Glass-filled polypropylene is already a very commonly used plastic for automotive parts, but could it be improved? Well, yes. A new substance, Gratek, is claimed to make the plastic 20% stronger yet 18% lighter, thanks to the addition of graphene.
Tags: Plastics, Graphene, Automotive, University of Toronto
Cockroach infestations can worsen allergies and asthma in children, especially in low-income urban homes. One particular species of cockroach is known to carry bacteria in their guts that release harmful substances called endotoxins into their droppings.
Category: Allergies, Illnesses and conditions, Body and Mind
Tags: Asthma, Allergies, Environment, Pollution, Air quality, Home
South African brand Alphago has made a name for itself in rugged, explore-anywhere camping trailers that haul big, inflatable living spaces up above. A small-packing, insta-inflatable tent seems a natural extension of that product area expertise, and the company outdoes itself with The Cube. The stretched, oversized glamping tent features an air tube frame designed to inflate within minutes at the push of a button. Want to make a cube city? Simply zip multiple tents together into a sprawling air-beam compound.
Category: Tents, Gear, Outdoors
Tags: Tent, Inflatable, Camping, Outdoors and Camping
In recent years, there has been a growing trend in wearable technology: trackers that look like a fashion accessory and yet are smart enough to help us understand our bodies better. If you’ve ever wondered what comes next after watches and rings, Lumia, an engineering firm from Boston, has just announced its new product – Lumia 2 smart earrings. It took six years to develop, and the result is a tracker that looks like a piece of fine jewellery and provides health data no other wearable has offered before.
Category: Medical Devices, Medical Innovations, Body and Mind
Tags: ear, Blood Pressure, Wearable, Harvard, Johns Hopkins University, Duke University
While most planes use heat to melt ice that can form on the wing either before takeoff or during flight, the process is highly energy intensive and can impact engine efficiency. A new process from German researchers shakes the ice off instead.
Tags: Flight, Fraunhofer, Ice, Piezoelectric, Aeroplanes
Jeff Bezos is gainfully employed once more, after having left his post as Amazon CEO back in 2021. Cade Metz at The New York Times reports that the billionaire founder of space tech giant Blue Origin is now co-CEO at Project Prometheus, a startup that describes itself as building "AI for the physical economy."
Category: AI and Humanoids, Technology
Tags: Manufacturing Technologies, Amazon.Com, Artificial Intelligence, Google DeepMind, Robotics
In the most comprehensive investigation of the ketogenic diet’s mental health effects yet, researchers pooled 50 studies spanning six decades to see what we actually know about its influence on mood. The results are a mix of promising and "too early to say."
Category: Diet & Nutrition, Wellness and Healthy Living, Body and Mind
Tags: Ketogenic diet, Keto, Obesity, Depression, Anxiety, mental health, Diet, metabolism
Despite the advice of two of the most successful pop anthems of the last two decades, when it comes to depression, no one can just “shake it off” or “let it go.” If we jump back to 1988, we’ll find the advice “don’t worry, be happy” to be just as worthless. People can’t simply “think their way” out of depression, and hectoring them to do so probably makes them feel worse, which can lead to terrible results.
Category: Mental Health, Brain Health, Body and Mind
Tags: Depression, Suicide, Columbia University, McGill University
With the SoundCam Go acoustic camera, you can be that person in your neigborhood social media group who can answer those “Where's that noise coming from?” questions whenever an unexplained sound is reported. And the device connects to your phone.
Category: Photography, Consumer Tech, Technology
Tags: Kickstarter, Sound, Audio
A sneaky, stealthy parasite queen can turn an ant colony against itself. Newly-mated queens of two parasitic ant species have been found to sneak into an ant colony, creep towards the resident ant queen, and spray a chemical to trigger matricide, i.e., tricking ants into slaughtering their own mother so she can take over the colony.
Today's autonomous vehicles rely on cameras, radar and LiDAR sensors to understand their surroundings and avoid obstacles on the road. Boston, Massachusetts-based startup Teradar believes it can beat those technologies at their own game by looking elsewhere on the electromagnetic spectrum.
Category: Automotive, Transport
Tags: Autonomous Vehicles, Radar, LIDAR, Self driving cars, Terahertz
If you need to charge your $1,000 cell phone, you can simply plug it in, or even more easily, just lay it on a charging mat. But what if something similar to NASA's $2.7 billion Perseverance rover has somehow suffered damage to its nuclear battery, and is about to lose all power? Can’t it just plug itself in, or roll onto its own charging mat?
Category: Energy, Technology
The 2025 winner of the prestigious World Building of the Year prize has been revealed. The Holy Redeemer Church and Community Centre of Las Chumberas, by Fernando Menis, got the nod for its rugged concrete design and community focused approach.
Category: Architecture, Technology
Tags: Building and Construction, Architects, Awards, World Architecture Festival
One of the brain’s biggest benefits from exercise – the birth of new neurons – may not even require any movement. Instead, the beneficial “packages” circulating in the blood after working out can be successfully transferred to others.
Category: Brain Health, Body and Mind
Tags: University of Illinois, Neuroscience, Cognitive functioning, Alzheimer's disease, Exercise, neurons, Brain, Stem Cells, PTSD, Depression, Neurodegenerative conditions
We've all heard of the waiter's corkscrew, but how about the barista's Swiss Army knife? The Swiss toolmakers at Victorinox have teamed up with Italian espresso machine manufacturer La Marzocco to create a special-edition multitool that combines timeless Swiss Army standards with specialist coffee tools. It's a handy piece of EDC (everyday carry) for one of the world's most popular EDDs (everyday drinks).
Category: Knives and Multitools, Gear, Outdoors
Tags: Victorinox, Swiss Army, Coffee, ESPRESSO, Multitools, EDC, Kitchen
Seeing the name Leica stamped on a product usually means a couple of things. You'll be getting top-notch quality, but you'll also need to part with a huge wad of cash. That's true of the company's Cine Play 1 laser projector, but the new Plus version could surprise in the price department.
Category: Home Entertainment, Consumer Tech, Technology
Tags: Leica, Projectors, Laser, 4K UHD
In a first, scientists believe they have confirmed we have another sense – a “remote touch” that we share with others in the animal kingdom, like some shorebird species that can sense pray beneath sand without seeing or touching it first.
Tags: Queen Mary University of London, Sensory, Touch, Robots, Physics, Perception, Artificial Intelligence
This pint-sized tiny house only measures 172 sq ft (16 sq m) but manages to squeeze in a surprisingly livable interior suitable for one or two people to live off-grid full-time. Named Sofia, it features a clever space-saving layout that maximizes every inch of available space.
Category: Tiny Houses, Outdoors
Tags: Building and Construction, Micro-House, Tiny Footprint, House, Home
Researchers have demonstrated how a secret weapon made in the gut, produced by consuming foods like pomegranate and walnuts, can rejuvenate the immune system in middle age, shielding us from cell damage, inflammation and chronic diseases including cancer.
Category: Diet & Nutrition, Wellness and Healthy Living, Body and Mind
Tags: Gut Bacteria, Microbiome, anti-aging, Anti-inflammatory, Age-Related, The Immune System, T-cells, Cancer, Chronic illness
At the bottom of the ocean, where metal-rich hydrothermal vents exhale poison, a bright yellow worm has mastered an impossible art: turning lethal elements into armor. Meet Paralvinella hessleri, the deep-sea super-worm that detoxifies arsenic by turning it into crystal.
