Top Stories
World's largest fat-burning power station to burn blubber from London sewers
East London is set to play host to the world's biggest power station to run solely on fat, which will provide a much-needed use for the discarded fat which can block the city's sewer system. The station will generate 130 gigawatt-hours of electricity per year, enough to power about 39,000 houses. Read More
In the gold-mining process, the precious metal is often extracted from low-grade ore in a technique known as gold cyanidation. As its name suggests, the process utilizes highly-poisonous cyanide, some of which ends up entering the environment in the mines’ tailings. That’s not so good. Scientists at Illinois’ Northwestern University, however, recently announced their discovery of a new gold recovery process that’s based on a non-toxic component of corn starch. Read More
Back in February at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, Abdo “Dado” Feghali set a new Guinness World Record by getting sideways in a stock Chevrolet Camaro SS fitted with an EasyDrift system for over 10 minutes, covering a distance of 6.95 miles (11.18 km). Pretty impressive, right? Well, it’s not looking quite so impressive after BMW Performance Center Instructor Johan Schwartz spent a large slab of his Saturday in a continuous drift that covered an insane 51.28 miles (82.52 km). Read More
Say you were the third generation of a farming family in the southwest of Scotland, and you intended to build a new farmhouse that made a statement about resource consumption. Building an environmentally conscious house in this climate requires insulation up to the ears. Now let's say this was a sheep farm you were running … well, you would, wouldn't you? Read More
The nuplug surge protected extension cord offers two outlets and two USB ports, but what makes this device interesting is its ability to attach to beds, couches, workbenches and other convenient locations around the home. Read More
In the unpleasantness stakes, dropping your smartphone in a bucket or water is right up there with bread landing butter-side down – only much more expensive. Sony has unveiled its Xperia ZR that, if it lives up to expectations, will mean you’ll not only be able to drop it in the pond, but take high-definition videos while doing so. Read More
Due to their relative faintness compared to their parent stars, most known exoplanets have been discovered using indirect detection methods – that is, detecting the effects they have rather than observing them directly. There are numerous indirect methods that have proven useful in the detection of exoplanets and now yet another, which relies on Einstein’s special theory of relativity, has joined the list with the discovery of an exoplanet known as Kepler-76b. Read More
Naval aviation history was made today, as an autonomous unmanned aircraft took off from a US Navy nuclear aircraft carrier in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Virginia. The X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator (UCAS-D) took to the air from the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) and is part of a program to develop carrier-based unmanned combat aircraft capable of carrying out missions according to pre-programmed instructions rather than being under constant control by a ground-based pilot. Read More
3D printers continue to hit the mainstream as more accessible models are released at lower prices, some even landing in major retail chains. The MakiBox may currently hold the crown for cheapest 3D printer on the market, but Pirate3D's new desktop box could provide similar quality and affordability with much less hassle. The company's flagship printer, the Buccaneer, will come fully assembled out of the box with a price tag of only US$347. Read More
