Just a few hundred atoms in size, this ultra-tiny submarine measures distances in nanometers and uses light to drive it forward – despite its diminutive dimensions, it has a remarkable top speed of one inch per second, making the sub “the fastest-moving molecules ever seen in solution.”

While the entertainment value and wow-factors exist as well, there are also many potential serious and world-changing applications being explored, from organic nanobots to medical delivery systems.

“Each of the single-molecule, 244-atom submersibles built in the Rice University lab of chemist James Tour has a motor powered by ultraviolet light. With each full revolution, the motor’s tail-like propeller moves the sub forward 18 nanometers.”

Tour’s group has worked a lot with molecular micro-machines; his lab introduced the world to nanocars, single-molecule cars with four wheels, axles and independent suspensions that could be “driven” across surfaces. Assembling at this scale, the material inputs are small but the distances and forces in play relatively huge, opening up a world of tiny possibilities.

The post Nanosubmarine: World’s Smallest Sub is Powered by Light first appeared on Gajitz.

Super-strong electromagnetics coupled with a hidden fingerprint scanner make this convincing copy of Mjolnir, Thor’s mystical hammer, respond only to its creator. As the Marvel Comics version of the story goes, only those worthy of the power of the hammer may pick it up – it becomes an impossible anchor in the grip of anyone else.

Allan Pan, an electrical engineer, set to work creating his own real-life version. Electrical currents produce a magnetic field that pull the hammer toward any metal surface. Essentially, it can be ‘locked’ in place anywhere with metal on the ground (or just under the surface) mimicking the magical properties the hammer is supposed to posses.

Using powerful electromagnets and a fingerprint scanner, an electrical engineer builds a replica of Thor’s hammer Mjolnir that can only be hefted by the worthy. Pranking passers by, its maker is able to pick the device up with ease, then confuse the heck out of the strongest people who attempt to lift it (a bit like King Arthur with Excalibur, come to think of it). “The handle is attached to a capacitive touch sensor, which in turn is attached to an Arduino Pro Mini and a solid state relay, which serves as a switching device. As soon as someone grasps the handle, the electromagnets switch on, attaching the hammer to the metal surface.” Alas, this version cannot yet call down lightning strikes, nor return to the hand that throws it, but perhaps Mjolnir 2.0 will pick up where this one leaves off.

The post Engineer Crafts ‘Real’ Hammer of Thor Only He Can Lift first appeared on Gajitz.

Can anything make your heart sink faster than hearing a pathetic clicking when you try to start your car? Your battery’s dead again and, thanks to good old neighborhood unfriendliness, there’s no one around to give you a jump start. You don’t belong to an auto club, and none of your lazy friends will come give you a ride.

Self-described crazy engineer Medhi Sadaghar of ElectroBoom shows us a rather unusual way to start a car with a dead battery using things that the average engineer (and a lot of other people) will have just lying around the house. The video above gives an overview of using a series of AA batteries to give your car battery just enough juice for a single start.

After soldering together a few AAs with wire, Sadaghar connects the batteries to the car battery – but be sure to connect positive to positive and negative to negative or your batteries will start smoking just like his. The setup basically pours the batteries’ juice into the car battery. It gives it just enough energy to turn over the engine one time. Tada! You’ve now got a running car and you didn’t even have to talk to any scary strangers in the process.

The post Fire it Up! How to Jump Start a Car Using AA Batteries first appeared on Gajitz.

We could make a lot of jokes about playing with your food and how you should absolutely do it at every opportunity. But it would probably be more fun to just print out a set of Open Toys so you can start turning your veggies into flying, rolling, and diving machines.

The Open Toys Project is a set of 14 3D-printable objects from Le FabShop that require little more than a few raw veggies and an imagination to enjoy. It is, in the words of the designers, “A Mr. Potato Head in the era of digital fabrication.”

The idea struck designer Samuel Bernier while he was at the annual Summer Workshop at the Domaine de Boisbuchet in southwestern France. His initial concept was to upcycle cork and wood pieces found in nature into simple toys using a 3D printer he had with him.

The workshop happened to coincide with harvest time at the estate, however, which led to instant inspiration: veggies were so much more fun (and easier to play with) than wood or cork. Bernier and his team invented toy pieces that let kids easily turn their vegetables into cars, flying machines, submarines, and wacky combinations of them all.

Le FabShop has published the 3D printing plans for all of the pieces, and they plan to continue designing new pieces. They also encourage other designers to try their hands at adding to the collection – because honestly, you can never have too many options when it comes to making apple airplanes and radish racecars.

The post Fun With Food: 3D Printed Pieces Turn Veggies Into Toys first appeared on Gajitz.

The world is facing a very real, very alarming trend in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) professions: tomorrow’s scientists and engineers just aren’t interested. The appeal of STEM careers has been steadily dropping among young people as they go through middle and high school, but trends indicate that careers in these fields will continue to grow at a faster-than-average pace in the next decade. To keep up with demand and keep the world (and specifically the US in this story) in the global technology game, we have to come up with better ways to get kids interested in math and science.

SciPlay, a research group formed in 2010 by the New York Hall of Science, is developing several apps that will make learning physics and scientific concepts seem like a game. Working with media design firm Local Projects, SciPlay is using kids’ natural love for play to draw their attention to the math and science already happening all around them.

The app works by using video to illustrate the science at work in everyday activities. One kid holding an iPad records other kids swinging, throwing a ball, jumping, climbing, or any number of other playground activities. Then, either via information received form a sensor (like an iPod embedded in a foam ball or worn on a kid’s belt) or tracing an arc of motion, the app can illustrate levels of velocity, force, energy, and acceleration.

Kids at the New York Hall of Science are acting as collaborators on the project. Their feedback is going into the visual design of the app as well as its functions. The lucky kids who are in on the project also get to test out the app by playing just like they normally would, then using the app to see the science behind every moment of physical activity. SciPlay thinks (and we agree) that by approaching physics from a playful standpoint rather than trying to lecture on these difficult concepts, they may just be helping to incubate the next generation of great scientific minds.

(via: FastCo)

The post Making Learning Fun: Physics App Uses Playing to Teach first appeared on Gajitz.