Tag: Technology

An autonomous submersible named Redwing is heading out on a truly historic voyage. If successful, it will achieve the first around-the-world ocean trip made by an unpiloted underwater vehicle. Marine engineering company Teledyne Marine and researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey are planning to launch the nearly nine-foot-long, specially outfitted Slocum Sentinel Glider on October 11 from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. Redwing will then journey into the Atlantic Ocean on the first leg of its five-year mission to traverse the planet’s largest bodies of water. A livestream of the launch will be broadcast here, beginning at about 8:15 a.m. EDT on Saturday October 11.

According to mission co-lead Scott Glenn, the experiment marks a “historic moment for ocean science. We’re deploying a robot that will travel the world’s oceans, gathering data. And we’re doing it with students, educators and international collaborators every step of the way,” he said in a statement.

Redwing—an acronym of the Research and Education Doug Webb Inter-National Glider—isn’t powered by propellers like other submersibles, but uses an energy-saving buoyancy system instead. The configuration allows it to sink to a depth as low as 3,280 feet before rising once again on the ocean currents. Redwing isn’t setting any speed records, however. On average it will travel at around 1 knot (1.15 mph) while maxing out at 2 knots (2.3 mph).

After crossing the Atlantic, the glider will turn south near Europe, before stopping at Gran Canaria off the coast of northwest Africa. It will then head down to Cape Town, South Africa, and turn east towards the Indian Ocean. Next up for Redwing will be Australia and New Zealand, before traversing Earth’s most powerful current, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. The longest phase of its trip will eventually see it reach the Falkland Islands before a possible pitstop in Brazil and the Caribbean before finally sojourning back home to Massachusetts.

The bright yellow craft is equipped with a sensor designed to measure three data points during its thousands of miles of sailing—its depth, as well as the surrounding water’s salinity and warmth. The information will then relay its measurements to the mission team by satellite every 8 to 12 hours as it resurfaces. Redwing is also carrying a fish tracker that will flag any nearby tagged species during its travels.

All that information can provide oceanographers with a three-dimensional glimpse of portions of the planet human eyes have never seen. The discoveries could also aid in meteorological efforts like monitoring ocean heat waves, hurricane intensity, and the health of marine ecosystems.

“We live on an ocean planet,” explained mission scientific co-lead Oscar Schofield. “All weather and climate are regulated by the ocean. This mission will give us another tool we need to achieve real understanding.”

It’s not only experienced scientists who are engaged with the project. Dozens of undergraduate students at Rutgers will assist by helping track Redwing’s journey, while writing blog updates about its many potential findings. Brian Maguire, Teledyne Marine’s chief operating officer, described Redwing as only the first of many such submersibles.

“It will pave the way for a future where a global fleet of autonomous underwater gliders continuously gather data from the oceans,” he said. “These will deliver early warnings of extreme weather and will track the impact of shifting ocean currents so that we can refine long-term climate projections in a way that scientists have dreamed of for decades.”

UPDATE October 10 9:56 p.m. EDT: This story has been updated to include the updated anticipated launch time and livestream information.

The post Self-piloting submarine set to begin historic mission to circle Earth’s oceans appeared first on Popular Science.

This is a sponsored article brought to you by ADIPEC.

Returning to Abu Dhabi between 3 and 6 November, ADIPEC 2025 – the world’s largest energy event – aims to show how AI is turning ideas into real-world impact across the energy value chain and redrawing the global opportunity map. At the same time, it addresses how the world can deliver more energy – by adding secure supply, mobilizing investment, deploying intelligent solutions, and building resilient systems.

AI as energy’s double-edged sword

Across heavy industry and utilities, AI is cutting operating costs, lifting productivity, and improving energy efficiency, while turning data into real-time decisions that prevent failures and optimize output. Clean-energy and enabling-technology investment is set to reach US$2.2 trillion this year out of US$3.3 trillion going into the energy system, highlighting a decisive swing toward grids, renewables, storage, low-emissions fuels, efficiency and electrification.

At the same time, AI’s own growth is reshaping infrastructure planning, with electricity use from data centers expected to more than double by 2030. The dual challenge is to keep energy reliable and affordable, while meeting AI’s surging compute appetite.

A global energy convergence

Taking place in Abu Dhabi from 3-6 November 2025, ADIPEC will host 205,000+ visitors and 2,250+ exhibiting companies from the full spectrum of the global energy ecosystem, to showcase the latest breakthroughs shaping the future of energy. Under the theme “Energy. Intelligence. Impact.”, the event is held under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates and hosted by ADNOC.

With a conference program featuring 1,800+ speakers across 380 sessions and its most expansive exhibition ever, ADIPEC 2025 examines how scaling intelligent solutions like AI and building resilience can transform the energy sector to achieve inclusive global progress.

Engineering the future

Two flagship programs anchor the engineering agenda at ADIPEC’s Technical Conferences: the SPE-organized Technical Conference and the Downstream Technical Conference.

Technical Conference attendees can expect upwards of 1,100 technical experts across more than 200 sessions focused on field-proven solutions, operational excellence, and AI-powered optimization. From cutting-edge innovations reshaping the hydrogen and nuclear sectors to AI-driven digital technologies embedded across operations, the Conference showcases practical applications and operational successes across the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors.

Clean-energy and enabling-technology investment is set to reach US$2.2 trillion this year out of US$3.3 trillion going into the energy system.

Technical pioneers demonstrate solutions that transform operations, enhance grid reliability, and enable seamless coordination between energy and digital infrastructure through smart integration technologies. In 2025, submissions hit a record 7,086, with about 20% centered on AI and digital technologies, and contributions arriving from 93 countries.

Running in parallel to the engineering deep-dive, the ADIPEC Strategic Conference convenes ministers, CEOs, investors, and policymakers across 10 strategic programs to tackle geopolitics, investment, AI, and energy security with practical, long-term strategies. Over four days, a high-level delegation of 16,500+ participants will join a future-focused dialogue that links policy, capital, and technology decisions.

Core program areas include Global Strategy, Decarbonization, Finance and Investment, Natural Gas and LNG, Digitalization and AI, Emerging Economies, and Hydrogen, with additional themes spanning policy and regulation, downstream and chemicals, diversity and leadership, and maritime and logistics. The result is a system-level view that complements the Technical Conference by translating boardroom priorities into roadmaps that operators can execute.

Why AI matters now

• Predictive maintenance, real-time demand forecasting and autonomous control systems are accelerating decarbonization by squeezing more electrons and molecules per unit of carbon.
• Operating costs are down 10-25%, productivity is up 3-8%, and energy efficiency is up 5-8% across energy-sector assets, as AI and automation move from pilots to plant-wide deployments. Predictive maintenance and asset integrity are already improving, reducing unplanned outages and boosting throughput.
• Digital progress, however, needs dependable power – rising AI workloads are pushing grids, data center siting, interconnection, and flexible demand to the top of board agendas. Recent outlooks show that record-high electricity demand in key markets is driven at least in part by AI, particularly from model training and inference.

AI Zone at ADIPEC

ADIPEC’s agenda addresses this balance – how to harness intelligence to decarbonize operations, while ensuring the grid keeps up with compute.

Curated in partnership with ADNOC, the AI Zone is an immersive showcase of how intelligence – both human and artificial – is redefining energy systems, empowering people, and enabling bold, cross-sector disruption.

It brings together tech giants such as Microsoft, Honeywell, ABB, Hexagon, Cognite, DeepOcean, and SUPCON, with AI innovators such as Bechtel, Clean Connect AI, and Gecko Robotics. Fast-scaling startups, data analytics firms, system integrators, and academic labs will demonstrate AI-enhanced hardware, predictive analytics, and smart energy-management platforms.

The AI Zone is an immersive showcase of how intelligence – both human and artificial – is redefining energy systems, empowering people, and enabling bold, cross-sector disruption.

The goal is practical: to make the full set of AI building blocks for energy clear – from sensors and data platforms to models and control systems – so operators can integrate them with confidence, as well as accelerate adoption and deployment, and connect decision-makers with innovators and investors.

In addition to the AI Zone, dedicated digitalization and AI conference content explores secure automation, cost-reduction playbooks, and real-time platforms that can help cut downtime and emissions.

What to expect on the ground

• 2,250+ exhibitors and 30+ country pavilions covering all segments of the industry from upstream to downstream to electrons.
• 380+ conference sessions – of which 85+ are tech-focused – emphasizing reliability, safety, and measurable emissions reduction.
• Roughly one in five 2025 Technical Conferences submissions focused on AI and digital, with record participation from 93 countries.
• Strategic discussions linking energy security, grid readiness and industrial competitiveness with the reality of surging electricity demand from AI.

Turning dialogue into delivery

ADIPEC 2025 arrives at precisely the right moment. With its scale, technical depth and curated focus on AI, ADIPEC serves as a catalyst for the next chapter of energy progress.

Whether you lead operations, build digital platforms, allocate capital, or shape policy, ADIPEC 2025 is where conversation becomes coordination and ideas turn into action. Join the global community in Abu Dhabi to transform vision into reality and ambition into impact.

Without support from her family, Mini Thomas says, she would not have had a successful career in academia.

The IEEE senior member has held several leadership positions in India, including dean of engineering at the Delhi Technological University (formerly the Delhi College of Engineering) and (the first female) president of the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli. Today she is a professor of electrical engineering at Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi, where she formerly was a dean.

Mini Thomas

Employer:

Jamia Millia Islamia, in New Delhi

Title:

Professor of electrical engineering

Member grade:

Senior member

Alma maters:

University of Kerala; the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras; the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi.

Thomas, an expert in power systems and smart grids, is working to get more women into the power and energy industry.

She is an active IEEE volunteer, having worked with student branches and membership recruitment. As a member of the IEEE Technology for a Sustainable Climate Matrix Organization, she shares her knowledge about energy, climate-resilient infrastructure, and ozone-layer recovery.

“For a woman to succeed, she needs a lot of family support,” Thomas says, because many women’s careers are interrupted by caretaking and child-rearing responsibilities. She acknowledges that not all women have the same support system she has—which is part of the reason why she is dedicated to helping others succeed.

A passion for teaching

Thomas was born and raised in Kerala, India. Kerala students who excelled at school were expected to choose a career in either medicine or engineering, she says. Medicine wasn’t an option for her, she says, because she faints at the sight of blood. She was good at mathematics, though, so she chose to pursue engineering.

Although both her parents were teachers (her father taught chemistry; her mother was a language instructor), she wasn’t inspired to pursue a similar path until she was an undergraduate at the University of Kerala. Her extensive note-taking during class made her popular among her classmates, she says, and some would ask her to tutor them during exam season.

“My friends would come over to my home so I could explain the material to them using my notes,” she says. “Afterward, they would tell me that they were able to understand the subject much better than how the professor had explained it. That’s what inspired me to become a teacher.”

After earning her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1984, Thomas continued her education at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Shortly after earning her master’s of technology in electrical engineering in 1986, she began her first teaching job at the National Institute of Technology, Calicut, also in Kerala.

The year was a whirlwind for Thomas, who got married, left her job, and moved to New Delhi, where her husband lived. Instead of searching for another teaching job, she decided to pursue a doctoral degree in the electrical engineering program at the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi.

“By the time I was 28, I had a Ph.D. in electrical engineering, which I earned in 1990,” she says. “I soon got a job at Delhi Technological University, the only other college in New Delhi that had an engineering school at that time, other than IIT. From there, I never looked back.”

She taught at the university for five years, then left in 1995 to join Jamia Millia Islamia. She eventually was promoted to lead the electrical engineering department.

During her 11 years there, she established labs to conduct research in supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and substation automation, collaborating with industry on projects. In 2003 she created a curriculum for—and led the launch of—a master’s of technology program in electrical power system management as well as a training program for industry professionals. For her work, she received a 2015 IEEE Educational Activities Board Meritorious Achievement Award.

In 2014 she founded the school’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship to help startups turn their ideas into prototypes and launch businesses.

She received an offer she couldn’t refuse in 2016: become president of the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli.

“This was a great honor to become the first woman president of that institute,” she says. “I was the only woman among 90 presidents of all the institutions of national importance at that time.”

But, she says, as president, she didn’t have much time to teach, and after five years, she began to miss her time in the classroom. After her five-year term was completed, she returned to Jamia Millia Islamia in 2021 as engineering dean. Since then, she has led the launch of five programs: three undergraduate programs (in data science, electrical and computer engineering, and VLSI) and graduate programs in data science and environmental sciences.

This year she stepped down after completing her three-year term as dean and is focusing more on teaching.

She teaches at least one class each semester because, she says, she finds joy in “imparting and giving knowledge to young minds.”

Mentoring women in the power industry

Thomas mentors doctoral students as well as professors who aspire to serve as deans or other high-level positions.

In addition, she trains mid-career women in the power industry on the skills they need to get promoted—to technical and senior management roles—through the South Asia WePOWER network’s South Asia Region (SAR) 100 professional development program. WePOWER is a coalition of nonprofit and government organizations that aim to increase the number of women working in the power and energy sectors through education. A 2020 World Bank study found that the percentage of women in technical roles in the industry in South Asia ranges from 0.1 to 21.

The six-month-long program provides technical training, mentorship, and networking opportunities to 100 women from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Thomas is one of 40 experts who remotely teach topics such as transmission details, distribution, renewable energy, and the importance of women in leadership.

She also mentors women to give them confidence and tools to reach leadership positions because “mentorship is what changed my career trajectory,” she says. When she first began teaching, she says she was reluctant to take high-level positions. But after participating in a six-day leadership training at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, which was hosted by the Government of India’s University Grants Commission, she felt confident in her ability to move up the career ladder.

“Many women take a break from their careers to raise their children, struggle to balance their personal and professional lives, or don’t have a support system,” she says. “I want to impart the lessons I learned from my experiences and the training I received. Whenever I get a chance, I get involved.”

Creating lifelong friendships and mentoring students

Thomas joined IEEE in 1990 as a graduate student member and says she continues renewing her membership to stay up to date on emerging technologies, specifically SCADA systems.

“I learned everything about SCADA from a tutorial developed by the IEEE Power & Energy Society. There was no such material available at that time,” she says.

Years later, in 2015, Thomas cowrote Power System SCADA and Smart Grids with her friend John McDonald, whom she met through the organization. McDonald is an IEEE Life Fellow and the founder and CEO of JDM Associates in Duluth, Ga.

Thomas became an active volunteer for the Delhi Technological University’s student branch, where she helped organize technical talks and other events. When Thomas joined Jamia Millia Islamia, she revived the inactive student branch there and served as its counselor for 14 years.

During her 35 years with IEEE, she has served as chair of the Region 10 student activities committee and vice chair of membership development for IEEE Member and Geographic Activities. She was a member of the IEEE Educational Activities and the IEEE Publication Services and Products boards.

“Creating programs that benefit members makes me feel satisfied,” Thomas says. “Volunteering has also boosted my confidence.”

She is also a member of IEEE Spectrum’s editorial advisory board.

Not only does she attribute much of her professional growth to the organization, she also has created lifelong friendships through IEEE, she says. One friend is 2023 IEEE President Saifur Rahman, whom she met in 2000 when he spoke to the Jamia Millia Islamia student branch.

“Our friendship has grown so much that Saifur is like family,” she says.

When Rahman launched the IEEE Technology for a Sustainable Climate Matrix Organization in 2022, he asked Thomas to become a member. She helped create the IEEE Climate Change Collection on the IEEE Xplore Digital Library. The following year, she led the development of a climate change taxonomy. The 620 words are included in the IEEE Thesaurus, which defines almost 12,500 engineering, technical, and scientific terms. Now she is working with a team to expand the taxonomy by defining hundreds more climate-change terms.

“You should always do what you enjoy. For me, that’s teaching and volunteering with IEEE,” she says. “I could just be a member, access the technical content, and be happy with just that, but I volunteer because I can do things that help others.”

In the drive to make a practical quantum computer, researchers are developing bigger and better quantum networks—ones with capabilities that will complement and enhance quantum computing. Put another way, building a functioning quantum network that can exchange many qubits securely, over long distances, could be a useful end goal completely apart from the quantum-computer race.

In that vein, Cisco launched a quantum-networking software system on 25 September. The networking giant’s technology could help to bring about more powerful quantum sensors, secure position verification, and quantum-enhanced imaging tech—to list just three of a range of emerging, noncomputing applications for quantum networks.

The team has a hybrid purpose in mind as well, says Ramana Kompella, vice president and head of research at Cisco in San Jose, Calif.: quantum networks that can work with classical computers and conventional computer networks.

“This is a very fascinating field for us because until now, classical computing didn’t have access to a quantum network,” Kompella says. “But imagine if you had access to a quantum network, what can you actually enable in terms of new capabilities?” Kompella has an answer to his own question. “We can secure classical networking with the help of quantum signals by detecting eavesdroppers on long-distance fiber-optic communications,” he says.

How Does Quantum Entanglement Secure Networks?

To do so, Kompella says, the system relies on the fact that quantum signals shared across their sensitive network are connected together via quantum entanglement. “We inject entangled photons into the optical fiber,” he says. “And if the attacker tries to tap the fiber, they end up disturbing the entanglement, which allows us to detect them.”

Kompella adds that entanglement exchanged over network distances has other classical computing applications in high-frequency trading and fintech, “as well as maybe you can drive ultraprecise time synchronization with the help of entanglement-based networks,” he says.

Cisco’s quantum-networking system is built on top of a practical quantum-networking chip the company introduced in May, which uses existing fiber-optic lines, generates up to 200 million entangled photon pairs per second, and operates at standard telecom wavelengths.

But the new component Cisco recently introduced is software. The compiler the company has now launched enables a coder to write in IBM’s Python-based Qiskit quantum-computer language. And the Cisco compiler takes care of technical networking details like optimizing the connections between quantum processors and fine-tuning error-correction strategies.

“We hide the physical layer complexity,” says Reza Nejabati, Cisco’s head of quantum research, “which allows the algorithm developers to play with the number of processors and how the processors are connected together to optimize their algorithms.”

“The compiler takes that high-level goal, breaks it up, and then drives the networking side of the equation,” Kompella adds.

Hoi-Kwong Lo, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Toronto, says that Cisco is championing an underappreciated portion of the larger quantum-technology world.

“Investment is a key issue,” Lo says. “While there have been billions of research funding annually invested in quantum-computing startups, investments in quantum-networking startups have been falling behind.”

According to Ronald Hanson, a professor of nanoscience at Delft University of Technology, in the Netherlands, Cisco’s work is a key next step. But it’s only a next step.

“What Cisco is presenting now is not really first of its kind,” Hanson says. “But the fact that Cisco is working on several of these different elements of the quantum network combined with their classical networking expertise and strengths makes the progress interesting and will push the quantum networking industry as a whole.”

What Will It Take for Quantum Networks to Scale?

The biggest limitation on Cisco’s system at present, says Nejabati, is the physical distance limit that a single photon can travel before being absorbed by the optical fiber itself.

“Our hardware and software technology allows us togo up to a hundred kilometers with a very-high-quality, high-performance network,” Nejabati says.

Lo says physics—in particular a law called the “no-cloning theorem,” stating that individual quantum bits can never be perfectly replicated—makes large-scale quantum networks especially tricky to realize.

“The big challenge is to build quantum repeaters,” Lo says. “Optical fibers are lossy, and to overcome the distance limit, we need quantum repeaters.”

Lo’s group, for one, is investigating encoding a qubit’s signal not onto another individual photon but rather onto a cluster of entangled photons. IEEE Spectrum has tracked Lo’s group’s initial work on this method in 2015 and their proof-of-principle experimental test in 2019.

On the other hand, says Hanson, making quantum repeaters isn’t the only way forward for next-generation quantum-networking tech.

“Just sharing photons is in our mind not the most interesting tech, since many use cases remain out of reach,” Hanson says. “Instead, our goal is to createentanglement on demand: by combining entanglement distribution via photonic channels with long-lived quantum memories—a buffer of entangled qubits ready to be consumed.”

This way, Hanson says, quantum entanglement can be stored like energy in a battery or terabits on a hard drive, and tapped into when users on either end of the network want to share quantum information.

“Buffered entanglement will unlock an interesting range of applications beyond [quantum cryptography] that have the promise to bring real value,” Hanson says. “It will be interesting to see when Cisco will make the step to that technology for their networks.”

This spooky season, as you binge horror flicks, peep the Halloween décor, and peruse potential costumes, pay attention to the fake blood and you’ll notice something odd: It all looks wildly different. Sometimes it’s an almost cartoonishly bright red, and at other times it’s dark brown, bordering on black. Some of it’s thin and watery, and some is viscous and goopy. 

That variation isn’t a byproduct of carelessness or confusion. Real human blood is a dynamic substance. Its hue changes according to the amount of oxygen it contains, and as it ages and breaks down. Its thickness and flow vary with the concentration of key proteins within it, or the environment it’s in. It clots and coagulates, often quite rapidly. And anyone making fake blood needs to consider not only how these biological variables line up with the scene they have in mind, but also the practicality of working with a given recipe, how it’ll look from a distance, and the impact it’ll have on a viewer. Artists and prop masters have grappled with these complexities for ages. Understanding the arc of that quest may help all of us better appreciate—or make our own—fake blood.

The earliest examples of fake blood, from red cloth to glycerol goo

Some folks believe that the pre-modern cultures simply used actual blood in plays and tableaus, for maximum verisimilitude. That’s unlikely, as the real deal wouldn’t keep well if you wanted to save it for a scene, and would create cleanup nightmares. Instead, early actors and prop makers probably just pantomimed bloodless violence, at most using bright red cloth to signify gore. 

Inventive prop makers undoubtedly experimented with other stand-ins for blood over the centuries, like splashes of red paint. But the first clear records of an established, dedicated fake blood formula appear in accounts of shows at the Grand Guignol, a Parisian theater that specialized in the late-19th-century equivalent of splatter films. We don’t have an exact recipe, but they seemingly used glycerol or propylene glycol—clear, viscous liquids used in foods, cosmetics, and industrial processes—and bright pigments for a thick, pooling, vibrant crimson goo. This garish blend might not have been convincing up close, but it worked for gawkers in the cheap seats, and with the theater’s bombastic ethos. 

Alfred Hitchcock, black and white films, and the rise of chocolate syrup

Social taboos, censorship concerns, and technical constraints limited the use of blood in less bawdy theaters—and in most early films. At most, directors would flash to “a small trickle of black or a smear,” usually made of some oily substance cut with a dark pigment, explains Gregor Knape, a special effects makeup artist and SFX history buff. 

But a few black and white directors used chocolate syrup instead. The dark brown didn’t wash out like bright hues in early cameras’ filters, and its viscosity and flow is eerily similar to a thick line of fresh blood. Alfred Hitchcock notoriously used a recent innovation, the plastic squeeze bottle, to give the blood in Psycho’s (1960) shower scene a realistic drip and splash effect. 

Hitchcock later explained that he opted to film in black and white both to cut costs, but also because he thought color blood would be too gory for most audiences. Yet in reality, Knape explains, early color filmmaking methods didn’t do well with semi-clear substances like (pseudo)blood, or with muted colors. So throughout the mid-20th century, filmmakers had to use “opaque and almost garish raspberry red” fake blood mixes, Knape explains. Hammer, the prolific British horror studio that helped launch Christopher Lee’s career, notoriously popularized the use of “Kensington Gore,” a fake blood blend with the hue of cherry syrup. 

“Blood in 1960s cinema almost always looked better in black and white,” argues Blair Davis, a film scholar who specializes in older horror cinema and low-budget “b-movies.” 

Fake blood in color films

Prop makers striving for realism and nuance chafed under the restrictions of early film technology. So when new color filming systems came on the market in the mid-1960s, they jumped on the chance to try something new, says Knape. Herschell Gordon Lewis, a softcore pornographer turned godfather of modern gore movies, famously balked at the cartoonish blood on the market when he started making Blood Feast (1963), America’s first splatter film. So he commissioned a pharmacist to make him a more subdued and translucent blend. However, Lewis was notoriously cheap, so while his new blood was a step towards realism, it wasn’t super sophisticated.

After a few years of industry-wide experimentation, often riffing on the recipes for Guignol blood and Kensington Gore, the legendary makeup artist Dick Smith developed a formula using Karo (a common brand of thick, caramel-colored corn syrup), a colorless preservative called methyl paraben, food coloring, and Kodak Photo-Flo, a substance used to prevent streaks on photos during development, to create a hyper-realistic fake blood. If you’ve seen The Godfather (1972), The Exorcist (1973), or Taxi Driver (1976), then you know exactly what Smith’s blood looks like.

Prop masters soon realized they could make simple tweaks to Smith’s core recipe to adjust color and viscosity, matching the biology and environment they wanted to represent. Darken and thicken it for old and scabby goop. Brighten it for a fresh oxygen-rich arterial spurt. (Martin McDonagh’s The Lieutenant of Inishmore used nine different blood blends for situational variety.) Some also tweaked the formula to meet more practical needs, like cost and edibility. The team behind The Evil Dead (1981) notably swapped out the paraben and Photo-Flo for non-dairy creamer, sacrificing a bit of fidelity and viscosity to shove gobs of their blend into cast members’ mouths then “barf” it out or let it dribble down their chins. 

“From that time on, most fake blood products have been variations on a limited range of ingredients,” Knape explains. Even popular Halloween recipes mirror Smith’s, likely because he made it a point to publish accessible DIY how-to guides for aspiring prop makers of any sort. 

The 21st century’s computer generated gore

Around the turn of the millennium, filmmakers turned to CGI to augment their fake blood, adjusting the colors or make their splatter physics a little more convincing. Some have moved away from prop blood entirely, in pursuit of full control and detail. Like most CG effects, when done badly computer-generated blood looks either comical or uncanny. But when done well, it’s an incredibly effective stand-in for the real deal.

However, not everyone is aiming for gold-standard realism in their blood. On the practical side, filmmakers, prop masters, and costumers sometimes tone down their blood to make it more palatable for mass audiences—or just for film rating agencies. Or they’ll use a less realistic blood, Knape explains, because they want something more visible on a dark background, or especially easy to clean. (This is yet another reason many filmmakers appreciate fully CG blood.)

If a creator wants to evoke a particular emotion, Davis adds, they might favor something stylized and surreal. When making the Kill Bill duology, Quentin Tarantino stressed the importance of using different blends for different visceral-emotional effects, drawing a particularly stark line between “horror movie blood” and “samurai blood.” In the end, the fake blood you see may be less about the quest for realistic gore and, as with old Guignol blood, more a matter of practicalities and vibes. 

Given all the different factors directors balance—the type of blood they’re depicting, the practical limits they’re working under, the effect they want to have on an audience—every example of fake blood you see is probably going to be a little different, Knape argues. Makeup artists don’t tackle every project using the one true blood they believe in, he adds. They start with several formulas, test them out under different conditions, and trial-and-error their way into the right blend for each task.   

So if you’re pondering your own Halloween costume and decor right now, don’t worry too much about the fake blood you’re using. Just use what feels right—what brings you joy. Then have a bloody good time. 

The post The spooky (and sweet) history of fake blood appeared first on Popular Science.

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• Beats Studio Buds $80 (was $150)
• Bose QuietComfort headphones (Moonlight Grey) $199 (was $359)
• Sonos Ace over-ear headphones $299 (was $399)
• Nothing Headphone (1) $254 (was $299)
• Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless Headphones in White $229.95 (was $449.95)
• Sony WH-1000XM4 Wireless Premium Noise Canceling Overhead Headphones $188 (was $348)
• Bowers & Wilkins Px8 $479 (was $699)

Laptops, tablets & e-readers

• Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M4, 16GB/256GB) $799 (was $999)
• Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (M4, 16GB/512GB) $1,399 (was $1,599)
• Apple iPad 11-inch (A16) $279 (was $349)
• Apple iPad mini (A17 Pro) $379 (was $499)
• Kindle Scribe (10.2-inch) $270–$300 (was $400)
• Google Pixel Tablet (128GB) $249 (was $399)
• Apple iPad Air 11-inch (M3) $449 (was $599)
• Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ (11-inch, 64GB) $148 (was $219)

TVs

• Sony 65″ BRAVIA 8 OLED (2024) $1,498 (was $2,300)
• Samsung 55″ The Frame LS03D (2024) $797 (was $1,498)
• Hisense 55″ U65QF Mini-LED Fire TV $447 (was $800)
• Toshiba 55″ C350 Series 4K Fire TV $199 (was $399)

Smart home & lighting

• Blink Video Doorbell + Sync Module $35 (was $70)
• Ring Battery Doorbell Plus $80 (was $150)
• Philips Hue Festavia 65-ft string lights (250 LEDs) $169 (was $220)
• Skylight Calendar 15-inch wall display $270 (was $320)

Vacuums & floor care

• Dyson V11 Origin cordless vacuum $400 (was $630)
• Bissell Little Green Mini portable carpet cleaner $75 (was $95)
• Miele Classic C1 Turbo Team canister vacuum $350 (was $500)
• Shark WANDVAC cordless hand vac $80 (was $100)
• Dyson V15 Detect Plus cordless vacuum $399 (was $850)
• Shark PowerDetect Pet Plus Clean & Empty cordless vacuum $399 (was $600)
• Shark AI Ultra robot vacuum (AV2501S) $229 (was $650)
• Bissell PowerClean FurGuard cordless vacuum $159 (was $330)
• Bissell CrossWave Turbo wet/dry vac $230 (was $300)
• Shark Cordless Pro (Clean Sense IQ) stick vacuum $199 (was $350)
• ECOVACS Deebot X8 Pro Omni robot vacuum & mop $800 (was $1,400)

Blueair Blue Signature $299.99 (was $449.99)

ON SALE NOW

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Blueair just released its flagship Blue Signature earlier this year, and this new favorite is already getting a rare 33% discount—it’s just $299.99 for Prime Day. We’re fans of this fan. We’ve been running it in our house for a few weeks now, and the sleek aesthetic fits in beautifully. The display is clean and easy to read, and the real-time sensor is legit—it kicks into high gear as soon as we start cooking or even blow-drying hair in the next room. It’s intuitive, responsive, and refreshingly unobtrusive. You can even use the top as a side table and monitor the functions via Wi-Fi. For a just-launched model with premium filtration and automation, this is the kind of Prime Day price you don’t skip.

Home & appliances

• Dyson Hot+Cool AM09 heater/fan $300 (was $370)
• simplehuman single X-frame laundry hamper (65L) $126 (was $110)
• Shark FlexBreeze pedestal/tabletop fan $95 (was $150)
• DELUX baseboard cleaner tool (extendable) $22 (was $30)

Kitchen & home

• Ninja 4-in-1 Pro Air Fryer (5QT) $89 (was $150)
• Ninja Crispi 4-in-1 portable cooking system $152 (was $179)
• Braun BrewSense 12-cup coffee maker $89 (was $150)
• Rubbermaid Brilliance 5-piece 3.2-cup set $28 (was $20)
• De’Longhi Magnifica Evo automatic espresso machine $549 (was $900)

Bartesian Duet Cocktail Machine $239 (was $399.99)

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The Bartesian Duet is like having a bartender that never judges your pour or your playlist. Drop in a pod from one of many flavourful spirit-specific variety packs, pick your strength, and watch your glass fill with something bright and balanced without bar math. This one comes with two glass bottles, but there’s a version with four if you like to vary your vibe more. It’s sleek, compact, and dangerously convenient … perfect for pregaming or maybe just having friends over for a party that never has last call. You know you’re spending too much money on TouchTunes, anyway.

Watches & wearables

• Apple Watch Series 10 (GPS, 46mm) $309 (was $400)
• Fitbit Inspire 3 $79 (was $100)
• Google Pixel Watch 3 (41mm, Wi-Fi) $179 (was $350)
• Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 (40mm, Bluetooth) $314 (was $399)
• Apple Watch Ultra 2 (GPS + Cellular, 49mm) $670 (was $800)
• Garmin fēnix E (47mm, AMOLED) $670 (was $750)
• Fitbit Charge 6 $110 (was $160)

Outdoors & camping

• Coleman camping chair with built-in cooler $35 (was $40)
• EGO Power+ 530 CFM cordless leaf blower (LB5302) $143 (was $200)
• Coleman RoadTrip 285 portable propane grill $274 (was $320)
• EcoFlow RIVER 2 Pro portable power station $339 (was $599)
• EGO Power+ 21″ cordless snow blower (SNT2114) $659 (was $999)
• Coleman compact roll-top aluminum table $56 (was $60)
• Cuisinart Petite Gourmet portable gas grill $127 (was $124)
• Coleman 13×13 instant canopy sun shelter $192 (was $250)
• Coleman 4-in-1 portable propane grill $99(was $189)

Portable power

• Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 portable power station $349 (was $799)

Travel & accessories

• Apple AirTag (1-pack) $19 (was $20)
• Samsonite Omni 2 International carry-on $99 (was $149)
• Acer universal travel plug adapter (5 USB ports) $19 (was $33)
• Twelve South PlugBug 120W 4-port USB-C charger $72 (was $120)
• TwelveSouth AirFly Pro 2 Bluetooth Adapter $49.99 (was $69.99)

Cameras & photo

• Polaroid Flip instant camera + film bundle $212 (was $249)
• DJI Neo mini drone (4K) $159 (was $199)
• DJI Osmo Mobile 7 phone gimbal $68 (was $219)
• SanDisk Extreme SDXC 256GB (V30, U3) $26 (was $39)
• Polaroid Now 3rd-gen I-Type camera + film bundle $135 (was $150)

Movies & 4K UHD

• Godzilla Minus One (4K UHD + Blu-ray) $15 (was $24)
• The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Extended & Theatrical, 4K UHD) $49 (was $68)

Go see more of our October Prime Day coverage!

• Osprey backpacks and camping bags hit their lowest prices of the year during Amazon Prime Day
• Amazon is blowing out Nectar memory foam and hybrid mattresses with these Prime Day deals
• Get your life in order and start journaling with these Prime Day deals on Moleskine notebooks and planners
• Get a smart stack at a smart price with WiiM connected audio products on sale during Amazon Prime Big Deal Days
• The Home Depot is blowing out power tools, appliances, and more for the lowest prices of the year during its fall sale
• Shop these Prime Day deals on Lodge cast iron dutch ovens, then enter your sourdough era
• Save more than 40% off Lexar SSD storage devices during Amazon’s Prime Day sale
• I test wireless headphones all year, and these are my top picks on sale during Amazon’s Big Deal Days
• The air in your house sucks—fix it with these Prime Day deals on Levoit air purifiers and humidifiers
• These Prime Day deals are your chance to grab the KitchenAid stand mixer (and accessories) you’ve been eyeing
• Amazon is clearing out the best solar generators and portable power stations on Prime Day
• Amazon is blowing out SanDisk SSDs and microSD cards during its Prime Day sale
• Upgrade your everyday carry with the best Prime Day deals on Cold Steel knives
• Our pick for best value powered bookshelf speakers is on sale for Amazon Prime Big Deal Days
• Polk Audio is offering room-filling sound at reasonable prices during Amazon’s Big Deal Days
• Amazon is blowing out Legos (including Star Wars sets) during Prime Day
• Prevent little ones from becoming iPad kids with these Prime Day deals on Melissa & Doug toys
• Amazon is blowing out JBL speakers, headphones, earbuds, and more during the Amazon Prime Day sale
• These are the best Prime Day deals on power tools this year
• Audio-Technica turntables, headphones, and microphones are deeply discounted for Prime Day
• Amazon is blowing out Hydro Flask drinkware in every size and color during Amazon’s Prime Day sale
• Build a smart home security system on a budget with these Amazon Prime Day deals on Arlo cameras
• Amazon is blowing out Homedics massagers, aromatherapy, and more during Amazon Prime Day
• Stock up on GE Cync LED and smart light bulbs for up to 52% off during Amazon’s Prime Day sale
• This 189-piece Craftsman Mechanics tool kit is only $142 with this Amazon Prime Day deal
• Stay hydrated with CamelBak packs and drinkware for clearance prices during Amazon Prime Big Deal Days
• Get a Sonos soundbar or headphones for their lowest price of the year during Amazon Prime Day
• Stock up on Sennheiser’s affordable audiophile accessories during Amazon’s Prime Day sale
• Finally get your desk and gadgets organized with these Prime Day deals on Belkin chargers and accessories
• Save money and get crafty with these Prime Day deals on Cricut machines and supplies

The post 70+ hand-picked October Prime Day deals you should shop right now: Tools, electronics, home goods, and more appeared first on Popular Science.

If you’ve ever hit play and felt like a disjointed setup is holding your music back, WiiM is ready to sync your audio life into one smooth ecosystem. And Amazon Prime Big Deal Days (Oct. 7-8) let you snag a stack for less, so you start streaming more. Smarter, cleaner, better. We’ve used everything from clunky adapters and overpriced hubs, and we find WiiM hits the sweet spot: simple, stylish, sonically solid. A WiiM streamer + amp are the glue your gear has been missing. Just add speakers (like ones in the list at the end of this page).

Remember, if you don’t have an active Amazon Prime subscription, you can sign up for a trial at this link.

WiiM Ultra Music Streamer + Digital Preamp — $263 (20% off, was $329)

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The WiiM Ultra is the kind of streamer that makes your hi-fi setup feel born again. With support for high-res audio up to 32-bit/384kHz, plus every streaming protocol that matters—AirPlay 2, Chromecast, TIDAL Connect, Spotify Connect, Qobuz Connect, Roon Ready—it’s a digital Swiss Army knife in a minimalist box. It slides into your rack without ego but instantly unlocks multiroom magic, casting pristine, lag-free audio wherever you need it. RCA, optical, coaxial, even USB input? Covered, and the output is clean. Plus, there’s a crisp color touchscreen to tie it all together, in case you’re not into that whole app thing (though the WiiM app is really good). You’re not just getting a streamer … you’re getting control, clarity, and cohesion across your setup. It’s a system reboot, the kind of gear that whispers, “I got this,” and means it.

WiiM Vibelink Amp — $239 (20% off, was $329)

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The WiiM Vibelink Amp is small, but it slaps. It delivers 100W per channel at 8Ω and 200W per channel at 4Ω of punchy Class D power, wrapped in an aluminum chassis that sits nicely above the WiiM Ultra, which is a natural preamp for all your streaming music and physical sources. This isn’t just an amp—it’s your system’s heartbeat, pushing bookshelf or tower speakers with effortless control and surprising finesse. HDMI ARC, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Bluetooth 5.3, optical—it talks to everything and sounds good doing it thanks to PFFB technology, a premium ESS 9039Q2M DAC, and TI TPA3255 amplifier chip. It’s the amp for listeners who want hi-fi performance without the high-maintenance price tag.

Really wanna take your speaker setup up a notch (or, in this case, down some octaves)? Add a 250W wireless WiiM Sub Pro if you don’t have a subwoofer already.

More Amazon Prime home audio deals

• Fosi Audio K7 USB-C DAC Headphone Amp for Workspace and Gaming PC $159 (was $199.99)
• Fosi Audio GR70 Tube Headphone Amp Preamp with 5654W*2 & 6AC7*2 $159 (was $199.99)
• Polk Audio Reserve Series R500 Tower Speaker $559 each (was $649)
• Definitive Technology Dymension DM70 Large Tower Speaker $1,103.20 each (was $1,599)

Want to take your audio on the go? We’ve collected the best Bluetooth headphones on sale at this link.

The post Get a smart stack at a smart price with WiiM connected audio products on sale during Amazon Prime Big Deal Days appeared first on Popular Science.