Awesome Videos

While they’re not exactly state-of-the-art, mechanical displays can be quite fascinating to watch in action. In this video from Japan’s Karakuri channel, they show off a 3D-printed machine that displays digits on a pair of 7-segment units by pushing its keys. It has 213 parts in all, and no electrical components. Turn English captions on.

In 2015, Mixtela built a tiny synthesizer directly into a MIDI connector with a piezoelectric buzzer. 8 years later, technology has progressed. But the maker decided he’d to recreate the same buzzy instrument, only using a modern USB-C connector to reduce its size. It only produces a simple square wave, but with multiples and a hub, they can play polyphonic tunes.

Colin Furze has created all kinds of inventions over the years, from useful to useless. This one falls into the latter bucket, though it could be used to get your campfire going. Because nobody was asking for it, Colin created a flamethrower that mounts inside of his pants and shoots fire from his butt. It’s powered by an aerosol can and an electric igniter.

Robinson Foundry shows how he took a digital 3D model of a human skull and used it to create a cast bronze sculpture. The Lost PLA method starts by making a 3D-print, coating it with a ceramic material, kiln-firing it to harden it and melt away the plastic, then filling it with molten metal and eventually chipping away the casting.

Have you ever wondered how the gravity on different planets might affect your ability to throw a ball? Dr. James O’Donoghue created this infographic that explores how far and high you could toss a ball, assuming no air resistance. Basically, on Mars, Mercury, and Pluto, you could hit a home run without a baseball bat.

You know what would have made the Jurassic Park movies better? If the dinosaurs wielded weapons. Imagine if the velociraptors had Gatling guns or if the T-Rexes had flamethrowers. North of the Border gives us one of those things by sculpting a the king of the dinosaurs cosplaying as a fire-breathing dragon.

Time isn’t as simple as what shows up on your phone’s screen. Erin McCarthy of Mental Floss offers up a number of interesting tidbits about the nature of time, how humans perceive its passage, how space and time relate, and the different ways of measuring time itself.

Normally, if you want a guitar and a bass, those are two instruments. Inspired by a weird prototype guitar shown in the Beatles Get Back documentary, Mattias Krantz engineered this unique guitar with a cylindrical neck that rotates beneath its player’s digits, allowing its player to switch instantly between guitar and bass strings. It’s also got a motor drive.

Paul Chadeisson’s science fiction short film is set on a planet that’s been exploited for its natural resources by a fascist empire. As massive autonomous factories endlessly churn out war machines, the authoritarian leaders lose sight of their humanity. (Thanks, Rob!)

Filling tires with nitrogen instead of air can reduce air loss and boost fuel economy. But filling them with LIQUID nitrogen is an absolutely terrible idea since the stuff comes out of the jug at -320 °F (− 196 °C). That didn’t stop Superkot from trying it out on his Miata. It’s only a matter of minutes before the cryogenic fluid causes the tires to fail spectacularly.

Musician Dalton Deschain is an expert at making unlikely cover versions of hit songs. He’s especially adept at performing tunes in the style of the B-52s. Here’s his version of System of a Down’s Chop Suey with Fred Schneider’s energetic vocalizations. Singer-songwriter Jo Kroger brings the Kate + Cindy energy, minus the beehive hairdo.

When is a bass not a bass? When it’s a piano, of course. Musician Charles Berthoud demonstrates what that sounds like with a fingerstyle bass rendition of Scott Joplin’s ragtime classic The Entertainer, incorporating some insane flourishes.

We’ve seen a machine designed to test the suspension on LEGO cars. Here’s a series of nine LEGO Technic vehicles, each rolling on a unique suspension setup. Dr. Engine built and tested each of the rides to see which design had the best shock absorption, load handling, and rock crawling abilities.

This science fiction short film tells an original story while demonstrating what’s possible with state-of-the-art computer graphics. Oscar-winning VFX artist Tim Webber of Framestore used Unreal Engine to create FLITE, which follows the story of a woman imprisoned in her hi-rise apartment building and the stranger who helps her make a daring escape from the tower.

In the midnight hour, I want to wish you a merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart. DJ Cummerbund has done it again, mashing up Billy Idol’s hit Rebel Yell with José Feliciano’s seasonal classic Feliz Navidad. With special guest appearances by Rob Zombie, Wham!, and Rush, it’s sure to bring joy to your holiday festivities.

When Lauri Vuohensilta isn’t crushing things with his 150-ton hydraulic press, he enjoys making things explode. In this clip from his Beyond the Press channel, he and the guys from Pyrokratia rigged up nearly 7000 blocks of recalled fireworks to explode at the same time. This is totally going to be our new bedtime white noise.

Burls Art has created a few guitar bodies from colored pencils. This time, he made a 5-string bass using a similar technique. Before sealing the pieces in resin, he sorted and grouped the colors and fanned them out into a bold, angular design. He also added a timer to the video to show how long it took to build.

Mark Rober has been frustrating porch pirates and other thieves with his trick glitter bombs for a while now. To wrap up the series, he teamed up with a local news outlet in San Francisco to set up a bait car and backpack, covering thieves with glitter and fart spray and tracking the stolen goods to help identify the criminals behind the break-ins.

Every year, movie studios and TV networks spoon-feed viewers what they hope will be the next Christmas classic. Roger from Honest Ads calls bulls*t on these movies, filled with unrealistic relationships, product placements, and stupid clichés.

After nearly destroying a bowling ball cannon, How Ridiculous asked BealsScience to make a pair of air-powered cannons. To maximize their destructive power, they pointed them at each other and then fired them to collide basketballs, LEGO cannonballs, and watermelons in mid-air. It took a lot of trial and error to get them to sync up.

We’ve seen how explosive something as tame as paper can be when crushed in a hydraulic press. So, how energetic are actual explosives when subjected to similar forces? Press play and find out as the Hydraulic Press Channel takes canisters of compressed propane gas and smooshes them next to a bunch of candles.

Thrasher and Tony Hawk looks back on his game-changing skateboarding career by pulling off a mix of classic and new tricks while reminding us you’re never too old to have fun. He’s joined for his video finalé by members of the 1980’s best skate team, the Bones Brigade. The track is All Stood Still by the woefully underappreciated Ultravox.

(PG-13: Language) “I’ma give you my North Pole like you’re Missus Claus.” MC Spotz, Killah C, Dr. Shellz, and Xzibit bring the cheer with a special Christmas gift that deserves a place on your holiday playlist alongside Dick in a Box. We’re looking forward to carolers singing this tune outside our front door.