The looming environmental crisis is a double threat. Not only is our planet is warming due to our overuse of fossil fuels, but our water and air is also growing ever more polluted. Cleaning up the Earth will require tackling both of these issues.But perhaps we can tackle both of these issues at the same time. One group of researchers at the University of Antwerp and KU Leuven think they’ve found a way to do just that....
High-definition television (HDTV) has evolved from an early-adopter indulgence to a mainstream technology in less than a decade. Enthusiasm for HD everything is driving the sales of flat-panel TVs and has inspired a next-gen DVD format war. It’s showing up in camcorders and on your local TV news.Yet HDTV remains a widely misunderstood technology, muddled with misconceptions and half-truths born of marketing mumbo jumbo and senseless jargon. The advertised specifications read like bewildering mathÂematical equations with “variables” such as 1080i, 720p, 4:3, 1080p and 16:9....
In the past month, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have both landed rockets vertically on solid ground, and it seems that both companies are in a heated competition. It’s wrong. But there’s still a mild rivalry. After the Blue Origin landing, SpaceX commented (basically subtweeted),“We congratulate Blue Origin on the progress they’re making with vertical take-off and landing of their booster.” After the SpaceX landing, Jeff Bezos tweeted: View full post on TwitterAs another reader points out, Elon went on a snark-fest of his own, tweeting:View full post on TwitterView full post on TwitterBut the comparisons are wrong, again, and it’s a sort of false rivalry (and I, myself, was duped at first because I hadn’t had coffee yet when Blue Origin stuck the landing....
Standing UpMedia Platforms Design Team1. Start in the water, floating on your back with the board perpendicular to the rope. Your arms should be around your bent knees, with both hands gripping the handle (like a baseball catcher’s squat). Keep your eyes focused on the boat. Media Platforms Design Team2. As the boat begins to pull, let your hips slide to your ankles and your chest to your knees. Don’t muscle it–the boat will pull you up....
New Horizons is speeding away from Earth at over 30,000 miles per hour, rapidly becoming one of the most distant objects humans have ever launched. The spacecraft has already visited Pluto, the farthest world any mission has ever been to, and it will arrive at another celestial body on January 1, 2019. The target this time is a Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) called MU69, which just received a new name from NASA: Ultima Thule....
Scientists are using seawater bacteria to engineer compounds that could potentially become cost-effective, renewable alternatives to crude oil.Current jet fuel is inefficient and expensive. This could be a cheaper, cleaner solution. It’s the largest source of water on the planet, but seawater is mostly unusable for human purposes. Now, researchers from the U.S. Navy and the University of Manchester in England are using bacteria that grows in seawater to engineer high value compounds that show potential as jet fuel....
1: Engine flushes ($100-$200) An engine flush uses a big, expensive machine and proprietary chemicals to purge your engine of sludge. An engine that’s running too hot or one that’s neglected can sludge up, and if so, a flush is indicated. A quick peek into the oil-filler cap should let you see any deposits. It’s not a normal maintenance item.2: Fuel-injection cleaning ($125-$200)This is a fair price for this service, which uses another impressive machine – but only if your fuel injectors are actually dirty, and you have driveability issues because of it....
The pros know it’s often the simplest household item that can make an existing tool work better–or substitute in a pinch for a more expensive piece of equipment you might only use once in a lifetime. You will also learn that one tool can often fulfill a completely different purpose than that for which it was originally intended. Keep an open mind to the possibilities, but remember: safety first. Don’t use any tool in a reckless manner just for the sake of improvisation....
(Adapted from the book Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of Energy Independence, out in March from PublicAffairs, a member of the Perseus Books Group. © 2008 Click here to purchase it now.)1. Energy independence will mean better energy security for the U.S.After the hurricanes of 2005 ravaged New Orleans and other areas along the Gulf of Mexico, several damaged refineries in the region were unable to operate. Within a few days of the storm, gasoline shortages hit several southern U....
Despite the fact that they have a bad habit of bursting into flames, those little two-wheeled hoverboards can be a pretty cool gadget to mess around with. And if you’re afraid of falling—or just looking like an idiot—there’s a new modification on the market that turns a hoverboard into a sort of go-kart, and it’s actually kind of genius. The patent-pending product, dubbed the HoverCart, is as simple as it looks....
Solar wind isn’t really wind. Wind is moving air, and there’s no air in space. In preparation for a NASA probe heading towards the sun to study the still-mysterious phenomena, an Italian space physics Ph.D. student has gone back and analyzed some of the Agency’s previous looks at solar wind and found himself on a historic research trail that dated back to the 1970s, studying giant radioactive blobs from the sun....
Index cards are mostly obsolete nowadays. We use them to create flash cards, write recipes, and occasionally fold them up into cool paper airplanes. But their original purpose was nothing less than organizing and classifying every known animal, plant, and mineral in the world. Later, they formed the backbone of the library system, allowing us to index vast sums of information and inadvertently creating many of the underlying ideas that allowed the Internet to flourish....
Media Platforms Design TeamAs of early Monday morning Qantas had grounded its fleet of six A380s for another three days after a massive engine failure on one of the jets last week threw the Australian carrier’s international operations into disarray. Over the weekend Airbus parent EADS and engine maker Rolls-Royce sought to reassure the public that there was no design flaw in the Trent 900 engine that failed so dramatically shortly after a Sydney-bound flight took off from Singapore....
At its geeky core, Lost is a show about science and faith—and it’s undeniable that this season, science is taking center stage. As the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 try to unravel the island’s mysteries in an effort to get off of it, they are thwarted again and again by temporal distortion, electromagnetic energy and time travel of the mind—not to mention a really cranky smoke monster that may or may not have a basis in science....
An as yet unexplained fire raged through a stash of tires on private property in West Odessa, Texas, over the weekend. Called in on Sunday afternoon, the fire continued to burn through the night. The local fire chief Jimmy Ellis told OA Online “It was way beyond our means to put it out last night.” The EPA was called in on Monday to assist battling the blaze which, though controlled and contained, still persisted....
Cadillac hasn’t had a bold, brash concept car since the Sixteen hit the stage at Detroit back in 2003. It was a four-door mega-sedan powered by a 16 cylinder engine, built to show that Cadillac aspired to build a car that could compete with the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and BMW 7-Series. That sedan never came. But now Cadillac might be rethinking its position on large sedans. This weekend, the company unveiled a big, brash four-door convertible built as “a new expression of Cadillac’s historical grandeur,” according to the carmaker....
If you use the right fabric, then a little goes a long way. The new TrunkTech hammock from Grand Trunk, for example, weighs just 15.5 ounces for a double hammock (11.7 ounces for a single) but can hold up to 900 times its own weight. High-tech hammocks have become a popular backpacking and camping sleeping option in recent years, for good reason. They pack down small and light, and they don’t require resting on the hard ground as sleeping bags do....
Soffit RotQ: The soffits on the addition to our house rot out after only a few years. The soffits themselves are not vented, but there is a large gable vent. There are identical gable vents on the main part of the house. The soffits on that portion of the house are not vented, yet they are still in great shape after nearly 30 years. Since the roof of the addition meets the side wall of the house, could the problem be that the soffits trap condensation because the gable vent does not have a free outlet at both ends?...
Media Platforms Design TeamSeattle’s new Bullitt Center—which will house eco-conscious tenants such as the International Living Future Institutue and the University of Washington Integrated Design Lab—is the brainchild of Bullitt Foundation president Denis Hayes. He’s the guy who coordinated the first Earth Day, which, not surprisingly, will serve as the grand opening date for the center. Hayes spent more than two years sourcing materials for the office building as part of his attempt to build the largest structure to qualify for the ....
Since the invention of the automobile, drivers have sought ways to make their cars more efficient and reliable. Today’s cars are the best they’ve ever been, but they’re still not the maintenance-free wondermachines. Cars also need frequent TLC, and its an auto’s six different fluids that need the most attention.Fluids play a huge role in almost every facet of your car, including fuel economy and longevity. Keeping them at the proper level will help your car last longer and drive better, something we can all get behind....
