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During the 1950s, the advent of the atomic age forced the U.S. Navy to look at a number of alternate basing schemes for naval aviation. One such scheme was AN-1, an enormous nuclear-powered submarine that could launch eight fighter jets in just under eight minutes. Although AN-1 was never built, it’s a fascinating look at a ship that could have been.USS Halibut launching a Regulus cruise missile. Wikimedia CommonsThe overwhelming firepower of nuclear weapons against naval forces, demonstrated at Bikini Atoll in 1946, prompted the Navy to consider alternate basing schemes for aircraft....

From one of the creators of the Roomba comes the Roomba for your garden, a robot called Tetrill (pronounced “turtle”).Solar-powered with no chemicals, the two-and-a-half pound Tetrill is a little chopping machine that recognizes weeds through their height. It uses sensors to find its away around like a simplified Roomba. According to the machine’s Kickstarter campaign page, it uses a simple metric to differentiate in the green: “weeds are short, plants are tall....

Media Platforms Design TeamMove aside, Mr. Coffee. The new way to brew your joe is in a coffee maker that looks like the Eiffel Tower.Created by Dutch Labs (actually located in South Korea, not the Netherlands), the contraption is designed to make some most-excellent cold brew. The tower design isn’t just a clever nod to the famous French tower; it’s also a functional way to brew a proper cold brew. Just make sure you have ample counter space....

Fighter and other tactical aircraft pilots are getting a new device that will make urinating and flying a lot easier a task. The Aircrew Mission Extender Device, now being fielded by the U.S. Air Force, replaces the previous method of peeing into a bag—an awkward experience at best—with a wearable device that detects urine and flushes it into a bag for storage. The call of nature has been a problem for pilots ever since the early days of flight....

There’s a new kind of killer drone. Called TIKAD, it isn’t like any lethal drones you’re seen before. Because unlike the effective-yet-cumbersome MQ-9 Reapers, these multicopters can carry a sniper rifle, a grenade launcher, or a machine gun—the inevitable convergence of hobby drones and military weapons.Big drones like the Reaper and its predecessor, the Predator, are controlled from thousands of miles away, orbit at five or ten thousand feet, and watch everything happening below....

I didn’t expect to have to disassemble a waterlogged MacBook Air and remove its SSD for potential data salvage, but when the time came, I was able to do it without a problem, a trip to the store, or waiting for a package. Even if you don’t plan to disassemble your phone or laptop or whathaveyou, any 21st-century tinkerer worth their salt ought to at least have the option. Buy itiFixitThe $20 iFixit Essential Electronics Toolkit that let me do it is a great addition to your junk drawer or toolbox, especially if you don’t already have any particularly small screwdrivers on hand....

What, exactly, was a stylophoran? That question is a minor mystery that has gnawed at scientists since the tiny fossilized creatures were first discovered 150 years ago. The stylophorans’ tiny, confusing bodies resembled a hybrid of primitive vertebrates and starfish. But now, after a century and a half of struggle, scientists have finally placed the animal within its appropriate family. Bertrand Lefebvre of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the Laboratoire de Géologie in Lyon, France, discovered that the millennia-old mystery animal is, in fact, an echinoderm—from the same family as a starfish....

Wooden toys haven’t really been “cool” for a good half century, but these wooden Transformers from Bamloff just might give the whole concept a new lease on life. Dubbed “WooBots,” the definitely-not-literal-“Transformers”-for-legal-purposes come in five flavors, including a transforming 18-wheeler cab named “Truck” but who might as well be called “Definitely not Optimus Prime.“Media Platforms Design TeamOther members of the team include a transforming Beetle, bus, jet fighter, and the warship seen above....

Albatrosses wearing radar have found that 26 percent of local ships and 37 percent in international waters are hiding from observation.The Crozet Islands are a French nature conservancy that’s host to unique wildlife and a lot of scientific research. Fishing boats with illegally switched-off radar are likely engaged in illegal fishing behaviors like poaching.Scientists have attached radar detectors to seabirds in the Indian Ocean, and the birds have unearthed shocking statistics about illegal fishing....

The U.S. Army has joined To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science, a UFO research group, to investigate UFO technology.To The Stars is the same group that released the UFO videos that the Navy confirmed were real.We have questions. Lots of ’em.The U.S. Army and a prominent UFO research group are teaming up to investigate mysterious technology, but won’t come out and say where the tech comes from. To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science, the organization led by former Blink-182 member Tom DeLonge, will work with the Army to “characterize” technology under the organization’s control, and then use the tech to improve military vehicles....

Apple has held internal meetings about unveiling augmented reality (AR) tech in 2022 and 2023.AR has the potential to piggyback and exceed the stagnant virtual reality (VR) market.Apple’s track record for long development of paradigm-shifting products means experts will likely wait and see rather than rush to judge.The Verge reports that Apple has announced plans for an augmented reality (AR) headset and, later, AR glasses. The gadgets are rumored to drop in 2022 and 2023, respectively, based on internal meetings and announcements at Apple....

Media Platforms Design TeamWD-40 is a great product, no question about it. The the problem has always been getting the stuff into inaccessible spaces. That little red flexible tube that comes taped to the iconic can will only get you so far. Even the recent innovation of the Smart Straw, in which the tube was attached to the can on a pivoting head, was only a partial solution.The company solves the long-standing lack of access with its new WD-40 EZ-REACH....

A previously unpublicized design for the U.S. Navy shows an advanced attack submarine that could operate unmanned undersea vehicles remotely and conduct “spy” missions on the seabed floor. The unnamed design was never built, but it could hint at the future direction of the U.S. submarine fleet.Sub 2000, as seen in Undersea Warfare magazine.U.S. NavyThe sub design was discovered by open source intelligence Twitter account Intellipus and published online by researcher and author H....

An awful lot of people are going to be timing the national anthem Sunday. It’s not just OCD: Hundreds of thousands of dollars are riding on Billy Joel’s cadence. The Super Bowl isn’t just the most watched sports event–it’s also the most bet on. More than 60 million people bet on last year’s game, placing over $6 billion of wagers. This year, as the high-tech formulas of online betting sites eclipse the old dry-erase board of the office pool, that number is expected to grow to $7 billion, making Super Bowl XLI the most lucrative hour of sports history....

Getting shocked is more than unpleasant. It can be lethal. An electrical impulse as small as 14 milliamps is enough to kill a person. The current drawn by a plug-in nightlight is more than enough to do the job.I was thinking about these grim facts not long ago while doing some remodeling in an old house. I had to remove the plaster wall surface that had ugly paneling glued to it....

In many facets of life, we strive to improve ourselves. Maybe you want to run a faster 5K, or read more books, or visit a place you’ve never been. And yet, when it comes to home or automotive projects, we tend to reach a point of stasis. Even if you’re handy, there’s a fear that can discourage you from trying. I say, be brave. Tackle that project you don’t think you could possibly handle....

The two camels to my left chew desert shrubs beneath a power line, just minding their own business. I feel bad, because I am about the shake up their world. I’m behind the wheel of Maserati’s first SUV, the Levante, and this 4,600-lb. hunk of metal is spitting up sand and growling dangerously as it swims through the ocean of sand dunes in the desert outside Abu Dhabi. The camels’ heads snap up as we fly past, spewing a curtain of sand in their direction, and in my rearview mirror I see them watching us, confused—if camels can look confused....

Media Platforms Design TeamKen Block turns 44 this November, but he looks at least a decade younger. And he acts at least three decades younger. He’s a snowboarder, skateboarder, motocross rider and general all-around extreme sports showoff. He’s the type of guy who, after he jumped his Ford Fiesta rally car off the top of your barn, would tell you he’s coming back tomorrow to build a taller barn. And that he plans to jump it again, this time while the barn is on fire....

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — This afternoon’s breakout sessions at MIT’s Emerging Technology Conference offer an embarrassment of riches—each of these discussions appeals to a different aspect of my inner geek. The options included “Making PCs Safe for Hollywood,” “Bad Patents and How they Hinder Innovation,” “Anti-Aging Technology” and “High-Performance Batteries to Transform Transportation.” I closed my eyes, pointed to the schedule and picked batteries. With the Sony laptop battery recalls and the growth of the hybrid vehicle market, the subject couldn’t be more relevant....

Media Platforms Design TeamConfessed germaphobe Aaron Reiss has a problem with New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority, and it’s not about getting stuck underground because of winter storm delays. Reiss wanted to know why the MTA’s ticket-buying machines require so much button-pushing on that germ-ridden screen, especially compared to, say, the San Francisco Bay Area’s BART system, which allows much cleaner and speedier transactions.So, he found the original designer at the tech firm Antenna, which was contracted by the MTA to design the machines....