Baoding balls are two metal balls that are rotated over and over again in one hand for meditation, exercise or rehab purposes. A lot of dexterity and focus and strength is necessary to pull of the rotation. Not everyone can do it! This robotic arm controlled by wires can though. Look at those fake flexible fingers…
The human body is such a magnificent thing. Just check out this video that shows how our immune system works. When a parasite finds its way inside a place where it clearly shouldn't be, white blood cells immediately start rushing to the rescue. It only takes a few seconds for the parasite to get swallowed.
Oliver Oettli says that he usually doesn't do stuff like his Power Winds photo series but these photos became his most well known project. And rightly so. They feel magical, as if these women were supernatural beings. No digital tricks here: Photoshop was only used to adjust color and contrast.
Lieutenant Chris Nigus sent us these series of spectacular photos taken while flying on missions during the last couple of years of his deployment in Japan. Above you can see him flying low level in Japan's Orange Route. Some of them show weapons firing from his F/A-18E Super Hornet.
I didn't know about this fun factoid: On April, 1970, the Grumman Aerospace Corporation—manufacturers of the Lunar Module—sent a $312,421.24 bill to North American Rockwell—who made the service module that malfunctioned in the Apollo 13 mission—for towing services. Why, you ask? Here's the story.
Russian photographer Nick Lariontsev made this cool time-lapse using macro lens to show how mold grows from up close. At this zoom level, something that normally disgust us transforms into a beautiful alien universe full of life.
This insane video shows a Russian guy shooting a pistol at his friend's head to test the quality of the K6-3—a titanium helmet with bullet-proof glass used by Russian special forces. Some commenters think this may be fake. Many think it's real. What do you think?
I could spend hours watching this milling machine—SolidCAM's iMachining and simultaneous 5-Axis Milling—transform a solid metal cylinder into a fully functional impeller.
Jelle Bakker's hobby is making huge marble runs and rolling ball sculptures. One of his creations is the "Marblelanche": An epic marble machine with obstacle tracks that fits 1000 marbles.
25 years ago today, Voyager I turned around to take a photo of Earth on its way out of the Solar System. You are looking at it. Our planet—6 billion kilometers (3.7 billion miles) away from the spacecraft—is that tiny pale blue dot, "a mote of dustsuspended in a sunbeam." It is one of the most important photos ever.
This is cool. A time lapse, aptly named Highway in the Sky by the guy who filmed it, shows how different layers of clouds in the same sky can actually move in completely different directions. It's like seeing clouds respect different flows of traffic. It's like seeing multiple skies in one. It's like staring at a…
The film editing maestro Clara Darko stitched together this perfect montage of actresses in action movies kicking mother freaking ass. I love how each punch or kick or swing of the sword or crossbow shot or anything perfectly blends together from one movie to the next. More ass kicking please!
Michelin-star chef Raymond Blanc gives another cooking master class in this video where he reveals the secrets of baking. Traditionally, baking has been associated with pastry, but monsieur Blanc will prove it otherwise. Prepare to drool with his delicious recipes of baked scallops, leg of lamb, or baked cheese.
A few days ago, these guys were fishing in Alfonse Island, in Seychelles, when a giant trevally bit the lure. As soon as they started to reel the fish in, a vicious barracuda appeared and ate half of it in just seconds, leaving the fishermen—and myself—in shock.
San Francisco isn't Gotham. That's New York (or Chicago if you want to be wrong). San Francisco is too colorful, too weird, too positive and too future friendly to be the dark and gritty Gotham City. But Toby Harriman stripped the color of SF in this time lapse and man, the city by the bay looks pretty good when…
This is interesting not only because you get to see the juxtaposition of the orchestra and scenes from The Great Human Odyssey or because you learn how 70 musicians score an entire film in 3 days without any preparation or how the filmmakers painstakingly do their job, but also because it's just cool to see people…
I know Chef Evan Funke of Bucato is making pasta in this video—I see it and it's absolutely beautiful—but it almost looks like he's playing a musical instrument. There's so much skill in his work and so much grace in his movements that I can't help but feel like I'm watching an artist at work.
I'm a sucker for rockets and technical illustrations, which is why I love this poster of rockets of the world drawn to scale by Tyler Skrabek—a clean, updated version of a 1995 classic by professor Peter Alway, published in the book Rockets of the World.
Tsunami is a cute, perfectly crafted animated short film made by the students at the Animation Workshop in Viborg, Denmark. It tells the story of a man returning to his house, flooded after a tsunami, and a water spirit that got trapped in there.
These industrial robots—by FANUC America Corporation—pick and arrange batteries at ultra-fast speed. Watching these two guys work is mesmerizing. Pro tip: Mute the utterly boring voice over and play this instead. It works like magic.
