-
Tech NewsSploidI’m Completely Mesmerized By This Tunnel-Scrubbing Beast of a Machine
With thousands of cars passing through every day, blasting the walls with dirty exhaust, it only makes sense that every once in a while a tunnel needs to be cleaned. But I had no idea there are trucks built specifically for the task, with giant scrubbers attached to robotic arms that can reach every last … Continued
-
Tech NewsThe New Zumwalt Stealth Destroyer Is Too Stealthy
The USS Zumwalt, a Navy destroyer years in the making, is a floating piece of technological wonder. But the neatest feature is tricking nearby radar into thinking its massive 610-foot hull is actually just a 50-foot fishing boat. In fact the ship is so good at going undetected, it’s too stealthy. That’s why the United … Continued
By Darren Orf -
Tech NewsPlaying With a Heavy Industrial Simulator Looks Like a Lot of Fun
I’ve always wondered exactly who is buying Train Simulator 2015, because driving around virtual heavy machinery without causing accidents isn’t really my idea of a good afternoon. But if that software is running in a fully immersive high-tech simulator, I start to understand the appeal. YouTuber Tom Scott had the chance to visit Mevea Simulators … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech NewsWatch This Enormous Floating Crane Lift a Giant Piece of an Offshore Gas Platform
As a fan of huge machineries I have watched this time lapse video at least five times in a row, and I am still speechless. It was produced by News On Request for Norwegian multinational oil and gas company Statoil, and you can watch how an amazingly huge section of the Aasta Hansteen offshore rig … Continued
By Attila Nagy -
ScienceSpaceConstruction Permits Revoked on the Thirty-Meter Telescope in Hawaii
It’s a clash of gods, science, lava, stars, and the law for the Thirty-Meter Telescope in Hawaii. The would-be new largest telescope on the planet just had its construction permit yanked by the Hawaii Supreme Court. The construction of the 30-Meter Telescope on the flanks of Mauna Kea volcano has been the topic of fierce … Continued
-
Tech News
Fake Winds and High Ceilings Make the Perfect Test for this Enormous Parachute
April 10, 1990: This is what happens when you unfurl a massive parachute in the world’s largest wind tunnel. The Pioneer Aerospace Parafoil, also known as the Advanced Recovery System II, was tested at the 80×120 Foot Tunnel at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View California. The facility is approximately 24 meters by 36 … Continued
-
Tech NewsThis Tree-Eating Tank Is the Stuff of Nightmares
Back in the day, humans chopped down forests the old-fashioned way: lumberjacks with axes. Obviously, a 20,000-pound monster with tank treads and massive saws mounted on a crane does the job harder, better, faster, stronger. This is the EcoLog 590D. It’s designed to down trees in rugged terrain, strip them of their branches, and chop … Continued
-
SciencePhysicsHow a Giant Lift Harnesses Gravity to Move Boats
You’re probably aware that normal elevators make use of counterweights, which reduce the amount of energy it takes to move people up and down skyscrapers with slightly frightening speed. But when it comes to moving hundred-ton boats, a little more precision is required. Tom Scotthas an excellent video explaining the basic physics behind the Falkirk … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech NewsAn Amphibious Weed-Cutting Boat Is the Only Vehicle I Would Ever Need
Normally, you wouldn’t think of a vehicle used to clean rivers as being particularly cool. But I challenge you to find one single thing wrong with this chainsaw-wielding boat/tank hybrid. The weed-Terminator is used by the UK’s Environmental Protection Agency to clean rivers of excess weed growth, and important and grown-up job that is completely … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech NewsThe Machines on This YouTube Channel Are Freaking Colossal
Construction equipment is cool as a rule. Comically-large contruction equipment? So much better. Get your fix with these YouTube channels devoted to these insane machines. Awesome Earthmovers is a 25,000-subscriber strong channel that’s filled with homemade videos of warehouse-sized dump trucks, bulldozer porn, big cranes, and excavators badly playing basketball. Here are some other clips … Continued
By Bryan Lufkin -
Tech NewsThis Flamethrowing Helicopter Is Helping Fight California’s Wildfires
Water-bombing aircraft are pretty standard wildfire-fighting equipment. Helicopters that spew fire onto the forest? Not so much. Although flying around an already-burning forest with a flaming propane tank might seem counterintuitive, there is logic to the Apocalypse Now madness. Think back to your fire triangle: by burning tinder that’s in the path of the advancing … Continued
By Chris Mills -
Tech News
How We Keep ‘New Telescope Smell’ From Killing Space Telescopes
Like new cars, new telescopes come with their own unique smell. Unlike cars, telescopes are delicate enough that this smell can damage the high-precision instruments, killing them with their own outgassing. Here’s how NASA protects fragile space telescopes from themselves. New materials outgas, releasing volatile organic chemicals that quickly disperse into the surrounding environment. The … Continued
-
Tech News
The Last of the Vulcans Retires After 55 Years of Service
On the 1st of July, 1960 Avro pilot Tony Blackman climbed into the cockpit of a Hawker Siddeley Vulcan delta wing strategic bomber in order to deliver her from the aircraft manufacturer (A.V. Roe and Company, Avro) for Royal Air Force service. The British four-jet aircraft dressed in antiflash white–military serial XH558–was the 59th of … Continued
By Attila Nagy -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
Behold, the Latest Laser Built for Frying Rogue Drones
Here comes yet another drone-zapping laser: A German missile manufacturer built this Death Star-like beam to protect world leaders. And it works, too: in a field test, it took down a mini-drone in three seconds flat. The laser was teased in a video at this year’s Paris Air Show earlier this month—a video that sadly, … Continued
By Bryan Lufkin -
Tech News
This Tangled Mess Is Helping Scientists Study the Early Universe
Is this the Gordian knot of the 21st century? Or a high-tech Medusa? Or maybe both? Well, this photograph was taken inside the Very Large Telescope (VLT) operated by the European Southern Observatory on Cerro Paranal, Chile. It shows the very complicated cooling system of one of the instruments of VLT, as ESO explains: The … Continued
By Attila Nagy -
Tech News
These Giant Robot Arms Handle Highly Radioactive Materials
These enormous devices you can see in this fisheye photo are the main parts of remote manipulator arms at the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s radiochemistry hot cell facility, where highly radioactive materials are used to produce isotopes for medical purposes. Just look at the worker below, you can see how massive those arms really are. … Continued
By Attila Nagy -
Tech News
These Photos Of Scientists With Their Machines Are Pure Excellence
Scientists love their toys. Monster machines, delicate precision devices, even those finicky electronic brats that spend more time sulking in a heap of malfunction than collecting data: we love the equipment that allows us to explore the world around us. Top image: Staff astronomer Juna Kollmeier with her 6.5 meter telescope. Credit: Carnegie Institution for … Continued
-
Tech News
Look How Extremely Large Europe’s Extremely Large Telescope Will Be
This simple animation shows you just how immense the European Extremely Large Telescope is going to be compared to the Pyramids of Giza, the Colosseum in Rome, and the Statue of Liberty. It’s going to be Extremely Large. The 100-meter high hemispherical dome of the E-ELT is under construction on the top of Cerro Armazones … Continued
By Attila Nagy -
ScienceSpace
Shooting a Laser at a Planet, But Not To Blow it Up
This breathtaking photo shows the intense orange beam of a new 22-watt laser pointed at the planet Saturn. Wait, isn’t this like the shocking scene in Star Wars where the Death Star’s superlaser completely annihilated planet Alderaan? Thankfully humankind has not evolved (yet) to the level where we can destroy entire planets with the help … Continued
By Attila Nagy -
ScienceSpace
Check Out Russia’s Sound-Proof, Indoor Rocket Engine Testing Chamber
American aerospace engineers test rocket engines in large outdoor test stands far away from densely populated areas, and let the engines roar. In Russia, they built a soundproof and gas-tight indoor test chamber right in the middle of town. Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency, has just posted two awesome photos of the altitude testing … Continued
By Attila Nagy