All posts tagged: Tabletop

Tabletop lightning makes methanol for fuels and more

Tabletop lightning makes methanol for fuels and more

Published by skeptic

atom: The basic unit of a chemical element. Atoms are made up of a dense nucleus that contains positively charged protons and uncharged neutrons. The nucleus is orbited by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. carbon: A chemical element that is the physical basis of all life on Earth. Carbon exists freely as graphite and diamond. It is an important part of coal, limestone and petroleum, and is capable of self-bonding, chemically, to form an enormous number of chemically, biologically and commercially important molecules. catalyst: (v. catalyze) A substance that helps a chemical reaction to proceed faster. Examples include enzymes and elements such as platinum and iridium. chemical: A substance formed from two or more atoms that unite (bond) in a fixed proportion and structure. For example, water is a chemical made when two hydrogen atoms bond to one oxygen atom. Its chemical formula is H2O. Chemical also can be an adjective to describe properties of materials that are the result of various reactions between different compounds. chemical engineer: A researcher who uses chemistry to …

Tabletop games like D&D act as “drama therapy in the wild” to boost players’ self-concepts

Tabletop games like D&D act as “drama therapy in the wild” to boost players’ self-concepts

Published by José Betancourt

A recent study published in the journal Transcultural Psychiatry provides evidence that the personal bonds people form with fictional characters in tabletop role-playing games can lead to noticeable improvements in their real-life sense of identity. The research suggests that using these games in clinical settings could be an effective way to help patients build self-esteem and process personal struggles. This psychological growth tends to happen most reliably when the gaming environment feels safe and socially supportive. The project was guided by Jeffrey G. Snodgrass, a professor in the Department of Anthropology and Geography at Colorado State University. Snodgrass directs the Ethnographic Research and Teaching Laboratory, known as ERTL, and wrote the book The Avatar Faculty: Ecstatic Transformations in Religion and Video Games. “It was a collaborative study involving faculty and students and is part of my lab’s long-term aim to productively combine research and teaching,” Snodgrass told PsyPost. Mental health professionals have started incorporating tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons into psychological treatments. To explain the motivation for the study, Snodgrass noted, “This work represents …

Thunderbird Reactor: New room-temperature fusion reactor that fits on a tabletop

Thunderbird Reactor: New room-temperature fusion reactor that fits on a tabletop

Published by Jenni Sidey

Nuclear fusion usually brings to mind sprawling facilities, blistering temperatures, and machines built on a scale that can swallow budgets whole. This device does something stranger. It sits on a lab bench, runs at room temperature, and still produces a measurable fusion signal. Researchers at the University of British Columbia say their compact setup, called the Thunderbird Reactor, increased fusion rates by about 15% by packing more deuterium into a metal target through electrochemistry. The result does not come close to producing useful power. It does, however, point to a new way of studying how fusion reactions might be nudged along inside solid materials. The work, published in Nature, centers on a simple idea. Fusion depends heavily on how often fuel atoms collide. Raise the fuel density, and the odds of those collisions go up. That matters because deuterium, a heavy form of hydrogen often used in fusion experiments, can be packed into solid metals at densities that are difficult to maintain in many other fusion systems. Instead of trying to recreate the sun inside …

Board Review: Tabletop Video Games With Physical Pieces

Board Review: Tabletop Video Games With Physical Pieces

Published by skeptic

My kids also enjoyed Save the Bloogs, an obviously Lemmings-inspired platformer, where you use the pieces as ladders, bridges, and canons to guide the cute wee Bloogs away from impending death. Board Arcade is the only one that reuses pieces, with spaceships and robots adding physical controls to versions of classics like Snake and Asteroids. Most of the games are marked as age 6 and up, and I’d expect young kids to love this. The dull digital pet Mushka is clearly aimed at wee ones. Sadly, a couple of the more interesting titles, international mystery Spycraft and strategy face-off Thrasos, are still marked as “coming soon.” The Tetris and Chess-inspired Strata is a bit more challenging and makes for a fun two- to six-player battle for territory. I also quite liked the sushi-themed Omakase, a head-to-head battle to build the best bento boxes. The quality and depth of the launch titles vary, but they feel more like examples of what you could do with the tech than must-have games. It’s telling that the best of …

Transport Your Dungeons & Dragons Hero Off the Page With This Tabletop Gadget

Transport Your Dungeons & Dragons Hero Off the Page With This Tabletop Gadget

Published by skeptic

As I walked around CES 2026, my eyes drifted over a poster awash with fantasy heroes, dastardly monsters and rolling dice — and I failed my saving throw to look away. If you’re a fellow tabletop gaming nerd, you might want to follow this pair of gadgets due out later this year. Tabletop gaming continues to appeal to players with its deliberately analog gameplay, using miniatures, maps, dice and other physical trinkets to keep the focus on real-world play. The niche has grown in popularity over the decades, and a supporting industry has risen around it, offering third-party materials and accessories to enhance the experience. Digital gadgets and software have been added to this mix in recent years, and a new company, Arcalink, has its own supporting products for the avid Dungeons & Dragons player. The first of Arcalink’s upcoming tabletop augmentations is a gadget that’s small but mighty. About the size of a film canister, the Arcalink One is a rectangular display around 2 to 3 inches long that’s covered in fantasy decorations. These …