To study extreme phenomena, scientists need some extreme equipment. In its second engineering breakthrough within the week, China has unveiled the world’s largest centrifuge—a device using centrifugal force to separate substances—and it’s just the first of even more powerful machines planned for construction. On September 29, Chinese media announced that the Centrifugal Hypergravity and Interdisciplinary […]
Watch a Reconstructed 250-Year-Old Robotic Painting Bring a Fiery Mount Vesuvius Back to Life
Sir William Hamilton was the British ambassador to the court of Naples and Sicily from 1765 to 1800, as well as a passionate volcanologist. During his time in Italy he must have seen Mount Vesuvius erupt a number of times—certainly enough to leave a lasting impression. So much so that in 1775 he designed a […]
How Super-Strong ‘Metal Foam’ Could Transform Space Travel and Defense
What’s as strong as steel, as light as aluminum, and capable of withstanding ballistic impact, fire, and radiation? Metal foam. Over a decade ago, engineer Afsaneh Rabiei of North Carolina State University invented Composite Metal Foam (CMF)—a material made of hollow metal “bubbles” embedded in steel, titanium, aluminum, or other alloys. From air and space […]