Why do knots weaken a rope?
Anyone who relies on the strength of a rope takes great care to prevent knots forming in it, as they can reduce the breaking strength by mor...Read More
Showing posts with label Tech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tech. Show all posts
Iris scanning
Iris scanning is underpinned by the fact that no two irises – the textured coloured muscle that regulates the size of your pupil – are ident...Read More
Facial recognition
Humans are exceptionally skilled at recognising and distinguishing faces – there’s even a special region of the brain devoted to the task – ...Read More
How do cranes get so high?
Tower cranes flock to money. During the economic boom years, high-rise construction cranes migrated from Beijing to Shanghai to Dubai, where...Read More
How do kettles boil water?
The electric kettle works thanks to two design breakthroughs achieved in Britain in the Twenties and Thirties. The fi rst is the immersed he...Read More
What’s inside a jukebox?
This type of jukebox, with a 21st-Century inner mechanism, holds 80 compact discs (CDs) stacked horizontally on a slotted rack. When switche...Read More
ASTRUM ET230
Astrum is not a very big headphone brand, but the two sets we’ve tested so far have come up trumps. These are an unusual design that places...Read More
How do flare guns work?
A fl are gun works in the same way as any traditional fi rearm with one key diff erence: it must ignite its projectile and propel it high in...Read More
What is RAM?
Random access memory (RAM) is a type of physical data storage that can be used to read and write data to so it can be accessed by a computer...Read More
Can a compass work underground?
The compass app on your phone probably won’t [caption id="attachment_269" align="alignright" width="300"] Old...Read More
Should print inks be primary colours?
Suppose printers used red, green and blue ink instead. Which colours would you mix to make yellow? You couldn’t do it. Mixing red and green ...Read More
How do barcodes work?
Barcodes are a machine-readable way of writing letters and numbers. A laser is shone onto the barcode and the refl ected light can be interp...Read More
How are light trails captured?
Light trails are a colourful and creative effect that photographers can capture by employing long-exposure shooting on their camera. The bas...Read More
What’s inside a hard drive?
Hard-disk drives (HDDs) have been around since IBM conceived of the need for extra computer storage in 1956. A hard disk uses magnetised pla...Read More
Telephone calls clear as a bell
Smartphones can do almost everything you want, but their poor voice quality is still a vexing issue. Fraunhofer researchers have helped deve...Read More
Can phones work underwater?
Today there are two main methods for waterproofing a smartphone: physical barriers such as port covers and sealed seams that prevent liquid ...Read More
How are roller coasters designed?
Roller coasters comprise many elements, each with its own specifi c physical characteristics. Designers give a ride character by applying an...Read More
How safe are roller coasters?
Believe it or not, some of the world’s most forward-looking engineering is actually in operation right now, in the unexpected setting of the...Read More
ACER SWIFT 7
Serious road warriors are now spoiled for choice with superb thin and light models available from all the major laptop brands. This Acer mak...Read More
The Intelligent Dashboard for Occupants (ID-O)
The Intelligent Dashboard for Occupants (ID-O) helps people to see how much energy they use at work and how to reduce this use to help the e...Read More
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