This experimental attempt to ride a left-right-swapped bicycle raises a big fat question about how the human brain works. Destin, he of the Smarter Every Day video series, tells and shows what he did, and why he did it, and wonders about what it means: Is it the same big, fat question raised by the Erismann-Koehler […]
Tag: bicycle
Human energy expenditure, in bread-slice units
Human energy expenditure can be measured in meaningful units, is one possible message of this May 1938 article in Popular Science: Meter Gauges Work in Bread-Slice Units How rapidly exercise uses up the energy in the food you eat is graphically demonstrated by a device called the “bread-o-meter” at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pa. […]
The bricycle, a nearly unrideable bicycle/tricycle hybrid
This contraption, the bricycle, is in vital ways intermediate between being a bicycle and being a tricycle, it is adjustable to act as the one, or the other, or something inbetween (a better name for it might have been biandortricycle). The bricycle is said (and demonstrated here) to be almost unridable. Its the work of Owen […]
Partially-bicycle-powered espresso maker
This is a partially-bicycle-driven espresso maker and coffee vending cart called a velopresso. The prototype is on display at Conway Hall in London. The inventors describe it lovingly, in the engineering sense: Rear-steering and front-wheel drive give a very tight turning circle and optimal transmission arrangement. The transmission incorporates both roller-chains and belt-drives and a […]
Cutting Off the Nose to Save the Penis
A provocative study, from the American midwest, about safety: “Cutting Off the Nose to Save the Penis,” Steven M. Schrader, Michael J. Breitenstein, and Brian D. Lowe, Journal of Sexual Medicine, vol. 5, no. 8, 2008, pp. 1932–40. The authors, at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, Ohio, report [AIR 15:5]: “The […]
How to dismantle a bicycle, theft by theft
The maker of this short video explains: “Last year, Red Peak Branding conducted a unique urban experiment for Hudson Urban Bicycles. On January 1, 2011 we chained a fully loaded bike – bells, basket, lights and more – to a post along a busy Soho street. We took a picture of the bike everyday for […]
Bicycle physics challenge
Today’s physics challenge: Estimate the average speed and net displacement of this bicycle: [vimeo]9970489[/vimeo] BONUS: A cheery music video about the singer’s bicycle having been stolen:
Go-go biking across Japan: Toilet power
“‘Poop As You Go’ Biogas Bike To Go On 600 Mile Tour Of Japan” reads the headline on Treehugger’s report about exactly that. Treehugger gives details: Japan’s biggest toilet maker, TOTO, takes the toilet on the road with its launch of the Toilet Bike Neo, a bike that’s powered entirely by human waste. The bike runs […]
Argument for a stinky bicycle helmet
Research News reports on a technical innovation (thanks to investigator Jan Stradowski for bringing this to our attention): Crash helmet with a useful smell The polymer materials or plastics produced by the process start to smell if they develop small cracks. Large cracks really cause a stink. The smell comes from odoriferous oils enclosed in […]
Cranky bicyclist
Carl Morgan built a robot bicyclist. This video shows in in action. (For an observer’s perspective, see the related Popular Science article.)