It might seem like a new technological advancement, but it’s not. It is a technology that has been around for nearly 130 years, which makes it even older than the Ford Model T. It is a wonder why it is only appearing now, considering that it has been around for over a century.

So how did it start, and how does it work?

The story begins in 1831 when English physicist Michael Faraday discovered the underlying magnetic and induction principles which led to induction charging, which can transfer energy wirelessly between two receivers.

He described his experiment, which produced a "current of electricity by ordinary magnets," in an 1831 series of lectures at the Royal Society in London. Faraday had used a liquid battery to send an electric current through a small coil. Then when it moved in our out of a larger coil, the magnetic field changed—it created a momentary voltage in the smaller coil.

There was also Nikola Tesla who was determined to transmit electricity without the use of wires. By using Faraday’s principles, he was able to demonstrate the ability to transmit energy through the air.

He created a magnetic field between two circuits, a transmitter and a receiver, in the late 19th century.

And if you're picturing something straight out of The Prestige, you're not far off.

If you head over to the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, you can see this history in action. Tesla's coil prototype has been on display there since 1937. In the demo, it powers a neon sign without any wires—and that's what's going on inside your smartphone when you place it on a wireless charger.

While scientists discovered wireless charging—it didn't have many practical uses, at least not at first. Prior to smartphones, smartwatches and electric vehicles, most applications for wireless charging came down to...electric toothbrushes.

Since the 90s, electric toothbrushes with plastic bottoms have used inductive charging built into the stand.

(Video Credit: Extant Chronicles/ YouTube)

The DC-Based film “Joker”, starring Joaquin Phoenix’s as the iconic archenemy of Batman, premiered on the Venice Film Festival last Saturday. The film was said to have the audience on their feet for — not one, not two, but — eight long minutes of standing ovation. Now THAT’s quite the film to look forward to!

The Todd Phillips-directed movie was also met with shouts of “Bravo!” as the credits rolled and Joaquin Phoenix’s name was flashed on the screen, Deadline reported.

The reaction at Venice only fuels early Oscar buzz, especially for Phoenix, who was present at the Saturday night screening.

The film will hit theaters on October 4. Are you looking forward to it?

(Image Credit: Warner Bros. / Geek.com)

We are used to science videos from Kurzgesagt, but this is something very different for them: fiction. They've animated the 2009 short story "The Egg" by Andy Weir. The speculative story is a conversation in the afterlife that takes liberties with various religions, but the point is that it's all about me, which means it's about all of us.   

Putting the woolly mammoth on the endangered species list is an idea that has been presented to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), which is a international treaty to protect species. Now, mind you, the woolly mammoth is extinct, and no one involved is trying to claim otherwise. So why would anyone want to make an extinct animal into a technically endangered animal? Because of the ivory.  

When mammoths died, many ended up entombed in permafrost, which encased, deep-froze, and preserved their bodies. Now, as the permafrost begins to thaw, more and more of these prehistoric pachyderms—and their spectacular tusks—are emerging, and paleontologists aren’t the only ones picking up the pieces.

“Tons of tusks are found each year, but almost all of them are sold to ivory traders,” says Daniel Fisher, a paleontologist at the University of Michigan who specializes in the paleobiology of mammoths, which he studies through their tusks and teeth. “Doing the science we would like to do to learn more about mammoth ecology and history has therefore become much more difficult over the last couple decades.”

It's not just the science that is affected. Making mammoth ivory illegal takes away a loophole that traders use to sell their goods, since it is almost impossible to tell mammoth ivory from elephant ivory once it's carved. Read about the pros and cons of making mammoths an endangered species at Atlas Obscura.

(Image credit: Flying Puffin)

If a bank robber were to hit Metropolis Bank, luck would have it that Clark Kent is in the bank, waiting in line. Kent is reluctant to use his super powers to stop the crime. Is it because that would reveal his secret identity? Well, no, as we've all noticed, Superman's "disguise" as Kent is a waste of time. He's staying out of it because he's taking a personal day as his therapist recommended. Studio C gives us an awkward clash between the world of comic book heroes and the self-help movement.  -via io9

Women have always been involved in science, math, technology, medicine, and engineering, but their accomplishments are often overlooked. A set of free posters celebrates eight of those pioneering women from all over the world. Some you've heard of, others may be new to you.

The free downloadable posters, created by Nevertheless, feature eight trailblazing women who have made an impact in STEM fields. Each poster is also uniquely designed by a different female artist from around the world. Nevertheless, a podcast which celebrates women transforming teaching and learning through technology, hopes that you will download the posters and print them out for your school, home, or workplace.

See all eight posters, with information about each subject and artist, at A Mighty Girl. -via Nag on the Lake

Keith Busher collects Precious Moments figurines. That in itself is not unusual, because a lot of people do. But Busher is an artist. He takes the figurines he finds and makes them dark and twisted, downright "anti-precious." Apartment therapy tells his story. 

Though he initially shied away from toying with Precious Moments because he didn’t want to upset anyone (and, practically speaking, because people aren’t in the habit of discarding those particular figurines very often), Busher says he hit the jackpot when he found out a local antique shop had an entire box of Precious Moments it was looking to offload. “The Precious Moments pieces tend to get the biggest audiences as they are so recognizable,” he says. “Everyone knows somebody who had this piece or that one.”

Busher uses a self-hardening clay and mostly recycled materials to transform each figurine. And he takes his time. “I’ve learned that I can make pieces quickly, but I won’t be happy when it’s done,” he says. “I often add things that don’t get seen, several layers of paint to get that right feeling of depth.”

See Busher's creations at the Precious Mutations Facebook page and at Instagram.  -Thanks, Linda!

Different coins from various countries have really interesting patterns and designs. Artist Micah Adams removed these embossed patterns to create trinkets, knick knacks, accessories, and other jewelry which he sells on Etsy.

“I was making small assemblages from things I’d collected over the years, tiny things like toys, bottle caps, beach finds and even teeth,” Adams tells Colossal.

“Then I cast them in metal. They were like tiny bronzes or miniature monuments. That lead me to look for tiny things that were already metal that I could use. So I looked at coins and their designs for things I could cut-out.”

(Image credit: Micah Adams)

Instructables member Look_I_Make_A_Hat made this soul-consuming Furby and provides instructions on how to, if you dare, create your own to unleash upon the world. You and I are compelled to do so, for we crave to obey the centifurby.

Although the creature really reminded me more of a sandworm (Bless the Maker and His water) from Dune than a centipede. That thought got me Googling a bit, leading me to this wonderfully terrifying creature.

It appears that making Furbies monstrous is an entire genre of crafting.

-via Technabob

The bleak existential exploration of the human soul from the voice of German filmmaker Werner Herzog can be cute and homey if it is well-presented. In this case, though, Amanda Kim cross stitched a tweet by @WernerTwerzog, a parody of the filmmaker. Every word of his here is true, yet I cannot find enough of myself to weep over them.

-via Rod Dreher

Several processes work together to make up our sense of smell. Our nose will pick up the molecules from the air and from there, our brain will try to identify and sort out the different smells wafting through the air. Having a good sense of smell is very useful but what actually constitutes the whole process of smelling?

Generally, scientists know that odor particles first enter through the nasal cavity, where odorant receptors expressed by olfactory receptor neurons in the sensory tissue bind to them. The olfactory bulb, a structure located in the forebrain of mammals, then processes information sent up from the receptors.

Afterwards, the bulb sends out this information to several higher processing brain areas, including the cerebral cortex. There, the olfactory output messages are further analyzed and broadcast across the brain before they’re conveyed back to the bulb in a feedback loop.

But we don't yet have a complete understanding of what goes on in every aspect of our sense of smell. That is, what kind of circuitry does our brain use in order to make sense of the signals being sent to it from our nose?

(Image credit: ian dooley/Unsplash)

According to a new research conducted by Steven Alvarado, assistant professor of sociology in Cornell, children who grow up in more difficult neighborhoods have a higher probability of experiencing obesity when they become adults.

“Growing up in a disadvantaged neighborhood sticks with you, and can have a negative impact on one’s health through increasing one’s chance of obesity in adulthood,” Alvarado said. 

Among respondents followed in the data across different age ranges, that chance is 13% greater among children up to age 10 who live in disadvantaged neighborhoods, and 29% higher for kids aged 11 to 18, according to Alvarado’s analysis. Overall, the odds rose 31%.

But why is this the case? What factors contribute to the connection between obesity and the environment in which one grew up? To find out more, check out the article on Cornell.

(Image credit: Baron Cole/Unsplash)

According to UNICEF, over a million people die from malaria each year and more so in areas which are more prone to the disease. But researchers have found that a new molecule called TCMDC-135051 has the ability to target the life-cycle of Plasmodium falciparum, a species that causes malaria.

Andre Juliao | Agencia FAPESP – The results of the study, published this Friday (8/30) in Science, pave the way for the development of a new drug against the disease, which has 200,000 new cases and kills nearly half a million people worldwide annually. One of the obstacles to eradicating malaria today is that the parasite has acquired resistance to existing drugs.

Read more on Agencia FAPESP.

(Image credit: mwooten/Pixabay)

At a certain point, you've argued with the game master enough. You'll know that time has come when he brings out the d20 mace crafted by redditor King_Diamond_666.

He etched the numbers into the steel with a process called saltwater etching. This is something I've never tried before, but I'm now thinking about. It applies a mild electrical charge while the desired area is exposed to saltwater.

Perhaps when my time comes, my obituary will say that I was "withdrawn from the library collection." That would be a pretty good way to say that I died. It would fit in well with this Instagram archive of unique and clever euphemisms for death in obituaries.

-via Nag on the Lake