Although Billy Mitchell and Steve Weibe were the stars of 2007 documentary King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, their world record high scores on the arcade version of Donkey Kong have since been surpassed by a new champ, Dr. Hank Chien.

The NYC-based plastic surgeon just broke his own record, which has been in place since January 2011, by turning in a 1,110,100 point performance. Chien says his score could have been even higher, too, but he failed to reach the kill screen.

"This was not a killscreen game," Chien told The Examiner. "I died two screens shy of the killscreen so my score would have been a little higher, perhaps 1.12 million points. I had a spare man going into Level 21 and was mentally preparing to sacrifice it on the last barrel board and my game was over a few minutes later. That's how Donkey Kong rolls sometimes."

Chien says the top end of his high-scoring potential is around 1.15 million points, and he'll continue playing until he stops improving. He's also looking to become the world champ of another classic arcade game, Atari's Centipede.

[geekosystem.]

A Lego skyscraper created by a group of 4,000 kids and assembled in Seoul, South Korea has broken the world record for tallest Lego structure, measuring 105 feet tall.

Kids who won a contest in celebration of Lego's 80th birthday were allowed to help assemble pieces of the 50,000-brick tower, which was completed at an anniversary event on May 13.

Once the final piece was added -- by the Crown Prince of Denmark riding on a cherry picker, no less! -- the structure edged out the previous record by 31 centimeters.

[dvice.]

Purdue University's Society of Professional Engineers broke their own world record for the world's most complex Rube Goldberg machine over the weekend, deploying a 300-step contraption that inflates and then pops a balloon.

Purdue's previous record, listed in the Guinness Book, was "only" 244 steps.

Sorry, OK Go. At least you have that whole rock n' roll thing to fall back on.

[io9]

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF) has fired the strongest laser shot ever recorded, measuring 2.03 megajoules.

The laser was only expected to reach 1.87 megajoules, but it became the first ultraviolet laser to break the 2 megajoule barrier after its beam was focused through one final lens.

Creating a laser blast that powerful -- with a foot-wide beam -- requires splitting a single beam into 48, then using mirrors to bounce those beams through 4 amplifiers, and then splitting and amplifying them again. The end result is 192 beams combining into a single, powerful shot.

The NIF plans to use the laser to compress a hydrogen fuel cell, creating a nuclear fusion reaction that generates more power than it takes to fire a laser. If successful, the project could lead to the development of a new fusion-based power source.

NIF scientists haven't yet announced when they plan to test the laser on an actual target.

[gizmodo]

Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology have created a new kind of 3D printer, using a technique called "two-photon lithography," that allows them to print objects several times faster than similar devices.

"The printing speed used to be measured in millimeters per second – our device can do five meters in one second," explained TU Vienna's Professor Jürgen Stampfl.

The printer works by using a laser to harden a liquid resin and create a solid object. The technique was previously quite slow, but the Vienna researchers sped it up by guiding the laser with faster-moving mirrors, and printing from a special resin.

Working with a team of chemists, they developed a printing material whose molecules harden when they absorb two photons from the laser beam at once. Previous techniques could only create solid material one layer at a time, but the Vienna team's printer can create it anywhere within the pool of liquid resin, saving a huge amount of time.

The researchers claim their new printer has set a world record for 3D printing speed.

[popsci]

DARPA's speedy Cheetah robot has set a new landspeed record for robots with legs, reaching speeds of 18 miles an hour. The 'bot topped the previous record of 13.1 MPH, set way back in 1989.

Although it still lags behind the fastest human runners -- topped by Usain Bolt and his amazing 28 mph world record -- the Cheetah's creators at Boston Dynamics hope it will one day mimic the 60-70 mph running speeds of an actual cheetah.

DARPA envisions the 'bot being used for "emergency response, firefighting, advanced agriculture and vehicular travel."

They'll be putting the Cheetah to the test within the next year, letting it off the treadmill for a live running exercise.

[wired]