Researchers at EPFL’s MicroBioRobotic Systems laboratory have built ultralight flying machines that carry no motors, batteries, or electronics. Hollow cavities printed into their structures turn ordinary sound waves into focused jets of air. Those jets provide the thrust that lifts the devices off a surface and keeps them aloft.
Kids living at the bottom of the Nizhuhe Grand Canyon in Yunnan Province once faced a brutal path to school. Steep mountain trails and cliffside routes stretched more than three hours one way across a vertical drop measured in hundreds of meters. Guanzhai Village Primary School sat high above at roughly 1,650 meters elevation. The village of Nizhuhe rested far below. Roughly twenty children from nearby communities made the trip, often as boarding students. Round trips could consume six hours of hard walking on paths that left little room for error.
Gordon Murray Special Vehicles unveiled the S1 at The Quail during Monterey Car Week, and many people believe it’s the most accurate representation of a road-focused supercar since the McLaren F1. They have a point, because the same person, Gordon Murray, created both cars, and the S1 is deeply based in the same idea that made the F1 so popular.
Sunny days still stretch long enough to make a portable solar panel feel practical again. BigBlue’s 28W high-efficiency model, priced at $59.97 (was $68), turns that light into usable power for phones, tablets, power banks, and small gadgets without needing a wall outlet or a heavy generator.
A little black plastic rectangle rests in your hand and weighs roughly the same as a deck of cards. The Dumber Mini, which stands just over five inches tall and is no wider than two fingers, appears to have sprung directly from a 2005 Nokia catalog. Physical buttons form a full T9 keypad beneath a 2.8-inch IPS touchscreen with a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. Twenty-one strong keys and side volume rockers give your thumbs something solid to press. No glass sandwich, no curved edges, just a simple candybar shape finished in plain black plastic.