This Centuries-Old Musical Instrument Sounds Exactly Like Super Mario

Listen to this young girl playing her sheng , a Chinese instrument invented thousands of years ago. The woodwind may be ancient, but the sound is pure 1980s nostalgia—it’s the Super Mario Brothers theme, right down to the sounds of Mario collecting coins and mushrooms. Amazing! Read more…        

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This Centuries-Old Musical Instrument Sounds Exactly Like Super Mario

This New App Wants to Fight Your Parking Tickets For You

It’s happened to all of us. You get back to your car after a delicious brunch or productive visit to the bookstore only to find a demonic little slip of paper tucked under your windshield wiper. “But the meter was broken!” you think. “I’m going to contest this!” you say to yourself. No, you’re not. Read more…        

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This New App Wants to Fight Your Parking Tickets For You

Google Redesigns News Archive, Makes Searching Through Newspapers Easy

Ever need to track down an old newspaper clipping? In olden times, you’d need to head into the library’s microfiche section and dig through boxes of film. Now, it’s as easy as heading over to Google’s recently relaunched and easier to search through news archive. Read more…        

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Google Redesigns News Archive, Makes Searching Through Newspapers Easy

This New "Pure" Laser Makes Fiber Optic Networks 20x Better

Whether you’re a huge geek or a total luddite, you’ve got to be excited when scientists invent a new kind of laser , especially one that stands to replace the one we’ve been using for fiber optic communications for the last 40 years. A team of CalTech researchers did just that . Be excited. Read more…        

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This New "Pure" Laser Makes Fiber Optic Networks 20x Better

This Ring Scans Text And Reads It Aloud For Visually Impaired People

No braille? No problem! This FingerReader by the Fluid Interfaces Group at the MIT Media Lab is a high-tech way to help visually impaired people read; it actually scans printed text and narrates it aloud. Read more…        

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This Ring Scans Text And Reads It Aloud For Visually Impaired People

Nvidia’s First Maxwell Card Is a Power-Sipping Screamer

Nvidia’s Tegra K1 is damned pretty for mobile tech, but the desktop team hasn’t just been sitting around waiting for Tegra to catch up. Say hello to Maxwell—the new architecture on the desktop side—and the GTX 750Ti. It’s a tiny little sucker that’s worth its weight in watts. Read more…        

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Nvidia’s First Maxwell Card Is a Power-Sipping Screamer

Your Next Scuba Destination Is An Entire Drowned City in China

An entire drowned city has become the world’s most mind-boggling scuba-diving attraction. Consider booking a trip to Qiandao Lake, China, where you can wreck-dive a 1, 800-year old flooded metropolis. Read more…        

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Your Next Scuba Destination Is An Entire Drowned City in China

The Army’s Perfecting a Pizza That Lasts for Years and Years

Life is hard for soldiers in the battlefield, so when the troops want something that might make things a little more bearable—say, a particular food item in their meal rations—the military listens. And right now, soldiers want pizza. They want it bad . And it looks like they’re finally going to get it. Read more…        

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The Army’s Perfecting a Pizza That Lasts for Years and Years

The World’s Largest Solar Plant Started Creating Electricity Today

Take 300, 000 computer-controlled mirrors, each 7 feet high and 10 feet wide. Control them with computers to focus the Sun’s light to the top of 459-feet towers, where water is turned to steam to power turbines. Bingo: you have the world’s biggest solar power plant, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System . Read more…        

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The World’s Largest Solar Plant Started Creating Electricity Today

Burn An (Almost) Infinite Candle With This Clever Wax-Catching Holder

To all of you convinced there’s no such thing as a perpetual motion machine, behold Benjamin Shine’s brilliant Rekindle candlestick holder that slowly but steadily turns into a brand new candle as it burns and melts away. Read more…        

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Burn An (Almost) Infinite Candle With This Clever Wax-Catching Holder