You don’t need to be a professional rock climber in order to understand the significance of a good carabiner. Used for everything from hanging your gear above the ground on camping trips to consolidating rope or line, these tiny-yet-mighty helpers are must-have items for anyone who spends time outdoors. The Heroclip® takes carabiner functionality and style to an entirely new […]
All In One Carabiner Can Hold 60 Pounds
Semi-Transparent Solar Cells Can Make Greenhouses Sufficient
Greenhouses and solar panels both need to be placed in areas with a lot of sunlight – so why not combine the two? Semi-transparent solar cells could potentially be built into the glass roof panels of greenhouses, capturing light at wavelengths that plants don’t use anyway. Now, researchers at North Carolina State University have modeled how this might work, and […]
3D Hand Held Wind-Mapping Rangefinder
The Trijicon Ventus looks like a set of binoculars, but in actuality it’s the world’s first hand-held device capable of providing three-dimensional wind data at multiple points between a shooter and a target up to 500 yards (457 m) away. Wind deflection begins to become an issue with longer-range shooting, dragging a bullet further off course the closer the wind […]
Polymer Patch To Repair Damaged Hearts
After a heart attack has occurred, some of the beating cardiac tissue ends up being replaced with non-beating scar tissue – this permanently compromises the function of the heart. A new patch, however, is designed to help. Being developed at Ireland’s Trinity College Dublin, the device is intended to be attached to the outside of the heart, bridging an area […]
German AI Tech Recognises Crucial Road Noises
While some vehicles now utilize computer vision systems to “see” items such as road signs and pedestrians, the urban environment consists not only of sights, but also sounds. With that in mind, German scientists are creating a noise-recognition system for cars. Currently being developed by a team at the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology, the prototype setup utilizes of […]
Samsung’s New Foldable Calmshell
Samsung has tried its hand at foldable phones before, but its new Galaxy Z Flip – launched today at its Unpacked 2020 event – folds from top to bottom rather than from side to side. It’s a compact clamshell foldable, in the same vein as the recently-launched Motorola Razr. Opened up, the phone has a 6.7-inch display, running at a […]
Replacement Blood Vessels Woven From Yarn
When a damaged blood vessel has to be replaced, it’s important that the replacement be well-tolerated by the body. And while bioprinted blood vessels are one possibility, French scientists are now working on weaving the things out of collagen yarn. Led by researcher Nicolas L’Heureux, a team at the Inserm institute – aka the French National Institute of Health and […]
Traditional Architecture with Its Political Agendas
Who could have predicted that a president famed for his eponymous sub-Miesian skyscrapers would come out as a classicist? Yet this week, news broke of a White House executive order to dictate a style for all US federal architecture – and that style is classicism. Entitled Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again, the draft order demands that “the classical architectural style […]
Nike’s Space Shoes Boasts Lowest Carbon Footprint In Company’s History
A lot of raw material goes into the making of footwear, so the less that can be used, the better for the environment. Nike’s new Space Hippie shoes were designed with that in mind, as they’re composed largely of recycled materials. Not unlike the Adidas x Parley, the Hippies’ uppers are made mainly of a woven yarn, that is in […]
Haptic Helmet Guides Firefighters Where They Need To Be
We’ve seen a few devices designed to give firefighters an idea of the interior layout of a burning building, including the SmokeBot. But once they’re inside, smoke may prevent first responders from being able to see where they’re going. The Haptic Helmet from Carnegie Mellon University’s Engineering department could help. A research team led by Yang Cai at the university’s […]