Over one hundred years ago, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution went into effect, banning the manufacture and sale of all alcoholic beverages in the country. We may treat prohibition like a joke today, but it was the result of decades of political crusading and did lead to a longer-term stanching of alcohol use. In fact, there’s a lot of surprising stuff packed into just under 14 years of Prohibition....
Recently, GPS company Strava released what it called the Global Heat Map, a map of the locations of everyone using their technology. Because Strava tech is found in a lot of GPS-enabled devices, including fitness trackers like Fitbit, this ended up including a lot of data from a lot of people.Some of those people, it turns out, are military personnel working at sensitive bases around the world. The countries that own these bases would prefer their locations to remain secret, but thanks to Strava, anyone with a Wi-Fi connection can figure out where they are pretty easily....
Humans have seen real-life unicorns. That’s the conclusion of the United Kingdom’s National History Museum in London, which determined that the Elasmotherium sibiricum, a species known as the Siberian unicorn, co-existed with humans. The catch? Forget all unicorn preconceptions. Instead of an elegant horse, think of a hairy rhino with an extraordinary horn.The NHM’s study showed that the Elasmotherium survived for far longer than scientists had previously believed. It was general consensus that the magnificent animal, which weighed up to up to 3....
A new Twitter video shows a formation of U.S. Air Force transports flying a particularly daring flight profile: a low-level formation flight through a Welsh valley. In the clip, you can see four MC-130J Commando II special operations transports, designed to support special forces troops, flying through the U.K.’s famous “Mach Loop” training ground.View full post on TwitterIn the video, captured by veteran plane spotter Peter Lewis, the first three planes are flying in tight formation, nose to tail, while the fourth plane trails a bit....
Most planets have poles roughly aligned with the sun’s, which we have labeled north and south. Not Uranus. For whatever reason, the seventh planet from the sun has always rolled on its side, throwing off all sorts of strange magnetic activity in the meantime. It’s unlikely Uranus was tilted when it formed, and astronomers have struggled to understand the cause.New research published today in the Astrophysical Journal suggests that Uranus got hit by a planet twice the size of Earth long ago....
Do other planets in our solar system have seasons like we do on Earth? The answer: not really. But many of them do have interesting seasonal changes. Seasons are all about axial tilt, whether the planet in orbit is tilted towards or away from the sun. Some planets, like Mercury, have almost no tilt, so they’re stuck in an everyday hellish cycle of hot and cold. The planet with seasons most comparable to ours, unsurprisingly, is Mars, which has a similar axial tilt to Earth....
Scientists have developed a new software that allows users to see the world through the eyes of different animals, like a bee or bluejay. Many insects, fish, birds, and reptiles have more color cones in their eyes than humans do, allowing them to view things in a different light. By understanding how animals see the world, scientists can better develop tools to conserve vulnerable species.Have you ever looked at a bee, goldfish, or even your dog, and wished you could see through their eyes?...
NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has captured four stunning portraits of double galaxies collectively known as the Whirlpool Galaxy. Taken together, the photos show how galactic appearance can alter when viewed through various wavelengths of light.Whirlpool consists of two galaxies known as Messier 51 and NGC 5194/5195. These two interact with each other constantly because of their gravitational attraction pulls. Around 23 million light-years away, Whirlpool can be seen in the night sky with a good amateur telescope....
View full post on VimeoRiding in a vehicle that looks like what the 1960s thought 2000s outer space would look like, two “railnauts” began in 2010 to explore Mexico’s abandoned railroad tracks. Brothers Ivan Puig and Andres Padillas Domene built their wacky aluminum vehicle, called SEFT (Sonda de Exploración Ferroviaria Tripulada, or Manned Railway Exploration Probe), on a pick-up truck chassis. The result is a hybrid train-car that can ride rails and roads alike....
Media Platforms Design TeamNo matter what you’re doing, there is usually a better way to do it. And to that end, here are 10 lifehacking GIFs that will show you clever, better ways of accomplishing tricky things around your house. That plus a few that are just silly fun. You can find all these and more at the Giphy page for “lifehack” (and for “life hack” and “lifehacks” and “life hacks”) where we found these gems....
Media Platforms Design TeamWhen does a soccer mom need 4WD low? Does a guy commuting in Chicago need 9 inches of ground clearance? When was the last time anybody you know had to ford a stream? Honest answers to these questions explain the end of SUV boom and current popularity of crossovers. In terms of market share, crossover utility vehicles overtook traditional SUVs in 2006. Currently, crossovers are America’s most popular class of vehicle, accounting for nearly one in four new vehicles sold....
A bridge in a rural area of Saskatchewan collapsed just hours after its opening last Friday, with the cause of the collapse still under investigation. Fortunately no one was injured but local farmers, who would be the bridge’s primary users, are temporarily out of luck. Local politician Reeve Duane Hicks expressed frustration to The Canadian Press, but stopped sort of placing blame, saying “The company did not build a bridge to fall over....
China’s Chengdu J-20 fighter has officially entered the early stages of production. The bird you see here is the first production model of the large, stealthy fighter, photographed on the tarmac just days ago. The fighter, marked 2101 on the fuselage, is painted a dull yellow—likely a primer coat.The low rate initial production (LRIP) fighters will likely go to People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) test pilots for flight testing. The prototype’s appearance means that most of the plane is likely frozen, design-wise, with no major changes anticipated....
The early human migrations out of Africa set the stage for human history. Now, ancient tools and bones discovered in north-central China suggest that migration happened at least 270,000 years earlier than previously thought. “Our discovery means it is necessary now to reconsider the timing of when early humans left Africa,” says Robin Dennell of Exeter University, who helped lead the study with Zhaoyu Zhu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in a press statement....
Stan Lee died today at the age of 95, leaving behind one of the biggest legacies in comics. The year 1939 brought Stan Lee, born Stanley Lieber, into the comics world, starting out as a gofer at Timely Comics for $8 a week. After being promoted to interim editor at the age of 19, he joined the U.S. Army and served in the Signal Corps until 1945, upon which he resumed his former editorial duties....
When you think of a tiny untility knife, it’s easy to only consider folding knives and multitools. The infinitely famous Swiss Army knife. The single-blade folders that make obvious choices for an everyday carry. But Stonewood Design’s custom knives are nothing like that, and that’s what makes them so delightful. Designed to be carried around the neck on a length of cord, these fixed-blade slicers aren’t “pocket” knives. And without a folding mechanism to cover up their slicey bits, tiny sheaths are also mandatory....
Media Platforms Design TeamDespite what some baristas want you to believe, making coffee is not an art. It’s a mechanical process more akin to culinary science, in which an ingredient is acted upon in ways proved to produce the best-tasting, repeatable results. As master roaster and resident palate at La Colombe Torrefaction, the venerated Philadelphia-based coffee company, Jean Philippe Iberti takes a gastronomic approach. “I treat it like spiced water,” he says....
Computer scientists at the University of Glasgow have borrowed from the world of geology and crystals to help machines better generate random numbers. While computers whip up “random” numbers rather predictably, the researchers discovered they could model number generation on the truly indiscriminate patterns in the crystallization process. This revelation could lead to more robust, less calculable encryption schemes. Because computers don’t understand words or phrases in the same way people can, they speak a language of their own, using only two symbols: 0 and 1....
Long live the days of kids getting to see the inside of a cockpit mid-flight. Today, getting anywhere near a plane’s pilots might result in an abrupt end to your vacation plans. Fortunately, Swiss YouTube channel Blick has this nifty 360-degree video of an Airbus A320 cockpit during a flight from Zurich to Geneva to give us a behind-the-scenes look at how boring it really is to watch someone fly a plane....
SANTA MONICA, Calif.—It’s practically the reason we came to E3: a first look at Halo 3’s single-player campaign. I played the multiplayer beta a few months ago (click here for video), and it featured some new weapons and supped-up graphics.The scene we watched, played on Heroic difficulty by O’Connor, was part of the first mission of the game. The environment was reminiscent of the early outdoor levels in the original Halo, with plenty of rocks, trees and blue skies....
