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SpaceX Starship Prototype
This is it — SpaceX's plans to put humans on Mars, in low-Earth orbit, on the Moon, or reach the furthest reaches of the Solar System start with this, the Starship prototype. The crewed portion of the massive reusable launch system was unveiled outside of Brownsville, Texas, with Elon Musk claiming that the Starship could start carrying humans into space as early as next year.
Boston Dynamics Atlas Parkour
They're stronger, faster, and now they're better at sports than us. Boston Dynamics shows off the latest version of their Atlas bipedal robot performing some serious acrobatics, including rolls, jumps, and even a victory pose at the end.
The Better Driving Helmet
Ask anyone what a helmet is for and the answer is to protect your head — until now. Using neuroscience and artificial intelligence, Ford has developed a helmet that records a driver's brian data to provide suggestions for better driving. Now, helmets can not only protect your head, but it can also improve your performance at the same time.
Flamethrower vs Aerogel
Silica aerogel is the second lightest solid — next to its close cousin, graphene aerogel. It's also an incredible flame retardant and insulant, keeping things from catching on fire or protecting from temperatures as low as liquid nitrogen. Veritasium puts silica aerogel to the test — with a flamethrower.
SpaceX Starhopper Test
SpaceX took the first step towards landing humans on Mars with a test of the Starhopper, the single-stage version of Starship. Rising to a height of 150 meters over Texas and making a soft landing, SpaceX is a long way from the Red Planet, but humans have never been closer.
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.
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Uncrate Issue 05
For Issue 05, we gathered ten of the world's best Barn Finds, ten of the most interesting caviar-and-potato chip pairings, three spectacular places to stay in Italy, and thirty stunning objects of desire.
One magazine, six languages: English / Deutsch / Français / Italiano / Español / 日本語
200 pages / Heavyweight paper / Book-style cover / Free shipping in U.S.
Oris Movember Edition Watch
The Movember Foundation has been raising money for men's physical and mental health issues since 2003, using the power of community to help spread awareness. Now they're teaming with Swiss watchmaker Oris and Yankees manager Aaron Boone — someone who knows a thing or two about the power of a team — on the Movember Edition watch. Based on Oris' iconic Chronoris model, it has a 39mm stainless steel case and a black dial with rose gold-plated hour and minute hands. It also features an orange second hand, and white indices that come together to create a pleasing vintage feel. An Oris 733 automatic movement powers the timepiece, which arrives on either a brown leather strap with a Movember signature mustache imprint or a stainless steel bracelet. It's packaged in a special presentation box with a leather travel pouch and a more casual red and white NATO fabric strap — a perfect bonus for those who know the importance of getting out and spending time in their community.
Presented by Oris.
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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.
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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.
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.
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Focals Smart Glasses
Focals are smart glasses you'll actually want to wear. Smart technology meets smarter design with these made-to-order, prescription compatible, smart glasses with a holographic display. A tiny projector embedded in the right arm of the glasses shoots light into a hologram embedded in the lens — resulting in a display that appears to float at arm's length in front you. With Focals you can stay on top of your day with Messaging, Calendar, Uber, Spotify, Alexa, and more. Focals are available in a variety of styles and colors and support prescriptions from -4.00 to +2.00.
Presented by North.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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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.
