Jonathan Thompson took his son’s old fat bike and a load of 4130 chromoly tubing, and in two weeks, he had weld, brazed, and bolted together a machine that looked like it had been recovered from a scrapheap in some post-apocalyptic wasteland. He took that bike to the 2025 Bespoked Handmade Bike Show apocalyptic build-off in Manchester and finished second. To this day, the bike draws a crowd since every feature of it has a purpose in the event that society fails.
Stabi extends its arm from the shadows with a large barrel mounted to its wrist, and what is inside that barrel is not subtle. A kilowatt class laser capable of cutting through wood at a distance or turning stone into a glowing, molten mess sits at the heart of the setup, mounted in the back of a truck and pointed at a series of test targets. The whole rig was built by Prop Department to explore how high energy laser systems might be put to work in future productions.
Wall hacks have been a staple of multiplayer games for as long as anyone can remember, but Nick from the YouTube channel Basically Homeless decided to see how close he could get to building one in real life. Using relatively affordable off the shelf equipment, he set out to detect movement on the other side of a wall using nothing but radio waves, and what he ended up with is the kind of thing that would feel right at home in a spy thriller.
Electron Impressions has built a reputation for pushing physics equipment well beyond its intended purpose, and their latest experiment takes things further than most. The team placed a fully grown potted Venus flytrap, open traps and all, directly in the path of a linear accelerator to find out what high speed electron beam radiation actually does to living tissue, and whether the plant’s famous snapping mechanism would have anything to say about it.
Most people would hear the question and move on without a second thought. Janus Cycle heard it and got to work. The goal was simple but slightly absurd: could a candle power an original Nintendo Game Boy? As it turns out, yes, and the result is a fully working handheld that loads games and stays lit without a single battery or power outlet in sight.
A deep blue silk figure just hangs there in the air, as if its entire figure is staring back at the light, definitely human, with clouds and ocean extending out below and darkness creeping in from above. Nearby cameras are softly turning, capturing every small change in the fabric as it moves. It’s from The Dorothy Project, a curious group of scientists and artists that collaborated to transport high-end gear to the edge of space by high-altitude balloon. Where the line between creativity and technical know-how becomes blurred.
Small asteroids occasionally come close enough to Earth to provide potentially significant resources such as water for rocket fuel and metals for construction panels. TransAstra, a Los Angeles-based startup, has developed a device to grab the rocks whole and draw them into a nearby orbit, where personnel can break them down into useful components.
Click on the Wikigacha button, and five collectible cards appear on the screen. Each one is a full Wikipedia article condensed into a collectible, complete with the title, a small portion of the text, and all of the statistics extracted directly from the Wikipedia site data. People keep coming back for the quick pleasure, and whether you wind up with something famous or completely obscure, the outcome is always surprising.
Sugar has more power than most people realize, as Chase at Crystalverse demonstrates just how far a single bag from the grocery store can go when used correctly. What begins as regular grains becomes a single brilliant crystal large enough to hold in your palm and appreciate from all sides.
Edwin Olding’s approach to building his own theme park began with an unlikely discovery on Temu, a two seater spin ride with three independently rotating rings, an electric motor, and basic safety features, all for a surprisingly reasonable $2,500. Most people would have scrolled straight past it, but Edwin saw exactly what it could become, another worthy addition to the 1,000 square foot storage unit that already housed a loop roller coaster and a pair of go-karts.