Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson / Getty Images)

The side effect of being innovative is that some rather strange and unphysical ideas sometimes escape from NASA. This probably explains the Helical Drive.

Twisting the laws of physics

The basic idea of the helical drive, according to the author of that link, is simple. Imagine that you have a mass in a cylinder that is oscillating back and forth. Every time the mass hits the end of the cylinder, it will impart some momentum, accelerating it. Because the mass sequentially collides with each end of the cylinder, the net force is zero, and the only outcome is that the cylinder gets a massive headache.

Enlarge / A stack of plant-based Impossible Burgers. (credit: Impossible Foods)

Plant-based meat alternatives are having a moment—from Burger King’s Impossible Whoppers, White Castle’s Impossible sliders, McDonald’s Beyond Meat PLT, and Subway’s Beyond Meatball Marinara, not to mention the growing shelf space for meatless-meat in grocery stores nationwide.

Though veggie burgers have been around for ages, the more meat-like generation of products has clearly piqued the appetite of the public. And that has another group—perhaps a surprising one—salivating over the profit potential: the meat industry.

Big names in meaty-meat products—including Tyson, Perdue, Hormel, Smithfield, and Nestlé—are all trying to get a cut of the fake and alternative-meat products world, according to The New York Times. Following the juicy success of Impossible Foods (with its Impossible Burgers) and Beyond Meat, meat producers have carved out their own plant-based versions of burgers, chicken nuggets, sausages, and more.

Enlarge / Overwatch running on the Nintendo Switch. (credit: Samuel Axon)

Blizzard has canceled a planned event to promote tomorrow’s launch of Overwatch on the Nintendo Switch at Nintendo World’s New York City retail location. Nintendo announced the cancellation in a Twitter post late last night, attributing the decision to Blizzard and apologizing for “any inconvenience this may cause.”

Blizzard has not responded to a request for comment from Ars Technica (Nintendo simply referred our request back to Blizzard). But the abrupt decision to abandon the long-planned event comes a week after the company briefly banned pro Hearthstone player Ng “Blitzchung” Wai Chung and stripped him of his tournament winnings. That move came after Blitzchung offered support for the ongoing and long-running Hong Kong protests during an official Hearthstone Grandmasters online broadcast.

The backlash continues

Blizzard later reinstated Blitzchung’s winnings and reduced his ban to a six-month suspension, but the damage among many fans seems to have already been done. The replies to Nintendo World’s announcement tweet are already filled with hundreds of angry responses, most suggesting Blizzard is kowtowing to Chinese political interests to maintain access to the country’s lucrative gaming market.

Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica)

Greetings, Arsians! The Dealmaster is back with another round of deals to share. Today’s list is headlined by a modest but notable deal on the Nintendo Switch, as Target is throwing a $25 store gift card in with the purchase of the console at its standard $300 MSRP. The deal applies to the full-fat Switch, not the more portable Switch Lite, but it covers the latest model of the larger console, which has significantly improved battery life compared to the original system that launched in 2017. Similar $25 gift card bundles were available at Amazon and Best Buy earlier this month, but those have since expired.

This isn’t a massive discount, and we wouldn’t blame you if you held off until Black Friday before pulling the trigger on a new console. That can be said about almost everything tech-related, though, and straight discounts on the Switch have been relatively rare from major retailers. On Prime Day, for instance, Nintendo’s main Switch deal kept the console at full price but bundled it with a $35 Nintendo eShop gift card. So if you were really eager to pick up the console today, and you plan to shop at Target again, there are worse offers out there.

If you’re all good on the Switch front, though, we also have a truckload of deals on PS4 and Xbox One video games, $20 off one of our favorite portable Bluetooth speakers, discounts on Apple Watches and Roku TVs, and more. Have a look for yourself below.