It doesn't make a lot of sense to carry extra gear for convenience on outdoor adventures if they take up a lot of luggage space. Flextail's new air pump for inflating mattresses, rafts, and pillows makes a strong case for a slot in your loadout with its diminutive build and ability to do double duty as a versatile lantern. It's also really powerful for its size, and seems like a fairly cheap carry to boot.

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Category: Gear, Outdoors

Tags: Pump, Lamp, Camping, Kickstarter, EDC

Hidden inside the narrow growth rings of Pyrenees trees lies the strongest evidence yet for what set the Black Death in motion. For the first time, researchers have combined high-resolution climate reconstructions with medieval records to draw a direct connection between a sudden climatic shock and the arrival of the plague in Europe, where it killed tens of millions between 1347 and 1353.

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Category: Biology, Science

Tags: pandemic, University of Cambridge, Tree, volcano, Climate Crisis, Europe, Infections, Bacteria, Disease

A team of students from the Netherlands has demonstrated that it is possible to produce an affordable electric vehicle (EV) that owners can maintain and repair themselves. Even if they have the mechanical expertise of a toddler.

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Category: Automotive, Transport

Tags: Technical University of Eindhoven, Electric Vehicles, Modular, Repair, sustainable design, Prototype

Archeologists say they have finally cracked the 6,000-year-old mystery of Armenia’s “dragon stones" – massive carved monoliths scattered across high-altitude volcanic slopes and pastures where no ancient settlements ever existed.

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Category: History, Science

Tags: Archeology, Stonehenge, Religion, Water, Europe, Geography, Environment

Some of us are natural-born chefs with the ability to look at a few ingredients and whip up a succulent meal, while others have the knack of being able to burn boiling water. The Cube o1: Your Personal AI Chef, is designed to guide either group towards tastier culinary shores.

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Category: Around The Home, Lifestyle

Tags: Kickstarter, Artificial Intelligence, Kitchen, Cooking

Individuals with limited hearing struggle in situations where multiple people around them are speaking at once. New headphone tech could help, by boosting the voice of the person they're talking to based on the rhythm of the conversation.

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Category: Technology

Tags: University of Washington, Hearing Augmentation, Headphones, Artificial Intelligence, Deaf

Anyone who's mucked about with consumer-grade 3D printers knows that it's infinitely cool to create stuff with them, but you can't realistically expect those products to be particularly durable.

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Category: 3D Printing, Manufacturing, Technology

Tags: Manufacturing, Carbon+Fibre, Kickstarter, 3D Printers

Stark has made a name for itself by doing things the extreme way. Now the world’s fastest enduro has climbed higher than any motorcycle ever has, a record that's currently being verified by the folks at Guinness World Records.

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Category: Motorcycles, Transport

Tags: stark, Electric Motorcycles, Guinness, World Records, High Altitude, volcano

Today’s backpacker may be way off-grid on a remote island or up a perilous mountain – but they usually still expect to enjoy a decent cup of quality coffee. For alpha trekkers, a tepid stewed flask of instant coffee just won’t cut it. So Seattle-based high-end outdoor kit specialist Grayl has just launched an accessory that demonstrates how much those North Westerners value their caffeine hit.

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Category: Gear, Outdoors

Tags: Water, Filters, Survival, Coffee, Backpacking, Camping

The hot trends of civilian supersonic flight and artificial intelligence collide as Boom Supersonic announces that, as a new revenue stream, the core technology of its Mach 1+ Symphony jet engine has been adapted to run power-hungry AI data centers.

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Category: Energy, Technology

Tags: Boom, Turbine, Data Center, Electricity

The best flashlight is the one you have on you – but it sure helps if your flashlight is easy to bring with you everywhere. That's where the ED08 from Rodman scores major points: it's roughly the size of a coin, and is thoughtfully designed to earn its keep in your EDC and adventure kit.

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Category: Gear, Outdoors

Tags: EDC, Flashlights, Titanium, Camping, Lighting

The expression of symbolic behavior, such as drawing, dates back to Paleolithic societies. Alongside modern humans (Homo sapiens), we now know that Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) also engaged in abstract behavior.

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Category: History, Science

Tags: Archaeology, Evolution, Art

Over the past few years, chocolate fans may have noticed a concerning change in the taste and texture of their favorite brands, due to confectioners adjusting their recipes in response to global cocoa shortages and sky-high prices.

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Category: Science

Tags: National University of Singapore, Chocolate, Food

Analog cameras are nowhere near as efficient as biological eyes. If you’ve ever handled a single-lens reflex (SLR) camera, especially if it had a zoom lens attached, you know how heavy they are, and how tricky and time-consuming adjusting their focus can be.

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Category: Robotics, Technology

Tags: Georgia Tech, Soft Robotics, Eye, Biomimicry, Hydrogels, Optics

Want to call someone a quick-thinker? The easiest cliché for doing so is calling her a computer – in fact, “computers” was the literal job title of the “Hidden Figures” mathematicians who drove the success of early NASA.

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Category: Computers, Consumer Tech, Technology

Tags: Aalto University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Optical Computing

There's a well-established link between depression and chronic low-grade inflammation. Now, a new meta-study shows that treating the inflammation can reduce depression in two ways, offering a potential alternative to antidepressants and their side effects.

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Category: Mental Health, Brain Health, Body and Mind

Tags: Depression, Anti-inflammatory, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, antidepressant

With its modest footprint and low ceilings, you're not going to be throwing any wild parties in the Nozawa. However, provided you don't want to host a rager, this compact tiny house sleeps two people in a practical interior that blends traditional Japanese design with modern space-saving ideas.

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Category: Tiny Houses, Outdoors

Tags: Building and Construction, Tiny Footprint, Micro-House, House, Home

I'm always excited to learn what Pebble is up to, because this gadget brand – which made a name for itself with its lo-fi smartwatch – decidedly does things differently. Its latest product is an AI-enabled device that seeks to avoid the pitfalls of recent fiascos in this category, with thoughtful features and an approach to packaging you don't often come across.

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Category: Wearables, Consumer Tech, Technology

Tags: Gadgets, Voice Recorder, Voice, Speech, Artificial Intelligence, Pebble

A massive global study has turned up some grim news: that nearly 87% of us are not routinely getting quality sleep and meeting physical activity levels needed for our long-term health. Now, scientists have discovered that one is more influential than the other.

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Category: Wellness and Healthy Living, Body and Mind

Tags: Flinders University, Sleep, Exercise, Physical activity, Obesity, Metabolic syndrome

Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works has shown how combat drones can think on the fly with a demonstration of its AI-Driven Mission Contingency Management (AI/MCM) system that can adjust missions in the face of unforeseen events.

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Category: Military, Technology

Tags: Lockheed Martin, Skunk Works, drones, Artificial Intelligence