An arm of the Defense Department wants ideas for a future robotic space station. The Orbital Outpost would support the military’s fleet of space satellites, conduct experiments, and even someday expand to support humans. Don’t get too excited about the human aspect: the first iteration will have an internal volume smaller than a camping tent. The Defense Innovation Unit is an arm of the Pentagon, growing companies with big, defense-related ideas....
Most puzzles are hundreds of small pieces that ultimately form a recognizable image, but the challenge increases exponentially if the puzzle you’re laboring over isn’t a classic image at all? Instead it’s a gorgeous stream of colors, like these Clemens Habicht’s Colour Puzzles, and they’re currently on sale for just $36— nearly 30 percent off their regular price.Regardless of whether you’re a puzzle novice or a seasoned puzzle master, you and your friends will fall in love with these mesmerizing puzzles....
Affordable drones are flooding the market. Our current favorites: The capable DJI Spreading Wings S1000 and the budget-minded Blade 180 QX HD.Media Platforms Design TeamDJI Spreading Wings S1000Price: $3600Diagonal width: 41.1"Flaunting eight powerful blades on retractable carbon-fiber arms, the S1000 octocopter is as steady as it is daunting. The remote-controlled workhorse lugs up to 15 pounds of camera equipment—enough to shoot next summer’s blockbuster. What’s more, the UAV stays aloft for 15 minutes and can maintain stability even in the event of a midair rotor loss....
Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamMONTEREY, Calif. — MotoGP is essentially the Formula 1 racing of the motorcycle world—the pinnacle of technology and talent on two wheels. But for many fans the sport is more like NASCAR, because it’s all about the racers: Valentino Rossi and his Yamaha M1 have expanded the sport’s appeal with his seven World Championships, while Australian wonderkid Casey Stoner is attempting to steal the show on his Ducati GP7 and reigning champ Nicky Hayden is struggling to stay in the top 10 on his Honda RC212V....
Whether you consider the Rondo a crossover or a mini minivan doesn’t really matter: Either way, it’s value-packed. Sitting on the same chassis as the Kia Optima, the Rondo rides smoothly and handles not unlike a tall midsize sedan. Rondos come in either five- or seven-passenger models with a choice of four-cylinder or V6 power. At 182 hp, the 2.7-liter V6 makes only 20 more ponies than the Four. Our advice?...
Media Platforms Design TeamFrench aviation authorities have released the final report on the June 1, 2009 crash of Air France 447, one of aviation’s most dramatic and troubling disasters. And though earlier reports painted a fairly clear picture of what transpired, there is one surprise in the final documents—the extent to which the authorities blame not mechanical failures but the actions of the flight crew. The Bureau d’Enquete et d’Analyse (BEA) suggests that the accident “shows the limits of the current safety model....
Media Platforms Design TeamLondon, England - Here on the eve of the 2012 Summer Olympic games, BMW released official information about their upcoming electric scooter, dubbed the C evolution. Based on last year’s E-Scooter concept, this new electric two-wheeler was unveiled just ahead of BMW’s internal combustion C 600 Sport and C 650 GT maxi scooters, which will hit U.S. showrooms this fall. An official launch date for the C evolution has not been released, but BMW indicates it could come to the U....
DARPA offered a glimpse of where the Pentagon’s mad science agency is headed on Tuesday, when director Arati Prabhakar and deputy director Steven Walker briefed reporters at a press conference in Washington the agency’s most futuristic defense projects.Land, Sea, and AirUnmanned vehicles will play a starring role in the armed forces of the future, not just in the air, but also at sea and in space, Walker said. Leading the way is DARPA’s ACTUV program, which funded the construction of the world’s largest unmanned drone ship....
The U.S. Air Force has refused to reveal the aircraft involved in a crash last week that claimed the life of the pilot. The incident, which took place at a training facility in Nevada, has sparked speculation that some kind of previously unknown aircraft was involved.The incident took place on Tuesday, September 5. Unusually, the Air Force waited about three days to make the crash public. Consider two other crashes the service reported last week, one involving two A-10 Thunderbolt fighters and the other an Iraqi Air Force officer flying an F-16....
Side tables tend to be afterthoughts when it comes to designing a room. These handmade beauties, however, will stand out thanks to their butcher block teak surface and brass inlays. Laura Kampf always adds a bit of flair to her projects, and this recent side table build is no exception. She sourced scrap teak from her wood supplier and cut it in strips for the table top. She arranged the wood like a butcher block and, after gluing and sanding, cut geometric shapes across the top using her circular saw....
A California physicist believes he’s calculated a way to make a lot of the quantum state Bose-Einstein condensate required for a gamma ray laser.We use gamma ray bursts in medicine and other fields, but a laser must be steady and stable, which so far has mystified scientists for decades.Superfluid liquid helium, with no friction or viscosity, repels the condensate so it forms stable bubbles.A scientist in California has taken steps toward a long-sought gamma ray laser by harnessing positronium bubbles in special liquid helium....
A fluke storm system sped up international flights to record-setting speeds.The flights were faster than the speed of sound, but didn’t break the sound barrier because of surrounding wind speed.The top speed for a 747 is about 570 miles per hour (mph), and this flight topped out at 825 mph.A British Airways plane has broken the record for fastest subsonic flight—by going faster than the speed of sound. The flight from New York to London arrived almost two hours early after a flight lasting 4 hours and 56 minutes....
Amazingly, my friend’s home in Malibu was spared as others around him burned to the ground. He’s grateful that his belongings are still intact, but smoke has permeated every nook and cranny of his home. We reached out to James Dean of the Tucson Fire Department for some tips on how to remove the smell of smoke, which is notoriously difficult to get rid of.Pressurize Your RoomsThe first thing you should do when reentering a home that has been filled with smoke is to open a door or window on opposing ends of the room and run a fan on each end....
In 2016, hackers will come face-to-digital-face with an AI opponent, all in a heated competition to capture the flag. But this isn’t some futuristic summer camp game. It’s part of DARPA’s Cyber Grand Challenge, a competition to see if a machine can make a better hacker than a console cowboy. The event is set for the 2016 DEF CON event. First, the AI teams will face off against each other, looking for digital weaknesses and going after a “flag” data packet....
Hydrogen would be a terrific source of clean energy. The problem? It’s hard and expensive to attain, either through mining it or producing it.Scientists have developed a new catalyst to help produce hydrogen, meaning they could remove one of its most expensive components: platinum. It could also react with seawater, making it even cheaper.By removing platinum from the equation, the discovery could make hydrogen more cost-effective in the future. Hydrogen packs a powerful punch—that’s why it’s so often used in rocket fuel....
A gigantic rifting event is entering its final phase on the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica. Two enormous crevasses are predicted to intersect in the coming months. This will cause an ice berg measuring between 580 and 660 sq mi (1500 - 1700 sq km) and up to 820 feet (250 m) thick to break free from the Antarctic continent into the Weddell Sea. It will be largest ice berg to calve off the shelf since scientists started paying attention in 1915....
Media Platforms Design TeamLAS VEGAS — was making a lot of buzz around , stealing from the zillions of with a product that is hundreds of miles—and several months—away; it launches in June.Apple’s announcement of the iPhone yesterdaythe floor of CESattention awaydifferent phones that were right in front of everyone’s facesWhat the iPhone does is put the rest of these devices in perspective: All the multimedia phones and smartphones and super-slim fashion phones being introduced at CES fall short of Apple’s basic concept because, with their QWERTY keypads of tic-tac-sized buttons and flipping, swiveling screens, they seem like the overeager schoolchildren jumping up and down and waving their hands in the air with the answer to a specific question, while the iPhone sits calmly at the front of the class waiting for questions because it knows all....
QuartzA battery sends an electric current to a tiny, tuning-fork-shaped piece of quartz, causing it to oscillate at 32,768 vibrations per second. The watch’s circuits reduce that number to one vibration per second, or one hertz, and those pulses are translated into ticks by a tiny electric motor. (This is why mechanical watches, whose springs steadily release tension, have smoother second-hand movement than quartz watches.) Quartz’s indifference to temperature fluctuations makes it well-suited for harsh conditions....
Earlier this month, Kawasaki Heavy Industries launched the first-ever liquid hydrogen carrier ship in Tokyo.The ship, called Suiso Frontier, will deliver liquid hydrogen that could enable more zero-emissions vehicles.A pilot program is currently in place between Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Iwatani Corporation, Shell Japan, and J-Power to pursue a liquid hydrogen supply chain. If liquid hydrogen one day becomes a commodity on par with petroleum gasoline, Kawasaki Heavy Industries will be leagues ahead of the competition with its new carrier ship meant to transport the liquified gas—the first of its kind....
Media Platforms Design TeamMight D Light: $50The PromiseCan a work light be sexy? The compact Might D Light is fun and it’s efficient, so that’s a start. Further evidence of its unique design is found in its rubber-clad exterior and hinges that remind us of a laptop computer. Everybody needs a work light, so you might as well get one that stores neatly and is well protected while it’s getting knocked around inside your toolbox or is bouncing around in your trunk....
