Anything that makes me proud to be a geek.
World’s longest running lab experiment now on webcam #
Sometimes you set something up that you know will take a bit of time, but usually the rewards are great. Take roasting a turkey for example: it may take 6 hours, but by the end you have turkey!
After setting up such a long task, I usually go find something else to do with my time: read a book; go to work; grow old; die… now, you may think I’m exaggerating here, but Australian physics professor Thomas Parnell did just that when he created the world’s longest-running lab experiment at the University of Queensland in 1927.
He decided to show his students that tar pitch actually behaves like a liquid at room temperature, so he heated some tar pitch, cooled it for three days, and then placed it in a funnel above a beaker. The tar pitch was so brittle that it could be shattered with a hammer, yet he was convinced that it would slowly trickle its way down the tube and drip into the beaker below.
Indeed, it did… eight years later. It took a further nine years for the next dollop to come trickling out, but, unfortunately for ol’ Tom, he never got his turkey: he died before the third drop.
Interestingly, even though the experiment now has its own webcam stream, no one has actually seen a drop occur. The last drop – in 2000 – unfortunately happened during a camera malfunction. So, come 2013, you may want to tune in to see if you can catch next droplet.
With this in mind, let’s hope there’s broadband up in physicist heaven so that ol’ Prof. Parnell can finally see his experiment glob away after waiting for so long.
Bond-style USB storage + WiFi hotspot cufflinks #
James Bond wasn’t cool just because he had gadgets; Bond was cool because he had stylish gadgets. Style matters when you’re an international spy/playboy.
I can’t imagine Bond being satisfied with using a MiFi to create a WiFi hotspot, just as I can’t imagine him shuffling through a bag for his USB cable and hard drive.
No, no, what Bond would do – mid-martini – is surreptitiously reach for his sleeve and unhook this particular cufflink. Upon sliding it into his target’s computer, Bond will be able to achieve two goals: 1) use the in-built USB storage to copy the evidence proving the villain’s involvement in the construction of the Annihilatrix, and 2) use the cufflinks to create a WiFi network that will allow his neighbours to consume an entire month’s download quota. Take that, Sir Drax!
The cufflinks are available in 2GB + WiFi hotspot or 4GB (sans WiFi) variations, and will set you back around US$250. Style doesn’t come cheap, it seems.
3D printer that prints cupcakes #
Now, we’ve all been hearing about 3D printers for quite some time (I’ve even written about them before), and we’ve been promised the ability to print electronics, shoes, even body parts. But I think it’s high time that we start to use the 3D printer for more important tasks… like printing cupcakes.
I know it’s not that hard to bake cupcakes, but it’s also not that hard to write out that letter, and I don’t see you giving up the print button. Especially now that you can print a cupcake in a minute.
The Imagine 3D Printer from Essential Dynamics runs at around US$3,000, and uses syringes filled with various substances to ‘print’ the objects with, meaning it can print more than just cupcakes – you can fill it with cheese, too.
Or, if you’re a more practical person, it also does silicon, plastics, and even concrete. Just don’t get the syringes mixed up.
I really think this idea has some weight behind it (just as I would, if I got my hands on one). I love the idea of being able to download the schematics for a chocolate éclair. Now if only there was some way to print hamburgers and beer…