Researchers at Stanford University and the U.S. Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Lab have created a material never seen before by making copper atoms behave as though they were exposed to a 60 Tesla magnetic field, which is 30% stronger than any magnetic field ever sustained on Earth. They drew out this behavior in the atoms even though no magnets were used. If you think that sounds confusing, just think of how the Juggalos feel. (Sidenote: this is the first time anyone has ever implored people to think of the Juggalos.)

These “designer electrons” have tunable properties and could lead to cool new types of materials and devices. The researchers were inspired by graphene to create a similar atomic structure with a different material (copper electrons instead of carbon atoms).

They created the hand-crafted, honeycomb-shaped structures using a scanning tunneling microscope, which they used to place carbon monoxide molecules, one at a time, on a smooth copper surface. Carbon monoxide repels the electrons on the copper surface and forces them into a graphene-like honeycomb pattern. [...] The researchers then repositioned the carbon monoxide molecules on the surface so the electrons would behave as if they had been exposed to a magnetic field of otherworldly strength. Carbon monoxide molecules, which are black in the image [above], guide electrons, which are yellow-orange. Unlike ordinary electrons, they behave as if they have no mass and travel at the speed of light as if they’re in a vacuum. [Gizmodo]

Ho . . . ly . . . sh-t.

Check out the video below to see Hari Manoharan, who led the research, and others on his team discuss their discovery. When I saw the guy moving atoms that were in an S formation, I kept waiting for him to make them spell out sex. Needless to say, science has let us down again. We have simple needs. All we ask is that you arrange the electrons from copper atoms to spell out things we used to look up in the school library’s big dictionary then giggle about. Sheesh. Is that so hard?

(Seriously though, this is f–king awesome.)

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“Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”

Normally when we talk about quadrotor helicopters, we end up screaming in terror at those damn manhacks, but occasionally a quadrocopter comes along that is awesome. Like, flying shark awesome. A new, custom-designed quadrocopter is flying around Russia being all cool and nostalgic. This Russian built a quadrocopter that looks like a flying car, specifically the DeLorean from Back to the Future, complete with LEDs all around and a Mr. Fusion in the back. Unfortunately, the Mr. Fusion doesn’t work (yet), as the DeLorean uses a lithium polymer battery instead.

There are not a lot of details on the thing, other than the fact that its stabilization control is powered by MultiWii, a HobbyKing 12A BlueSeries speed controller, and a batch of Turnigy 2204-14T motors for the engines. [Technabob]

As you can see in the video below, this car hovers very well despite having an uneven weight distribution, so kudos to this Russian for getting it to balance. Now, if my calculations are correct, when this baby hits eighty-eight miles per hour, you’re gonna see some serious sh-t.

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Sounds legit.

For the past eight years, Andreas Mershin has worked on isolating photosystem-I (PS-I) molecules from plants to use in solar panels. The PS-I is a protein complex which carries out photosynthesis. They’ve been isolating PS-I, stabilizing it with expensive chemicals and complex lab equipment, and putting a layer of the resultant goo on glass, which is even cooler to do to your windows than lining them with aluminum foil. The biggest drawback to their earlier methods, besides the high expense, was that the panels were so weak they would only produce a current when hit with a high-powered laser. Oh man, I need more panels to produce enough electricity to run this high-powered laser.

Now Mershin and his team at MIT (along with Barry Bruce from the University of Tennessee) have accomplished the hardest part: greatly reducing the expense and complexity of isolating the PS-I while raising the efficiency enough to produce a small current in regular light. The downside is that the newest design has an efficiency of only 0.1% while most modern solar panels have 15% to 18% efficiency. The upside is that the materials involved are not rare, not toxic, and not expensive, unlike some conventional solar panel components. They’ve replaced the expensive chemicals and lab equipment with an easy-to-use readymade “stabilizing powder”.

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Trackers Earth, Mike Mignola, and Dark Horse Comics are opening a B.P.R.D. (Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense) Training Camp for children aged 9 through 17 in the Portland, Oregon, area (which is also home to Dark Horse Comics, publisher of Mignola’s Hellboy comics featuring the B.P.R.D.). Registration is open now for the five-day program in July at a cost of $292 for the 9-10 age group and $398 for 11-13 and 14-17 age groups.

And check out what these lucky bastards will be learning, according to TrackersPDX:

• tactical training
• survival in any environment
• martial arts and self-defense specific to praeternatural entities
• hand to hand weaponry (foam swords, bows and more)
• investigation and forensics
• folklore & mythology
• potion and charms 101
• telepathy training
• gadgets of the occult: EMF detectors, polarized lenses and other paranormal investigative gear
• comparative analogy and physiology of monsters
• construct your own quality foam swords and training weapons
• meet the artists of the comic book that documents the adventures of the B.P.R.D.
• Bureau history and paranormal research

So kids these days have awesome Hellboy-themed summer camps they can proceed to not appreciate, and my neighborhood had “beat the smallest kid with sticks” competitions. On the bright side, I have developed awesome defenses to stick-based attacks.

[Sources: TrackersPDX via BleedingCool and TheMarySue; Image credit: tir-ri (Riikka Auvinen)]

Callye Alvarado was disappointed with Star Wars cookie cutter sets at Williams-Sonoma (4 of the cutters are currently selling for $20 and $10, review of them available at Geektress). She then figured out how to make Star Wars cookies using eight common Halloween and Christmas themed cookie cutters many people already have in their kitchen (or in the trunk of their car, if that’s where they prefer to store their cookie cutters. We don’t judge.)

Pictures of the cookies and how she made them are after the jump, and, although Han Solo is sadly missing, she did an awesome job. Whether or not you can replicate her work hinges on if you’re any good at working fondant and icing a cookie, of course. We’ve read on many bathroom walls that you’re good at icing a cookie, just FYI. And if you don’t have these cookie cutters already, just ask your mom. I did.

I’m not sure why this so suddenly turned confrontational. It was supposed to be a nice post about cookies.

[Source: The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle via TheDailyWhat]

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When our buddy Pauly first showed us the video below put together by Brad Webb, I thought it was just an awesome parody video, but it’s so much more: “Abobo’s Big Adventure” is a real game in development. SHUT. DOWN. EVERYTHING. The flash game is going to be free to play online soon (they already showed off the arcade cabinet version seen to the right at San Diego Comic Con this summer).

Roger Barr of I-Mockery started developing the game back in 2002. Along with friends Nick and Luis, he’s built a game that takes Abobo from Double Dragon on a punchtastic journey through the classic NES games of our childhoods. Here comes the plot:

Abobo’s son has been kidnapped and now it’s up to you to help Abobo fight his way through some of the greatest NES games of all time in order to rescue him. Not only does Abobo have to fight through these classic games, but he has to adapt to their varying gameplay styles. Gameplay ranges from beatemup, to underwater platformer, to side-scroller, to top-down dungeon crawler, wrestling, run-and-gun, boxing, and MOAR!  Oh, and did we mention BOSSES?! Mini-bosses, medium bosses, large bosses, and ultra-huge multi-stage bosses will assault you at every step of your journey. Abobo’s path is a long and hard one, he’ll encounter more enemies than any single character has ever had to fight, but this is Abobo we’re talking about here. He has the heart of a lion… probably because he actually punched a lion and ate its heart!  Abobo will stop at nothing to save his beloved son, Aboboy. Are you ready to unleash his rage into this violent world of pixelated foes? You better be. If you’re not, Abobo may pummel you too.

We’ve always been ready to unleash Abobo’s rage. So much so that we’ve already sent a couple old-timey circus strongmen wearing blue capri pants over to Wikipedia headquarters to have a word with Jimmy Wales about the Abobo page being about a city with 1.5 million people living in it, as if that matters.

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