odd look at news on the web
Radical new motorcycle helmet opens from the back
29 November 2025 @ 12:03 am
For all the innovation in helmets, most of it has gone towards making the things "smart." Think AI, AR, integrated cameras, intercom systems, and whatnot. But the traditional helmet design has remained unchanged for the most part. A company called Roof plans to change that.Continue ReadingCategory: Motorcycles, TransportTags: Review: 2025 Jeep Wagoneer S is a bit like a bootleg bourbon
28 November 2025 @ 8:30 pm
The Wagoneer S marks a bold leap for Jeep as the brand’s first full-electric model for US buyers. Jeep doesn’t seem shy about it. Its greatest downsides are not electric, but are problems it shares with Wagoneer models on the whole.Continue ReadingCategory: Automotive, TransportTags: Jeep, SUVOpen-roof EV claims the world's quickest 0-60 mph time
28 November 2025 @ 6:30 pm
Japanese engineering outfit Aspark has been working on its oddly mesmerizing Owl hypercar since 2014, and was once the fastest electric production car you could buy. It beat out the legendary Rimac Nevera last June with its blistering top speed of 272.7 mph (438.73 km/h).Continue ReadingCategory: Automotive, Cool idea: Blimps lifting quantum data centers to the stratosphere
28 November 2025 @ 5:03 pm
In a proposal that reads more like the script to a new sci-fi movie, researchers are suggesting a unique way to tackle one of the core problems of quantum computing. If deployed, it would redefine how we think of "cloud computing."Continue ReadingCategory: Quantum Computing, ScienceTags: Airships, Tiny titanium phone stand puts 12 EDC tools on your keyring
28 November 2025 @ 3:27 pm
One of my favorite IKEA products is a plastic foldable phone stand that weighs next to nothing and lives on your keychain. It's a practical little thing for passing the time if you're out and about a lot – but hardware brand MeToolDesign has taken that concept and leveled it up to create a much more useful piece of EDC gear.Continue ReadingCategory: Secretive 'no arm' lizard crowned new species after decade-long search
28 November 2025 @ 2:03 pm
We'd like to welcome this curious armless burrowing lizard into the New Species Hall of Fame. Despite being built for life underground, in the end this slider skink was no match for scientists who had searched for a decade to confirm its existence.Continue ReadingCategory: Biology, ScienceTags: Australian National University, Rising high into Saudi sky: World's new tallest skyscraper progresses
28 November 2025 @ 12:31 pm
Following a report at the start of this year, more details have been revealed on what is arguably the world's most ambitious architecture project: the mind-bogglingly tall JEC Tower, which is currently rising in Saudi Arabia.Continue ReadingCategory: Architecture, TechnologyTags: Building and Construction, Your poop could save lives – and 'stool banks' will even pay you for it
28 November 2025 @ 9:03 am
You may be sitting on – so to speak – a very valuable asset that scientists would love to get their hands on: your poop. As well as blood, plasma and organs, you can now donate fecal samples to stool banks for research and use in transplants.Continue ReadingCategory: Biology, ScienceTags: University of New South Wales, Innovative wildfire protection spray hijacks your garden hose
28 November 2025 @ 6:03 am
Peak wildfire season may be over in California, but home-threatening fires remain a year-round threat in many areas, and this innovative three-part kit offers homeowners some new and easy ways to give houses a fighting chance.Continue ReadingCategory: Around The Home, LifestyleTags: Fire, Fire-Proof CoatingsThe 'blue dogs' of Chornobyl reveal a stranger, richer world than imagined
28 November 2025 @ 5:03 am
On the northern edge of Ukraine, inside the 30-km (19-mile) exclusion zone surrounding the abandoned Chornobyl (commonly known as Chernobyl) nuclear plant, thousands of animals now roam freely through forests, abandoned towns and decaying industrial estates. Among them are the stray dogs – around 900 descendants of the pets left behind, now living in a landscape shaped by the world’s worst nuclear disaster.Continue ReadingCategory: Biology, Science