If you want to build an actual HAL 9000, all you need is an LED, some carpentry skills, and any laptop accessing a talking AI. If you want to build your own R2D2, you’ll have a tougher job assembling a range of materials, motors, and electronics. But what if you wanted to make your own working version of TARS, that bizarre, blocky robot from Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar that looks like a stainless steel ATM with metal posts for legs sprouting from its shoulders?

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Category: Robotics, Technology

Tags: Carnegie Mellon University, locomotion, Movies

So I've had these headphones for almost two weeks now. When I got them, I chucked it onto the charger until it said it was fully charged. Since then, I've worn them every single day, 95% of the time in Bluetooth mode connected to everything from my phone to my laptop to my projector. Sometimes for an hour, sometimes most of the day. And I haven't charged 'em since.

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Category: Consumer Tech, Technology

Tags: Headphones, Bluetooth, Studio

British electric drive specialist Helix builds some of the most power-dense electric motors in the world. Now it's working to springboard that compact, power-packed design into a marine drive ecosystem it believes will help change the face (or at least underbody) of everyday recreational and utility boating. The company's all-new Pod Cartridge brings the e-drive components necessary to make 360-degree pod drives a widely available solution capable of increasing efficiency and boosting maneuverability across a huge market of vessels.

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Category: Marine, Transport

Tags: Electric Motors, Marine Innovations, Climate Solutions: Shipping, Electric Boats

Sitting at a desk for at least eight hours a day is the reality for most remote workers today. But what if you could keep moving while working? That’s exactly the question that inspired Johannes Kettmann, a software developer from Berlin who knows firsthand the challenge of hitting those 10,000 steps per day while working a remote desk job. The result is the Office Walker, a minimalist walking pad designed for simplicity, silence, and long-lasting durability.

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Category: Fitness & Exercise, Wellness and Healthy Living, Body and Mind

Tags: Kickstarter, Exercise, Treadmill, Wooden

Boosting levels of a certain molecule that declines with age was found to restore memory and brain function in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) models – not just by improving energy metabolism, as previously thought, but by fixing RNA splicing errors that disrupt hundreds of genes crucial to neuron health.

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Category: Alzheimer's & Dementia, Brain Health, Body and Mind

Tags: University of Oslo, Alzheimer's disease, Neuroscience, Neurodegenerative conditions, Cognitive functioning, Age-Related, Memory, Brain

After a couple of successful crowdfunding campaigns over the past year, Hong Kong-based EDC brand Eck Studio is back at it with a versatile little tool that's perfect for outdoorspeople and DIY enthusiasts who need different kinds of blades to hand.

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Category: Knives and Multitools, Gear, Outdoors

Tags: EDC, Outdoors and Camping, Tools, Knife, Kickstarter

Amid a flurry of announcements showing that it's going from strength to strength, electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) maker Archer has said it's purchasing an airport in Los Angeles from which its futuristic vehicles will launch and land.

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Category: Aircraft, Transport

Tags: eVTOL, Archer Aviation, Air Taxis, Flying taxi, Airports

A team of researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has been refining and combining several advanced technologies over the past six years to create a revolutionary platform to treat a vast array of neurological diseases and mental illnesses. It could not only prove more effective than traditional methods, but also negate the need for complex procedures that carry their own set of risks.

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Category: Brain Health, Body and Mind

Tags: Neurological, Brain, MIT, Alzheimer's disease, Nanotechnology

Scientists have identified a significant link between low levels of choline and the prevalence of anxiety disorders, suggesting that upping intake of this essential nutrient found in a range of foods – from eggs to seeds – could potentially improve symptoms of these debilitating conditions.

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Category: Diet & Nutrition, Wellness and Healthy Living, Body and Mind

Tags: University of California, MRI, Anxiety, Brain, mental health, Diet, Chemicals, Neuroscience

If you've ever wondered why we are here, then you can thank Jupiter for part of the answer. A new study from Rice University suggests that if it weren't for the gas giant, the Earth would have spiraled into the Sun during its formation.

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Category: Space, Science

Tags: Rice University, Jupiter, Solar System, Earth

New research has made a striking link between a mother’s exposure to “forever chemicals” during pregnancy and the shape of her child’s brain at age five. The findings offer no conclusion as to whether these brain changes are positive or negative, but simply suggest the chemical exposure is likely making some kind of impact on neural development.

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Category: Wellness and Healthy Living, Body and Mind

Tags: PFAS, Chemicals, Pollution, Pregnancy, Brain

Since the dawn of automotive, engineers have worked to make the chassis of a vehicle stiffer. Stiffness was the key to better handling, efficiency, and safety. Engineering blue pills for a car’s chassis were all the rage. Honda has now decided that more motion in the ocean is better.

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Category: Automotive, Transport

Tags: Honda, Stabilisation, Engineering, Flexible

We've seen in-vehicle camping modules of all shapes and sizes over the years, but a new model from Renault might just take the cake as the sleekest, lowest profile camper cube out there. And it helps create one of the most versatile daily driver-cum-camper vans available. The module takes up minimal trunk space and ensures that all seven seats remain in place, whether camping for a week or completing the daily back-and-forth. Renault calls the resulting Trafic Escapade a "cocoon on wheels," and we'd say it's an impressive light camper van that might just outplay the Volkswagen California Beach on its home court.

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Category: Campervans, Adventure Vehicles, Outdoors

Tags: Campervan, mini-campervan, Renault, RV, Minivan, Van, Outdoors and Camping, Camping

Imagine listening to a recording of an orchestral performance, but because of a bad studio technician, the only instrument you can hear is the triangle. How would you know if you were listening to the opening score to Star Wars, or to a really, really stuffy version of "Shake It Off"?

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Category: Science

Tags: UC Berkeley, Memory, Brain, Bats

When it comes to venturing into the wilderness, you can never be too prepared … right? The folks at Tavaker certainly seem to think so, which is why they've packed a saw, knife, screwdriver, firestarter and 10 other functions into their self-named multitool.

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Category: Knives and Multitools, Gear, Outdoors

Tags: EDC, Multitools, Kickstarter

Influential Dutch firm MVRDV is known for producing extraordinary designs, including a geological skyscraper and a mixing-bowl-like art depot. Its latest project follows in this vein and will take the form of a striking spherical building that hosts a sports arena, hotel, and residences inside.

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Category: Architecture, Technology

Tags: Building and Construction, MVRDV, Sports, Tirana

It doesn't seem too long ago that E Ink reading devices were all the rage, but new developments don't seem to create the same buzz as before. Viwoods is hoping to change that with the pocket-friendly AiPaper Reader.

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Category: Consumer Tech, Technology

Tags: E-Ink, E-Paper, E-reader, 4G, Android, Artificial Intelligence

An ambitious plan to sequence genomes for 1.85 million eukaryotic species on our planet is underway. It's a massive undertaking that will dramatically enhance our understanding of biology, and inform conservation and biodiversity restoration efforts.

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Category: Biology, Science

Tags: Wildlife, Genome, DNA, Artificial Intelligence, Google, Conservation

The Eire tiny house is the latest model by Australia's Häuslein Tiny House Co. Featuring a length of 8 m (26 ft) and a simple interior that's arranged on one level, it has a contemporary design with extensive glazing that spans almost the entire living room wall.

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Category: Tiny Houses, Outdoors

Tags: Building and Construction, Tiny Footprint, Micro-House, House, Home

Full-time four-wheel drive is one of those annoying things that’s great to have until you really need it. At that point it stops working, unless you undo one of the things that lets it work well the rest of the time.

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Category: Automotive, Transport

Tags: 4WD, Farming, Agriculture