Vantablack is a pigment made from carbon that is so black that anything painted with it looks like a hole in reality. It absorbs 99.965% of visible light. The Action Lab Man made something even blacker than Vantablack, then shines lights and lasers onto it to see if it visibly reflects the light. He uses marks made with a black Sharpie and a paint called Black 2 (which absorbs 95% of visible light) to compare how well his black square absorbs light. There's a surprising reveal at the end.
How to make something that's darker than Vantablack
In 1978, a physicist took a particle accelerator beam through his brain and went back to work
On June 3, 1978, Soviet physicist Anatoli Bugorski was checking malfunctioning equipment on the U-70 synchrotron — the largest particle accelerator in the Soviet Union — when the safety mechanisms… READ THE REST
Liquid water may be two different structures constantly swapping back and forth
Water is weird. Unlike any simple liquid, it becomes easier to compress as it cools, and it reaches its maximum density at 4°C—not at its freezing point. This anomaly is… READ THE REST
Scientists found ice with a 304-molecule repeating pattern
Ice-9, in Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, is a fictional polymorph of water that stays solid at room temperature and converts every drop it touches into more of itself. Real ice doesn't… READ THE REST
Microsoft Office 2024 puts the old reliables back on your PC
Disclosure: Boing Boing earns a commission on purchases made through links in this post. TL;DR: Microsoft Office 2024 Professional Plus for Windows is $54.99 (reg. $249.99) with Excel, Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Access,… READ THE REST
Speak a new language confidently sooner than you dreamed with Rosetta Stone Sapphire for $127.20
Disclosure: Boing Boing earns a commission on purchases made through links in this post. TL;DR: Learn to speak one (or more!) new languages confidently and naturally with a one-year subscription to Rosetta… READ THE REST
Microsoft Office is just $28, but only through July 26
Disclosure: Boing Boing earns a commission on purchases made through links in this post. TL;DR: Get Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows for $27.97 instead of $219.99. The one-time purchase includes eight familiar… READ THE REST
