Considering printer ink costs more than booze and even human blood, it's no surprise everyone's on the hunt for a cheaper alternative. And that includes researchers at the Missouri University of Science and Technology who've created an inkless printer that works by perforating special paper with thousands of microscopic holes.
There's a catch, though. You could use the groundbreaking device to print out photos from your recent birthday bash, but to share them with your friends they'd need to peer into an electron microscope because this printer only works on the microscopic level. See that full-color version of the Missouri S&T athletic logo? It measures roughly one-billionth of a meter in size.
Which leads to another catch, sadly. This printer doesn't work on regular old copy paper. Instead, it uses a thin sandwiched material-just 170 nanometers thick-made up of two layers of silver separated by a layer of silica in-between.

Images are produced by drilling microscopic holes into the material's top layer of silver and then shining a light through them. By varying the location, density, and size of all those tiny holes, different colors are produced as light shines through and is absorbed and reflected in different ways.
The researchers were able to refine the sizes of the holes to the point where they could reproduce gold, green, orange, magenta, cyan, and navy blue colors. Not quite enough to produce a Kodak-comparable image, but an impressive start to what the technology could be capable of.
Thankfully for HP, Canon, and Epson, making cheap printers isn't the primary goal of this research, although it's certainly a possibility. For the time being it has more interesting applications like advanced security markings that are invisible to the naked eye and very difficult to reproduce without expensive equipment. It also has the potential to realize new kinds of information storage, complementing research done with holography as a light-based alternative to magnetic hard drives.

[Missouri University of Science and Technology via Gizmag]

Retailers are constantly looking for new ways to attract customers. Having a store in a really cool shopping mall is one way to do this. Shopping malls are no longer just buildings that house shops, they are fantastically designed works of art. Some shopping malls are more like amusement parks than places to shop. Many of these malls attract visitors just because the buildings are so cool. You might think you can just drop and and purchase an item that you need but you will have trouble tearing yourself away! Here are the Top 10 Most Amazing Shopping Malls in the world.

1. Mall of America (Minnesota, USA) boasts 4200 200 square feet of retail space. It is huge! There is a theme park and a wedding chapel in this giant mall.

 

2. The Mall of the Emirates (Dubai) is a shopping resort that also features entertainment attractions. It is home to Ski Dubai which is the first indoor ski destination located in the area.

3. The Grand Canal Shoppes (Las Vegas, USA) feature indoor canals and Venitian style Gondalas to transport visitors around the mall.

4. The Wafi Mall (Dubai) features over 350 stores. It offers the worlds most unique and valued brands some of the products are not available anywhere else in the world.

5. West Edmonton Mall (Alberta, Canada) is the largest mall in North America. It is home to a water park featuring the largest wave pool in the world.

 

 6. The Dubai Mall (Dubai) occupies more area than any other shopping mall in the world. There is an aquarium in the mall which features the world’s largest acrylic panel.

7. The Istanbul Cevahir (Istanbul, Turkey) is the biggest shopping mall in Europe. Featuring 50 restaurants, 12 cinemas and much more.

8. The Zlote Tarasy Mall (Warsaw, Poland) is a complex housing commercial, office and entertainment. 9. The Westfield London Shopping Centre (England) was listed as being the 3rd largest in the UK when it opened in 2008.

 

9. The Westfield London Shopping Centre (England) was listed as being the 3rd largest in the UK .

10. The Beijing Mall (Beijing, China) is one of the biggest in the world and also one of the most luxurious.

 

Every time I see a new image of the new image of the Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet, I just get lost searching through all the detail, marveling at the variation of textures, and mostly watching in awe thinking about the chain of events that took the spaceship Rosetta to where it is today, 500 million miles from Earth.

From NASA:

In the image, the comet's head (in the top half of the image) exhibits parallel linear features that resemble cliffs, and its neck displays scattered boulders on a relatively smooth, slumping surface. In comparison, the comet's body (lower half of the image) seems to exhibit a multi-variable terrain with peaks and valleys, and both smooth and rough topographic features.

Think about the process to get to this point. First some humans decided to build a little machine with some cameras, instrumentation, and a daughter spacecraft. Then they put it on top of a rocket that launched on March 2, 2004. After a few orbits, the probe used our planet's gravity to reach Mars, then got back to Earth, then it kept slingshotting from asteroid to asteroid to Earth in a precise, beautiful cosmic game of billiards until it entered hibernation on June 8, 2011, en route to this comet.

On January it woke up (a technological miracle on itself), positioned itself to talk to its creators, started to take photos of its target, and arrived to the comet at the beginning of this month, establishing an orbit around it. And to top this amazing journey, it will send a lander (A LANDER!) to its surface on November 11, 2014. All of this on its own, thanks to the genius of a small team of really smart people.

Here's the 3D version of the image above:

Ever since we humans gave up the nomadic life and started building homes, architecture had one goal: To make life better for humans. But now, a new architecture is taking shape in remote, frozen corners of the world. And it's not designed for humans. It's for machines. In this case, for the remote machines that keep Facebook churning.

In northern Sweden, just below the Arctic Circle, a new form of modular design is being pioneered by architects based more than 5,000 miles away in the heart of Silicon Valley. They're being led by architects like Marco Magarelli, the Datacenter Design Engineering Manager at Facebook, where he's led the company's unusual approach to data centers for the past five years.
As tech companies compete to build smarter, faster, and cheaper, they're sparking a renaissance in modular, prefabricated architecture, and Facebook is leading the pack. I got the chance to chat with Magarelli to find out what it's like to be an architect building houses for most the world's online identities.

Your Selfies Are Energy-Hogs

Most of us think of the internet as something intangible, a floating, invisible, ectoplasmic world. In reality, the internet is tethered to the physical world by data centers-thousands of them-that handle all of the bits and bytes delivered to your computer.
Magarelli uses the term "magic box" to describe these spaces: the masses know they exist, but they don't quite know how or where. And his job as the architect is "trying to make that box as elegant and effective as possible," he explains.


In my mind, Facebook's magic boxes seemed like they should be pretty straightforward buildings. Slap some servers into a box, throw on some mechanical systems to cool them, make sure it's secure, and you're good to go, right?

Not exactly. As Magarelli explained to me, these are far from normal buildings: Some data centers use more than 100 times the power of a typical office building. They need to be ultra-secure and ultra-stable against hackers, natural disasters, and all kinds of environmental ills. These are the buildings that hold the world's data-if they go, so does our internet. So unsurprisingly, they're booming: the market for modular data centers is expected to reach $40 billion over the next four years.
Facebook, as the second most-visited site in the world after Google, needs a lot of them. The company estimates that its servers process around 2.4 billion pieces of content and 750 terabytes of data every day. In 2012, Facebook reported that its users took up around 7 petabytes of photo storage from one of its data centers every month.

Image: AP Photo/Facebook, Alan Brandt.
To handle this exponential increase in demand, two years ago Facebook assigned three engineers to tackle the challenge of "how to scale our computing infrastructure in the most efficient and economical way possible." As it grew, it became known as the Open Compute Project, an initiative to completely overhaul the hardware and network infrastructure of Facebook's data centers. Most importantly, they would put all their work online, making it free for any other company to follow Facebook's lead.
The team at OCP completely redesigned every detail: From more efficient server racks to backup batteries that mean the centers don't need an uninterruptible power source. And just as important as all that network architecture? Actual architecture.

Making Buildings Like Ikea Furniture

Magarelli joined Facebook in 2009, and as part of the Open Computing Project, he staged a charrette (the architectural equivalent of a hackathon) to bring industry experts in lean construction-a theory of construction efficiency borrowed from manufacturing-into the fold at Facebook.

Out of the event grew two basic design concepts. You could call them Ford and Ikea. The first strategy would be like "assembling a car on a chassis." You build your structural frame, then attach all of the actual components, from lighting to cables, using an assembly line in a factory. The whole shebang would then be driven to the building site on the back of a flatbed truck.


The second scheme-the Ikea concept-was all about flatpack. Rather than assemble the modules in a factory, the pieces of the finished building would be tightly packed into a flat box. Just like your bookcase hardware, the building components were vastly simplified and universalized to avoid mistakes during assembly. By breaking down the building into simple, universal bits, the concept would make building cheaper, faster, and easier-just like Ikea.
Out of these two ideas grew the Rapid Deployment Data Center, or RDDC: What Facebook calls the design of its data centers. A series of pre-assembled modules are shipped to the site and snapped into place at incredible speeds, taking the best of what Ford and Ikea had pioneered.

Strange Things Done in the Midnight Sun

This year, Facebook will get a chance to test the idea of RDDC. And it seems only appropriate that a design inspired by Ikea will go up in that company's home country: Facebook has announced a new construction project in Lulea, Sweden, next door to its most recent data center.
Lulea, a city of 46,600 people and several well-known black metal bands, sits far up on the coast of the Baltic, so far it's almost in Finland. Temperatures in Lulea never get very high: The warmest month, July, has an average temperature of 61 degrees Fahrenheit. In February, 6 degrees is the norm. Those subarctic temperatures are a major boon for data center companies, which spend millions of dollars keeping their hard-working servers cool.


But it's not just the cold that brings Facebook here: It's also Sweden's energy infrastructure, which is some of most dependable in the world. It also comes from renewable sources, a major plus for Facebook, which has bought up multiple wind farms here in the US to power its stateside data centers. Other companies are getting in on the action here, too, and some local entrepreneurs have even coined a slick term for the region: The Node Pole.
Lulea 2 will be the company's first data center built using Magarelli's flat-pack RDDC concept. It'll be an experiment of sorts-a way to test the ideas that OCP and Magarelli's team have been developing since their charrette. And when it's up and running, the team will take stock and apply what they learned to the next project.

The Magic Box

Believe it or not, the work Magarelli and the team at Facebook are doing has a precedent from over a century ago. "I think back to the Industrial Revolution and how the buildings adapted to nascent industries," he says. "What does a power plant, or a paper mill, look like? All of these archetypes that have evolved to meet industrial needs."
At the turn of the last century, as the Industrial Revolution gripped Europe and the US, a new type of building emerged: The factory. It became an archetypical symbol amongst architects looking for a new approach to building. Factories were cheap, strong, fast to build, and sometimes even beautiful. Above all, though, they were built based on function, not form. Some factories even became sensations amongst designers: Berlin's AEG Turbine Factory is still taught to young architects today. Eventually, there was a free flow of ideas between industrial and avant-garde design. Even today's prefab homes can trace their conceptual roots back to the industrial revolution.

It's hard not to see the parallels between factories and data centers. Each type of building is designed for very specific commercial activities, and each has to adhere to strict budgets and schedules. They are both perfectly utilitarian.
Yet something about the rules and requirements of commercial architecture tends to make invention blossom amongst designers. The data center, just like the factory of the 19th century, is "a whole new type of building," Magarelli adds.

To most of us, the internet cleans up the messiness of the physical world and translates it into something intangible, something neat, something with zero real-world footprint. So it's strange to think that as billions of us sat hunched around our computers focused on an entirely invisible world, we were also feeding the flames of something very tangible.
All of our clicks, uploads, and likes were was forcing Facebook to invent its own archetypical building: A magic box that few of us will ever see, but nearly all of us use all the time.
All images courtesy of Lulea Data Center on Facebook.

Mulder and Scully may have been in search for the truth for a long time, but the government of Chile seems to have chanced upon photographic evidence of extraterrestrial life. An analysis of two high quality photos that show what appear be genuine unidentified flying objects hovering over a remote copper mine has been released by the government office investigating UFOs in Chile.

The CEFAA (Committee for the Studies of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena), located within the Ministerial Department of Civil Aeronautics (DGAC), India's equivalent of the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) is responsible for the analysis of reports highlighting unidentifiable aerial activity in Chilean airspace. Most of this has been reported by aviation personnel and pilots.

The photographs were said to have been taken in the Andean plateau in the far north of Chile over 14,000 feet above sea level at the Collahuasi copper mine. This remote area is known to be inhospitable and desolate due to its unusually clear skies and low oxygen levels. Copper concentrate, molybdenum concentrate and copper cathodes are produced from three open-pit mineral deposits of the Collahuasi mine.

Witness accounts
In April 2013, four technicians specializing in electronics, electricity, and fluid control were working in the area and happened to witness a strange disc-shaped object that approached slowly and kept hovering for over an hour at about 2000 feet. It kept changing positions every now and then. One of the technicians used his Kenox Samsung S860 camera to snap pictures of the unidentified flying object, which made no sound, and moved away towards the East.

Because of the skepticism associated with UFO sightings, the witnesses decided to keep this one to themself. A few months later however, the photographer showed the pictures to the mine's chief engineer, who then sent copies of these images to the CEFAA in February, and also gave him an account of what transpired that day.

All conventional explanations ruled out
A clear sky without the possibility of lenticular clouds was confirmed by Chile's meteorological office at the DGAC. The Chilean officials have also ruled out all other meteorological phenomena as a possible explanation.

Jose Lay, international affairs director for the CEFAA also confirmed that there were no drones operating near the mine. DGAC officials even ruled out any experimental planes, aircraft, or weather balloons.

After eliminating all conventional explanations, the photos were considered worthy enough to be analyzed by the staff at the CEFAA. The study conducted by a leading CEFAA analyst at the DGAC Meteorological Office posted its findings on the CEFAA website on July 3.

Key findings of the study
According to the report, the phenomenon was described by the witnesses as "a flattened brilliantly colored disc, with a diameter that spanned 5 to 10 meters [16 to 32 feet]. It was capable of performing horizontal, descending and ascending movements about 600 meters above the ground in short lengths. The witnesses believed that the object was being intelligently controlled.

The analysis revealed that the unidentified object may be emitting its own energy, which does not coincide with the natural sunlight which is also being reflected off the object. It was almost impossible for the brightness underneath to have been caused by the sun at noon, which was reflected off the top.

The study therefore infers that this was a phenomenon or object of great interest, and that it can be qualified as a UFO.

Limitations of the Collahuasi case
Though this analysis of the Collahuasi case seems solid, there are still a few limitations that the CEFAA staff has recognized. One is that though they were contacted, the witnesses did not seem to be willing to cooperate. That is why the CEFAA has filed the material for future comparison or reference purposes.

Director of the CEFAA, retired General Ricardo Bermudez says that they need to exercise caution due to the fact that the deduction was made by a single CEFFA analyst among several. That is why a meeting of the CEFFA scientific committee, comprising of high level specialists from universities and laboratories was called. Bermudez believed that though these individuals were not expert visual photo-video analysts, their esteemed opinion might be able to shed further light on the case.

Since the release of the report, the South American media has shown great interest in these images. However, since the four witnesses have been unwilling to talk to the authorities, even after they were guaranteed anonymity, a real account of the event might never transpire.
Having said that, no one can deny that these pictures are extremely important, especially because they resulted in an unlikely investigation carried out by a government agency with complete nonchalance. The CEFAA conducted an investigation into the case, came up with their findings, released it to the media and the public and made no bones about calling a spade a spade. In this case, of course, they called the spade a UFO.

A man in California has spent $35 000 turning his home into an amazing cat paradise. He is the owner of 18 cats who may now be the happiest cats in the world! The renovations include a spectacular and complex cat walkway. The walkway was designed by Trillium Enterprises.  There are also miniature cat stairways, spiral ramps, crawling spaces and a ventilation system designed to keep the cats healthy. The decor consists of bright natural colors and there are lots of plants. The home features four bedrooms and it is surrounded by lush gardens. If you like the idea of adding a cat friendly element to your home you can SEARCH FOR CAT FURNITURE HERE.

Modern travel would not be complete without bridges to get us where we need to go. There are many interesting bridges all over the world. Here are 10 Cool Bridges for you to check out.
1. Magdeburg Water Bridge located in Germany.
- See more at: http://welldonestuff.com/10-cool-bridges/#sthash.t2ifnkT8.dpufModern travel would not be complete without bridges to get us where we need to go. There are many interesting bridges all over the world. Here are 10 Cool Bridges for you to check out.

1. Magdeburg Water Bridge located in Germany. photo via wikipedia.com

2. The Bloukrans Bridge in Africa was recorded as being the worlds highest single span arch bridge in the world (2011).photo via portelizabethdailyphoto.blogspot.com

3. The Rialto Bridge spans Venice’s Grand Canal. It was built in 1951. An amazing, historical masterpiece.



 4. This bridge is located in Norway and it is called The Bridge To Nowhere. It is 8kms long and earned it’s name because as you approach to bridge it appears as though it leads into the sea.

photo via indianaspeedy.blogspot.com

5. The Sky Bridge in Malaysia was built as a pedestrian only bridge. It provides awesome views and is approximately 125 meters long.



6. Singapore’s Henderson Wave Bridge is a very creative structure featuring amazing lighting. This a pedestrian bridge, the longest one in Singapore.



photo via news.travel.aol.com

7. The Aiola Bridge  was designed by an artist named Vito Acconci. It is located in Graz Austria. The central part of the bridge houses a bar, a cafe and an area for sunbathing.



8. The Banpo Bridge in Taiwan is a pedestrian bridge that becomes a shimmering rainbow at night.



9. The Millau Bridge in France is the tallest bridge in the world that is built for vehicles. Amazingly is rises 1,125 above the Tarn Valley.



10. The Tsing Ma Bridge in Hong Kong was the second longest suspension bridge in the world when it was built in 1991. It features two decks to carry railroad traffic and road vehicles.

The new Terminal 3 building at Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport has recently captured everyone’s eye. The design by Rome-based architects, Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas, took three years and a budget of US$1 billion dollars to complete.
With an internal area of 500,000 sq. meters and a length that runs 1.5 km, the new terminal building will increase the airport’s capacity to 45 million passengers per year. With an unusual form that is very similar to the double layer skin texture of a manta-ray, the airport has three-level concourse with a roof-span of 80 meters, all wrapped in a brilliant white double-layer shell perforated with metal and glass hexagonal shapes. Theses honeycomb-shaped panels provide natural light to fill the entire terminal (which is somewhat unusual for airport terminals), and the voids between the three concourses allow the light to reach even the bottom floors.
The internal details of the terminal all harmonize with the overall design, with white tree-shaped structures that serve as air-conditioning vents and check-in islands with stainless steel gates which bear the honeycomb design. The interior is just as futuristic as the rest of the building with curving roofs and conical support columns which have a cathedral-like look. They prevent travelers from feeling depressed or as if they are locked in a terminal. The honeycomb pattern is carried out throughout the entire building so that no voluminous spaces are left hollow. The vast and open interior, according to the architects, gives a feel of fluidity while also focusing on practicalities such as processing times, walking distances, ease of orientation and crowding.
The new Shenzen Terminal building shows not only the growing prominence of the surrounding area but also of China being a country with a continuing penchant for high-end architectural design. The Shenzen Airport Group is so thoroughly delighted by the design that they have decided to copyright it. As for the two designers, they are about to be launched into the front-line of high-design transport terminals thanks to this amazing feat of architectural design. Pictures of the new terminal can be seen below.

View of the new terminal from the top

Inside the spacious and naturally lit terminal

Tree-shaped structures are used as air-conditioning vents and check-in islands

Outside the terminal

Futuristic design

The honeycomb-pattern has been used extensively throughout the terminal

The design is both futuristic and sleek