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We’ve all seen those flipping rides that rotate on one horrible axis, or maybe two. But this new vomit machine from ABC Rides takes it even further and goes full-on gyroscope.The “Tourbillon,” as it’s called, is the result of three years of planning and development by the Swiss company, makers of rides with names like “Nemesis: Sub-Terra.” The whole rig stands 65-feet tall and weighs a whipping 180 tons, but still comes in a mobile version for carnivals that aren’t content with just a rickety Ferris Wheel and that tent where you can shoot air-powered guns at paper targets already riddled with holes....

Sea-kayaking adventurers Olly Hicks and George Bullard set out on an expedition in June to paddle 1,200 miles from Greenland to Scotland over the course of six weeks. Their route takes them through frigid seas with obstructing ice floes and choppy open waters, sometimes for days at a time without stepping on dry land. The duo set out yesterday on what will be the most difficult section of the journey—a stretch of almost 300 miles of open water between Iceland and the Faroe Islands known as the “Devil’s Dance Floor....

Base Price: $211,321 / Top Speed: 190 mph / Zero to 60: 3.2 second / Meaning of Name: The undomesticated extinct ancestor of the modern bull (most Lamborghini models names are bull-related) / Engine: Twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 / Horsepower: 641 at 6,000 rpm / Passenger Capacity: 5 / Fuel Economy: 12 mpg (combined) Every Lamborghini, including this one, has some magic. Its cars are still the stuff of phone wallpaper and hip-hop choruses....

According to a new study from Georgia Tech, ants are experts at avoiding traffic jams because of an unusual virtue: laziness. Researchers studied groups of fire ants digging tunnels in a lab container, observing that 30 percent of the ants did 70 percent of the work, while the rest lazed around, doing very little. When researchers removed some of the hard-working ants, however, a a selection of loafers took up the work....

Your car and home could stay cooler in summer thanks to a new paint created by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab. The paint uses glass to create a more reflective surface coating, as well as to protect your paint job from harsh ultraviolet rays that normally corrode it. The paint is made of silica and potassium silicate, and dries within hours to a tough, durable surface coating. Essentially, the chemistry makes the UV rays bounce right off, ensuring that the surface is not absorbing the solar radiation, which keeps it cool to the touch....

Media Platforms Design TeamWant to know how you’ll (almost) live forever? Download our pdf to see why the Census Bureau says life spans will climb nearly 10 years in the next half-century. Then click here to see additional photos and some animations of nanobots in action.The Modern Guy’s Tools–the basic keyboard, scuba tank, cordless drill–are used pretty much like the old mastodon-femur club or flint scraping knife. You take them in hand and apply some muscle....

This week, we strike out for yet another island in the archipelago of knights and knaves. On this island, there are no spies, only knights who always tell the truth, and knaves who always lie. But these knights and knaves are of an older clan, and they do not speak English. They understand English perfectly well, but will only respond with “da” and “ja.“The words mean “yes” and “no,” but which is which, you do not know....

Media Platforms Design TeamPaddling on your own is like having a backstage pass to every overlooked lake cove and river slough. Take your canoe where you want, as fast as you want, without the hassle of coordinating strokes—and schedules—with a partner. Burt Kornegay, who owns Slickrock Expeditions, has guided more than 400 trips, but he still likes going out on his own. “There’s a sense of freedom,” he says. “You can go at it hard, or snooze all afternoon....

Media Platforms Design TeamThree prototype LEGO Watt balances, housed in acrylic cases to reduce interference from air currents. (Photo Credit: S. Schlamminger and X. Zhang/NIST)Scientists are finally—finally!—close to standardizing the weight of a gram, and they’re doing it with just Legos, some lasers, some magnets, and some electronics.Believe it or not, there’s no “standard” gram. The weights we place on a scale to represent the unit of mass actually gain mass over time because of microscopic bits attaching themselves to the weight, leading to a gram or kilogram that gets heavier than when it was manufactured....

In season 5 of Star Trek: The Next Generation, one monster of the week was a holodeck video game. Trying to get a disc into a cone would trigger the player’s pleasure center, creating an addictive pattern that would stimulate a need for obedience in the user. So, naturally, someone’s built it into a Microsoft Hololens.View full post on YoutubeWhile Rob Burke couldn’t recreate the direct link into the septal area of the brain, his game is also based on the user’s emotive state....

If you’re planning a trip to England but hate long flights, now is the time to go. An aggressive jet stream is pushing jets to break speed records while crossing the Atlantic. At least one 787 nearly broke 800 miles per hour.The jet stream is a band of air that flows west to east in the Northern Hemisphere and typically can reach speeds of more than 100 mph. This strong, stable wind current is a boon to pilots, who often fly from North America to Europe with the jet stream at their backs....

AUDIOSamsung Helix XM2GOMedia Platforms Design TeamThe portable Helix ($399) marks a milestone by linking satellite radio to your earthbound MP3 collections. It receives and records live XM programs, and plays MP3 and WMA files downloaded via USB.xmradio.com/samsunghelixENGINESDaimlerChrysler BlueTecMedia Platforms Design TeamWhile manufacturers struggle to perfect hydrogen-powered cars, they are still working to stretch every gallon of crude. And it’s not just about hybrids. Daimler-Chrysler has produced a diesel engine that, besides delivering diesel’s typical broad torque and miserly appetite for fuel, leaves no telltale exhaust odor or smoke....

There’s more that goes into a knife than just metal. Good knife metal needs to be carburized with a carbon-rich material, quenched in liquid while still red hot, and married with a handle that’s more comfortable to hold than raw metal is. In the case of this “fast food” knife, all three of those ingredients were edible. For this build, knife maker Green Beetle decided to quench his blade in beer—a fantastically mesmerizing procedure, if perhaps not the most effective—and outfit it with a handle made of bacon encased in resin....

View full post on Youtube George Clooney surprised audiences today at New York Comic-Con by appearing unannounced at a panel for the upcoming super-secret movie Tomorrowland. Yes, George Clooney is starring in a movie inspired by a section of a Disney theme park. And yes, it looks awesome. First, Tomorrowland has a pedigree. The movie was written by Lost creator Damon Lindelof and directed by Pixar genius Brad Bird. Plus, it’s got Clooney, who took his big moment to joke about his comic-book-movie past....

View full post on YoutubeAs next month’s midterm elections approach and the 2020 presidential race looms in the distance, ensuring voter rolls remain protected from all manner of hacks and outside manipulation is paramount. And while the memory of Russian election meddling in 2016 might spur fears of sophisticated cyberattacks, an election security researcher in Michigan recently demonstrated a much simpler threat to voting security: a Dr. Pepper can.Matt Bernhard is a University of Michigan graduate student and volunteer poll worker in Washtenaw County....

By Christmas, we just might have our first binding agreement to curb climate change worldwide. That’s because the United Nation’s Conference on Climate Change will meet in Paris on November 30 with the hope of establishing greenhouse gas emission limits for every nation on Earth.Given the catastrophic specter of climate change, it’s hard to overstate just how important an agreement from the Paris conference would be. But as recent history has shown, the simple threat of disaster is no sure deal-maker....

Oversized and weathered, the concrete hands that stretch Vietnam’s new Golden Bridge away from the Ba Na hills are a stunning sight to behold. That’s just the point, according to principle designer Vu Viet Anh, who aimed to invoke the sensation of walking along a thread stretching through the hands of God.Designed by Ho Chi Minh City-based TA Landscape Architecture, the Cau Vang, which translates to gold bridge, is meant to attract more tourists to an already popular destination....

You never want to lose track of your tools. Tool theft is a problem on some job sites, especially those with a lot of subcontractors and their crews running around. Even without theft, it can be a pain to determine who has access to what tools, and where they all are at any given time. Bosch is introducing a potential solution in the form of the Bosch GSH27-26 Brute Turbo Breaker Hammer with GPS and the SDS-max GPS Retrofit which offers real-time location info anywhere and anytime....

Media Platforms Design TeamIf you love making GIFs (and really, who doesn’t?) today is a happy day for you. YouTube has finally heeded the call of millions of users and quietly added a GIF-creator tool to some of its videos (for example, anything uploaded by the PBS Idea Channel). The share button (which previously only had share, embed, and email as options) now includes an extra feature: GIF.It’s a pretty bare-bones affair: tap share, set your start and end points, add any captions if you’d like, and click “create” — YouTube will host the GIF itself....

Boeing is currently conducting ground tests on its prototype aircraft designed for the U.S. Navy’s MQ-25 program, according to Aviation Week. The Navy is looking for an unmanned tanker that can operate from an aircraft carrier and pass fuel to other carrier-based jets, such as the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter, greatly extending the operational range of Navy carrier flights. In October 2017, the Naval Air Systems Command issued a request for proposals for MQ-25 “Stingray” designs....