Can you de-whip whipped cream and meringue in a low-pressure environment? This important question was posed by The King of Random. The results are expansive.

The experiment repeated in a larger chamber:

"In a vacuum chamber" could be the new "by a hydraulic press"

We've previously brought you the wonderful work of Smac McCreanor, aka "Hydraulic Press Girl." Well, if you thought her interpretive dances to hydraulic presses squishing things were great, wait until you see her "Chicken Club" work. The Los Angeles-based Australian artist, actress, dancer, choreographer, content creator and set designer has been creating absolutely perfect videos of her and her friends dancing along to the choreography of some very talented dancing chickens. — Read the rest

Hell yeah! In a great start to 2024, the city of Los Angeles has lifted its decades-long ban on cruising. I actually had no idea that it was technically illegal all these years for souped-up lowriders to cruise down the street, blasting oldies and flaunting pinstripe perfection, but hey, you learn something new every day. — Read the rest

From much national coverage of yesterday's election in Pennsylvania's 21st district, centered on a hip neighborhood in one of America's most progressive cities, you'd never have guessed that Democrat Lindsay Powell was going to yeet a Republican challenger into space with more than two thirds of the vote, even though that's definitely what was going to happen because it's what always happens there. — Read the rest

Remember the simple joys of the hydraulic press craze? Truth be told, it may be incorrect to refer to it in the past tense, given that it's still going strong over on places like TikTok- and, evidently, has branched out into a wider "using industrial tools to destroy stuff for fun" trend. — Read the rest

What's worse than cyborg spiders? Dead cyborg spiders!

…Unless you're part of the "necrobotics" (yes really) lab at Rice University, in which case, dead cyborg spiders can actually be a handy tool for creating a set of mechanical grippers that can pick up objects while blending into natural environments. — Read the rest

Rice University researchers are pioneers in the field of necrobotics—reanimating dead creatures as robots. They've demonstrated how a tiny dead wolf spider can become an air-powered gripper that can pick up tiny electronic parts from a circuit board. Video below. From IEEE Spectrum:

Spiders are basically hydraulic (or pneumatic) grippers.

After mating, the male Philoponella prominens spider—a type of orb weaver native to Japan and Korea—catapults itself away from the female at astounding speed. Why? To avoid being eaten by the female once the deed is done and its services are no longer required. — Read the rest

Looking for something fun to do as the summer winds down and we wait for however the heck the Delta variant decides to dissipate? While some people have run out of ideas on how to preoccupy themselves these days, you're an innovator of fun always looking for the next great adventure, right? — Read the rest

LifePro Fitness was founded when a pair of friends suffered ACL tears a few months apart, then suffered again through the rigors of in-home rehab with inadequate equipment and training that offered minimal support.

LifePro is dedicated to helping users power toward their fitness goals and recovery with solid equipment, clear workout routines, and support to stay motivated. As — Read the rest

What would happen to a pair of Crocs if they sat 3 kilometers down on the ocean floor? How about a styrofoam cup? Or a fishing lure? The Hydraulic Press Channel employs a high pressure chamber to subjects those items and more to a simulated 3 kilometers of depth. — Read the rest

The Hydraulic Press Channel has a second channel called Beyond the Press, where they do other fun stuff like smash tempered glass.

In case you missed it, they crushed a bowling ball and pin on their main channel, to spectacular effect. — Read the rest

Gifts for lovers

Given the crushing strength of this machine and the way large chunks of concrete balance atop distressed rebar, this worker might want to consider goggles and not turning his back on the machine.

If you like sweary Canadians with lots of knowledge about building materials and construction, Arduino versus Evil has the most interesting armchair analysis of what caused the Florida International University bridge collapse.

Ben at PressTube has branched out from squishing things in a hydraulic press to other impressive metalworking, like this project to shred and melt soda cans into ingots of aluminum.

In their latest video, the Hydraulic Press Channel team shows how to plow through 10 decks of cards (and other things like a rubber band ball and CO2 cartridges) using their extra-sharp "Guillotine 5,000,000" blade. Hard not to love watching that. — Read the rest

Trying to open the emergency exit door of an airplane while still in flight is obviously a stupid idea. First of all, you might get a wine bottle smashed over your head. And you most certainly will get arrested. — Read the rest

This is CAM (cybernetic anthropomorphous machine), a "walking truck" designed by Ralph Mosher at General Electric in 1965. It may not be as rough-and-tumble as Boston Dynamics' BigDog but it was certainly more fun because the operator rode inside of it! — Read the rest

In this article for Aeon, author Sandra Newman makes a strong argument for the need to treat rape the way we treat other crimes. But first she digs into the history of the many other ways in which rape has been conceptualized over the years:

There is a simple and surprisingly durable myth about what causes men to rape women.