The All-New 2014 Sierra DureLife Brake Rotors

They're touting the fact that "GMC also uses a heat-treating process called ferritic nitrocarburizing" in their ads?

I'm thinking that the percentage of people who see that commercial who have even the faintest inkling of what ferritic nitrocarburizing is can be safely rounded down to zero.

In the Heat of the Foundry, Steinway Piano 'Hearts' are Made

NPR reported on the casting of Steinway pianos' iron plates in Springfield, Ohio.

Their story also came with a few photos of two foundry workers pouring the plates by hand and telling a few stories of some of the molten iron running into their wisely-slip-off boots.

Mjölnir (Thor: The Dark World) - MAN AT ARMS

There aren't any new material being used in this video, but there is a guy making the Hammer of THOR!

Or rather a nice recreation of the hammer of the gods.

At about 5:45, though, there is a vulgar word on the shirt of the narrator/creator. Be careful if you're planning on showing this in class, folks.

Proteq Starpath

I'll admit to being intrigued by this material, a coating that apparently phosphoresces throughout the night once the sun goes down.

I do have a few questions, though:

• What's the durability of the coating?
• How inert is it, particularly to surrounding flora and fauna?
• Does the light produced by the Proteq coating cause any problems with nocturnal animals and their navigation/courtship?
• Can I get it in cornflower blue?

Turn your smartphone into a digital microscope!

We're always looking for better and better ways to show microstructures of crystals, metals, anything. Heck, I'm always looking for better ways to show the structure of my fingerprints for that matter.

For years we've used goose-neck cameras and digital microscopes - often from the Ken-a-Vision folks.

Apparently now that we have smart phones, though, we can be just about finished with that old school nonsense.

For under $10 (plus the smartphone), you can build yourself a digital microscope.

I currently have one of my students working on one for extra credit. I'll report back one I get it and see how it works.

Full, step-by-step instructions are on Instructables.

Young Scientist Winner - sodium polyacrylate filled 'sandbags'

The greatest inventions seem so obvious after somebody else comes up with them.

Peyton Robertson's sodium-polyacrylate-and-salt-filled 'sandbags' are no different. Of course filling sandbags with sodium polyacrylate is a brilliant idea.

Of course you'd need to add something to increase the density so the bags don't float away.

Of course salt would be the easiest thing to add because it's cheap and can adjust the density of the swollen sandbag easily.

Of course the sodium ions would decrease the swelling of the sodium polyacrylate, so you'd need more sodium polyacrylate.

Of course I never would've come up with this and am absolutely blown away by Peyton's idea.

Check out the rest of the finalists here.

Die forging process (open and closed die)

Forging is dirty. There's no doubt about it, but forging is just so amazing to watch, especially when the scale peels off of the piece as pressure is increased.

This video goes through the advantages for forging (reduce crosssection, improve microstructure, provide directional grain flow, and eliminate porosity of castings), and two types of forging (open die, impression or closed die forging). We get to see multiple steps in the process as well as eventual removal of the flash.

Great intro video, folks. Thanks to Rebecca for passing it along.