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‘bizarre’ Stories

ISS astronaut Chris Hadfield wows with Bowie’s Space Oddity

, May 13th 2013 Discuss [0]

When you’re arguably the best-known astronaut ever to spend a stretch on the International Space Station, what better way to commemorate your ending tenure than recording David Bowie’s Space Oddity while in orbit? Commander Chris Hadfield, who returns to Earth along with Thomas H. Marshburn and Roman Romanenko late on Monday, May 13, recorded his own version of the classic from the ISS, complete with lingering views of Earth and almost as much lens-flare as a Star Trek reboot.

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Twizy Renault Sport F1 Concept: When EVs go race-car crazy

, Apr 25th 2013 Discuss [0]

Of everything we could've said after driving Renault's bonkers Twizy EV, "fast" probably wouldn't have been included. Turns out, we just needed to wait for the Renault Sport F1 team to breathe some guts into it, and come up with the "improbable and spectacular" (and that's in Renault's own words!) Twizy Renault Sport F1 Concept, capable of the same 0-62mph speed as the company's highest-performing road car. Read The Full Story

April Fools 2013: The Round-up

April 1st is upon us, and that can only mean one thing: pranks, gags, and joke products of dubious comedic value, as the tech world tries to make you crack a smile. Whether you love it or loath it, April Fools is inescapable, so join us as we run through 2013′s cons and let us know which – if any – convinced you, and which you thought were actually funny.

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Brain linked rats pave way for Gibson-esque meat crowd-computer

, Feb 28th 2013 Discuss [0]

Technology that allows a direct link between the brains of two rats, allowing the behaviors of one animal to shape those of the other - even if they were thousands of miles apart - could pave the way to cognitive crowd-sourcing, researchers suggest. The experiment, in which microelectrodes a 1/100th the thickness of a human hair were inserted into the parts of the rats' brains which handle motor information, saw one rat rewarded for hitting a specific lever in its cage, and then remotely tutoring its counterpart to select the correct lever in its independent cage by direct stimulation of its motor cortex. Read The Full Story

Renault Twizy: We drive the bonkers moon-buggy EV

, Feb 22nd 2013 Discuss [0]

This ain’t your daddy’s Tesla. In fact, the Renault Twizy is arguably the antithesis of the Model S: eye-catching where the Tesla is discrete; cheap where the electric sedan is expensive. Intended for city driving and the sort of short trips where nippy and straightforward are the key factors, the Twizy also manages to be a whole lot of fun, albeit with a couple of caveats (and preferably a pair of gloves). We raised our eco-cred with a Twizy blast around the urban jungle.

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UK man finds chunk of whale vomit possibly worth £100,000

Last summer we talked about a boy in the UK who found a yellowish rock on a beach near his home. What the boy thought was a rock was actually a chunk of whale vomit known as ambergris. The chunk of whale vomit the boy found in August of 2012 was estimated to be worth as much as £40,000. Read The Full Story

Bonzart Ampel hands-on: The twin-lens retro camera Instagram wishes it was

, Jan 31st 2013 Discuss [0]

When smartphone cameras are increasingly the go-to snapper of choice, you have to do something unusual to stand out, and Bonzart’s oddly retro Ampel certainly does that. Styled – and in fact named – after German traffic signals, the odd twin-lensed camera looks like it should be a toy, but does something for its $199 price tag that most cameras would demand specialist lenses for: native tilt-shift photos and video.

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Alicia Keys joins BlackBerry as Global Creative Director

, Jan 30th 2013 Discuss [0]

You're nobody in the consumer tech world if you don't have a celebrity "Creative Director" and, with will.i.am and Lady Gaga already occupied, BlackBerry has snatched warbler Alicia Keys. The freshly-announced "Global Creative Director" for the Canadian company, Keys joined CEO Thorsten Heins on-stage at the launch of BlackBerry 10 and promised to "work closely" with developers, retailers, and others to promote the platform. Read The Full Story

Forget mobile payments, real-life Mario Kart is the best use ever for RFID

, Jan 21st 2013 Discuss [0]

Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime may have straddled a full-sized Mario Kart replica for publicity, but Waterloo Labs' DIY version goes several steps better with actual gameplay dragged out from the console to the race track. Taking four regular go-karts, and then strapping on RFID readers, pneumatic launchers, and various servo-controls of the steering and throttle, the real-life drivers can boost their performance by grabbing RFID-tagged boosters hanging over the course, and sabotage rivals by shooting at them. Read The Full Story

John McAfee says he operated a spy ring, uncovered a terrorist network

Remember John McAfee? He's the man who, just weeks ago, went on the run from Belize after his neighbor was found murdered, claiming that the police wanted to kill him and frame him for the murder. He fled to Guatamala, where he spent a week or so in detention before his release was ordered. He arrived in the US shortly after, and now he's pecking out his tell-all tale via his blog, where he describes himself as the head of his own private spy operation. Read The Full Story

Eagles won’t steal your baby: Animation students admit YouTube hoax

, Dec 20th 2012 Discuss [0]

The Canadian students behind the viral “Golden Eagle Snatches Kid” video that took Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks by storm this week have ‘fessed up on their 3D tomfoolery. The clip – which appears to show an eagle swooping in and attempting to snatch a toddler from a park, then dropping the child several feet above the grass – was the handiwork of four three students at media training school Centre NAD in Montreal. “Both the eagle and the kid were created in 3D animation” the school admitted, “and integrated in to the film afterwards.”

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Spidernaut Nefertiti dies after space hunting experiment

Plucky space spider Nefertiti, nicknamed "Spidernaut" after accompanying astronauts on a 100-day trip to the International Space Station, has died shortly after her return to Earth. On show at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History since Thursday last week, the museum confirmed the intrepid explorer had been found dead earlier this week, as Insect Zoo staff completed a pre-opening check of the department. Read The Full Story

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