What happens when you drop a powerful, spinning magnet into a fat copper pipe?
Wonderful, wonderful things.
Ok, well actually more of a sort of slow, weird, levitation effect that lasts about a second. But it's still pretty amazing, as the following video shows.
Amazing Science Discoveries
Russia Has A Space Army - But It's Not Ready To Fight Aliens(01 of14)
Russia said that its space army, which actually exists, is doing pretty well thank you very much. But no, it isn't currently able to repel an alien invasion. "We are unfortunately not ready to fight extraterrestrial civilizations," said deputy chief of the Titov Main Test and Space Systems Control Centre Sergey Berezhnoy."There are too many problems on Earth and near it."
This Frog Photobombed A NASA Space Launch(02 of14)
Nasa launched the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer spacecraft back in September, and while the £180 million craft is actually a pretty interesting scientific instrument, the launch itself was totally overshadowed by the fact that a frog managed to Photobomb the moment of lift-off with this frankly unbelievably well-timed dive into legend.
The Universe Could Have Already Started Collapsing(03 of14)
"Maybe the collapse has already started somewhere in the universe and right now it is eating its way into the rest of the universe. Maybe a collapse is starting right now right here. Or maybe it will start far away from here in a billion years."That is an actual quote from Colding Krog, University of Southern Denmark, after the news that a phase transition in the value of the Higgs Field could tear apart reality might have already started.
Nasa Drew A Penis On Mars(04 of14)
While attempting to find signs of life on our nearest alien planet, Nasa "accidentally" drew a penis on Mars. It was objectively hilarious, even if it was also totally unavoidable.
The Universe Is A Simulation(05 of14)
This year we learned that physicists might have evidence that the universe is a computer simulation. The team at University of Bonn in Germany wrote in their paper, 'Constraints on the Universe as a Numerical Simulation', that that current simulations of the universe - which do exist, but which are extremely weak and small - naturally put limits on physical laws. And those limits are pretty similar to those in our own universe. None of you freaked out when we told you that. Oh no, wait, like 298,000 of you did.
A Town In Norway Built Three Massive Mirrors To Reflect Sunlight During Dark Winter Months(06 of14)
The town of Rjukan is home to 3,500 people who don't get enough sun during winter. So naturally they took it upon themselves to build three enormous mirrors to reflect sun back onto the town at a cost of £523,400.
An Astronaut Fought A Robot In Space(07 of14)
Among the various nice things which happened on the International Space Station this year, including a friendly Canadian singing David Bowie covers, there was also a fair amount of deadly violence and bloodshed. Alright, not really. But if this picture is to be believed, at least one astronaut had a fight with a robot.
Two Australians Had Sex (Or Didn't) On Street View(08 of14)
This image, captured from Google Street View pictures taken on Dukes Highway in Keith, South Australia, shows a couple either (a) having a very good day unaware that the Google car was driving past or (b) having a very good day at Google's expense. Either way, it is a very funny picture which only technology was able to provide.
Someone Kinda Found Han Solo Frozen In Carbonite On Mercury(09 of14)
This thing - which really, really looks like Han Solo frozen in Carbonite but WHICH IS NOT Han Solo frozen in Carbonite was found on the surface of Mercury this year.
Area 51 Actually Exists(10 of14)
This was the year that the American government finally admitted that Area 51 - the almost mythical military 'UFO facility' - actually exists. True, they explicitly denied anything to do with aliens is actually going on there - but surely it's only a matter of time?The released documents said:
"President Eisenhower also approved the addition of this strip of wasteland, known by its map designation as Area 51, to the Nevada Test Site. The outlines of Area 51 are shown on current unclassified maps as a small rectangular area adjoining the northeast corner of the much larger Nevada Test Site."
Scientists Accidentally Invented An 'Impossible Material' Called Upsalite(11 of14)
Researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden apparently left an experiment running over a weekend - by mistake - only to return to their work to find they had solved a century-old problem. The result of their - well, not quite 'work'… - is "Upsalite", a material that has remarkable abilities to bind water, and could be used in everything from air conditioning units to chemical manufacturing.
Someone Lost $4.6 Million Of Bitcoin In Wales(12 of14)
Bitcoin got very popular this year - primarily because it also got very valuable (and then cheap, and then valuable again, and then cheap again). Unfortunately for one man, the rise in value also led to a rise in his blood pressure, after it was revealed he managed to bury £4.6 million worth in this landfill in Wales.
The First Plane Flew Over The UK Without A Pilot(13 of14)
This is a picture of a plane. A plane which made a complete flight over the UK while its pilots sat and did nothing, because it's a robot, and that's terrifying, but science.
It's Possible To See Your Brainwaves(14 of14)
Stare at the pinwheel for a few seconds then look at a spot slightly away from it. You should be able to see the centre of the pinwheel flicker when it's in your peripheral vision. Only this is more than just a pretty effect - Rodika Sokoliuk and Rufin VanRullen from the University of Toulouse told us this year that this is actually a representation of your brainwaves.