Every once in a while, a project comes along that, in addition to bridging the gap between art and science, also manages to leave you completely awestruck. Such is the case with the haunting and surreal underwater sculpture of Jason deCaires Taylor, a Mexico-based artist and scuba diver.

After spending much of his childhood in Malaysia near its famous coral reefs, Taylor developed a profound attachment to the ocean and its diverse inhabitants. He was later inspired to combine his love of the sub-aquatic world with his training in ceramics and stone carving, ultimately producing a series of stunning underwater installations across the globe.

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Remember our very old friend the Antikythera mechanism? Well, designer and Lego aficionado Andrew Carol has decided to reincarnate the ancient Greek computer once again.

Just like the original Antikythera, which the Greeks most likely used to predict a variety of astronomical happenings, the Lego version uses a complex array of gears (illustrated in the video below) to track information such as the position of the sun and moon, and to foresee events like lunar and solar eclipses.

Video after the jump.

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Lego Form

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An artistic interpretation of cluttered Earth orbits

Tens of millions of pieces of space debris currently orbit Earth – discarded rocket engines, outdated satellites, and the fragments remaining after explosions and collisions.

All this clutter poses a threat to manned space missions, as even a small piece of debris can seriously damage a spacecraft. And while most debris will burn up in Earth’s  atmosphere, larger objects could fall to the ground intact, threatening lives.

That is why Russia’s space corporation, Energia, is going to invest $2 billion to build a space pod to fly around and knock the junk out of orbit and out of our way.

Filed under: Aerospace, e-News, Nuclear | 4 Comments »

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Brick roads, yellow or otherwise, tend to be very labor-intensive projects. But now, thanks to an ingenious Dutch machine, paving a new road with bricks could be just as easy as rolling out the red carpet.

The invention, called the Tiger Stone, can lay out an incredible 437 square yards (at 4 yards wide, that’s almost the length of an entire football field!) of road in a day. How is this possible? Well, it’s all about getting gravity on your side: First, a forklift places loads of bricks into the trough, which workers then place along an inclined plane (see below).

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Filed under: Civil, e-News, Industrial / Manufacturing, Mechanical | 4 Comments »

Tags: Civil, Industrial / Manufacturing, Mechanical

Could these be your backup GPS?

Between Global Positioning Systems and the lack of privacy on the Internet, you might think someone could track you down anywhere.

But GPS-enabled devices are not perfect. Some areas are GPS dead zones, and if the satellite signal can’t locate you, you’re lost to anyone using the system.

So, Researchers at North Carolina State and Carnegie Mellon Universities have developed an ingenious solution – a shoe with radar embedded in the heel.

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Tags: Computer, Electrical