Firefighting robot heads directly into harm's way

The Firefighters Assistant Robot, developed by Hoya Robot of South Korea, is designed to head directly into fires and let firefighters know just what the situation is inside. Able to operate in fires for up to 30 minutes, withstand drops of six feet and spray from a fire hose, this is one tough little bot.
Inside, the remote-controlled robot can transmit images, sounds, temperature, smoke and gas data to firefighters hanging out up to 54 yards away. This lets them stay safe and then, when they have all the info, plan a course of action. Pretty cool stuff.
[DVICE via Hoya Robot via Crave]

Alien effects: Lighting a candle in space

When you're floating around in the International Space Station, you're constantly reminded that you're having a literally out-of-this-world experience. Case in point: this is what it looks like when you light a candle in microgravity.
Because of the lack of gravity, the air's density is the same in all directions, so that means the heat disperses evenly, making the flame all the same color. Wow.
[DVICE via TechEBlog]

Five Shocking Time-Lapse Videos of the Los Angeles Wildfire [Clips]

Five Shocking Time-Lapse Videos of the Los Angeles Wildfire [Clips]: "
After 11 days, Firefighters believe they have finally made progress battling the arson fire that has ravaged 148,258 acres of Angeles National Forest. That is a herculean feat, as these frighting time-lapse videos illustrate.




In a town so tied into the film industry, it isn't surprising that local filmmakers would turn their cameras on the fire—showing us all just how fast a small flame can rage into something so utterly devastating. Check out Fast Company for the rest of the videos. [Fast Company and Yahoo]