Scientist Shoots Himself Underwater For The Sake Of Science – This Is What Happened

We recently saw a physicist putting his life literally on the line – Andreas Wahl – for the sake of physics and now he has done it again. This time, however, he decided not to hang to death but rather shoot himself using a loaded gun underwater to carry out an experiment to demonstrate the power of fluid resistance.



He stood in a swimming pool and fired at himself using an assault rifle that was placed a little under 3 meters away from him using a string that was attached to the trigger. He wore goggles, indeed safety first and last and foremost.

The video comes from a Norwegian science show that is aired on channel NRK Viten. In the YouTube description of the video, it is stated, “It’s harder to create movement in water than in air, because water molecules are closer together than air molecules. To show the difference in resistance, physicist Andreas Wahl puts himself in front of a weapon submerged in water and fires it – on himself.”

Slow motion cameras were employed for better filming the effects of the bullet’s force on the water. This is what happened:

Biski amphibious motorcycle can switch from land to water in just 5 seconds

Riding your motorcycle into a lake is definitely not the brightest idea, unless of course, you’re talking about the Biski motorcycle. The amphibious vehicle converts from motorcycle into jet ski in less than 5 seconds.


The product is being produced by Gibbs, a company specialized in amphibious vehicles which is also developing the Triski and already produces the Quadski (as the name suggests, a tricycle and a four-wheeler, respectively, that work both on land and in the water), the latter can already be purchased for US$40,000.

Watch the video here :

According to Gibbs, the Biski can reach 60 km/h on water and up to 130 km/h on land with its 55-horsepower, twin cylinder engine. Powered by gasoline, the motorcycle weighs around 228 kilograms and takes around 5 seconds to convert to water mode retracting the wheels out of the way and switching to jet propulsion. Gibbs hasn’t yet revealed when exactly the Biski will be available for purchase or even how much it will cost.

Earthrace, worlds fastest biodiesel boat !

Earthrace was an amazing powerboat that holds the record for a powerboat to circumnavigate the globe (60 days, 23 hours, 49 minutes).  The new world record was completed in 27 June 2008 by skipper and founder of Earthrace, Pete Bethune, and his volunteer International crew. Throughout, the boat was run on 100% biofuel with a net carbon zero footprint in order to draw attention to the need for renewable fuels and sustainable living.

The Union Internationale Motonautique presented a certificate to the team in Italy on 24 October 2009 in official recognition of the world recrord. 

Soon after that, it was announced that the Earthrace and its skipper, Pete Bethune, would accompany the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) in its 2009-10 operation (named 'Waltzing Matilda') against the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.  Sea Shepherd noted that the vessel would be the only one in the fleet fast enough to keep up with all the Japanes vessels.
The boat was painted black, refitted and strengthened with extra carbon and kevlar, and re-named The Ady Gil, after the benefactor, a Hollywood lighting-equipment magnate) who donated $1 million towards the purchase of the boat for SSCS.



On 6 January 2010, the Earthrace/Ady Gil was rammed by the Japanese whaling essel Shonan Maru #2.  All the crew (with the exception of our mascot, 'Eartha'  who was lost at sea) were rescued with only minor injuries. Sadly, the boat could not be saved  You can read rest of the story, including Pete's detention in a Japanese prison.

Scientists Design Tires That Can Repair Themselves After Getting Punctured

A flat tire can result into quite a tiresome experience and at times a very frustrating one. Thanks to new technology, you might not have to experience this ordeal anymore. A research is being carried out in Europe that is focused on how a damaged tire will be able to heal itself within a few minutes.
Right now, the manufacturing process for tires employs the use of vulcanization process. The process adds sulfur along with other compounds thus enhancing the durability of the finished product by creating cross-links between the polymer chains that are responsible for making up the material. The only downside being that once these links are broken they can’t be repaired.
A team comprised of scientists from the Leibniz Institute for Polymer Research in Germany, the Tampere University of Technology in Finland and the Dresden University of Technology in Germany are working through this limitation by taking out the vulcanization process from the manufacturing process.

The team has learned that by imparting a nitrogen/carbon compound they are able to acquire the same effect with the added benefit of polymer links being able to form again after having being broken.
In a series of tests, the rubber created using this process exhibited its healing power by tackling cuts in them at room temperature. Heating the rubber to 100 ºC for the first ten minutes sped up the process. After 8 days, the healed pieces of rubber were capable of withstanding pressures of up to 52 bar. The team speculates that adding reinforcing agents such as carbon black or silica would enhance the self-healing rubber’s strength even more.

A paper on the research was recently published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

Why You Should Never Point A Laser At Anyone’s Face

Laser technology has seen an unprecedented number of uses after being perfected in recent times with cutting edge applications in low-cost sheet cutting, navigation and precise measurement being some of them. While it is being used in many industries around the world, the health and safety code in these setups ensure that the deadly laser doesn’t harm the workers. But, same cannot be said of these common laser devices that have been introduced in the market mostly used in toys and instruments. Many of these devices are handheld, and people get carried away and abuse them openly. A shocking stat shows that scores of aircraft pilots throughout the world suffer eye damage when targeted by lasers from the ground when flying at a low altitude. Some of them are left with serious consequences and even lose their jobs in the process as well.



Laser technology has seen an unprecedented number of uses after being perfected in recent times with cutting edge applications in low-cost sheet cutting, navigation and precise measurement being some of them. While it is being used in many industries around the world, the health and safety code in these setups ensure that the deadly laser doesn’t harm the workers. But, same cannot be said of these common laser devices that have been introduced in the market mostly used in toys and instruments. Many of these devices are handheld, and people get carried away and abuse them openly. A shocking stat shows that scores of aircraft pilots throughout the world suffer eye damage when targeted by lasers from the ground when flying at a low altitude. Some of them are left with serious consequences and even lose their jobs in the process as well.

There is also a growing misconception about the green lasers that is allowing people to misuse them. For some dubious reason, people have arrived at the fact that green lasers aren’t harmful to the human eye, only red lasers are, which is just nonsense. A recent study shows us that 90% of the green pointers used in the US don’t lie in the 1 or 2 safety levels. In fact, they are producing up to a hundred times more dangerous amplified light than the allowed levels. People need to understand that these green ones are just as bad as the red ones and stop pointing them at each other thinking they are harmless. The FDA and the EU are now working hard to remove these dangerous green lasers from the market, but nothing matches the right level of awareness in this issue that is quite serious. Especially in the case of airline pilots, the laser cannot only damage their eyes, but it can also result in a lapse of concentration that may cost us lives one day.
So, all in all, don’t go for the fancy headlamps, dazzling pointers and toys before researching about the kind of lasers they operate. It is a simple SOP that may save people’s eyes and even lives one day.

Chinese Company Unveils A New Supersized Drone That You Can Ride In

Ehang has unveiled an amazing drone here at CES 2016. Ehang is a Chinese drone maker and has taken the veils off of a drone that weighs in at 500 pounds and is an autonomous transportation vehicle for a single person. Say hello to Ehang 184!



It is pretty big, however, has been designed quite elegantly. As per the company, it is capable of flying at 100km/hr on a 23-minute trip and can support a weight of about 100kg. User makes use of an app to plan the trip. All that you need to do is to select the destination and get in. The drone will take off and shall take you to your desired spot. It features a fail-safe system that works to protect the user and in case of any system failure; the drone goes into hover mode or attempts to find a safe landing spot.



This amazing all-electric drone features eight propellers, eight motors, four arms and two sets of sensors along with a redundancy to make sure that flight is safe even during bad weather. According to the website, although the vehicle is thunderstorm-proof, the command center will not allow takeoff during weather conditions that are best described as extreme.

The downside? It is not legalized in the US yet. Ehang’s co-founder and CFO, Shang Wen Hsiao said that the company is in talks with the FAA – it requires 28 hours of flight time to ascertain air worthiness. The vehicle is expected to take off and land vertically at targets that have been pre-set.

The company has also had meetings with officials in New Zealand, Los Angeles, California and China. New Zealand is interested in experimental tests while the Chinese government supports it but has to go through the application process. The company has successfully carried out more than 100 flights with a person onboard. The expected cost of Ehang 184 is supposed to be around $200,000-300,000.

Some day, you might fly inside this Ehang 184 Drone. Seriously. #CES2016 pic.twitter.com/5dY4ysmWqE

— Lance Ulanoff (@LanceUlanoff) January 6, 2016

 

Do You Know That USA Unintentionally Dropped 4 Atomic Bombs On Spain. Here’s The Story

Bombs On Spain. Here’s The Story

 

  It was in 1966 when a B-52 bomber of the United States Air Force with four Hydrogen bombs onboard was undergoing an air-to-air refuel from a huge KC-135 Stratotanker when both collided and came crashing down to the Earth in one of the worst nuclear disasters to have ever faced by the USA or its NATO allies. Each of those Hydrogen bombs had the destructive capability of about hundred bombs like those dropped on Hiroshima and thankfully, they weren’t armed or else that part of Spain would have been a nuclear holocaust unprecedented and deadlier than our wildest imaginations. Despite the efforts of the NATO forces to locate those bombs and bring them under nuclear regulation authorities, the crash still has ramification today, fifty years after the horrific accident.To the people of Palomares along the coast of Spain’s beautiful Andalusian region, the morning of January 17, 1966, exactly fifty years ago was routine. It wasn’t until men came in camouflage and started evacuating the entire area due to radiation leak that people got to know what was wrong. As a result, to this day, the area is closed for people due to fears of radiation leaks. Here is a sign warning people not to overstep this boundary.
Here is the location of the area on the map along with potential danger areas.




It all happened during the refuelling attempt made over the region. The B-52 was on a standard Cold War-era 24-hour mission. It was aimed to provide deterrence towards any potential attack made by the Soviets against the US allies from Eastern Europe. While the refuelling was done, the refuelling beacon overshot the bomber and struck the craft with such a force that its entire left wing was blown away. First to go was the poor refueller and its 30,000-gallon jet fuel was ignited and caused complete destruction.
The B-52 with its huge wingspan took some time to fall and eventually most of the crew members got out using parachutes while they haplessly watched the nuclear bombs plummeting towards the ground. It must have been a truly hopeless site. The crew knew what they had unleashed on the area. Not instant destruction like in Hiroshima or Nagasaki or even Chernobyl, but as slower, deadlier dirty bombs that could expose millions and millions of people directly to radiation. The nuclear bombs didn’t detonate, but what we need to realize is that they become dirty bombs instead and silently spew radiation to an even larger radius.
Here Spanish workers look at the wreckage of the aircraft. Remember they are looking for powerful dirty bombs with no protective layers on them.

One of the H-bombs is seen here recovered from the sea with its parachutes intact.



Over 50,000 cubic meters of Earth remained contaminated with radiation. It wasn’t until last year in 2015 that the US Secretary of State John Kerry signed an agreement with the Spanish government for successful disposition of the contaminated soil. Why did the US, the champion of Nuclear code and Nuclear non-proliferation take that amount of time to correct its own wrongdoing? I guess the successive governments didn’t give a damn until now.
Since the aircraft involved in the crash were huge, the residents also suffered from the incoming debris directly. Landing gear pieces, fuselage and other parts of the plane were thrown at a considerable area around the crash. 83-year-old Pedro Flores was one the ground when one of the bombs landed practically on his feet and exploded the conventional blast material inside that converted it into a dirty bomb. One of his mates even kicked it before they realized something was wrong and they hastily backed away from it. I cannot begin to apprehend the kind of damage their tissues would have faced from the radiation in such close quarters.

Eventually, all four bombs were recovered including one from the sea shown above. It was lucky that only a small amount of weapons-grade Plutonium was found to be blown around, so people were relatively safer owing to their stroke of luck. But, Palomeras itself, wasn’t and it was soon evacuated by the khakis.


Here you can see barrels and barrel of contaminated soil being dug up and stacked.



Thank God those days are finally over as countries like US have become more responsible with their nuclear weapons with the passage of time and have limited these crazy military doctrines with live bombs onboard. They now rely more on missile defense systems.