Decades of plastic merchandise disintegrating in our environment have left our planet – and much of our bodies – coated in a fine dust of synthetic polymers.
Category: Heart Disease, Illnesses and conditions, Body and Mind, Refractor: Science & Health
Tags: Microplastic, Plastic, Pollution, Heart attack, Cardiovascular disease, Blood, Heart, Heart Disease
Just in time for the heart of summer (up above the equator, at least), New Balance has released one of the most versatile shoes you'll ever see in any category. The new hybrid Niobium Concept 1 bridges the huge gap between hardwearing waterproof boot and cozy, hut-traipsing slipper ... with another stop along the way. There's no reason to pack extra shoes when you're wearing the newly revived shapeshifter because you already have three different pairs on your feet.
Tags: Footwear, Transformable, Boots, Hiking, Backpacking, Camping, Outdoors and Camping, Waterproof
The humble pen offers a very handy, easy-to-carry form factor for writing, so why not use it for other tasks, too? That's the thinking behind the VeroLite, a modular titanium multitool that's currently on Kickstarter.
Category: Knives and Multitools, Gear, Outdoors
Tags: Multitools, Titanium, Kickstarter, xxKickbooster, EDC
Despite its towable footprint, the Laurel tiny house packs in a surprisingly capable interior. It sleeps up to four people and makes room for a well-stocked kitchen, a generously sized living area, and even a bathroom with a tub.
Category: Tiny Houses, Outdoors
Tags: Micro-House, Tiny Footprint, House, Home, Building and Construction
Most desktop mics are focused squarely on helping you to capture high-quality audio for podcasts and videos. Maono's new model goes several steps further – and could help you avoid wrecking your next recording session.
Category: Consumer Tech, Technology
Tags: Microphone, Podcast, recording, Kickstarter, xxKickbooster
Daddy longlegs, also called harvestmen, have been documented catching and consuming living frogs larger than themselves in South American rainforests. All without the use of venom.
Category: Biology, Science, Refractor: Science & Health
Ten months on from the huge news that a chlamydia vaccine had been approved for Australia's koala population, an 18-month-old female known as Bamse has become the first to receive the groundbreaking medicine in a new double-dose format that makes large-scale treatment possible.
Category: Infectious Diseases, Illnesses and conditions, Body and Mind, Refractor: Science & Health
Tags: Queensland University of Technology, Vaccines, Koala, Animal science, Australia, Biodiversity, Endangered, Disease
So, you need to inspect pipelines – either because you work for an oil company or you’re an environmental monitor trying to prevent ecological disasters. How do you do it?
Category: Drones, Consumer Tech, Technology
Tags: Fixed-wing drones, Inflatable
The US has racked up another historic drone warfare first as US Central Command (CENTCOM) announces that a trio of Corsair autonomous surface boats successfully carried out a simultaneous attack against the Bandar Abbas Naval Base in Iran.
Category: Military, Engineering
Tags: US Navy, Autonomous, drones, Marine Innovations, Warfare
About a kilometer deep beneath the ocean surface, where sunlight disappears and food becomes scarce, lives a giant creature that can wait out starvation and survive more than five years without eating.
Category: Biology, Science, Refractor: Science & Health
Tags: Genetics, Diet, Animals, Marine Biology, isopod
Around 90% of all humans prefer to use their right hand. For cockatoos, it’s mostly the left.
Category: Biology, Science, Refractor: Science & Health
Tags: Fossils, Hand, Ediacaran , Brain, American Museum of Natural History, Paleontology, Animal science, ancient
We’ve already seen plenty of smart glasses that combine stylish design with music playback and hands-free video recording. For folks who appreciate having those features but don’t like wearing glasses, Auriview has just launched a new product on Kickstarter. The X1 takes a similar approach but packs the technology into a different form factor – bone-conduction earphones. What sets it apart from similar products is a built-in AI assistant that allows users to interact with the device through voice commands.
Category: Wearables, Consumer Tech, Technology
Tags: Headset, Artificial Intelligence, Bone Conduction, Kickstarter, xxKickbooster
Chris Tonkin, WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research)/The Conversation
Category: Infectious Diseases, Illnesses and conditions, Body and Mind, Refractor: Science & Health
Tags: Parasites, Cats, Pets, Brain, toxoplasmosis
For decades, basketball training technology has relied on repetition and pre-set programming modes.
Category: Sports, Consumer Tech, Technology
Tags: Kickstarter, xxKickbooster, basketball, Training aid, Artificial Intelligence
A robot that swims like a diving bird and then flies like, well, a bird, sounds like the setup for two different machines bolted together. But researchers at MIT and EPFL built one that does both with a single set of wings. No propellers, no legs, and no origami-style folding mechanism to switch modes.
Category: Robotics, Engineering
Tags: MIT, Robots, Engineering, Birds, EPFL, Biomimicry, Flight, Dive, Swim
It's getting harder and harder to outrun heatwaves around the world, so having a portable fan handy could be the move this summer. Zera's latest model promises powerful cooling in a surprisingly tiny package.
Category: Consumer Tech, Technology
Tags: Fan cooling, Personal, Travel, Kickstarter, xxKickbooster, Portable
Our distant relatives, Homo floresiensis, nicknamed “hobbits,” have been credited with two advanced skills: hunting small elephant relatives and controlling fire – both generally associated with large-brained hominins, such as Neanderthals and modern humans.
Category: Archaeology, Science, Refractor: Science & Health
Blue Origin is racing against the clock to undo the damage caused by its New Glenn rocket exploding in May.
Category: Space Systems, Engineering
Tags: Blue Origin, New Glenn, Rocket, NASA, Launch
Blue Origin is racing against the clock to undo the damage caused by its New Glenn rocket exploding in May.
Category: Space Systems, Engineering
Tags: Blue Origin, New Glenn, Rocket, NASA, Launch
In 2006, Harley-Davidson did a thing. When it did this thing, some wee came out of me. It came out of a few other people, too. Which was perfectly understandable, as you will come to understand.
Category: Motorcycles, Transport
Tags: Racetrack, Motorcycle, Harley Davidson, Reviews, Cruisers, Drag Racing, Crazy, xxShowcase
