Teens Launch Lego Man Way, Way Up There

Weather balloons can pose danger to airplanes, officials advise

(NEWSER) - Lego men in space —like the one recently sent 14 miles above sea level by two Toronto teens—may be cool, but pilots have a warning for would-be copycats: Your weather balloon could endanger airplanes, reports the Toronto Star . Were a plane to fly into a large balloon, the damage could be the equivalent of hitting a bird. And if the balloon was sucked into an engine, things could get ugly, warned air safety experts. More»

Balloon/camera contraption cost Robert Harrison just $750

(NEWSER) - Armed with a few hundred dollars and a dream, a British man has come up with a way to take photos of the earth from space that would make NASA proud—and have. “A guy phoned up who worked for NASA. He wanted to know how the hell we did it,” Robert Harrison tells the Times . “They said it would have cost them millions of dollars.” But a slim $750 got Harrison the meteorological balloon, digital camera, GPS device, duct tape, and home insulation he needed to take the shots. More»

(NEWSER) - A group of Spanish high-school students has successfully sent a balloon and camera package 20 miles above the surface of the Earth, scoring stunning pictures of space, the Telegraph reports—and on a budget of about $82. “We were overwhelmed at our results, especially the photographs,” the team’s 18-year-old leader said. “To send our handmade craft to the edge of space is incredible.” More»

Silicon Valley exec used his own bar codes at stores, say cops

(NEWSER) - Legos? The San Jose Mercury News weighs in with the tale of a Silicon Valley executive accused of using his high-tech skills to steal, yes, Legos. Lots and lots of Legos. Thomas Langenbach of software giant SAP allegedly created his own bar codes, then made the rounds of local Target stores buying boxes of the toys at his own cut-rate prices. He then turned around and sold them on eBay, say police. More»

And twice as many as previously believed are in orbits similar to Earth's

(NEWSER) - NASA thinks it's got a pretty solid estimate on the number of gigantic asteroids that could plausibly cause regional or global catastrophe by smashing into Earth: 4,700, give or take 1,500. Included in that number are all the rocks that exist, or which they suspect exist, that are larger than 330 feet across, and have orbits that pass within 5 million miles of Earth, Space.com reports. Only about 30% of these asteroids have actually been found. More»