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Israeli engineering firm Urban Aeronautics has released footage of the AirMule (their flying fan-car) in action. It's not quite airworthy yet, but all of you trendy first adopters are undoubtedly building teflon-and-bubble-wrap-lined flight suits to cruise crash around your neighborhood. More »
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James Cameron's Avatar apparently touched lives in ways that went beyond 3D-inspired headaches, judging from these pictures of Palestinian protesters on the West Bank from this weekend. Cosplay is the new Che t-shirt, we're calling it now. [Telegraph.co.uk] (Thanks, John!) More »
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Back in the 1970s, Palestinians were using science fiction to solve their geopolitical problems. The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimist is a 1972 novel written by Palestinian writer Emile Habibi. There aren't many Palestinian novels in the Western canon, nor many that use elements of science fiction, so we're hard-pressed to understand why The Secret Life of Saeed isn't taught in schools from here to Tel Aviv. Visit an extraordinary life after the jump. More »
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As we understand more and more about the materials to build suspension bridges, their shapes are going to become more bizarre and seemingly impossible. Architect Santiago Calatrava made this suspension bridge in Jerusalem to resemble the shape of a lyre, a stringed instrument popular during classical antiquity. This oddly-shaped suspension bridge will be completed this month, and stands at the gateway to the city, where it crosses over top of traffic so that pedestrians can cross the crowded roads without danger. It's the only suspension bridge to ever take this kind of shape. More »
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If robots learned how to procreate, they'd probably lay eggs that look like these installations created by Israeli multimedia artist Tomer Sapir. What you're seeing here is actually made of real egg shells, along with concrete, glass, sponge, and parts of a lamp. More »
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Yesterday in Israel, a bomb disposal robot inspected the scene of a suicide bombing at a shopping mall in the town of Dimona. The bot is remote controlled, and used an articulated arm to remove the jacket of the alleged bomber to be sure he doesn't have more explosives on his body. Want to see what else the robot does as it finishes its inspection of the area? (Warning: Images of a corpse may be disturbing.) More »
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