William Yuan, a Beaverton, Oregon 12-year boy, invented a new kind of solar cell that can absorb both visible and ultraviolet light. I bet this kind of news makes you feel pretty weird about your own accomplishments so far. It sure made me. And, to scare you even further, I took a look at little Will's resume. Oh my, here goes. Two years before finishing elementary school in 2007, he became a member of the First Lego League (FLL) and this determined him to delve into the research of nanotechnology and renewable energy. Since he realized the importance of the latter for the future, he focused his attention on the study a... [read more >>] Pseudoscience or finally the real thing? Well, that still remains to be seen, but if it indeed works then mankind will be able to generate large amounts of energy at room temperature without worrying about waste or fuel. In the last decades, researchers have been frantically trying to demonstrate that cold fusion is viable, but failed even before they made the first steps into their projects.When physicists say cold fusion, only one thing comes into their mind. The 1989 demonstration made by Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons who had claimed to be able to produce a controlled cold nuclear reaction inside a jar at room temperature. The two ... [read more >>] I know what you're thinking. Right now you're probably saying "this a Photoshopped image, right?" Wrong! It is indeed the tallest motorcycle ever built; at least that's what the Guinness Book of World Records guys say. The behemoth is a real, working motorcycle, is named "The Monster" or "Dream Big", and was built by motorcycle enthusiast Greg Dunham from California, US. "Dream Big" stands 3.4 meters tall, measures 6.2 meters in length, weighs 2948.3 kilograms and relies on an 8 226.3 cubic centimeter engine to power it to speeds up to 104 kilometers per hour. The massive engine is able to output 500 horse power, while the tr... [read more >>] Nuclear weapons generate high explosive energies by either fusing or splitting certain chemical elements. A new type of nuclear explosive developed by the US Department of Defense, on the other hand, uses nuclear reactions in order to determine gamma-ray emissions carrying energies about one thousand times larger than that obtained with the help of chemical explosives. The problem is that some researchers believe that this exotic new weapon could quickly eliminate the distinction between conventional and nuclear weapons, and could possibly trigger yet another arms race. "Such extraordinary energy density has the potential to revolutionize a... [read more >>] Attention, all lazy people, the self-making bed has just been invented! Mornings will never be the same again. Selfy the EasyBed, as its Italian inventor named it, can make itself at a push of a button. Fasteners located on each side, and moving on metals bars, spread the sheet over the bed with Swiss clock precision every time, no matter how messy the bed was before, or how thick the sheet is. As soon as the sheet is spread over the bed, the two fasteners automatically retract towards the lower end of the bed. Just make sure nobody is still in it while you're telling your bed to clean itself up. The device was presented at the 36th ed... [read more >>] Reality: everything that is, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible. This pretty much means that the real world could be anything but what we expect or know it to be. Did you know that there is a great probability that we live in a computer simulation rather than that we actually exist in an ultimate reality? The Matrix doesn't seem so far-fetched now, does it? The greatest nightmare of a physicist is not nuclear holocaust as much of you might think, but not being able to comprehend the fundamental nature of the universe. If that weren't true, then why would we be searching for knowledge, the Theory of Everything, how t... [read more >>] They haven't yet entered the market, but the smart textiles are continuously improving, going beyond measuring body temperature and heart activity, which may seem obsolete now. New mini-biosensors integrated in the fabrics can analyze body fluids, like a drop of sweat, delivering more information on the wearer's health. When the data reveals warning signs, the garment will inform your doctor via a text message. The new textiles are developed by SFIT Group. "The patch is a sensing and processing unit, adaptable to target different body fluids and biochemical species. At the very least, some basic biochemical analyses could compleme... [read more >>] The Large Hadron Collider is quickly approaching completion and is expected to begin operation by the middle of the this year. However, while physicists are barely waiting to start experimenting with the world's most powerful particle accelerator, campaigners in the United States would give anything to see the LHC delayed as long as possible or to stop it from ever operating altogether. They believe that, during experiments, dangerous particles or possibly mini black holes will be created and they could destroy the whole Earth in the process. For example, almost a week ago a couple of residents from Hawaii, namely Luis Sancho and Walte... [read more >>] Until a machine will read your thoughts, a first step has been made: New Scientists signals the development of a neckband that decodes your nerve signals into speech. For the first time, you could make a phone call without opening your mouth.A trained individual can transmit motor messages to its vocal cords without emitting a sound. But the nerve signals can be detected by the neckband which sends them via radio waves to a computer that decodes them and a computerized voice speaks them to the listener.The new invention has been presented to the public at a recent conference of the microchip manufacturer Texas Instruments. The device is ca... [read more >>] Men around the world can now start celebrating the creation of the world's smallest diamond ring! Now everybody can afford a diamond ring. Too bad it is only 5 millionths of a meter in diameter and bears five-billionths of a carat of diamond, this meaning it can only be viewed through a microscope. The proud inventor of the diamond ring is the University of Melbourne. Previously, Japanese semiconductor manufacturer Hitachi High-Technologies held the record for the smallest diamond ring by creating one, through a process routinely used to create semiconductor computer chips. Back in 2004, employee Yasushi Kuroda of the company's su... [read more >>] | 
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