While actually called the “pistol shrimp,” its characteristics make it more befitting of the title: banshee. Despite their small size, pistol shrimp are capable of letting loose a sound of 218 decibels that stuns their prey before they devour them. The pressure wave produced by such a sound is capable of killing a small fish. It’s like a gunshot emanating from a bite-sized crustacean, and that’s why it’s named the pistol shrimp.

With rising sea temperatures in UK waters, experts believe that the pistol shrimp’s numbers are on the rise. They claim it’s the temperature in the water, but I say it’s the fact that they’re monogamous and are all about inbreeding. That could explain the bizarre ability their other friends do not possess. Don’t screw your relatives, it could have bizarre results.

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The world’s first ever wave farm went live at the end of September in Agucadoura, off the coast of northern Portugal. Three wave energy converters resembling Soviet submarines generate electricity with hydraulic rams driven by waves. The farm was designed by Pelamis Wave Power, which hopes to increase the farms productivity by adding an additional 25 wave energy converters that could potentially power 15,000 homes.

Waves powering homes? Remarkable, but how does it work?
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We haven’t covered much cloaking technology and that’s a shame because it’s starting to come into its own. Stefan Enoch at the Fresnel Institute in Marseille, France says that established cloaking principles, such as steering microwave light around an object, could be applied to ocean waves. Because cloaking technology is still in its infancy, scientists are still working on tackling 3-D objects, but we’ve got 2-D down. This works in our favor because waves are essentially 2-D.

To put this theory to the test, researchers built a prototype. The image above is the said prototype which is tested in a wave pool. Acting like a whirlpool, the device produces forces which pull the water along the concentric corridors as a result of the waves repelling off the pillars. This causes all the water to go everywhere except the center of the cloak. Think of the possibilities.

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Though video game aficionados will benefit the most from a device emitting Paperboy-esque sounds, this homebrew music box. It generates random tones from an oscillator and feeds the audio through a speaker. All of which is housed inside a cardboard box mind you.

The schematics, videos, plans, part list, etc. are available for download off of the website and truth be told, it seems easy enough that you could complete the whole thing in a weekend. That’s provided you don’t go wandering off to to the theater to see Iron Man again. Hit the link for a video of the Music Box in action.

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French cosmetic conglomerate Clarins has recently introduced a new patented beauty product dubbed Expertise 3P. Supposedly this solution will protect your skin from aging due to Electromagnetic waves as well as air-pollution. The secret lies in the active ingredients Thermus Thermophillus and Rhodiola Rosea which are extracted from plants. We have no idea if this thing really works, neither do we know if EM waves themselves (UV we know) can really harm our skin. If you are up for a try, the 3.5oz bottle is selling for $40 online now. Do let us know. — Sam Chan