Scotland has a rehab clinic for people who are addicted to trading bitcoin

If you find yourself taking the “hold on for dear life,” or HODL, stance toward cryptocurrency to the extreme, and can’t help yourself when it comes to buying cryptocurrency, you may be addicted. That’s the view of experts at the Scotland-based Castle Craig Hospital, which expanded its rehab services to cover cryptocurrency addiction earlier this month.

Experts have long compared the thrill of cryptocurrency to day trading, both of which entail high degrees of risk. You’re essentially gambling with your money with crypto and with day trading, and the thrill of massive returns — and the potential addictive effects — create an emotional dependence that is not much different from gambling addiction.

“The high risk, fluctuating cryptocurrency market appeals to the problem gambler,” Castle Craig gambling therapist Chris Burn says. “It provides excitement and an escape from reality. Bitcoin, for example, has been heavily traded and huge gains & losses were made. It’s a classic bubble situation.”

Similar to those that might be addicted to casino table games or slots, the addicted trader spends most if not all of their money on cryptocurrency, and will “chase” their losses in attempts to win back lost money. They may borrow excessively or even steal, or experience mood swings and obsessive thoughts and actions, the hospital says.

Castle Craig plans to treat addicts using the same methods used for excessive gambling. Cognitive behavioral therapy is the primary tool, and teaches the person how to accept responsibility for their addiction and coping strategies, finding positive activities to replace the need for cryptocurrency trading, and most importantly how to manage their debts and finances appropriately.

The help is not cheap: according to WikiTribune, Treatments start at 2,975 British pounds (about $4,000) per week for a multi-occupancy room all the way up to 4,970 pounds (about $6,600) weekly for a private room. Considering most addiction programs are multi-step processes — Castle Craig’s is 12 — treatment could easily run into the tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.

While most won’t be able to afford the treatment out-of-pocket, the company says it offers payment plans, and in some cases a portion of the cost might be covered under public or private insurance. The company also operates clinics in at least six other European countries, however it’s not immediately clear if the program will be offered at those locations.

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50,000 Las Vegas workers set to strike, demand protection from robots

They say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but a strike planned by hospitality workers across Sin City could plunge its bright lights and late nights into functional darkness, and inspire similar demonstrations across the nation.

Among the demands of the 50,000 members of the Culinary Workers Union are higher wages, better job security, and protections against automation. The workers, whose contracts are up on June 1, are employed by more than 30 of the city’s renowned resorts.

“We know that many hospitality jobs are slated to be automated in the next coming years, so we want to make sure that we’re innovative and thinking about how we can protect workers and their jobs,” Bethany Khan, director of communications at the Culinary Workers Union, told Digital Trends. “Our automation and technology proposals deal with protecting workers. We know technology is coming and we want to make sure that workers are protected and have a say in how technology is implemented in their workplace.”

The real-world impact of automation is tough to understate. In the decade after 2000, robots and A.I. were responsible for about 87 percent of jobs lost in the United States, according to one study. American jobs as a whole face cutbacks of 38 percent by 2030, according to another. The issue is significant enough for the Executive Office of the President put together a 55-page report outlining how technologies like A.I. And robotics could displace millions of workers.

Automation is also likely to affect workers across the board. Both blue-collar jobs, such as truckers and hospitality workers, and white-collar ones, such as attorneys and financial advisors, are at risk.

Workers in hospitality have already felt the impact of these changes, as fast food restaurants and hotels have increasingly implemented automated systems, from ordering screens to self-check-ins. There are also behind the scenes cases, the ones customers don’t directly interact with, that may increase efficiency but decrease employment opportunities.

“There’s all kinds of ways robots and automation are impacting the workplace,” Khan said. “It’s already doing that for prep-cooks, for example. They used to prepare the food to go into the main dish, but now much of that is prepared off sight in factories.”

For members of the Culinary Workers Union, this strike isn’t so much a show of outright opposition to technology as it is an effort to integrate disruptive tech into a compatible role with humans.

“We think technology can be supportive and we want to make sure that we can grow with technology,” Khan said. “Technology can enhance the customer and guest experience, and employers really face the dilemma — they can either have technology be supportive in the workplace or be responsible for mass layoffs that can impact the entire hospitality economy.”

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Behold the majesty of our world with the best drone photos around

Drones, once primarily the domain of professionals and well-to-do hobbyists, have slowly become more accessible to even the biggest penny-pinchers. Costs have dropped substantially over the past few years, and during this span, we have seen the technology advance exponentially.

While early designs were more of a backyard novelty (and often a nuisance) than anything else, the latest drone models are loaded with advanced cameras and stabilization technology that allows for more practical outdoor uses. Now designed with extended operational range, long gone are the days of simply buzzing — and often caroming — about the backyard or neighborhood. Whether you’re traversing the bridges of a modern city or hiking a mountain far from civilization’s reach, there are sights worth preserving in a photograph, and while handheld cameras can capture the human perspective, drones offer a new point of view.

As the demand for drones has increased, so too has the market, with different manufacturers looking to cater to each specific industry niche. While pint-sized quadcopters are well-suited for navigating narrow indoor environments, there are hundreds of more powerful brutes on the market designed to handle the gustier conditions often involved with aerial photography. We should know — we have tested dozens of drones over the years and curated a comprehensive roundup of our favorites.

These enhancements and the general pivot toward drone-based aerial imaging are changing the field of photography, and even the photojournalism game as we know it. To illustrate this burgeoning photography market, SkyPixel, an aerial photography community run in conjunction with drone manufacturer DJI, received more than 27,000 photo submissions from 131 countries during its 2016 annual photography contest.

We have included some of these winners, as well as choice selections from sites like Dronestagram — an Instagram account entirely dedicated to aerial drone photography — and others in this gallery of truly epic drone photos. From awe-inspiring views of World Heritage Sites and tantalizing up-close glimpses of lava-spewing volcanoes to sights of the shifting sands along the Arabian Desert, here are 50 of our favorite drone photos from around the globe.

If you enjoy this photo gallery, you may also want to check out our favorite space photos. We’ve also put together a beginner’s guide to aerial photography, if you’re looking to get into the hobby.

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Watching liquid crystals undulate under a microscope will melt your brain

Sure, LCD displays are yesterday’s news compared to the swanky OLED displays we see on flagship handsets like the iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy S9. However, the liquid crystals which allow them to function are pretty darn awesome — as a trippy new video makes abundantly clear. Serving as a promo video for musician Max Cooper’s Music of the Tides, it uses footage shot by scientist and engineer Ben Outram to give a glimpse of liquid crystals as they appear under the microscope.

“Most people are familiar with phase transitions like between ice and water, and water and steam,” Outram told Digital Trends. “In some materials, which are common in biological systems, there exist extra phases of matter called liquid crystals. Unlike water, they are fluids that have some crystal symmetry properties. This combination of fluidity and structure results in mesmerizing visuals under a polarizing optical microscope. They are especially beautiful when they undergo phase transitions, where what you are seeing is the rapid self-assembly of matter between different flowing structures: a process that is reflected in the cells of every living organism since the origin of life.”

If you’re wondering why Outram knows so much about liquid crystal science, it’s because it was the subject of his PhD at Oxford and Leeds Universities. The photos, meanwhile, will be the subject of an upcoming book he’s writing for the Institute of Physics.

“The main challenge is knowing which liquid crystals, and which conditions, produce the most effective visuals,” he continued. “The kinds of structures useful for science and technology tend to be uniform, controlled, stationary, and boring. [My photography is about] taking the liquid crystals into conditions that are outside of their use in technology. For example, I photographed a lot of unusual phases, columnar, smectic, and long-pitch cholesterics. I got a lot of suggestions and support from researchers and students at Leeds University. Messing around with floating pools of liquid crystal near their melting temperature, inducing flow, and adding additional chemicals like detergent [added up to] misspent hours of mucking around doing things you’re not supposed to, just to get the thrill of seeing nature doing something intricate and amazing.”

We think the results speak for themselves. Once you add Max Cooper’s music and editing by Jennifer Tividad into the mix, the whole experience resembles the nerdiest acid trip since Steve Jobs took LSD.

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Clever new method solves VR’s ‘infinite walking’ problem by tricking your brain

One of the ways that virtual reality could be made even more immersive is if users were able to fully explore enormous virtual worlds by physically walking through them. That’s certainly a neat idea, but it’s also something that’s not exactly easy to accomplish when you’re using a VR headset in a small space. After all, nothing ruins the illusion of endless virtual space more than setting out to walk through a sprawling forest only to immediately stub your toe on the dresser five steps in front of you.

Previously, we’ve written about a solution created by researchers in Japan that misleads the brain into thinking it’s walking in a straight line when it’s actually walking in giant circles. That’s pretty neat, but it still requires a “play space” of 16 by 22 feet. A new system, developed by researchers from Stony Brook University, Nvidia, and Adobe, offers an alternative.

“This [project aims to] redirect users’ walking in VR so that they can explore a large virtual scene within a small physical space,” Qi Sun, lead author of the study, told Digital Trends. “We did this with an eye-tracked HMD (head-mounted display) to detect users’ saccade. With the help of human nature [in the form of] ‘saccadic suppression’ effect, users do not notice our redirection.”

Saccades refer to quick eye movements that occur when we are looking at different points in our field of vision, such as when we’re scanning a room. They take place without our control at a rate of several times every second, although we do not consciously register them. What the researchers on this project did was to exploit these saccade movements to rotate the virtual camera in the VR display during such rapid eye movements. By doing this, they can redirect users’ walking direction in real life to simulate a much larger space. This can be done without causing dizziness or discomfort.

Sun offered some potential applications for the redirected walking, including gaming and design work. For instance, an architect could walk around a 3D model of a large building in the confines of their office. Will this technology be commercialized in the near future? Right now, the team is keeping quiet about their plans. “This is currently a research project and neither I nor anyone else could comment on productization plans at this time,” Sun said.

The research is due to be shown off at the SIGGRAPH 2018 event, which showcases the latest computer graphics and interactive technologies, in August.

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The best electric bikes of 2018

As our thoroughfares become increasingly crowded with automotive traffic, more cities have made biking around town safer and more accessible to residents. From 2000 to 2010, the number of bicycle commuters increased by 40 percent across the United States, with numbers as high as 77 percent in some cities, according to data published by Forbes.

In recent years, the biking industry has boomed as manufacturers look to capitalize on increasingly nuanced styles. It should come as no surprise then that the electric bike movement has also enjoyed a massive rise in popularity lately, as individuals look to add a little pedal-assistance to their daily commutes and casual weekend outings.

However, an ebike is often a rather steep initial economic investment. But when you consider it alongside the annual costs of fueling, insuring, and maintaining an automobile, an ebike literally pays for itself over time. Here are five of the best electric bikes currently on the market — and one “just for fun” pick.

Our pick

Specialized Turbo Vado 6.0

Why should you buy this? The Turbo Vado 6.0 remains one of the most well-rounded ebikes we’ve tested.

The best

Specialized Turbo Vado 6.0

The Turbo Vado is a versatile ebike without the added bulk of most other electric builds.

$4,800.00 from Specialized

Who it’s for? Anyone who wants a casual daily commuter.

How much will it cost? $4,800

Why we chose the Specialized Turbo Vado 6.0:

On a trip to Palo Alto last year, we had the chance to ride Specialized’s pedal-assisted Turbo Vado and the model is still our favorite ebike on the market. Utilizing a 350-watt motor and 604-watt-hour lithium-ion battery, the Turbo Vado is capable of traveling a whopping 80 miles on a single charge, which should be more than enough for any daily commute with plenty of miles left over.

Built by a company that’s made cycling equipment for more than four decades, the Vado feels more like a traditional bicycle than almost any other ebike. Its frame and components have been tuned to provide a familiar experience, making it easy for new and long-time cyclists to jump on and start pedaling. Specialized’s heritage shines through nicely, helping separate itself from the competition in an increasingly crowded ebike market.

On the road, it takes only a few turns of the pedals to activate the Vado’s motor and get it up to speed. In Turbo mode — the bike’s highest level of pedal-assist — the Vado reaches speeds of up to 28 miles per hour, after which the electric drive system automatically shuts off to conserve power (and abide by local law). A built-in LED readout on the handlebars allows riders to monitor battery life, check current speed, and track calories burned while also being able to glance at distance traveled. The Turbo Vado Mission Control app (iOS/Android) also connects to the bike via Bluetooth and allows riders to further tune their ride and adjust the bike’s settings.

We ran the Vado through the gauntlet — including some of the steepest hills in Palo Alto — and the bike easily handled everything we threw at it, maintaining a steady 20 miles per hour even on the most daunting of ascents. The bike also handles well on downhills and is both nimble and quick on city streets and paved trails. It’s even comfortable to ride for extended distances, which is vitally important for any bike built for urban settings.

It’s important to note that the Vado is custom-tuned for city riding, making it a great choice for daily commutes to and from the office or running errands on the weekend. That said, if you’re looking for an ebike for more difficult terrain, there are other options on this list better suited to that task.

Read more about the Specialized Turbo Vado

The best mountain bike

Haibike SDURO HardNine 4.0

Why should you buy this?  Relatively lightweight, affordable, and capable, this is a great all-around mountain bike.

The best electric mountain bike

Haibike SDURO HardNine 4.0

The Haibike SDURO HardNine 4.0 is built to dominate the trail.

$1,499.00 from Fly Rides

Who it’s for? Year-round mountain bike enthusiasts looking to make ascents easier.

How much will it cost? $2,600

Why we chose the Haibike SDURO HardNine 4.0:

Electric mountain bikes have garnered a lot of attention for their ability to help riders go higher, further, and faster on the trail. As a result, there have been some impressive new eMTB models to hit the market in recent years, making it easier than ever to head off-road. Our favorite is the Haibike SDURO HardNine, which comes equipped with a 350-watt Bosch Performance CX drive and a 500 watt-hour battery. This gives it a range of up to 70 miles, along with a top speed of 20 mph, which is plenty fast on singletrack.

Haibike ships the HardNine with 29-inch tires, 180-millimeter hydraulic disc brakes, a 100-millimeter front suspension fork, and a nine-speed Shimano shifting system. The bike’s LCD readout is affixed to the handlebars and displays the current speed, level of charge, remaining range, and current pedal assist mode. The company says the battery can be completely recharged in just four hours, minimizing downtime between rides.

Fast and fun on the trail, the SDURO HardNine handles rough terrain with ease, while its large tires roll over most obstacles without missing a beat. The pedal assist makes for quick, energy-saving climbing and the bike descends surprisingly well, too. Its front suspension provides a nice level of cushion on bumpy trails and while we missed having a full-suspension on this model, that would have added additional weight and costs.

Priced at just $2,600, the Haibike SDURO HardNine 4.0 is easier on the pocketbook than most other e-mountain bikes, while still delivering great performance. That makes it easy to recommend as an all-mountain ride for a wide variety of mountain bikers.

The best commuter

Raleigh Redux IE Diamond Frame

Why should you buy this? Built for the urban commuter, this bike is fast, comfortable, and features great range.

The best commuter electric bike

Raleigh Redux IE Diamond Frame

You’ll be able to travel from home to the office or run errands in style with the Raleigh Redux IE Diamond Frame.

$2,699.00 from Raleigh Electric

Who it’s for? Inner city commuters.

How much will it cost? $2,699

Why we chose the Raleigh Redux IE Diamond Frame:

Another bike that comes our way courtesy of a traditional bike maker, the Raleigh Redux IE Diamond Frame was built from the ground up for urban commuting. With its clean, simple design, this is an electric bike that doesn’t look like an ebike, yet still delivers impressive performance on the road.

Powered by a 250-watt Brose Centerdrive system, the Redux is capable of reaching speeds of up to 28 mph, which comes in handy when dodging traffic. Its 36-volt lithium-ion battery provides enough juice to give the bike a range of up to 80 miles between recharges, making it a great option for daily commuters. Raleigh even outfitted the bike with wide tires which provide stability and traction, even when the road gets wet. Other key features include a 10-speed Shimano crankset and shifters and a built-in LCD screen that displays all the usual information.

The Redux’s stealthy design manages to hide the bike’s battery in the downtube, which helps conceal the fact that it’s an ebike at first glance. This gives it a more traditional look that should appeal to riders who aren’t overly enamored with the chunky style of other ebikes. It also helps make the bike a bit more nimble, too.

The best road bike

Giant Road E+1

Why should you buy this? The Giant Road E+1 is an elegant touring option.

The best commuter electric bike

Giant Road E+1

You’ll be able to travel from home to the office or run errands in style with the Raleigh Redux IE Diamond Frame.

$4,130.00 from Giant

Who it’s for? Road bike enthusiasts.

How much will it cost? $4,130

Why we chose the Giant Road E+1:

Riding a pedal-assisted road bike may seem counterintuitive but during longer training sessions, the minimal addition of power helps prevent overall muscle fatigue and injury. Similarly, those looking to enjoy longer scenic routes will appreciate the general boost an electric drive provides. With a top speed of 28 mph, the Road E+1 uses three power modes to give you ultimate control over your ride and assistance level. A four-point sensory system monitors the pedaling force allowing the motor to amplify your movements seamlessly.

One of our favorite features with the Road E+1 is the ergonomic Ride Control EVO command station. Unlike other control centers, this display is mounted onto the center of the handlebars, keeping the controls literally at your fingertips. At higher speeds, balance is key and this module enables control over the system and the fork at all times.

Giant didn’t skimp on traditional cycling components, either. The bike comes standard with an 11-speed Shimano crankset, hydraulic disc brakes, and a lightweight aluminum frame. It also features an aggressive geometry designed for road riding and ships with a fast-charger to keep the electric motor powered up.

The frame itself incorporates a series of mounts allowing you to easily trick-out the Road E+1 with a rack, fenders, or panniers to more aptly meet your touring requirements. Again, most touring purists will certainly scoff at the mere notion of pedal-assistance, however, individuals looking for more of a guided tour and less of a tour de force will swoon over the Road E+1.

The best budget option

Espin Sport

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Why should you buy this? The Espin Sport is a solid economic ebike option.

Our Score

The best budget option electric bike

eSpin Sport Black

The Espin Sport is an exceptionally practical ebike priced under $2,000.

$1,888.00 from Espin

Who it’s for? Those looking to buy their first ebike without breaking the bank.

How much will it cost? $1,888

Why we chose the Espin Sport:

Purchasing an ebike can be a rather hefty initial investment, and there are dozens of worthy makes and models to choose from. That said, some individuals may desire a solid pedal-assistance model without a bevy of extra frills and the Espin Sport is our top budget-specific pick.

Overall, the Epsin has a no-nonsense, blue-collar build we absolutely love. It utilizes a 20-inch diamond frame that looks and feels like a traditional road bike. A sturdy, rear-mounted luggage rack stows up to 55 pounds of cargo, which should be more than enough for a trip to the store, commuting to the office, or a short day trip.

The Espin is powered by a 350-watt motor that’s rated for trips up to 50 miles (depending on the terrain and assist level). Once depleted, the battery fully charges in roughly five hours. Thankfully, Espin makes it easy to remove the battery, allowing you to quickly recharge it at home or in the office between trips. A backlit LCD control hub displays your basic metrics and battery life while in transit and LED headlights add a touch of light when needed.

Yes, there are less expensive ebikes on the market but most come with a few serious caveats. The Espin Sport delivers on the full promise of an electric bike, but in a more affordable fashion. This bike isn’t going to tow you around for a 60-mile round-trip endeavor but those seeking their first ebike will get plenty of return on their investment with this model.

Read our review of the Espin Sport

The best eco-conscious off-road bike

Cake Kalk

Why should you buy this? If you enjoy getting out in nature on two wheels and you’re concerned about the environment.

The best electric mountain bike

Cake Kalk

Cake’s Kalk is an off-road ebike that’s silent, clean, and just a blast to ride.

$1,000.00 from Cake

Who’s it for? Serious off-road riders who want a silent ride.

How much will it cost? $14,000

Why we chose the Cake Kalk:

The electric bike revolution has officially crossed into the arena of off-road motorbikes. For those who prefer riding in nature, Cake introduced a product which not only respects the environment but other riders, as well. Cake’s Kalk is a silent off-road motorbike that releases no emissions into the atmosphere. Additionally, its electric motor means no gear changing or clutching — a silent motorbike that won’t detract from the experience of others. Perhaps the best part is Cake avoided any sacrifice in performance. The Kalk reaches speeds of fifty miles per hour and features three distinct driving modes: Discover, Explore, and Excite.

Discover is ideal for those just getting their feet wet while Explore is designed for longer, more exciting rides. For an extra kick, Excite mode allows for optimum power and acceleration, perfect for executing wheelies and performing tricks.

In addition, Kalk weighs under 155 pounds — less than half of traditional motorbikes. Cake customized parts of the drivetrain and implemented an interior permanent magnet (IPM) motor. On a single charge, the bike travels up to 50 miles and as a bonus feature, maintenance is minimal due to the fact there are few moving parts thanks to its lack of a combustion engine.

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We may be ready for autonomous cars, but how about self-driving bikes?

We’re totally onboard for being driven around in a self-driving car. For whatever reason, though, a self-driving motorbike sounds a whole lot more terrifying. Nonetheless, that’s what U.K.-based company AB Dynamics has developed — although it’s not something that you will be riding on any time soon. Unlike regular self-driving cars, the self-driving bike does not have the same complex ability to make sense of its environment. Instead, it is able to balance itself and to follow a path accurately and with a high degree of repeatability. The reason? To simulate real-world driving conditions on test tracks to help train future autonomous or semi-autonomous cars.

“Increasingly, cars are fitted with active safety systems whose job is to detect a possible collision and avoid it,” Jeremy Ash, commercial manager for AB Dynamics, told Digital Trends. “These systems are very complex to develop and, as part of that process, you need to expose your car to the type of scenario it might encounter on the road. Often these tests are done with ‘soft dummies’ which represent moving pedestrians, cyclists, motorbikes, and cars but can be safely struck by the test vehicle. But for some tests 100 percent representative targets are needed, hence real cars — which we can already drive with no one onboard thanks to our robots — and, now, a real motorbike. This could also be used for testing fully self-driving cars, which need to be able to navigate through complex traffic environments without hitting other road users. We are seeing a lot of interest in using our technology to reproduce these traffic environments with moving cars, pedestrians, and other road users.”

AB Dynamics

So far, AB Dynamics has demonstrated the feasibility of its self-driving bike, although only in prototype form. Next up, the company aims to develop this into a production item. This could potentially then be sold to one or more of the 25 largest car manufacturers in the world, which AB Dynamics already supplies test equipment to.

There is the chance of one day developing this into a publicly available self-driving bike, but Ash pointed out that this would require “a lot more R&D” of the sort that companies are now carrying out for autonomous cars. This work is being conducted by AB’s development partner, AutoRD. The question is whether you would be willing to ride one?

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World’s first 3D-printed cornea made from algae and human stem cells

The human eye is a remarkably sophisticated organ and like the lens to a camera, it’s the cornea that focuses the flood of photons into a perceptible image. But for an estimated 15 million people around the world, eye disease and trauma make surgery the only path to clear vision.

In the next few years, artificial corneas may become more accessible thanks to new research out of Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. There, researchers mixed stem cells from the cornea of a healthy donor with collagen and algae molecules to create a bio-ink, which they 3D-printed into an artificial cornea. The research is currently just a proof-of-concept but lays the groundwork for future techniques to create low-cost, easy-to-produce bionic eyes.

There were three features required for the bio-ink, according to Che Connon, a professor of tissue engineering at Newcastle.

“One, it needed to be able to keep a stem cell population alive,” he told Digital Trends. “It needed to be extrudable, or thin enough to push through a thin gauge needle to allow for bio-printing. And the material needed to be stiff enough such that it holds it shape, allowing to build up a 3D cornea.”

Connon and his colleagues previously managed to keep stem cells alive for weeks at room temperature in a similar bio-ink. This recent study advanced that research by using a ready-made bio-ink packed with stem cells, without having to wait for the cells to grow separately. The team also demonstrated that they could tailor their 3D-printed cornea to match the unique dimensions of a patient’s eye by taking an image of the cornea and rendering it as a 3D model.

It will take some years still until 3D-printed corneas make it to the market. But, if and when that does happen, the research will prove most beneficial for developing regions where cases of corneal damage is highest and supply of donor corneas are most limited.

“There’s a lack of donor cornea, especially in the less developed world,” Connon said. “They don’t have good eye banks there like they do in the more developed world. That means many people don’t have access to corneal transplantation. And in these less developed nations, there are more instances of burns and infections that can cause corneal blindness.”

A paper detailing the research was published this week in the journal Experimental Eye Research.

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Drones are helping efforts to free whales from dangerous marine debris

Quadcopters and other remotely controlled flying machines are finding all kinds of amazing uses, well beyond just capturing stunning photos or helping filmmakers to secure some awesome aerial shots.

Take this recent ocean-based collaboration as an example. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary teamed up with Oceans Unmanned, whose goal is to protect oceans and coastal marine environments through the use of drones.

The focus of this particular partnership, highlighted in a video posted on YouTube this week, is to help disentangle whales around Hawaii from discarded fishing kit and other ocean debris that can injure or drown the mammal, or prevent it from feeding.

It’s dangerous work and the team has to approach the creatures, which may be in a great deal of distress, with extreme care.

NOAA’s Ed Lyman, who’s been helping whales for more than 25 years, has warmly welcomed drone technology into his work. He says the camera-equipped machines, which relay real-time footage to the rescue team, help his boats to “minimize approaches, give us a different view — an aerial view — of the gear and the animal’s condition … it reduces our risk, having that drone in the toolbox makes the whole procedure a much safer one.”

Lyman can thank Matt Pickett, a trained pilot and president of Oceans Unmanned, for the extra assistance offered by the eye in the sky. Picket launched the nonprofit company five years ago with the aim of bringing unmanned technology to ocean protection, using small drones launched from response boats or smaller support vessels.

“You can get a better look at the whales [and] figure out what’s going on, with less risk to both the responders and the whales,” Pickett said, adding that “using tech for environmental good is a really fantastic feeling,”

The video was produced by drone maker DJI as part of its Stories collection highlighting the various ways in which its machines are being used for positive purposes.

Drone rescue

Besides assisting whales in distress, drone technology is also being utilized right now — again in Hawaii — to help emergency response teams rescue residents from the lava flows from Kilauea volcano on the Big Island.

A number of drone experts also assisted with relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, which caused widespread damage in Houston, Texas, in 2017.

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Finally, an ‘umbrella drone’ that hovers above your head

If holding a parasol or umbrella has always felt like too much trouble, then this contraption from Japan looks to be just the ticket.

At first glance, it looks like a drone with a parasol/umbrella attached. Actually, it looks like that with subsequent glances too, because that’s exactly what it is.

Put to one side, if you can, any negative thoughts about the ear-splitting racket it’ll make above your head as you go about your day, and marvel instead at all of the incredible things you’ll be able to do with two free hands instead of the usual one.

Like applauding amazing happenings, fiddling with your massive smartphone display, performing fascinating TED Talks (outdoors in sunny or rainy conditions, obviously) using both hands to emphasize interesting points, or counting the number of dollars you wasted on this daft device (you’ll definitely need more than five fingers for that).

If you’re thinking that having fast-spinning rotors just inches from your head may put you at risk of an impromptu haircut (or worse), then rest assured, the final design will include caged blades.

Speaking of final designs, the company that came up with the drone — Asahi Power Service — has released another video (above) showing the motor and rotors in a more elevated position, a little further away from the brave person standing beneath it. It also looks more like a traditional umbrella, with a handle, suggesting it would only be activated in short bursts when you need both hands to perform a particular task, such as taking a golf shot.

Indeed, with strict regulations still preventing widespread use of drones in urban areas, Asahi Power Service says it wants to begin by aiming its marketing efforts toward golf players who can use it while they take their shots.

According to SoraNews, the company plans to start selling its umbrella/drone combo for the princely sum of 30,000 yen (about $275), starting next year.

Drones are turning out to be amazing for a lot of things. This isn’t one of them. For those who want to keep both hands free as they shield themselves from extreme weather, we suggest a far more sensible option: The umbrella hat.

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