We are just 5 days away from the "big day" (), when parents drink Christmas "cheer" to wash away thoughts of January's credit card bills. It seems like Amazon has replaced Santa as the big package deliverer, and that's cause some problems. It's becoming increasingly common for thieves to make off with boxes left on front porches. One man decided to teach these people a lesson. Science + Creativity = Awesome:
In other science news, we are definitely entering 80's science fiction movie territory with a new discovery by the braniacs at MIT. It's Honey, I Shrunk the Nanobots:
Some say bigger is better, but researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will tell you that when it comes to tech, smaller things are far more impressive.
This month, MIT researchers announced they invented a way to shrink objects to nanoscale -- smaller than what you can see with a microscope -- using a laser. That means they can take any simple structure and reduce it to one 1,000th of its original size.
The miniaturizing technology, called "implosion fabrication," could be applied to anything from developing smaller microscope and cell phone lenses to creating tiny robots that improve everyday life.
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It's a far cry from "Honey I Shrunk the Kids," but the new method has plenty of cool real-world uses. For example, scientists are exploring ways to add tiny robotic particles to cancer drugs that can seek out only the cancerous cells. And forget microchips -- MIT says this technology could be used to develop even smaller "nanochip" electronics.
The best part? MIT's cutting-edge technique simply requires a laser and an absorbent gel (commonly used in baby diapers) -- materials that most biology and engineering labs already have.
It's really an amazing example of thinking outside the box.
MIT engineers have built and flown the first-ever plane with no moving parts. Instead of propellers or turbines, the light aircraft is powered by an “ionic wind†— a silent but mighty flow of ions that is produced aboard the plane, and that generates enough thrust to propel the plane over a sustained, steady flight.
This is an interesting "proof of concept" that has a long way to go before being practical for use, but it's certainly a step in the right direction.
Anyway - hopefully, this science stack has been a nice diversion from the chaos in DC and at the shopping malls. Enjoy your holiday, however you choose to celebrate it.