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A strange-looking vehicle at an air show in China is getting buzz for an obvious reason: It appears to resemble a UFO. We don’t know much about the vehicle, including which sector of the Chinese military built it, and if it can fly or not.Both the U.S. Army and Air Force have previously explored similar projects that have failed.Is the Chinese government making an investment in flying saucers? It looks that way, based on images circulating from this past weekend’s 5th China Helicopter Exposition, held in the northern Tianjin region....

Media Platforms Design TeamFor 13 days in 2011 Michael Farmer and Robert Ward combed the southern desert of Oman, seeking treasure in the sands of Dhofar. The pair were not on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula to hunt for gold, gems, or fossils. They were there for meteorites. Oman’s untouched landscape, monotone taupe background, and arid climate make for ideal hunting conditions. The trip was proving to be particularly successful—Farmer claimed a find that had once rested on the moon....

On Monday, plans for the Terrafugia Transition, the latest consumer-model flying car, were unveiled to the public. The vehicle, which was recently given a 110-pound weight exemption by the FAA, transforms from a two-wheel drive car to an airplane with a range of 460 miles in less than 30 seconds. This latest attempt at creating a flying car available for the public has a few novel approaches: It incorporates airbags, bumpers and all of the required safety features of a normal car, and it is classified as a light sport aircraft, arguably the easiest class of plane to learn how to fly....

Last week the science onboard the International Space Station got a little sticky when astronauts began experiments with their latest cargo from Earth—samples of human and bull semen.The material is the centerpiece of a biological study investigating whether sperm can accomplish their reproductive job in space. The study is officially called NASA’s ISS Program Science Office’s brief on the Spaceflight-Altered Motility Activation and Fertility-Dependent Responses in Sperm (Micro-11). Its purpose: If humanity is to spread to other planets, then we might need to make more humans in space....

When the sun enters its red giant stage in about six billion years, scientists say it will cause a chain reaction of exploding asteroids in the asteroid belt. These small rocky bodies will explode thanks to the YORP effect, a phenomenon in which the sun’s radiation causes rapid changes to the rotation of asteroids. After the sun expands into its red giant stage, it will shrink into a white dwarf. Between five and six billion years from now, astronomers say the sun will expand into an even bigger fireball, swallowing almost half the solar system....

Efficient CellphonesWith half of its hardware coming from renewable materials and a low-draw charger, Nokia’s 3110 Evolve phone purports to be as eco-friendly a handset as we’ve ever seen. And while you’ll receive it in a box made from 60 percent recycled content, that’s just the beginning: The company is playing up its entire recycling enterprise, which Nokia says can reclaim 65 to 85 percent of a phone’s raw materials. “Lots of phones just sit in drawers unused,” says Nokia rep Keith Nowak....

The Air Force may be prepping the next jets that will serve as Air Force One, but it will be years before they’re ready to take to the skies. In the meantime, the aging VC-25As that currently do the job need some upkeep to make it to the finish line. The latest tune-up? New refrigerators that will cost a total of $24 million. A contract for $23,657,671, awarded to Boeing, will cover two identical fridges, one for each of the jets that serve as Air Force One when the president is on board....

Despite the name, there was iron in the Bronze Age. It was just extremely rare. Most famously, the pharaoh Tutankhamun had a headrest, bracelet and dagger made of iron. Other iron artifacts from the same time have also been found around the globe. The existence of these artifacts has led to an archaeological debate: was there, in fact, iron smelting in the Bronze Age? According to a new chemical analysis, the answer is no....

Scientists just announced the first ever detection of gravitational waves—ripples in space itself. Led by Caltech, MIT, and the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the discovery takes place almost exactly 100 years after Einstein theorized their existence. The scientists discovered the ripples from an event “1.3 billion years ago,” says David Reitze, the executive director of the LIGO laboratory in today’s press conference, “of two black holes spiraling into one another and merging....

Media Platforms Design TeamIs it possible to rejuvenate a car battery by adding more acid to it? I’ve heard that some dead batteries can be restored.You might be thinking of older batteries, which need to be periodically checked and topped off with water. Most new batteries are maintenance-free, so you can’t mess with the components inside. Older battery designs lose water in the electrolytea mixture of about one part sulfuric acid and two parts waterfrom evaporation....

The phrase “car modification” bring to mind images of grease-stained burly persons clad in oil-spotted coveralls, toiling away at the aluminum and steel heart of some piece of American muscle. Those who coax more out of a vehicle are seen as artisans. Their canvas is an engine block. Their studio, a garage.Zac Nelson doesn’t quite fit that stereotype. He may be the son of an ironworker who grew up in a home full of engines in various states of assembly, but now, as a research engineer at Ford, Nelson works in a pristine fluorescent-white office, wears neatly-pressed slacks and shirts, and manipulates lines of code instead of valve timing....

The European Space Agency (ESA) took precautionary measures yesterday to avoid a potential collision between its Aeolus weather satellite and a SpaceX Starlink Satellite.The near-miss has renewed concerns about the need to track space debris and satellite congestion in Earth’s low orbit.While SpaceX has installed autonomous collision avoidance systems in its Starlink fleet, the ESA tweeted that it hopes to employ similar technology in the future.The European Space Agency (ESA) performed a collision avoidance maneuver yesterday morning in order to circumvent a potential collision between its Aeolus satellite and a SpaceX Starlink satellite....

Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamThe spy shots above and below (at right) show a number of minor changes to the prototype Flex Flex model since we first saw it at the New York auto show last month. We’ll get to all of them in a minute, but our first impression upon seeing the Flex hit the road? It looks long, long, long—much bigger than the discontinued Ford Freestar minivan it’s replacing....

Media Platforms Design TeamWhen it comes to traversing great distances at highway speeds, the diesel engine’s higher compression ratios and lean-burn combustion provide an efficiency that no gas engine can currently match—at least not without a major assist from an expensive hybrid system. Over the diesel’s operating range, the average thermodynamic efficiency—how much work the engine produces from the fuel—is in the mid 30 percent range, at least 15 percent better than a gas engine....

Amid slumping sales, Harley-Davidson will attempt to attract younger riders by offering its first production electric motorcycle. The new bike, which has yet to be named, is expected to be available within 18 months. The Milwaukee motorcycle maker first dipped its toes in the EV world by touring the country a few years back with a concept electric motorcycle, the LiveWire, for riders and members of the media to take on test rides....

A joke tweet from 35,000 feet has set off a furor over cybersecurity in the air, with the TSA and FBI warning airlines to watch out for possible tampering with a plane’s computer controls. It’s raising new questions about just how vulnerable our increasingly wired airline fleet may be to remote attacks.The episode began last week when Chris Roberts, founder of One World Labs and a self-styled specialist in aviation security, tweeted out a mocking message on a United flight from Denver to Syracuse:View full post on TwitterIf read literally, it seemed to suggest that he was thinking of hacking in to the plane’s avionics and releasing the oxygen masks....

Media Platforms Design TeamPolice and federal investigators are still searching for motives behind Adam Lanza’s killing spree in Newtown, Conn., last week. One important piece of evidence: Lanza’s computer hard drive, which investigators say the 20-year-old smashed with a hammer or screwdriver before the attack.Presumably, Lanza wrecked his hard drive to prevent police from prying into his files. But that may not have been enough to keep his secrets. The F....

Scientists have unearthed 28 previously undiscovered viruses, which were trapped in glacial ice from 15,000 years ago.The team collected the samples from the Guliya ice cap in Tibet, and published their work to the pre-print website, BioRxiv. As glacial ice and permafrost around the world continues to thaw, scientists are concerned that ancient pathogens and toxic chemicals may be released into the environment.It’s the stuff of a Stephen King novel. Researchers from China and the U....

Teddy Roosevelt famously delivered a speech in 1912 after being shot, the folded speech and steel eyeglasses case in his breast pocket having slowed the bullet intended to kill him down to nonlethal speeds. Over 100 years later in Nimbin, New South Wales, Australia, one man inadvertently recreated the event in a way that is simultaneously more modern and more antiquated when his cellphone blocked an incoming arrow. According to the New South Wales Police Force, the victim was standing in his driveway on Wednesday morning when he saw the assailant aiming at him with a bow and arrow from just off his property....

Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to target the U.S. with nuclear-tipped missiles capable of quickly striking the continental United States. The threat comes on the heels of an announcement by the United States that it plans to withdraw from a key arms control treaty—one that kept America from deploying missiles in Western Europe. A report by Reuters quotes Putin as claiming Russia will counter any U.S. deployment of medium to intermediate-range cruise or ballistic missiles by deploying Russian missiles closer to the U....