Here First - Science and Technology Blog

It consumed Leif Garvin a few years to construct this Batman Replica, and a million US bucks to convert a 1973 Lincoln Continental into this Batmobile.

The Model S is being designed as a high performance electric sedan, competing with such cars as the BMW 5-series. This is primarily in order to justify the high costs of high density lithium ion batteries. This business model follows that of the the high performance Tesla Roadster sports car, which has a base price of $109,000 USD / € 99,000. Initial pricing is estimated at $57,400 for the standard model with a 150 mi (240 km) range or $65,000 for a premium model with greater performance and a 300 mi (480 km) range.[5][6] The company also announced plans to rent or lease high capacity battery packs which offer a 300-mile range.Profits from the Model S are expected to fund development of a more affordable third vehicle codenamed "BlueStar". The chassis, body, motor and energy storage system will likely be unique to Tesla Motors. Construction of the assembly factory in Albuquerque, New Mexico (a central location for shipping) was supposed to begin in April 2007, but was cancele...

If you enjoy warming your bottom on a heated car seat then you should beware, for you may also be frying your chances of fatherhood, New Scientist reports in its latest issue. Sperm production is best when the temperature of the scrotum is one or two degrees Celsius (1.8-3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) below the core body temperature of 37 C (99 F). Testicle-testing German researchers fitted sensors to the scrotums of 30 healthy men who then sat on a heated car seat for 90 minutes. After one hour, the average scrotal temperature had risen to 37.3 C (99.5 F), and in one volunteer reached a whopping 39.7 C (103 F). By comparison, men who sat on unheated car seats reached an average scrotal temperature of only 36.7 C (98 F). The study, led by Andreas Jung at the University of Giessen, did not verify the volunteer's sperm count or sperm mobility, but the researchers fear that only a slight increase in temperature is enough to damage the sperm-production process, the British weekly says. Previo...

Planes are perhaps the hardest things to get rid off. That is why, with a little creativity and a small budget, one can cleverly reuse them. Some already ahead and created some of the coolest, oddest or funniest hangout. This is a house built by Bruce Campbell out of the Boeing 727 - he got a trendy, one-of-a-kind villa in the woods. “Cosmic Muffin” is the most unusual boat, made out of a rare and historic aircraft - the Boeing 307 Stratoliner “( dating back from 1937). The Boeing 307 Stratoliner was fitted with a luxury interior, including a bedroom, and named The Flying Penthouse after being used in World War II. It was originally owned by Howard Hughes which he bought in 1939. This Boeing 307, the Clipper Flying Cloud belongs to the Pan American Airways and has been restored for the National Air and Space Museum (the Smithsonian). The fully functional plane is the world’s only remaining Stratoliner. This villa in South Africa really is not quite the real plane, though it gets credit...

Audi meets audio…who doesn’t love a good pun? Especially when it is as good looking as this iPod inspired Audi designed by Ondrej Jirec, a design student from the Czech Republic. His concept Audi design takes the great American past time of making your vehicle into one giant rolling boombox to new heights. This bad boy features the mother of all audio systems with internet connectivity for downloading music onto the built-in 650 GB hard drive, a Bluetooth system for connecting two or more Audi O cars together, making for the largest rolling club ever. Best yet, it comes completely decked out with a couple of DJ decks and mixer. Look for this master blaster in the next installment of The Fast and the Furious Deaf Jam. Designer: Ondrej Jirec [ Via: Diseno Art & IgreenSpot ]

How does the government know how much I'm driving? Americans have reduced the number of miles they drive each month since November, according to a report released Wednesday from the Federal Highway Administration. Americans drove 53.2 billion miles fewer than they did over the same eight-month period a year ago. How does the U.S. government know how much time I'm spending in my car? Four thousand little sensors and a bit of algebra. States install traffic sensors on urban and rural roads and interstate highways to count cars and, sometimes, to determine their size. (You may have noticed their lane-wide rectangular outlines embedded in the pavement.) Some sensors detect vehicles by their weight. Others detect a car's metal underbelly with an electromagnetic field. At the end of every month, the states pass the car-counting data to the feds, who plug them into a formula to estimate how many miles Americans drive each month. A pair of sensors placed near each other can sometim...

The first Air Bus A380 aircraft was delivered to Singapore Airlines months ago and their maiden flight was from Singapore to Sydney, Australia and the ticket was $10,000. All 455 tickets were sold in no time and all proceeds from it went to charity.