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"THE FUTURE IS ALREADY HERE — IT’S JUST NOT VERY EVENLY DISTRIBUTED" William Gibson
The first tin cans with pull tabs appeared at Coca-Cola in 1968. The company had to release an instructional video to explain to customers how to use them and open the drink.
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Astronaut Zena Cardman captured a stunning timelapse directly from the ISS: Earth through the porthole, the gleaming Dragon spacecraft, southern aurora, the constellation Orion, and satellite passes — all in one frame.
A few days later, that very same Dragon returned home with the Crew-10 crew 💫
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In Japan, they created "translation glasses".
The country's airports have started using VoiceBiz UCDisplay, devices for real—time speech translation.
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Startup Figure showed how its humanoid robot folds towels.
This is a "very difficult" task, the company noted: towels change shape, crumple easily and bend unpredictably — they do not have a single correct grip point.
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A viral video of the March earthquake (magnitude 7.7) in Myanmar confirmed the theory of geophysicists about the "curved" fault of the earth. Scientists from Kyoto University found out that the sides of the Sagain fault shifted not only horizontally, but also downwards — the trajectory of movement turned out to be curved.
This is the first direct visual evidence of this type of fault: previously, such conclusions were drawn only from indirect seismological data. The new discovery will help to model tremors more accurately and assess risks in vulnerable regions, taking into account the vertical component of displacement.
According to the researchers' calculations, in 1.3 seconds the earth shifted by about 2.5 meters, while the movement began in an arc and only then became linear.
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The process of regeneration of nerve cells
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Karapınar Solar Power Plant
Imagine: 3.5 million solar panels spread over an area bigger than Paris! This is not the setting for a sci-fi movie, but a real power plant in the Turkish desert.
The place is quite surreal - endless rows of panels among steppe landscapes look like a portal to the future. The power plant has a capacity of 1350 MW, making it one of the largest in the world.
You can get there via Konya, from there it takes about an hour by car. There are no tours yet, but the views from the road are impressive.
The power of this plant would be enough to supply the whole of Istanbul.
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The Brits have made a monstrously FAST scooter that goes like a sportbike - up to 160 km/h. It's The Turbo, and it has 24,000 watts of electricity.
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Comparison of Earth to the largest known star Stephenson 2-18
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This is what leaf-like spiders of the genus Poltis look like, which can pretend to be dry leaves or twigs in order to hide from predators and invisibly attack their victims.
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Pedestrians often look at the driver before understanding whether they will stop. This won't work with autonomous cars, and even if there is a person sitting in it, they might not have time to take control.
Scientists in Japan thought — what if we install eyes on an autonomous vehicle and see if this helps reduce the number of accidents
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Before the hurricane hunters from NOAA unfolded a truly mesmerizing sight as their aircraft flew through the eye of Hurricane Erin.
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A robot from Unitree knocked down a human at the first Olympic Games for robots. This didn't prevent it from taking first place.
The Terminator ran 1.5 km in 6 minutes and 34 seconds. In second place was the Walker robot from Lingyi — with a time of 12 minutes and 4 seconds.
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🇦🇶 Antarctica: Predator the size of a cat found deep beneath the ice
On the floor of the Southern Ocean, in the icy darkness, scientists have discovered Eulagisca gigantea — a giant Antarctic scale worm. Its body is covered with armor-like plates, and its jaws can snatch prey in a fraction of a second. Such encounters are rare: this predator hides at depths of over a kilometer, where life thrives by its own, alien laws.
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🏊♂️ Chinese Water Parks: Where Thrills Meet the Emergency Room
In the Middle Kingdom, water amusement parks are extremely popular, where artificial wave pools turn into real human crushers. Thousands of visitors pack into a single pool, creating a "sardines in a can" effect.
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Robot Antelope: Spy Games in the Wild
In China, a robot was sent into a herd of Tibetan antelopes to observe them. These animals are so skittish that they flee if they see someone from as far as 800 meters away. However, the robot, disguised as an antelope, did not alarm them. Now scientists can collect data without causing stress to the animals.
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Nashtifan Windmills, Iran 🇮🇷
In the Iranian countryside stand the world's most ancient windmills — they're over a thousand years old! These vertical structures made of clay, straw, and wood were grinding grain back in the 10th-11th centuries.
Amazingly, they still work today thanks to the powerful winds that blow here 120 days a year at speeds up to 74 km/h. Locals call this wind the "120-day wind."
Getting here isn't easy — the nearest major city, Mashhad, is 30 km away. But the sight is worth it: these mills are living proof that our ancestors were brilliant engineers long before the advent of modern technology.
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China: Lightning turns car into a Faraday cage
In the city of Beikai, a lightning bolt struck a moving vehicle. The passengers remained unharmed thanks to the metal body, which conducted the electricity to the ground through the tires.
Direct lightning strikes on vehicles are a rare phenomenon. Statistically, the probability of such an event is approximately 1 in 500,000. The car essentially functions as a Faraday cage, protecting the people inside from the electrical discharge.
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The hand under the microscope
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In 1955, the world's first car vinyl player was invented. It was developed by the American CBS, and could be installed in Chrysler, Imperial, Dodge and DeSoto cars.
To prevent the records from bouncing on bumps, the device was shoved into an anti-vibration housing, and they were spun at slow speed. Ordinary vinyls were not suitable - you had to buy special editions. As a result, the project failed commercially, but the engineering idea was cool.
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Что будет, если повредить батарею аккумулятора
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A legendary feature of San Francisco is the rotating platforms of cable cars. The most popular one is on Powell Street near Union Square.
Here tourists take pictures in droves as workers manually turn the car 180 degrees. The system has been in operation since 1873 and is considered a national monument.
It's funny to watch the drivers turn the heavy structure with their bare hands - no automation! Lines for boarding can stretch for an hour, especially in the summer.
A ticket costs $8, but it is better to buy a day pass for $23. By the way, these streetcars have been in a bunch of Hollywood movies, including “The Rock” with Sean Connery.
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The final checks before closing an aircraft door.
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China has cut Mountains in half to build a highway with the world's tallest bridge.
The suspension bridge over the Huajiang Canyon in Guizhou is built so high that the Eiffel Tower could hide in the gorge - it towers 625 meters above the gorge. This section of the Guizhou Luan Expressway literally cuts through the landscape, turning an hour-long trip into a one-minute flight.
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