Mount Etna Just had its first Spectacular Eruption in 20 years

Mount Etna, Europe's most active volcano, erupted into life this past weekend, sending lava bombs about one-meter-wide soaring into the sky for the first time in over 20 years.At 11,000-feet-high, Etna is also Europe's tallest active volcano, whose history of eruptions has been traced all the way back to the days of ancient Greece. Etna has been particularly active recently after about a half-month of no activity, so there will likely be several more shows to come—hopefully all without any damage.

Someday, Doctors May Test Circulation With Blood-Boiling Sonic Blasts

Currently, doctors use ultrasound to measure blood flow in the body. Doppler effect, just like bats! But it can't detect flow in the small, slow-moving vessels where diseases often start. The solution? Sonic blasts that heat up a tiny drop of blood, then watch where it goes. Science!

While this might sound like a comic book villain's torture device, according to researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, you'd only feel a slight warming sensation from the focused ultrasonic blasts heating up your vessels. Meanwhile, infrared laser pulses bounced off the warmed blood would be picked up by the ultrasound, delivering real-time flow data.New Scientist likens it to dribbling a drop of ink in a stream of water to determine the speed and direction of flow. Except, y'know, with hot blood instead of ink.

In experiments, the technique accurately measured blood flow as slow as a quarter-millimeter per second. By comparison, current ultrasound technique can't accurately detect anything under 10 millimeters per second. Next up: human testing. And apparently it won't hurt a bit. More here.

Laser Holograms as Thin as a Hair Could Be the Future of High-Res

Holograms are cool enough on their own, but amazing things happen when you make them incredibly small. A team of Army-funded scientists from Purdue did just that with the development of tiny holograms—smaller than the width of a human hair!—made by shining lasers through a metasurface. This could change display technology forever.

The new hologram set-up uses a metasurface made from thousands of V-shaped nanoantennas hammered into a gold foil. When a laser light shines through the bottom, it projects a hologram just 10 microns above the metasurface. Incredibly, the researchers who built the technology were able to display "PURDUE" in a space narrower than a human hair. The ability to make shapes as intricate as letters means that this technology could also be used to form pixels for future displays, even 3D ones. Changing shapes is as easy as rearranging the nanoantennas on the metasurface.

So if you think Apple's Retina display is impressive, well, you ain't seen nothing 'til you've seen nano-sized holograms. More here.

London Will Start Testing Fifth Element Style Multipass Next Year

All of a sudden, it's the 23rd Century. The UK's government innovation board has just approved funding to begin implementing an all-in-one train/bus/subway/airline pass in 2014. And yes, the actually named it MultiPass after the thing from the Bruce Willis movie.

The plan revolves around a passcard with an e-ink barcode display that would replace a plethora of current travel fare cards. Supporters envision it being used to pay for every aspect of travel, including parking and snacks along the way. The MultiPass company even says the cloud-based system will always give users the lowest fare, no matter where or how they're traveling — which is apparently rather challenging in the UK's current system.

Two pilot tests will begin in 2014, in London and Glasgow, with the full rollout anticipated in the following year. Plenty of time to practice your pronunciation. More here.

This Double Decker Glass Table Moves Desktop Clutter One Level Down

There are those of us who prefer working at a desk that's clean, free of clutter, and devoid of anything but the work we're focusing on. But that doesn't necessarily mean we're ready for a monastic lifestyle where we have to give up all of our wordly possessions. Instead, this double decker Pili Table designed by Ricard Mollon is a fair compromise, keeping all our unneccessary crap a few inches below the desktop.

At over $3,500 it's admittedly an expensive alternative to simply cleaning your desk and stashing unneeded paperwork in a filing cabinet. But it's one of those rare times when form and function seem perfectly balanced. And it seems like a great way to keep crumbs and food off a keyboard by moving and using it on that lower level. More here.

These Pencils Eventually Sharpen Into Spinning Tops

What do you normally do when you've sharpened a pencil down to a nub—just throw it away? That's the most likely outcome, but if you opt for these wonderful Spincils, you're instead left with a spinning top to add to your collection of desktop distractions.

But the Spincils are beyond just recycled toys; they're individual works of art. Each one is actually a solid piece of wood that's been hand turned in a lathe to get that large bump on the end—there's no mass production done here. So don't expect them to come cheap. But on the plus side, the Spincils work like a top after just the first sharpen (albeit a little on the tipsy side) so you don't have to grind them down to a nub to play with them right away. More here.

A Travel Bag That Keeps Your Clean and Dirty Clothes Separate

Cramming as much clothing as you can into as small a suitcase as possible is a fine art. And with Outlier's new Doublebag, now any traveler can be a Michelangelo of packing. It not only lets you compress your clothing for maximum capacity, it also doubles as a laundry bag that keeps your smelly worn garments quarantined from the clean.

Using a clever double-walled design, both the clean and dirty sides of the $48 bag can expand or shrink as needed. So at the start of a trip the entire bag can be used to stash your clean clothes, but as the days drag on, the capacity of the dirty side can be expanded to accommodate your ever growing pile of laundry. And while the Doublebag is sealed shut, you've got yourself a comfy travel pillow that still probably smells better than your hotel's offering. More here.

These New Graphene Supercapacitors Could Finally Power An Electric Car

A team of South Korean scientists has developed a new graphene supercapacitor that can store almost as much energy as a lithium-ion battery, but charge in only 16 seconds. This makes it an ideal material to store braking energy and could be exactly what the electric car industry needs.

Scientists from Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea made the breakthrough by creating an especially porous form of graphene. (See below.) Incredibly, a single gram of this specialized graphene has the same amount of surface area as a basketball. This greatly increased surface area enables the supercapacitor to store far more energy than previous versions of the material, which had been keeping graphene supercapacitors out of the running as an alternative to lithium-ion batteries for electric cars. Because they don't use chemicals, graphene supercapacitors also have a much longer life than lithium ion batteries.

Finding success in the lab and bringing a product to market are two very different things, so it's unclear how quickly we might see this impressive technology at work in electric cars. The South Koreans say that these "supercapacitor energy storage devices… can be scaled up for manufacturing in the near future for electric vehicle applications."

So that's something. But only time will tell whether these supercapacitors take over before Tesla manages to build its famously ambitious lithium-ion factory. More here.

How the GoPro Became the Best Selling Camera In the World

The GoPro is an amazing action camera that lets people record extreme sports, daredevil feats, and other spectacles. Just a few years ago, it would have been impossible. But, today, it is the best-selling camera in the world.

In a short 60 Minutes profile, Anderson Cooper runs through the story of the rugged camera from the beginning, when the company was founded by a young surfer and failed entrepreneur named Nick Woodman 12 years ago. The first GoPro product? A simple waterproof film camera. 

Since then, the company has doubled its sales yearly, to revenues of more than $500 million per year. Never underestimate the potential of a simple, effective, inexpensive tool. More here.

Your Face and Name Will Appear in Google Ads Starting Today

It's party time, ladies and gentlemen. Exactly one month after announcing the move, Google has updated its terms of service, allowing the company to use your profile information in ads. That means your face, name and personal details will start popping up all over your network. Yay!

Well, that might not be a reaction you share. As we learned from Facebook's foray into social ads, plenty of people don't like their face and name to show up in ads, so much so that they sued the company (and won). But fear not! You can opt out by unchecking the box on the bottom of this page. You can also read more about the new Terms of Service here. But seriously: opt out here.

Bill Gates Unveiled Windows 30 Years Ago Today

This aAmazing Fruit fly Evolved to Have Pictures of Aants on its Wings

This is unbelievable, but the fruit fly G tridens has somehow evolved to have what looks like pictures of ants on its wings. Seriously, its transparent wings have an ant design on them complete with "six legs, two antennae, a head, thorax and tapered abdomen." It's nature's evolutionary art painted on a fly's wings.

Recently spotted by the New York Times, the fruit fly is just incredible. Other flies in its family of 5,000 species have other type of markings on its wings but it's the G tridens that has something so intricate and so specific.

The idea of the ant design, as explained to The National by Dr Brigitte Howarth of Zayed University who first discovered G tridens in the UAE, is that these flies use their wings to ward off predators. The fly flashes it wings back and forth to make it seem as if the ants are moving around and that movement would confuse the predator. More here.

This Chair Can Be Worn Like a Backpack

If you demand that your furniture is both reassuringly substantial and also portable, then you probably have a tough time navigating life. But here's something to help: a real chair that can be worn as a backpack.

The Nomadic Chair by Jorge Penades is constructed from wood, but doesn't require anyscrews, nails or glue—it simply uses some smart plastic connectors to fit together. Penades explains the design:

‘Luxury is not anymore a matter of comfort. nowadays, luxury is to be able to decide where you want to have a moment of peace, a chance to escape from hectic activity of contemporary lifestyles.’

Nice. So, when you've finished sitting, dismantle, pack and sling it on your back—ready to find the next spot to take a break. More here.

The World's Thinnest 2TB Hard Drive Is a Mere 9.5mm Thick

Seagate's come along to steal WD's thunder with the ultra-slim 2.5-inch Spinpoint M9T that manages to double that capacity to two-terabytes inside a drive that's just 9.5 millimeters thick.

So you're getting twice the capacity at the cost of just 2.5 millimeters in added thickness—that sounds pretty reasonable. After all, at 9.5 millimeters thick the M9T is still the thinnest two-terabyte hard drive you can currently buy. The drive will also be available in a 1.5 terabyte model as well, which will presumably cost slightly less than the two terabyte model's $129 price tag. More here.

An Awesome guy Made an Insane Thor Hammer that Smashes Everything

This version of Thor's hammer was made by master swordsmith Tony Swatton. He's a Picasso when it comes to recreating movie props like Wolverine's claws, swords from Game of Thrones and weapons of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.


The 11-inch long, 5-inch high and 4-inch wide hammer is beautifully detailed (stick around to watch them etch the hammer) and weighs 20 pounds when hollow. When they fill it up to make it solid, it'd be a 200 pound beast.

Philips Adds a New Bulb To The Hue Lineup

The first bulbs in Philips' color-changing, app-controlled Hue line were designed to mimic the unidirectional shine of standard A19 light bulbs. This made them ideal for conventional lamps, but wasted a large portion of their light when installed in recessed ceiling fixtures. But today, Philips has announced the new Hue BR30 downlight bulb.

The BR30 delivers the same 630 lumen and 2000-6500k temperature range as the standard LED Hues, while drawing just 8W of power. And as with the older bulb model, the new BR30s can be controlled via the associated iOS app (or a meagre Android version). The BR30 starter set (which includes the Hue network bridge) retails for $200 from the Apple Store, while individual bulbs will set you back $60 a pop if you just want to add them on to your existing Hue system. More here.

There Was an Incredible Hybrid Solar Eclipse this Morning

This morning's hybrid solar eclipse was stunning. But depending on where you are in the world you may not have been able to see it at all, cloud cover may have messed with visibility, or you may have had a partial view. So for anyone who missed it, this is what the eclipse looked like from Kenya. Pretty snazzy, huh?

The top image is made of three exposures, all taken by Ben Curtis at Lake Oloidien near Naivasha in Kenya. The image shows the movement of the solar eclipse from right to left. A near total blackout was visible from Kenya, though there was still a small sliver of the sun showing. The photo below was taken in Nairobi by Sayyid Azim. The eclipse was only visible in Kenya for about 15 seconds. More here.

Cell Phones and Brains

Jaw-Dropping Proof That NASA Rocket Scientists Carve the Best Pumpkins

The internet's chock full of wonderful ways to carve a Halloween pumpkin every year, but few can hold a glowing candle to what the scientists, engineers, and researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab come up with. Every year the lab holds a pumpkin carving competitionand the results, and the carving techniques, are exactly what you'd expect from the geniuses who landed the rovers on Mars.

Entries included everything from complete solar systems, to space battles, to aquariums filled with living fish. And the real winners were the geniuses who found a way to get out of an afternoon of work.

Possibly the Comfiest Nutcracker You'll Ever Use

Halloween's come and gone, and as we move towards the holidays, those dwindling bowls of candy will soon be replaced with overflowing mountains of nuts—necessitating some way to bust open those hard shells. A hammer's a little brutish, and using your teeth is just a terrible idea. What you need is this lovely purpose-built nutcracker from Normann Copenhagen, featuring a thick silicone handle so you don't destroy your hands in the process.

The flexible silicone also forces the nutcracker's jaws open after each use, so it's always at the ready for the next nut. At $53 it isn't cheap, but with seasonally-neutral red or black color options, you'll be able to use it all year round. More here.