Micro stories - small news bits too small to have their own thread

[Gufi]

Biodegradable Coffee Cups Embedded With Seeds Grow Into Trees When Thrown Away
A creative company in California called Reduce. Reuse. Grow has designed a coffee cup that is not only biodegradable, but even has seeds in its walls so that it can be planted and grown!

The cups, which are currently part of a Kickstarter campaign, will have seeds embedded in their walls based on their locations. Participating stores will encourage people to plant the cups themselves or to return them to be planted by the company.

 

[SvenSvensonov]

This Edible Blob Is A Water Bottle Without The Plastic
Inspired by techniques from molecular gastronomy, the Ooho is a magical way to have your bottled water and eat it, too. Just maybe bring a towel.

One way to stop the ever-growing pile of plastic water bottles in landfills? Make a bottle people can eat.

Inspired by techniques from molecular gastronomy, three London-based industrial design students created Ooho, a blob-like water container that they say is easy and cheap to make, strong, hygienic, biodegradable, and edible.

The container holds water in a double membrane using "spherification," the technique of shaping liquids into spheres first pioneered in labs in 1946 and more recently popularized by chefs at elBulli in Spain. It works a little like an egg yolk, which also holds its shape using a thin membrane.

"We’re applying an evolved version of spherification to one of the most basic and essential elements of life—water," says Rodrigo García González, who designed the Ooho with fellow design students Pierre Paslier and Guillaume Couche.

A compound made from brown algae and calcium chloride creates a gel around the water. "The double membrane protects the inside hygienically, and makes it possible to put labels between the two layers without any adhesive," García explains.

While the package is being formed, the water is frozen as ice, making it possible to create a bigger sphere and keeping the ingredients in the membrane and out of the water.

Why not just drink from the tap? The designers wanted to address the fact that most people are drinking water in disposable bottles. "The reality is that more and more, when we drink water we throw away a plastic bottle," García says. "Eighty percent of them are not recycled. This consumerism reflects the society in which we live."

By rethinking the bottle, the designers say it’s also possible to reduce cost; for manufacturers, most of the cost of producing water comes from the bottle itself. The Ooho can be made for just two cents.

Like other edible packages, the Ooho seems to have a few challenges—like how the package stays clean before you drink from it and potentially eat it. But others have made it to market: the edible Wikipearl will be available at selected Whole Foods this month. The other problem, as you can see from the videos, is that you're going to get some water on your face, clothes, and the table. That's the sacrifice you make for getting rid of water bottles from your life.

Even if bottled water companies don't switch to Ooho, the designers say they hope people will try making the packages at home. "Anyone can make them in their kitchen, modifying and innovating the recipe," says García. "It's not DIY but CIY—cook it yourself."

The design was a winner of the second annual Lexus Design Award and will be on display during Milan Design Week.

This Edible Blob Is A Water Bottle Without The Plastic | Co.Exist | ideas + impact

The links got a video too !

Poking a hole in it and sucking through the hole might be easier. Biting the thing could drown the prospective drinker with an unexpected volume of water. It might seem strange, but you could test this using a water balloon... actually don't do that, it's dangerous, but the effect will hold.

Still, that's a bada** concept! How stable is the sheath though? I can put some water bottles in my backpack and they wont open, would this device hold too under, say, rock-climbing conditions where I'd have the water, some snacks (anyone else notice I always write "snakes" instead of "snacks"... always have to go back an edit that), medical supplies and perhaps some extra shoes all inside of the backpack too?

Still, I'd love to see this become mainstream, even with recycling a huge part of our societies, wasted plastic is still an unfortunate reality.

 

[Gufi]

Two adorable new spiders found: Meet Sparklemuffin and Skeletorus

@SvenSvensonov short enough

 

[SvenSvensonov]

Two adorable new spiders found: Meet Sparklemuffin and Skeletorus
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@SvenSvensonov short enough

- yep, when the title's self-explanatory, a picture will suffice! But... words are good too (still, don't be dissuaded by my playfulness when wanting to post words too, actually, those and a picture would be ideal, best to give quality info rather than keeping it short, but be mindful of the length as well - this is a thread for small things, though the occasion rant or essay would be accepted).

Cute little guys too. Jumping spiders, the only spiders I wont squish!

And with that, I'm signing off for the night. Peace!

 

[SvenSvensonov]

Being A Human Cannonball Looks Completely Terrifying

Yes, it's not exactly a surprise that being launched out of a compressed-air cannon is a stressful way to earn a living. But that doesn't stop this GoPro footage of a woman being shot 40 feet into the air from being white-knuckle terrifying.

Mashable persuaded 25-year-old Gemma Kirby to strap the GoPro on for one of her circus performances. Kirby works for the Ringling Bros.' Circus XTREME, and has apparently been shot out of a cannon over 500 times — which probably explains why she's so blasé about the whole thing.

 

[SvenSvensonov]

A Color-Saturated Look At Mercury's Massive, Ancient Caloris Basin

Mercury's Caloris Basin is seen in an enhanced color mosaic. The massive crater, formed some 4 billion years ago, is orange. Smaller craters made subsequently are rendered in blue, while orange splotches around the perimeter may be volcanic vents.

 

[SvenSvensonov]

The Tech Inside This Satellite May Soon Scan Your Skin for Cancer

The European Space agency has just announced that doctors will be adapting its Proba-V vegetation-scanning satellite camera for a decidedly non-vegetative purpose: Monitoring human skin cells. The hardware within this satellite may, in a few years, form the core of a new medical device that doctors can use to scan human skin for disease.

Proba-V is a mini satellite that uses state-of-the-art digital infrared sensors, coupled with a high speed camera, to monitor changes to Earth's vegetation from orbit. According to the ESA, the camera's unique wide field of view allows it to construct a fresh picture of Earth's flora every two days. From thousands of miles above our planet's surface, it can resolve small differences in the color of neighboring trees that would appear identical to the human eye. This feature allows scientists to monitor the health of Earth's ecosystems over time with unparalleled precision.

Apparently, Proba-V's ability to see shortwave radiation our eyes cannot detect makes it an ideal tool for monitoring the health of humans, as well. Researchers discovered that if you mount Proba-V's camera on a medical scanner, doctors can use the camera here on Earth, to stare deeper into human tissues than previous scanners, and perhaps detect signs of skin diseases such as cancer earlier on.

Perhaps in the near future, in addition using satellite cameras to map Earth's climate, we'll be using them to map our very own bodies.

 

[Azizam]

Yonaguni Monument

The Yonaguni Monument(与那国島海底地形 Yonaguni-jima Kaitei Chikei?, lit. "Yonaguni Island Submarine Topography") is a massive underwater structure off the coast of Yonaguni, the southernmost of the Ryukyu Islands, in Japan. There is a debate about whether the site is completely natural, is a natural site that has been modified, or is a man-made artifact.[1][2] For these reasons, the site is also known in Japanese as the "Yonaguni (Island) Submarine Ruins" (与那国（島）海底遺跡 Yonaguni(-jima) Kaitei Iseki?).

Yonaguni Monument - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I wonder why this hasn't got much publicity.


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Black Knight satellite

The Black Knight satellite is an alleged object orbiting Earth in near-polar orbit that ufologists and others believe is "approximately" 13,000 years old and of extraterrestrial origin.

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Daytlov Pass Incident

This is one of the most interesting murder cases all all time. The event took place in Russia and it took lives of 9 skiers The story is too long so I will leave some links to read. Even the most plausible explanations haven't managed to solve the mystery completely.

The Dyatlov Pass Mystery…….SOLVED!! | An American Nationalist - with few possible explanations.

Dyatlov Pass incident - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[SvenSvensonov]

One of the Navy's top Super Hornet squadrons, VFA-27 "Royal Maces," have accomplished an incredible feat: Creating a cruise video that is better than their last, which was just about the best thing we have ever seen up until now.

Highlights are the night strafing run from the cockpit POV, the AGM-154 JSOW delivery tracked by the F/A-18E's ATFLIR pod, and the opening with the Hornet's shadow on the sea, which is just surreal.

 

[SvenSvensonov]

These Are the Twisted Shockwaves Produced By an Exploding Star

Looking more like a wisp of stellar smoke than anything else, these shockwaves are anything but gentle. The twisted mass is part of the Veil Nebula, the remnants of a star that now tears through space.

The Veil Nebula was, ten thousand years ago, a star. Brighter and bigger than our Sun, it burned out, collapsed and then exploded. At that point, it ejected its outer layers at speeds of over 370,000 mph, creating massive shockwaves as the matter tore through surrounding gases in interstellar space. This image shows just a small snapshot of those effects, known as the south-eastern knot. In fact the entire nebula measures 50 light years in radius, and is located almost 1500 light years away.



Solar Impulse Has Successfully Started Its Round-the-World Trip

After years of planning, the solar-powered airplane Solar Impulse 2 has successfully started itsround the world trip. If everything goes to plan, it will become the first aircraft to fly around the globe without a single drop of fuel.

The image above shows Solar Impulse 2 having just taken off from Al Bateen Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates this morning. The image below shows the view from the ground as it first took flight.

With 17,000 solar panels on the airplane's wing to charge a 2,077-pound lithium battery, it can cruise at rather slow 88mph. That means that the entire trip will take take around five months. Hardly adrenaline-fuelled—but at least it's off to a successful start.

 

[gau8av]

View attachment 200736

One of the Navy's top Super Hornet squadrons, VFA-27 "Royal Maces," have accomplished an incredible feat: Creating a cruise video that is better than their last, which was just about the best thing we have ever seen up until now.

Highlights are the night strafing run from the cockpit POV, the AGM-154 JSOW delivery tracked by the F/A-18E's ATFLIR pod, and the opening with the Hornet's shadow on the sea, which is just surreal.

it says "teaser".. so what, can we expect a full length feature in the near future ?

 

[mike2000]

Hey guys!!! I often find myself confronted with something interesting, but don't feel it deserves its own thread. So I'm starting a thread, that I will be updating daily, dedicated to things that are interesting but don't need their own threads due to their lack of length or depth. Micro stories for short - mostly anything I or anyone else finds interesting and wants to share!

Anyone can contribute, but as noted, I'll at least sustain it on my own, though I always welcome contributions!

Thanks and I hope you enjoy, it'll be random!

SvenSvensonov

I'll start with:

These anamorphic drawings will screw up your brain

Italian artist Alessandro Diddi is back with more mind-boggling anamorphic drawings that seem to be popping out of the paper. Even if I know that these are plain 2D drawings, my brain keeps telling me it's 3D.

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From These anamorphic drawings will screw up your brain

@levina @Gufi @Nihonjin1051 @thesolar65 @Gabriel92 @Jungibaaz

You should be made a MOD on here. Dont know why they havent made you one yet. I like/enjoy all your posts,non biased nature,knowledge,contribution and attitude on here so far. Keep it up bros.

 

[SvenSvensonov]

Wow, China builds complete 57-story skyscraper in record 19 days

Xian Min Zhang sent us the latest time-lapse video of the construction of his latest building: A 57-floor 2-million-square-foot (180,000-square-meter) skyscraper fully built with energy-efficient, factory-produced Lego-like blocks. He claims that they are now building these at a record three floors per day!

The company keeps increasing their building speed and size of these buildings at an impressive rate. It is still not the 220-story skyscraper they claimed they were going to build, but it is amazing nonetheless.

This building has 19 10-meter-high atriums, 800 apartments, and office space for 4,000 people. Zhang claims that the use of modules reduced the use of concrete by 15,000 trucks, which he says almost eliminated all the release of dust in the air, an important advantage in pollution-ridden China. Talking about pollution: He claims that all of the air inside is 99.9% pure thanks to the tight construction and built-in air conditioning system. The building has quadruple-pane glass and, he says, is so energy efficient it will save 12,000 tons of CO2 emission compared to a building of the same size and use.

 

[SvenSvensonov]

This is what happens when an airbag deploys a hundredth of a second late

Here's a terrifying video that shows the importance of having an airbag that works as it's supposed to versus having an airbag that works... but is a hundredth of a second late. You see one watermelon drop in slow motion and get cradled by the deployment of an airbag versus another watermelon that explodes.

All just because it was a split second late. Crazy

Oh Hai! Amazing Photos Capture LA's Newest Baby Mountain Lions

 

[SvenSvensonov]

We're just faceless shapes made of dots and lines and nodes to a computer. And that's kind of awesome. This experimental project by Maria Takeuchi uses Microsoft Kinect to capture the motion data of a dancer and then rebuilds those movements into a stunning dancing body made of dots and lines and nodes.

Here's the explanation of the process of the Asphyxia Project:

Motion data was captured using inexpensive sensors and that data paved the way through an extensive number of steps. Once all the scanned point cloud data was combined, that was then used as the base for the creative development on the piece. A series of iterative studies on styles followed and several techniques and dynamic simulations were then applied using a number 3D tools for various results.

You can learn more about the Asphyxia Project here and see the gallery here.

Cool video shows fighter jet takeoff from a completely new perspective

Here's awesome footage from underneath a MiG-29 showing the fighter jet taking off from an aircraft carrier. The view is insane, you see the jets fire up and watch the world turn blurry as the MiG launches itself into the air. There's a surprising, almost sort of peaceful awesomeness when it starts flying and leaves the carrier behind.

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