|GadgetsDreams|

What happens when you're 220 miles above Earth on the International Space Station and you need a tool you don't have? You can print one yourself. In 2014, American astronauts for the first time printed a tool -- a ratchet wrench -- using a design file sent from NASA on the ground to the 3D printer spinning about in space. The feat was straight of visions of Star Trek's replicator -- and it was only the first step to much larger miracles in space. Here's what's happening now and how 3D printing is changing everything about the future of space travel. 3D Printing Overcomes Zero Gravity You may have heard that 3D printers can print food, but did you know that printing food in space overcomes a plating and serving problem too? "Unlike packaged food that floats in zero-gravity conditions, 3D printed food can be neatly formed and ordered," said Anjan Contractor, CEO of BeeHex , who won a NASA grant for 3D printing pizza ...

A new study shows that knowledge of government surveillance causes people to self-censor their dissenting opinions online. The research offers a sobering look at the  oft-touted "democratizing" effect of social media and Internet access that bolsters minority opinion. The study , published in Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, studied the effects of subtle reminders of mass surveillance on its subjects. The majority of participants reacted by suppressing opinions that they perceived to be in the minority. This research illustrates the silencing effect of participants’ dissenting opinions in the wake of widespread knowledge of government surveillance, as revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2013. The “ spiral of silence ” is a well-researched phenomenon in which people suppress unpopular opinions to fit in and avoid social isolation. It has been looked at in the context of social media and the echo-chamber effect, in whi...

The District of Columbia is infamous for some of the political issues that make it distinct from other areas of the country. Its residents only have a non-voting delegate in Congress, for example. And its crippled subway system is uniquely hobbled by the fact that it relies on money from Maryland and Virginia , not just funding from riders and D.C.'s government. So it's no surprise to learn that not long from now, D.C. residents may be able to add   drone delivery to their "left out on" list. Many online shoppers are waiting eagerly for the day that they'll be able to order something on Amazon.com and have it dropped off, via drone, on their front stoop. But because of a set of no-fly zones protecting the nation's capital from terrorist attacks, D.C. residents — and some in neighboring suburbs, too — could easily find themselves among the last to get drone delivery service. (Amazon chief executive...