Long before the brain undergoes a level of degeneration that destroys precious memories, the body could be crying for help.
Category: Brain Health, Body and Mind
Tags: Dementia, Blood, Diagnostic tools, Alzheimer's disease, Test, Aging
In April 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration made history by releasing the first-ever image of a black hole – an object that, until then, had never been directly observed by humanity.
Tags: NASA, Space exploration, Jets, Astronomy, X-ray
When packing for camping trips, it's always best if you can consolidate your gear as much as possible. The FieldSpork was designed with that fact in mind, as it combines six camp kitchen gadgets in one multi-functional device.
Category: Outdoor Cooking, Gear, Outdoors
Tags: Kickstarter, xxKickbooster, Camping, Titanium
A major battle is brewing in the world of ebikes: DJI subsidiary Avinox and components manufacturer Gobao are racing to bring powerful motors with integrated automatic gearboxes to the market – and we can't wait.
Tags: DJI Innovations, ebikes, Mountain Bikes, Pedal-assisted, urban transport, Motor, Transmission, Automation
Some tiny houses seem to prioritize portability over comfort, but the Apex takes the opposite approach. It trades mobility for a spacious single-floor layout that's closer to an apartment than a traditional tiny house.
Category: Tiny Houses, Outdoors
Tags: Building and Construction, Tiny Footprint, House, Home, Micro-House
Dutch architectural firm MVRDV has completed a green-roof residential development in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, bringing 237 new homes into the city’s historic Bergen district. Dubbed Nieuw Bergen, the project combines new construction with the repurposing of two existing buildings, adding housing while respecting the area’s established scale.
Category: Architecture, Engineering
Tags: Urban Redevelopment, Urban Planning, Urban Gardening, Green Roofs, Building and Construction, Home
Modern cars are equipped with an increasing number of safety features: blind-spot monitoring, collision warning systems, and automatic emergency braking. At the same time, bicycles seem to be left outside of this safety ecosystem. We see this tendency in real-world statistics: over the past decade, the number of drivers killed in crashes has generally declined, while the number of cyclists killed has increased. Safety has become the number one reason why people choose cars over bikes in some countries, and Canyon aims to change that.
Tags: ebikes, Canyon Bicycles, V2X
Mirrorless cameras have largely taken over from DSLRs. That transition has lead to a different kind of engineering taking the lead role.
Photo: DPReview
I have an admission: there's just something I don't love about shooting with the Nikon Z8. Pressing the shutter and hearing the speaker go "click" just isn't the same experience as hearing and, more importantly, feeling, a mechanical shutter fly open and slam closed at 1/200th of a second.
There are absolutely benefits to this approach: the e-shutter won't wear out, no matter how many times it's used, you don't have to worry about shutter shock* and the sensor never being blocked means the EVF has a constant feed of what's happening in front of the lens. Were the Z8 the only camera I shot with, I'm certain I'd grow used to it and, in time, probably come to love the experience of an e-shutter-only life.
I think, though, that this mild dissatisfaction has less to do with the Z8 specifically, and a... let's not call it an issue, but perhaps a quirk of mirrorless cameras in general and how they interact with my specific experience. They are, unquestionably, technological marvels, better in almost every way than what came before. But they aren't mechanical wonders.
None of this is meant to pick on the Z8 specifically, I've just been shooting with it a lot. While most other mirrorless cameras still have a mechanical shutter, their most ambitious modes don't use it, and they're still mechanically much more simple than even basic DSLRs.
Photo: Richard Butler
I'm approaching 30 years old, which means my entire life has taken place after the digital revolution, both in cameras and the world at large. There is no Before Computers for me; some of my earliest memories are messing around with the settings of the family desktop when I was four.
As I grew older, I turned that interest into a job, building and fixing computers and, eventually, programming them and writing about technology. As a result, I understand how they work at a pretty fundamental level. While I might describe a mirrorless camera's autofocusing and subject recognition capabilities as "magical," I know they're not. I'm familiar with how machine learning works, and could explain it in excruciating detail. I can recognize great software engineering, but I'm not astounded by it.
This isn't the case for DSLRs. While I have a decent understanding of how they do what they do, I still find it incredible that it's all possible at all. What do you mean you can use a system of mirrors, optical splitters and custom-made line sensors to let you look through the lens and autofocus at the same time? And the mirror and shutter coordinate to flip up and fire at precisely the right time to expose the sensor? 10 times a second? And they figured this out in the 90s?
A diagram of the autofocus sensor assembly for the Canon EOS 5D II. If you want to get an idea of how mechanically complex that camera is, go check out all the technical diagrams in our review.It's even truer for film, where you have a similar level of SLR complexity, but the computer part – the stuff I understand – is replaced by a strip of chemicals that physically change when exposed to light. Again, I have some knowledge of what's actually going on. I've done the reading. But every time I pull developed film out of the tank and look at the negative, it just feels like witchcraft. How could pressing a button on a mirrorless camera and kicking off the take picture function in its computer ever compare?
Until you look at the pictures and realize that the Z8 can track a subject from the very edge of the frame, and have it in focus the entire time. And that it can capture it at 20fps, with no viewfinder blackout. And sync with flash at 1/250 of a second, without a mechanical shutter. It's old news today, but versus any (D)SLR, it's revolutionary.
SLRs and their digital counterparts are like mechanical watches, full of complex moving parts. Mirrorless cameras are like a smartwatch; still a feat of engineering, but of a completely different kind.
Photo: Richard Butler
This effect extends beyond cameras, too, in our increasingly computerized world. I've pretty much exclusively worn digital watches of some form, but my coworker Richard says the obvious point of comparison is intricately made and fully mechanical watches versus computer-powered smartwatches. The silicon models are simpler, easier to understand, and more accurate than a mechanical model could ever be. But where's the soul?
For me, the more obvious point of comparison is one more familiar to me (but no less clichéd): internal combustion engine vehicles versus electric ones.** Like with mirrorless systems, I understand at a fundamental level how EVs work. And no matter how many truly excellent explainers I watch, and even how often I work on my own cars, I still can't really wrap my mind around how a combustion engine does what it does. (You expect me to believe all these precise operations can be synchronized by a belt or a chain?) But like with cameras, that complexity, beautiful as it is, comes with a cost: I know some prefer the traditional experience, but driving an EV, it's hard not to see it as the future.
I still can't really wrap my mind around how a combustion engine does what it doesWith all this said, there are still mechanical wonders around; both the kinds you'd expect, and ones that are a bit easier to overlook. As an example of the former, take Leica's M-series cameras; the rangefinder mechanisms are intricate and precise, the kind of thing an unskilled technician could take apart, but not put back together. And while the company was, at one point, only producing a few hundred of its film rangefinders a year, they've seen a surge in popularity again, indicating a demand for that mechanical, analog experience.
There's plenty of complex physical engineering to be found in the mirrorless world, too. Stabilization systems, both in-camera and in-lens, are an impressive dance between gyroscopic sensors, software and actuation mechanisms, and become even more so when coordinating together. And gimbals take this to an even higher level; seeing one in action can be so mesmerizing that you'd be forgiven for forgetting that the device that you're watching corrects for the movement it's detecting in real-time and moving a who-knows-how-heavy camera setup to match only costs $300.
I also fully realize that there will be those for whom the wonder is flipped; a mechanical engineer might be more awestruck by complex algorithms than mechanical linkages, no matter how delicate or ingenious. And some folks may be completely flummoxed by cameras new and old, alike. But whichever makes most sense with your brain, it's worth stopping to remember that cameras aren't just technology. They are, of course, impressive pieces of tech. But they're also doing something special, whether we understand how it's happening or not.
* - Which becomes an increasing concern as sensor resolution increases; there's a reason the Sony a7R series use electronic front curtain, which avoids shutter shock, by default.
** - Apologies for choosing three particularly contentious examples.
Japan's famed kei cars were born out of the country's post-war need for affordable, practical transportation. Strict limits on dimensions and engine size translated into generous tax breaks, making car ownership attainable for millions.
Category: Automotive, Transport
Tags: Honda, Kei Cars, Hot hatch, Electric Vehicles
A novel three-in-one medication known as a "polypill" has been put to the test in a trial of more than 200 heart failure patients, in an effort to find a new way to effectively treat the condition with fewer drugs and better health outcomes. The findings were just what the scientists had hoped for.
Category: Heart Disease, Illnesses and conditions, Body and Mind
Tags: UT Southwestern, Heart attack, Heart, Heart Failure, Heart health, Personalized medicine, clinical trials, Experimental, Age-Related
Naked motorcycles are probably the most fun road-going motorcycles money can buy. And when you’re talking about nakeds, KTM’s Dukes are up there with some of the best in the world. Of that entire Duke lineup, it’s the 790 that has fascinated me the most, offering the sweet spot of just enough power to be a serious everyday motorcycle, while remaining incredibly nimble.
Category: Motorcycles, Transport
Tags: KTM, Naked bike
The tides can often change very quickly in the automotive world. That’s exactly what has happened with Polestar, which has just been banned from selling its cars in the US market by the country’s Commerce Department.
Category: Automotive, Transport
Microplastics are everywhere, visible as small specks in water samples, tissue biopsies, and post-mortem examinations.
Category: Imaging & Diagnostics, Medical Innovations, Body and Mind
Tags: Microplastic, Imaging, Pollution, Medical Imaging
US design firm Renée del Gaudio Architecture has completed a 2,100-sq-ft (195-sq-m) retreat in Allenspark, Colorado. Dubbed Camp Meeker Cabin, the project strips mountain living back to its quieter essentials, while still embracing contemporary environmental design.
Category: Architecture, Engineering
Tags: Cabins, Tiny Footprint, nature, Home, sustainable design
Md Redyan Ahmed, University of Sydney/The Conversation
Tags: University of Sydney, Space exploration, Space telescope, Stars, Planet, Brown dwarf, Jupiter
There are a lot of titanium devices on Kickstarter, and honestly … many of those gadgets just use the strong yet lightweight metal as a marketing gimmick. The Voyageur, however, is a suitcase that takes full advantage of titanium's special features.
Tags: Kickstarter, xxKickbooster, Titanium, Travel, Waterproof
As an expected 150 million Americans dig into a hot dog this 4th of July weekend, physicians highlight how little we know about the health risks of this kind of processed meat. In fact, close to 90% of US adults surveyed were unsure of or completely unaware of any issues.
Category: Diet & Nutrition, Wellness and Healthy Living, Body and Mind
Tags: Red meat, Health, Carcinogens, Cancer, Chronic illness, Diet, World Health Organization, CDC
India's burgeoning eVTOL industry has seen major advancements, investment, and partnerships taking place over the last few years. The country has just seen an indigenously produced 1,540-lb (700-kg) half-scale demonstrator wrap up its integrated flight testing, inching it closer to the era of air taxis.
Tags: eVTOL, India, Air Taxis, Flight Tests, Wisk, Lilium, Joby Aviation, Volocopter, Beta Technologies
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Sony is set to announce a new model of its RX10 enthusiast long zoom compact next week, according to a teaser video. Captioned "The wait is over. A new RX10 is coming 7/9/2026," it shows off a silhouette of what appears to be the camera's lens and body.
The reference to a wait is apt. The RX10 IV, which featured a 20MP Type 1 sensor (116mm²) and a 24–600mm equiv. lens, was released in late 2017, and hasn't been available to buy new for a while now. That absence has been felt even stronger because of the lack of other cameras in this class. Panasonic's FZ1000 II was one of its closest competitors, but is also now unavailable.
Other bridge cameras, like the Nikon P1100 or Panasonic ZS300, fill similar roles of offering a ton of zoom range, but with different sets of trade-offs. The P1100 offers a massive 24–3000 mm zoom range, but uses a Type 1/2.3 (28mm²) sensor that makes even the RX10 IV's look massive by comparison. And while the ZS300 also uses a Type 1 sensor, its 24–360mm is decidedly less ambitious with an aperture range of F3.3–6.4, compared to the RX10 IV's F2.4-4 (equivalent to F9-17.4 and F6.5-10.9, respectively).
Sony's teaser has essentially no other information on what upgrades it has made to the RX10 IV's formula in the near decade since it launched, but we don't have long before we find out. According to the video, the announcement will be at 07:00 Pacific / 15:00 BST on July 9th.
This weekend, people and cities across the US will be celebrating the Fourth of July with the traditional large firework displays. If you're trying to capture those, there are a few things you'll want to keep in mind if you want to get pictures that truly sparkle.
We've outlined the most important ones in a video, which you can watch below:
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If you're looking for a more in-depth look at how to shoot fireworks, including tips from someone who's done it professionally, we have a few articles you can dive into, too. Stay safe, have fun, and get some great shots!
Read: a tutorial from the official photographer for the London New Year fireworks
PS: not American? These tips will work just as well on November 5th, December 31st or any other day with big fireworks displays. It's never too early to start planning!
