Water ShutoffNail Guns For AllClamp SenseExtending Your Grip Moving bulky plywood panels around the job site isn’t a problem as long as your crew shows up for work. But if you’re like most other weekend builders–you’re both foreman and hired hand–the task becomes a bit more daunting. It isn’t really the weight of these 4 x 8 slabs that’s the concern (a sheet of 3/4-in. plywood checks in at about 65 pounds), it’s the size....
Japan’s Self Defense Forces deployed a Patriot missile launcher in downtown Tokyo over the weekend, as North Korea reportedly gears up for a missile launch. The launcher, deployed among a maze of high-rise office buildings and parked outside the Ministry of Defense headquarters, will function as a last-ditch defense should a missile head towards Japan’s capital. The announcement last week of suspicious activity at North Korea’s Sonhae Satellite Launching Station prompted Japanese officials to move to a higher state of defense preparedness....
Media Platforms Design TeamPrice: $200 on contract (estimated) with AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and SprintRelease Date: Summer 2014There are two types of smartphone releases. The first, and most common, is iteration: Add a small feature here, tweak a design element there, and you’ve got a new smartphone to ship around the world. Then there are the inspiration releases—the phones that fundamentally reimagine the brand. The LG G3 comfortably rests in the second category....
General Motors is making a big move into small engines.The Chevy Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 get an all-new powerplant option for 2019: a 2.7-liter turbocharged inline-four. Designed from the engine block up to be a truck motor full of low-end torque, the “2.7L” will be the first four-cylinder in a full-size pickup.Four-bangers have come a long way in the past few years as tighter emissions regulations and rising fuel costs have pushed automakers to replace thirstier V6s and V8s....
Scientists at Stanford’s Bio-Inspired Research & Design (BIRD) lab figured out how pigeons are able to morph the shape of their wings during flight.From those findings came “PigeonBot,” a drone with feathers from real pigeon cadavers to create what is now considered the most advanced bird-like robot ever made.New research on the PigeonBot was published last week in Science Robotics.For centuries, humans have been obsessed with flying. Aerospace engineers have long understood that birds can morph the shape of their wings to suit various flying patterns, such as takeoff, landing, and turning, but transforming that masterpiece of evolution into something mechanical isn’t easy....
The cells in our bodies are put together in all kinds of weird ways. Neuron cells have long, branching connections to other cells, bones form porous structures, and blood vessels float freely around the body. But a lot of cells are simply squished together as tightly as possible, and scientists have determined that these cells in particular come in a unique and previously unknown shape, called a “scutoid.“Much of our bodies are covered in epithelial cells, which are cells designed to stick very closely together in order to form some type of barrier or wall....
Adhesives are a crucial part of medicine. If a part of the body is cut open, there needs to be a way to close it again. For simple cuts, there’s Band-Aids and gauze, and for larger wounds there’s medical adhesives like liquid stitches and super glue. But all of these share the same problem. They can’t do anything when they’re wet.This might be a small irritation if you get a cut while swimming, but for doctors and surgeons the lack of good adhesives is a major issue....
Media Platforms Design TeamI think it’s finally time for me to get a smart watch. What are my options?The smart watch is on the riseagain. There were early models back in the 1980s, when Casio was marketing a line of “computer watches” called Databankthe devices allowed users to store telephone numbers and email addresses, and they even incorporated a calculator. But that product waned along with permed hair. Now a new breed of smart watch is on the riseone that’s firmly situated in the smartphone-centric present....
The infamous sky penis of November 17, 2017, hovering over the clouds of Washington, was a total mystery.On that fateful day, the puzzling dong appeared near Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, around 30 miles north of Seattle. And although the base accepted full responsibility for the phallic drawing in the sky, the public had no understanding of what had actually happened. How’d that big ol’ boner get up there anyway?Now, two years later, a military report has shed light on the long-awaited details....
Giant solar farms are springing up all over the country, and companies like Tesla are making it easier for the average consumer to buy rooftop solar panels to power their own homes. But solar is still only around 2 percent of the energy market, and the high tech involved means progress can sometimes be slow.That’s why it’s great news that the military is looking to increase its use of solar panels....
Media Platforms Design TeamClick to Enlarge. (Photo Credit: Planetary Science)Major meteorite impacts may be rare, but smaller space rocks hammer the Earth all the time. If you had any doubt before, check out the map by NASA, released this weekend, which reveals hundreds of impacts over the last 20 years.Using data from U.S. government sensors, NASA mapped out all the strikes from 1994 to 2013 that were big enough to cause a visible fireball in the sky....
A U.S. Air Force airman fell out of a special operations transport during an exercise.The airman, who fell from a c-130 aircraft, was last seen alive and treading in the water.So far, the pilot hasn’t been found and the search for the missing airman continues.A U.S. Air Force airman serving with a special operations unit is missing after he accidentally fell out of a transport plane into the Gulf of Mexico....
The U.S. government has confirmed the sale of 37 Javelin anti-tank launchers, and 210 missiles made for those launchers, to the Ukrainian government. It’s a move directly aimed at supporting that nation’s war over in its eastern provinces. Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak said troops would start training with the shoulder-fired Javelins today.The question is, will they make any difference in the four-year war against Russian backed separatists?Don’t Turn the TideThis war started four years ago when Russia annexed the Crimea, first using separatists as proxies to gain the territory by force....
Human population this year passed an astonishing 7.5 billion. As we learn in this new video from RealLifeLore, that’s 7 percent of the number of all human being who have ever existed, a total which is about 108.2 billion if you start counting at about 50,000 BC. In this extremely imaginative video, the host asks what would happen if all of these historical humans came back to life at once, a kind of reverse-Leftovers....
Media Platforms Design TeamGive me your stove’s elevator pitch. What’s so special about it?The Cape Cod is a powerhouse stove, weighing in at almost 600 pounds with a 3-cubic-foot firebox, running at over 80 percent efficient with only 0.45 grams of emissions per hour. To say the Cape Cod produces an incredibly clean burn would be an understatement. Our heavyweight champ has been certified by the EPA as officially the cleanest-burning large freestanding wood stove in the world....
2017 holds plenty of uncertainty, but great sci-fi movies look like a sure thing. We’ll see the return of Rick Deckard in Blade Runner 2049 and finally get some Luke Skywalker in the eighth installment of the Star Wars saga. But 2017 is full of exciting releases, crossing huge franchises, wonderful one-offs, and yes, a few bottom feeders likely not worth your time. We’ll walk you through the biggest sci-fi releases of the year, and which ones are worth a skip or a trip to the theater....
Media Platforms Design TeamThere weren’t many surprises out of Cupertino today, as Apple showed off two new iPads and Macbook Pros, and revealed more details about the upcoming Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks, and updates to its iLife and iWork suites.Let’s start with the new iPad. Apple’s fifth-generation iPad, called the iPad Air, is the lightest and thinnest yet. The new slimmed-down tablet will feature the same 9.7-inch display as the previous generation but, at just one pound, has shed nearly half a pound compared to the fourth-gen....
The future of spacecraft in lower Earth orbit (LEO) looks to be an increasingly commercial affair. Bigelow Aerospace, a Las Vegas-based company that builds livable space habitats, has now created a spinoff company known as Bigelow Space Operations (BSO). BSO will market and operate any space habitats that Bigelow sells. The creation of BSO signals that Bigelow is preparing for a future of commercial space living. Recently leaked NASA documents show that the Trump Administration wants to convert the International Space Station into a commercial venture, and BSO is betting that businesses including private scientific ventures and hotels will be interested in creating a profit above the Earth....
Last month, the FCC ruled to repeal Net Neutrality, the rules established over a decade ago ensuring that telecom companies couldn’t prioritize content when delivering internet access to consumers. Most Americans were upset with the FCC ruling, and now some members of Congress are looking to reverse it.Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) has gathered the votes of 30 Senators, enough to force a vote on the FCC ruling, as is allowed under the Congressional Review Act....
As much as I love cutting grass, there are times when I just want the job done. If you feel the same way, have a look at Cub Cadet’s CC 600, a rear-drive mower with a 28-inch dual-blade deck. Homeowners who find that their standard 22-inch mower is a bit too small for their cutting surface, but don’t want a riding mower or tractor, may find the CC 600 a perfect fit....
