-
Hero's Engine Sweet Cream Pourer
Starbucks just introduced a nitrogen-infused cold brew. Being the mad scientist that he is, Adam Savage couldn't simply pour cream into his chemically charged coffee. He had to create a machine to do it for him. Inspired by the drink, Savage built a Hero's Engine — a nitrogen-powered aeolipile — sweet cream pourer.
The Tiny Bombs In Your Blood
Antibodies get the lion's share of praise when it comes to the war against bacteria and viruses, but the complement system plays just as an important role in keeping you from getting sick. Made up of over 30 different proteins — not living cells — the compliment system provides communication and offensive and defensive capabilities in the amazing ballet that is our immune system.
The Seamstress Behind Apollo 11's Spacesuits
Jo Thompson worked as a seamstress for ILC Dover, the company famous for Playtex bras. Jo and her crew of seamstresses were contracted with one of the most important parts of the Apollo space program — sewing the spacesuits that kept the astronauts alive. One tiny hole anywhere in the suit could be lethal, and 50 years later, Jo is still proud of her role in the program.
Walkman 40th Anniversary
On July 1, 1979, Sony introduced the first Walkman. Its release changed the way we listened to music, allowing the world to hear the favorite songs while on the go. In honor of the 40th anniversary of the portable audio device, they've released this nostalgia walkthrough of every model from the last four decades, along with an exhibition in Tokyo's Ginza District.
Electromagnetic Pollution
One of the most constant sources of radiation you'll encounter in your lifetime is that computer in your pocket — and the wireless router in your home, your smart thermostat, and any number of connected devices that make modern life possible. But is the electromagnetic radiation these devices emit harmful? Kurzgesagt looks at the how this new ocean of radiation can impact your health.
The Most Accurate Rolex Replica Yet
Companies have been trying to recreate the precise mechanical movement of Rolex for decades. While previous attempts have been easily detected, a current knock-off is scary good. An expert at Watchfinder & Co.does a side-by-side comparison of a real Rolex Cosmograph Daytona 116500LN and a $1,270 replica to demonstrate just how far watch forgery has come and the difficulty of detecting a fake.
-
Vafels Plant-Based Waffles
Made in Boulder, Colorado, these plant-based waffles are an energy bar alternative, great for snacking in-between meals, after a workout, mid-trail or mid-ride. The modern take on a centuries-old tradition uses a brioche-based dough that cold-ferments overnight. It's then infused with pearl sugar imported from Belgium and finished in an authentic Liège waffle iron. They're best toasted in a conventional toaster, and you should never microwave them. If you're taking them on the go or you're just short on time, let them thaw for a few hours and enjoy at room temperature. They arrive partially frozen in environmentally friendly, compostable packaging and should be thrown in the freezer immediately. Available in original and gluten-free varieties.
Sold as a pack of 6.
Serving Size 1 Vafel (80g) / 6 Servings per container
Nutrition & Ingredients: 10g Total Fat / 2.3g Saturated Fat / 3.3g Polyunsaturated Fat / 383g Monounsaturated Fat / 310mg Sodium / 50g Total Carbohydrates / 2g Dietary Fiber / 18g Total Sugars / 5g Protein / 20.9mg Calcium / 2.2mg Iron / 89mg Potassium
Smart Rope Jump Rope
Jumping rope is one of the best ways to burn calories, and now you can train and track at the same time with this smart rope. The rope combines form and function with comfortable 45 degree angled handles to help make this age-old workout more interesting. Other ropes on the market provide tracking, but none have a strand of bright white LEDs that are visible while you're jumping. View jump counts, calories burned, or the duration of your workout as the rope swings in front of you. All the data is then transmitted via Bluetooth to a smartphone app — meaning all you have to supply is some sweat and an epic workout soundtrack.
Sizing:
Medium 101 inches / 258 cm
Large : 107 inches / 274 cmBattery:
Full charge in 2 hours / 36 hours of use / Lithium Polymer Battery
Connectivity:
Bluetooth 4.0 LE two-way communication with smartphone
-
2024: Back To The Moon
50 years after the first manned mission to the moon, NASA is announcing its plan to go back — and this time for good. In partnership with several private firms, NASA details how it will send a new generation of astronauts to the moon and the new technologies that make it possible.
The Life of a Rover
On January 25, 2004, Opportunity landed on Mars. The robotic rover roamed the Red Planet for over 14 years until its mission was officially declared complete earlier this year. To honor the work of Oppy and the engineers at NASA and JPL, Melodysheep compiled this tribute from thousands of raw Mars images and actual Martian winds.
Evolution of the Console Controller
A recent study on the ergonomics of classic and modern video game controllers found that they were remarkable failures for something designed to be held in your hands. The history of the controller was solving an input problem, not an ergonomic one, and while they've gotten better, they're still not perfect. Cheddar explains the history of the controller and why we'll never see the perfect one.
Strange Stars
Within the universe, you'll find Neutron stars. Made mostly of densely packed neutrons, these stars contain the most dangerous and bizarre substance in any galaxy — strange matter. Kurzgesagt explores the stuff that has the ability to either destroy everything it comes into contact with or explain how the universe began.
-
Stratolaunch First Flight
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen started Stratolaunch in 2011 with the goal of launching payloads into space from an airborne platform. Allen passed away from cancer in October of 2018, and on April 13, 2019, the Stratolaunch — the largest airplane ever to fly — made its maiden flight. With a wingspan of 385 feet and a maximum weight of 1.2 million pounds, the Stratolaunch is about to usher in a new era of spaceflight.
How To Photograph A Black Hole
Katie Bouman, a Ph.D. candidate at the Massachusetts Institue of Technology, and a team of astronomers wrote the algorithm that took radio wave images from the Event Horizon Telescope and stitched them together to create the first image of a black hole. Predicted by Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, a black hole had never been directly observed — until now. Bouman describes the process in this 2017 TED Talk, two years before she helped bring the image to the world.
The First Photo Of A Black Hole
Albert Einstien theorized the existence of black holes with his theory of relativity and general relativity over 100 years ago, but the first photograph — and proof — of their existence came with a press conference on April 10, 2019. A photograph showing the event horizon and superheated gas orbiting has been released, and Vox explains why this is one of the most significant pictures in history.
Slow Motion Backdraft
No, this isn't going to be slow motion shots of Kurt Russell and William Baldwin fighting fires. This video is about actual backdrafts. Using trained professionals, The Slow Mo Guys create a firefighter's worse nightmare to capture the combustible flames in 4K slow motion.
-
NASA Cap
The logos and symbols that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has used throughout their history are nearly as iconic as their achievements. This black trucker style mesh cap bears one of their well-known logos, designed in 1975 and nicknamed the "worm." The logo was retired in 1992 and adorns this hat with a gold text embroidered iron-on patch. The 5-panel, high profile snapback cap is lightweight and breathable and adds a nostalgic touch to your casual look.
SimpliSafe Home Security
Protecting your property shouldn't involve drilling holes and running wires. The Simplisafe Home Security System requires none of the above, and is easy to install yourself. It starts with a base station that connects to their service via WiFi with a backup cellular connection for emergencies. You can arm and disarm it from the keypad, with a key fob, or with your phone. Add on as many entry, motion, smoke, glass break, and CO sensors as you need — the system is easily expandable to fit your needs, and comes with the assurance of 24/7 monitoring.
Presented by SimpliSafe.
As seen in Uncrate Issue 04.
-
A Journey to the End of Time
The end of time — it's a subject that has fascinated humanity since humans could be fascinated. Melodysheep takes you on a trip through the next few billion years in a look at what might await the universe as it reaches its inevitable conclusion.
Rocket-Powered Golf Club
You could take some lessons to improve your drive or you could just attach a rocket to your golf club. Former NASA engineer Mark Rober and Smarter Every Day's Destin Sandlin team up to lower their strokes by super-charging a driver. They capture the whole thing at a glorious rate of 100,000 FPS.
Detonating All The Nuclear Bombs
Take every nuclear warhead on Earth and detonate them all at once — that's the subject of the latest video from Kurzgesagt. The most destructive force known to man, the power of nuclear weapons is on a scale known only in the worst natural disasters on the planet — and this is what might happen if they all went off at the same time in the same place.
How To Build A Dinosaur
Dinosaurs don't come with complete skeletons and there aren't any around to reference. So when archeologists start reconstructing one, sometimes they need to fill in the blanks — and their guesses aren't always right. Look at the mistakes that have been made and how science is helping create the most complete picture yet of dinosaurs.
The First Genderless Voice
There's Alexa, Siri, and Google but now we can add Q. Unlike the others, Q is the first AI voice to be completely gender neutral. The project is a collaboration between Copenhagen Pride and Virtue Nordic along with linguists, technologists, and sound designers aiming to create a digital assistant option that is neither male or female. Using the voices of non-binary people, the recordings were altered to 145 and 175 Hertz, resulting in a sound that was completely genderless.
Building A $3 Million Doomsday Bunker
During the height of the Cold War, the US government built 1,000 nuclear ICBM silos across the country, mostly in the Great Plains. As the threat of nuclear war with the Soviets waned, over half of the sites were decommissioned — making them ideal doomsday bunkers for the ultra-rich and paranoid. The Survival Condo Project repurposes these sites built to withstand sustained nuclear war, converting them into condos that can support a family nearly indefinitely.
-
The Origin of Consciousness
The origin of consciousness is one of the biggest mysteries in the universe. The complex inner lives that humans have versus the seemingly simple ones of other animals is thought to be the process of millions of years of small evolutionary steps leading up to us. Kurzgesagt looks at some of the scientific — and not so scientific — theories for the number one thing that makes humans truly human.
Can You Trust Kurzgesagt?
Kurzgesagt makes some of the most popular videos on YouTube. Their science-based explainers try to offer a balanced view based on scientific research with copious amounts of fact-checking and editing by scientists — but that doesn't mean Kurzgesagt is always successful. Not everything they've done has been up to their high standards, and they've taken it up themselves to explain their methods — and why two of their most popular videos didn't meet their expectations.
-
'90s Samsung Galaxy Fold
Samsung is gearing up to release its Galaxy Fold smartphone in Spring 2019. The phone features a design that folds open like a book, revealing a tablet-sized 7.3-inch screen. But what we really want to know is, what if Samsung had made the fold in the '90s? Squirrel Monkey answers this burning question with its hilarious look back at what the latest in mobile tech might have looked like.
The Importance of Being Lonely
Being lonely is one of the most important survival mechanisms humans have. Early in our evolution, feelings of loneliness meant that we weren't part of a group — and weren't going to be alive for long. Kurzgesagt looks at the science of being lonely and why in our ultra-connected world, we feel more lonely than ever.
Why a Base On Mars is a Bad Idea
With all the talk of building habit on Mars capable of supporting human life, it's actually a really bad idea. Mars is cold, devoid of resources, and pounding by high levels of radiation — everything not conducive supporting human life. But Kurzgesagt decided to do it anyway. Here's how we could make it work.
Life On Rogue Planets
Not all planets have a Solar System to call home. Some planets travel a lonely path through the cosmos, freezing and wreaking havoc on nearly anything they encounter — or get destroyed themselves in the process. These frozen masses might be the last place you'd think life could exists, but there's a possibility that life is hiding deep beneath their surfaces. Kurzgesagt looks at how this could happen and why their lifelessness might only be skin-deep.
How to Build a Dyson Sphere
In order for humanity to continue to progress at its current rate, we'll need to find better sources of energy to fuel our expansion. Earth-based sources will only get us so far — in order to expand into space, a huge energy source will be required, like that found in a star. Once solely the realm of science fiction, the Dyson sphere might one day be plausible, and Kurzgesagt looks at how it could be made.
25 Chemistry Experiments in 15 Minutes
Chemists specialize in turning one thing into another. From the ancient and largely unsuccessful art of alchemy to modern day medicine, chemistry has been a huge part of pushing civilization forward. Andrew Z. Szydło is a chemistry teacher and in this TEDx talk, goes through 25 fascinating science experiments in 15 minutes.
