistic pursuit, that of searching for one’s own voice in the chosen medium. Fast forward to the 21st century where the evolution of Braun’s work has brought us to the Fingerings series, a collection of charcoal dust landscapes and abstracts “painted” using not brushes but her fingertips. Braun has a specific interest in symmetry, as evidenced by the patterns she follows in a number of the Fingerings pieces as well as work in the Symmetrical Procedures collection. Share With Your Friends

Related: