Rolling two six-sided dice (2d6) gives results from 2 to 12 with a bell curve distribution. Seven being the most common result, two and twelve being the least common. But what if one could do this with a single die? This eleven-sided die has a distribution matching the results of 2d6. As part of research […]
Everyone has a standard for publishing projects, and they can get pretty controversial. We see a lot of people complain about hacks embedded in YouTube videos, social media threads, Discord servers, Facebook posts, IRC channels, different degrees of open-sourcing, licenses, searchability, and monetization. I personally have my own share of frustrations with a number of […]
Fungi make up a massive, interconnected part of Earth’s ecosystems, yet they’re vastly underrepresented in research and public consciousness compared to plants and animals. That may change in the future though, as a group of researchers at The Ohio State University have found a way to use fungi as organic memristors — hinting at a […]
Glasses are perhaps the most non-invasive method of vision correction, followed by contact lenses. Each have their drawbacks though, and some seek more permanent solutions in the form of laser eye surgeries like LASIK, aiming to reshape their corneas for better visual clarity. However, these methods often involve cutting into the eye itself, and it […]
There have been lots of haptic vest devices over the years, though the vast majority have been very simple. Many existing suits pack in a few speakers or vibration motors to give feedback to the wearer. Kinethreads aims to go further, serving as a full-body haptic suit using an innovative mechanical setup. Kinethreads is effectively […]
Taking a look inside the human body has never been easier — just swallow a camera in the shape of a pill. However, what is not quite as easy is retrieving a piece of whatever you’re viewing. This is exactly what researchers from HIT Shenzhen have attempted to solve with their magnetic capsule bot. When […]
It’s been said that the best way to stifle creativity by researchers is to demand that they produce immediately marketable technologies and products. This is also effectively the story of Bell Labs, originally founded as Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. in January 1925. As an integral part of AT&T and Western Electric, it enjoyed immense funding […]
What happens when an unfortunate bug ends up in a spider’s web? It gets bitten and wrapped in silk, and becomes a meal. But if the web belongs to an orb-weaver and the bug is a male firefly, it seems the trapped firefly — once bitten — ends up imitating a female’s flash pattern and […]
A team at MIT led by [Professor Douglas Hart] has discovered a new, potentially revelatory method for the generation of hydrogen. Using seawater, pure aluminum, and components from coffee grounds, the team was able to generate hydrogen at a not insignificant rate, getting the vast majority of the theoretical yield of hydrogen from the seawater/aluminum […]
Long-haul flights can be a real pain when you’re trying to get around the world. Typically, they’re achieved by including a stop along the way, with the layover forcing passengers to deplane and kill time before continuing the flight. As planes have improved over the years, airlines have begun to introduce more direct flights where […]