Remember when camcorders were huge? It wasn’t all that long ago when they were 15lb behemoths that sat on your shoulder, ate full-size VHS tapes and cost more than a used car. Well, we’ve come a long way baby.
I just got one of these nifty keychain cameras specifically for the purpose of taping to the top of my RC cars. Not only is it tiny and light, the built-in battery is good for about an hour of recording, and that will run out before you fill a 2GB microSD card. And the price for this miracle of modern science? A whopping $13. How cool is that? Everything you could ever want to know about these little guys can be found here.
Remember the opposed-piston engine video I posted last year? Well Bill Gates must have seen my post because he’s just invested a bunch of money into its development. This design shows a lot of promise, and it’s good to see heavy hitters like Gates throwing their support behind it. (via Digg)
Science Kicks Nature’s Ass, Creates New Species From Scratch
No, that isn’t the plot of a new sci-fi movie. It actually happened. A group of scientists at the JC Venter Institute have successfully designed a complete genome for a living, self-replicating creature and brought it to life in a lab. Luckily, it is not the shark-bear-octopus pictured above, but a lowly bacteria. Still, this is an entire new species of bacteria, designed on a computer and brought to life. This has never been done before, and is a big fucking deal. Designer micro-organisms are now real, and the implications for this breakthrough are staggering. For better or worse, shit is about to get interesting.
Michael Specter gives an excellent talk on the stupidity and danger of science denialism. Most of the TED talks tend to be rambling and too damn long, but this one is both concise and important. I recommend you watch all 16 minutes of it. (via Boingboing)
Water-Powered Jetpack
This has been floating around the internet for a couple months, but now that Popular Science has posted an article on it, I guess it’s official. Officially awesome.
Today is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Time.com has a great spread on the people behind the greatest acheivement of modern science. Read it.
A Gory Peek at the Immanent Robot Uprising - The Carnivorous Clock
Apparently having never seen any sci-fi movies, scientists have come up with a way to power machines using a bacteria-filled fuel cell that generate electricity by “digesting” organic material. Their first prototype device is a clock that is powered by catching and digesting insects, but an army of flesh-eating robots is certainly in the making. (via Engadget)
Boingboing Gadgets has a nice article on the “10 Most Beautiful Computers”. I’m not sure I agree with the Spectrum making the cut (especially with the BeBox being left out), but it’s still a nice read.
