Features of the week
AircraftTransport
DeLorean climbs skyward to race electric flying cars
by Abhimanyu Ghoshal
Remember DeLorean, the 80s one-hit automotive wonder whose DMC-12 steel sports car with gullwing doors appeared in Back to the Future? It's making a comeback – by getting into high-speed aerial racing.
Good ThinkingTechnology
Non-electric washing machine chalks up big win for low-tech ingenuity
by Malcolm Azania
The zero-electricity, hand-cranked Divya washing machine is ideal for impoverished or remote regions. By cutting labor time up to 75%, the unit unlocks massive human potential of millions of women who are otherwise chained to drudgery.
CampervansAdventure VehiclesOutdoors
Quad-transformer camper has space for 2 and a bike shop worth of gear
by C.C. Weiss
Storyteller Overland is back with yet another piece of RV innovation. The new Gear Mode adds a motorcycle-hauling camper to its Sprinter adventure van lineup, but instead of stopping at a bike, it adds space for a workshop's worth of accessories.
RoboticsEngineering
Bioinspired robot airdrops into remote waters via morphing wing-sail
by Etiido Uko
“Fall like a maple seed, sail like a boat” sounds like advice from legendary heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali. In reality, it describes a new robotic platform scientists have created for fast, long-term deployment to monitor remote waters.
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Top Stories: Transport
Do the Tesla Roadster's aerial stunts count as flying?
by Abhimanyu Ghoshal
Elon Musk is known for blowing hot air, but he's finally delivering on his bold claims of a new Tesla Roadster. It was rumored to be able to fly – and at its launch event, it demonstrated that it could at least leap into the air.
Dodge Charger Sixpack is 6 cylinders of bad attitude
by Aaron Turpen
It’s easy to pan the Charger Sixpack as a muscle car wannabe based purely on it having two cylinders less than traditional cars in this genre. Then you drive one. That changes that thinking, and quick.
Zero DSR motorcycle smashes range record by 40%
by Utkarsh Sood
Zero Motorcycles has just put its name on the Guinness World Record for the longest journey on an electric motorcycle on a single charge. And it didn’t just surpass the previous record; it literally obliterated it by 78.17 miles (125.8 km).
Tiltable e-trike promises natural bike-like agility on and off road
by Abhimanyu Ghoshal
It's news to me that e-trikes aren't as much of a niche interest as I thought. There are so many different styles to suit every rider's preference now. But this one has me especially excited because of one cool trick up its sleeve: a tilting frame.
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Top stories: Body & Mind
Review: $300 smart treadmill is ideal for work and working out at home
by Bronwyn Thompson
The Urevo FoldiMix 5L Smart Treadmill is a surprise package that combines a standing-desk workstation and a quality training machine in one, which is built to last and runs so quietly your colleagues will never know you're on it during a video call.
An overlooked immune cell offers a way to treat deadliest lung cancers
by Mike McRae
An overlooked population of immune cells could offer a new way to attack one of the deadliest forms of lung cancer.
Mushroom peptide makes salt taste 70% saltier – and it's good for you
by Bronwyn Thompson
Food is one of the true pleasures of life, and often part of our enjoyment comes from flavors enhanced by salt. Scientists have uncovered a promising workaround, using a natural peptide that make salt taste saltier, drastically reducing our intake.
Decade-long gym steroids study shows just what happens to men's hearts
by Bronwyn Thompson
Among weight-training middle-aged men tracked for nearly a decade, scientists found that use of anabolic-androgenic steroids led to serious thickening of the heart's wall. However, this damage was reversed over time once people quit taking the drugs.
Top Stories: Outdoor
Compact A-frame tiny house makes room for a few home comforts
by Adam Williams
This A-frame tiny house is very compact but manages to squeeze in a surprisingly practical interior layout for two. It also has multiple options available, including solar panels for off-grid operation.
Discreet tactical pen packs 5 emergency tools for the outdoors
by Abhimanyu Ghoshal
MeTool has packed a versatile multitool for outdoorspeople into a pen – making it easy to carry a bunch of essentials on you at all times. The SceptriX features a sturdy titanium build that's made to brave the elements, and it looks the part too.
Flat bottle pioneer puts lid mold on notice with easy clean Round
by Monica J. White
Melbourne's memobottle built its name on flat, bag-friendly bottles. Its first round model, the memo Round, centers on a lid that pulls apart into three pieces in seconds, tackling the mold that hides in most insulated bottle lids.
Leatherman's new mini multitool is your ultimate après companion
by C.C. Weiss
Leatherman’s latest limited edition, the new Picnic tool lives up to its name with a proper waiter-style leveraged corkscrew and five additional tools designed for picnics, tailgates, camp cookouts and other culinary affairs held away from home.
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Top Stories: Technology
Musician's multitool destroys your excuses for not practicing guitar
by Abhimanyu Ghoshal
I totally fell for the promo video for this, which describes how there's a lot of friction in simply getting down to practice guitar. The pocket-sized Neko promises to get you rockin' out without having to set stuff up, or waking the neighbors.
Discarded lobster shells hit the greens as biodegradable golf tees
by Maryna Holovnova
What do lobsters and golf have in common? Apparently, lobster shells! Researchers at the University of Maine have found a way to turn them into affordable and environmentally friendly golf tees.
Atari's 800XL returns with a keyboard, cartridges and BASIC
by Howard Armitage
The Atari 800XL is back, with 25 classic games, modern connections and a working cartridge slot. But the real appeal might be rediscovering something those early home computers encouraged us to do, write our own software.
3D-printed modular power bank is infinitely repairable
by Abhimanyu Ghoshal
The Zero is as unattractive a power bank as you'll ever find. There's a good reason for that, though: you can take it apart, swap out weak cells for fresh ones when the time comes, and keep using it for way longer than any other power bank will last.
Top Stories: Science
Brain-like synapse chip computes at 'lightning speed', dissolves in mins
by Etiido Uko
The remarkable human brain, which thought up heart surgery and space travel, runs on about 20 watts thanks to its trillions of synapses. Researchers are now attempting to replicate this ability with printable, recyclable artificial synapses.
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