This this video, Bill “The Engineer Guy” demonstrates the temperature-dependent shape memory of nitinol metal. He explains how “twinning” in the crystal structure of nitinol produces the memory effect. He shows a nitinol-based engine that is powered by temperature differences. He closes the video with a description of superelasticity, a phenomenon related to the memory […]
Apollo 11 launched on July 16, 1969, carrying Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins on a journey to pull off humankind’s first moon landing. The eight-day journey was made possible by the careful deconstruction of the Saturn V rocket and Apollo spacecraft, and made use of a technique of docking components of the spacecraft […]
Dragonflies can catch prey with near perfect accuracy, the best among all predators. But how does something with so few neurons achieve such prowess? Neuroscientist Greg Gage and his colleagues explore how a dragonfly unerringly locks onto its preys and captures it within milliseconds using just sensors and a fake fly. [TED]
This video is about the original cold fusion: μ muon-catalyzed cold fusion of deuterium, tritium, hydrogen, into helium-3 and helium 4. The problems with it are the half-life of muons and the sticking of muons to alpha particles. Also involved are neutrons, protons, break-even, etc. This has nothing to do with fusion by capture in […]
The earliest time measurements were observations of cycles of the natural world, using patterns of changes from day to night and season to season to build calendars. More precise time-keeping eventually came along to put time in more convenient boxes. But what exactly are we measuring? Andrew Zimmerman Jones contemplates whether time is something that […]
From SciShow: In the comments of our episode debunking six popular home remedies, a lot of you asked us if there are any that do work. Well, here’s the answer! [SciShow]
Nothing can undo the invention of Comic Sans, but that may not be a bad thing since it seems to be helping people with dyslexia. [SciShow Psych]
The Rabbit Illusion is a time-travelling illusion that makes you retroactively see something that is not there. Watch above! Caltech researchers have developed these two new illusions that reveal how the senses can influence each other—in particular, how sound can give rise to visual illusions. These illusions occur so quickly that they illustrate a phenomenon […]
“Brief Answers to the Big Questions,” Stephen Hawking’s final book, was released posthumously Tuesday and answers the 10 biggest questions the scientist was commonly asked: Is there a God? [“There is no God. No one directs the universe.”] How did it all begin? What is inside a black hole? Can we predict the future? Is […]
Concrete is the most widely used construction material in the world. It can be found in swathes of city pavements, bridges that span vast rivers and the tallest skyscrapers on earth. But it does have a weakness: it’s prone to catastrophic cracking that has immense financial and environmental impact. What if we could avoid that […]