The Winking Eye - Gateshead Millennium Bridge :

The Gateshead Millennium Bridge is a pedestrian and cyclist tilt bridge spanning the River Tyne in England between Gateshead's Quays arts quarter on the south bank, and the Quayside of Newcastle upon Tyne on the north bank. The award-winning structure was conceived and designed by architects Wilkinson Eyre and structural engineers Gifford. The bridge is sometimes referred to as the 'Blinking Eye Bridge' or the 'Winking Eye Bridge'due to its shape and its tilting method.

 

Six 45 cm (18 in) diameter Hydraulic rams (three on each side, each powered by a 55 kW electric motor) rotate the bridge back on large bearings to allow small ships and boats (up to 25 m (82 ft) tall) to pass underneath. The bridge takes as little as 4.5 minutes to rotate through the full 40° from closed to open, depending on wind speed. Its appearance during this manoeuvre has led to it being nicknamed the "Blinking Eye Bridge".

 

 Photo Credits : Source1, Source2, Source3, Source4, Source5, Source6

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Inside The Large Hadron Collider - World's Largest Atom Smasher :

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) from 1998 to 2008, with the aim of allowing physicists to test the predictions of different theories of particle physics and high-energy physics, and particularly prove or disprove the existence of the hypothesized Higgs boson and of the large family of new particles predicted by supersymmetric theories.

The LHC was built in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and engineers from over 100 countries, as well as hundreds of universities and laboratories. It lies in a tunnel 27 kilometres (17 mi) in circumference, as deep as 175 metres (574 ft) beneath the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland^.

^{Photo Credits : Source} .

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Singapore's highest pedestrian bridge - Henderson Waves :

Henderson Waves is a 274-metre (899 ft) long pedestrian bridge. At 36 metres (118 ft) above Henderson Road, it is the highest pedestrian bridge in Singapore. It connects Mount Faber Park and Telok Blangah Hill Park. It was designed by IJP Corporation, London, and RSP Architects Planners and Engineers (PTE) ltd Singapore.

The bridge has a wave-form made up of seven undulating curved steel ribs that alternately rise over and under its deck. The curved ribs form alcoves that function as shelters with seats within. Slats of yellow balau wood, an all-weather timber found in Southeast Asia, are used in the decking. The wave-forms are lit with LED lamps at night from 7pm to 2am daily.

Photo Credits : Source

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Slauerhoffbrug - The Bridge That Looks Like It's Flipping Pancakes :

The Slauerhoffbrug is one tail bridge that stands out, even in the bridge-happy Netherlands. The bridge, located in Leeuwarden, was designed by Van Driel Mechatronica to be a fully automatic bridge with an ability to sense and adapt to its surroundings. While this technology is not for just any bridge—more traffic requires a more intelligent controller—the bridge is sensibly high-tech for its area, says Bart Ney, a Public Information Officer for the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, which is scheduled to be completed in 2013. "The Slauerhoffbrug is immediately both iconic and utilitarian and allows optimum flow of maritime and automobile traffic," he says.

The Slauerhoffbrug crosses over the Harlinger Vaart River. "A movable bridge was necessary because a new beltway crossed this canal," van Driel says. Constructed in 2000 from iron and steel, the bridge is raised and lowered 10 times a day by two hydraulic cylinders located in a single pylon next to the bridge. The lift bearing, complete with asphalt and road markings, seamlessly disappears into the road when lowered. The base model of the bridge is a limited turntable bascule bridge, in which the rising section is counterbalanced by a weight, like the Pegasusbrug near Ouistreham in France. Such bridges were built all over the world in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, van Driel says.

The Slauerhoffbrug is built in an L-shape, bending the bearing bars that lead to the deck, with the foundation built beside the bridge. The principal beams and cross girders are absent. This allows a low construction height that increases the lifting height. And in true Dutch fashion, this tail bridge isn't just an engineering feat, but a work of art. It is painted in yellow and blue, representative of Leewaurden's flag and seal. The asymmetrical shape can be seen for miles when the deck is completely raised and locked upright in midair.

Photo Credits : Source

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El Penon de Guatape, Guatape, Colombia :

A massive stone rising over 650 feet out of the flat ground of Guatape, Colombia, the Piedra de Penol or El Peñon de Guatape was once worshiped by the Tahamies Indians. By the 1900s, the massive 10-million-ton rock was seen by local farmers as a nuisance, a giant version of the rocks that the farmers regularly dug out of their fields.
        In 1954 a group of friends—supposedly at the urging of a local priest—climbed the rock using a series of boards wedged into a crack. These were the first people known to have climbed El Peñon de Guatape. (It is unknown whether the Tahamies had a way of ascending the stone.) Climbing the huge stone took five days, but the top of the rock revealed both beautiful views and a new species of plant, Pitcairma heterophila. The rock soon became a modest tourist attraction.
        The rock, which is almost entirely smooth, has one long crack, the one that the climbers used in ascending it. In the crack was later wedged a 649-step masonry staircase, the only way to get to the top of the Piedra de Penol. In the 1970s, the area was dammed, and the view from the rock changed: It now overlooks a dramatic series of lakes and islands.

Photo Credits : Source1, Source2

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Musical Rain Wall in Dresden, Germany :

In the artsy neighborhood of Neustadt Kunsthofpassage within Dresden, Germany, lies one of the most artistic inspirations we have ever encountered. A large, multi-story blue building houses the funnel wall attraction designed by three collaborative artists including Christoph Roßner, Annette Paul, and Andre Tempel. The three artists knew that the building needed to have rain gutters, so why not get a bit creative? This system of mousetrap drain and gutters features various sized metal cones that play music when it rains.

Photo Credits : Source

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World's 'scariest' suspension bridge opens 1,500ft above a glacier in the Swiss Alps :

 The world's scariest bridge has been opened - a pedestrian walkway suspended 1,500ft above a glacier in the Swiss Alps. Engineers have spent the past five months building the Titlis Cliff Walk, Europe's highest suspension bridge at 9,000ft above sea level. The structure, which cost £1 million, is 330ft long but just 3ft wide and sits a vertigo-inducing 1,500ft above a glacier.

The impressive bridge on Mount Titlis was built to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the opening of a cableway which joined the towns of Engelberg and Gerschnialp in January 1913. Construction work was an extreme challenge for engineers, with working hours determined by the weather conditions. Peter Reinle, from Titlis Cable Cars, said: 'Everyone was very impressed by the bridge.
'It opened in a real snow storm which made it an adventure for everyone who crossed it.'

Photo Credits : Source

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Walking In Circles - The Lujiazui Pedestrian Bridge :..

Sometime last year, a new pedestrian bridge was unveiled in Lujiazui in the Pudong district of Shanghai. This large scale circular pedestrian overpass enables pedestrians to avoid traffic at the round-about terminus of Lujiazui Rd. The bridge provides access to the Oriental Pearl Tower connecting financiers to leisure areas such as shopping malls and cafes, a transit station and office buildings. The bridge sits almost 20 feet above the street, with numerous escalator stairway entrances and exits.

 The very contemporary design and long spans between columns provides a pleasant street level experience. Visitors enjoy the walkway for its privileged views of the city as well as its introduction of clean and easy foot transportation. At night the structure is illuminated to great dramatic effect.
The walkaway is 5.5 meter high and can fit 15 people walking side by side. Since it’s opening, it has become quite a tourist attraction.

Photo Credits : Source

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Uno Unicycle to Motorcycle transforming electric bike :

Bombardier's concept for a one-wheeled self-balancing motorcycle-like vehicle called the EMBRIO has been a long time Gizmag favorite. It was envisioned as the type of personal transportation that people might be using 20 years from now. Well, if 21 year-old inventor Ben Gulak has his way, consumers will be able to buy a similar vehicle a lot sooner. His battery electric Uno may look like a regular motorbike at higher speeds, but when it slows down, the wheels realign themselves into a side-by-side configuration – seen in profile, it looks like a unicycle.


         Not unlike a Segway, the Uno uses gyroscopes to maintain balance at lower speeds – a rear kickstand supports the vehicle when it’s parked. At higher speeds, as it’s moving, the wheels realign themselves into a more traditional, one-behind-the-other motorcycle configuration. This is to provide stability, and to make the handling less twitchy. Couple of years ago, it had two wheels. The version that Gulak is now working on, however, has three. When it hits 15mph (24km/h), the middle wheel moves to the front, while the outer two move to the back and squeeze together.
         Gulak hopes to produce an initial run of 30 bikes, within the next 8 to 12 months. They will be limited to a top speed of 35mph (56km/h) because of liability issues, and will be priced for enthusiasts at around US$25,000. As production picks up, the top speed will hopefully increase, while the price should drop to around US$6,500.

Photo Credits : Source1, Source2

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First cell phone - a 'brick' :

"The brick" weighed 2 pounds, offered just a half-hour of talk time for every recharging and sold for $3,995.

Clunky and overpriced?
         Not in 1984, when consumers lined up in droves to buy the first cellular phone as soon as it hit the market. And certainly not to Rudy Krolopp, lead designer of the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. Krolopp, now 74 and retired, still gets a "warm fuzzy feeling" thinking about the DynaTAC and knowing that "a handful of us did something that was really significant."
         This brick took over a decade to get to market. Krolopp was assigned the project by Martin Cooper, who ran Motorola's research and development effort in wireless and was ultimately dubbed the father of the cell phone by then-CEO Robert Galvin. Both Cooper's and Krolopp's names are on the original patent along with that of John Mitchell, former head of the company's communications division.

Photo Credits : Source

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World's largest truck; a replica of a classic Dodge Power Wagon :

This is the world's largest truck; a replica of a classic Dodge Power Wagon, about eight times the original Power Wagon size. It has four bedrooms inside the cabin. The vehicle also moves under its own power and weighs more than 50 tonnes.
        It is owned by Arab Billionaire, Sheikh Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan. There isn’t much known about the guy, besides his limitless fortune and expensive taste. He owns over 200 hundred cars, seven of which are Mercedes 500 SELs, one for each day of the week, painted in the colors of the rainbow that is housed in a custom-built pyramid.

Photo Credits : Source

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The Beautiful key monastery - India :

Key Gompa is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery located on picturesque hilltop at an altitude of 4,166 metres above sea level, close to the Spiti River, in the Spiti Valley of Himachal Pradesh, India. The monastery has the distinction of being the oldest and the biggest in the Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh and a religious training centre for Lamas. It is home to around 300 lamas who receive their religious education here.

Key Gompa is said to have been founded by Dromtön (Brom-ston, 1008-1064 CE), a pupil of the famous teacher, Atisha, in the 11th century. This may however, refer to a now destroyed Kadampa monastery at the nearby village of Rangrik, which was probably destroyed in the 14th century when the Sakya sect rose to power with Mongol assistance. Nevertheless, it is believed that the monastery is at least a thousand years old. There was even a celebration of its millennium in 2000 in the presence of the Dalai Lama.

Photo Credits : http://www.alonestranger.com/2013/01/the-beautiful-key-monastery-india.html

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