water

Spill a lot? NeverWet's ready to coat your gear

Imagine spilling red wine or chocolate syrup on your shirt, only to watch it glide off as if nothing ever happened in the first place. Hogwash? No, it's called NeverWet.

Awhile back, I wrote about NeverWet, a superhydrophobic coating that can be applied to nearly any surface and repels liquids startlingly well. To bring NeverWet to the masses, developer Ross Nanotechnology licensed the product to Rust-Oleum, which recently started selling the spray for $19.97 at Home Depot.… Read more

Watch water freeze instantly as it pours

Ever wanted to be a waterbender, or maybe Iceman (not to be confused with Mr. Cool Ice)? A trick to freeze water instantaneously won't actually make it so, but you'll feel pretty cool.

YouTube user Grant Thompson of Random Weekend Projects has posted a video that shows how it's done. You need some bottles of purified water, a clock, and a freezer. When you put the bottles of purified water in the freezer, the absence of impurities such as dust or microorganisms in the liquid means ice crystals have nothing to form around, so the water can reach temperatures below freezing without solidifying. … Read more

'Blue Waters' supercomputer helps crack HIV code

Scientists have been investigating the structure of the HIV capsid for years; the protein shell protects the virus' genetic material, helps debilitate the infected person's immune system, and is the target for the development of new antiretroviral drugs. Research teams have turned to a wide range of futuristic-sounding techniques to crack the code, from cryo-electron microscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to cryo-EM tomography and X-ray crystallography.

Now, thanks to a little help from the supercomputer Blue Waters, the mystery finally has been unraveled, according to a research team reporting this week in the journal Nature.… Read more

Apple settles iPhone water damage lawsuit for $53M

Apple has agreed to pay $53 million to settle a class-action lawsuit related to warranties covering early versions of the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The lawsuit, originally filed in 2010, claimed Apple had unfairly denied warranty coverage to some customers under an Apple policy associated with devices affected by water damage. The settlement, which still requires the court's approval, will be held in a fund to be distributed among the 153,000 members of the class-action suit, according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. … Read more

iPhone 5 repairs won't come cheap

It's happened to a lot of people -- their iPhone drops from their hands, falls off their lap, plunks into a toilet, or gets knocked off a table.

Showing off a cracked iPhone screen is sometimes almost a point of pride. I have one friend who lovingly calls his damaged phone "The Hurt Locker," referring to the 2008 movie about a bomb disposal team working during the Iraq War.

But, many of these damaged iPhones cease to work after going through various mishaps. That's when repairs come into play -- and, they're not cheap.

Currently, … Read more

First wind-current power system to be installed off Japan's coast

We may be closer to harnessing the power of the sea and air. The world's first hybrid wind-current power generation system will be installed off the coast of Japan later this year.

The Savonius Keel & Wind Turbine Darrieus (SKWID) power generation system being developed by Mitsui Ocean Development & Engineering Company (Modec) is a floating system that shares a vertical floating axis. On the company's Web site (PDF), Modec says the concept will generate double or more power from the same sea surface area as a conventional wind turbine. … Read more

Go to the fridge for hot tea and more

A refrigerator pretty much has one job. Well, make that two: to keep food cold and colder. Even with the oncoming eventuality of smart appliances dominating the kitchen, the basic task of the fridge is in regard to food storage. Somewhere along the way, a logical extension of the refrigerator's responsibilities resulted in the creation of water and ice dispensers; a welcome addition, as a nice, cool drink of water is impossible to beat. Unless maybe you wanted hot water.

The GE Cafe Series CFE29TSDSS French Door Refrigerator with Hot Water ($3,099) incorporates a water dispenser that delivers … Read more

Catch a wave with Kymera electric body board

If paddling out to that wave is getting a little too tiring, this electric body board puts you right in the water while pulling you along effortlessly.

Kymera is a lightweight, motorized jet board that can send you crashing through waves to help a struggling swimmer. Mainly intended for lifeguards and search and rescue teams, it's designed to be placed in the water more quickly and easily than personal watercraft.

The focus of a $250,000 Kickstarter campaign, Kymera weighs 48 pounds with the rechargeable lithium polymer battery pack, and 29 pounds without it. … Read more

Amazing illusion: Watch water flow like never before

Water can be a solid, liquid, or gas -- and one heck of a dazzling science experiment when you pump up the volume.

A mind-bending video by YouTube user Brusspup shows how falling water can take on a zigzag pattern after two influencing factors: a nearby device emitting a 24Hz sine wave noise and a camera recording at 24 frames per second.… Read more