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With its two-part premiere, “The Battle of the Binary Stars” Star Trek: Discovery went 0 to 60 in a heartbeat, and the show never really took its foot off the gas. Discoverydevolved into a narrative wrecking ball, bashing through plots points and plot twists in equal measure. The show delivered great highs for adrenaline junkies, but little in the way of subtlety or true character development.[Warning: Spoilers Ahead]That changed with Discovery’s latest episode “The War Without, The War Within....

On-Sale Date: September 2012 for the GL 450/550; October 2012 for the GL 350 BlueTec; February 2013 for the GL 63 AMGPrice: $62,400 for the GL 350 BlueTec; $63,900 for the GL 450; $86,900 for the GL 550Competitors: Cadillac Escalade, Lexus LX570, Lincoln Navigator, Toyota Land CruiserPowertrains: 3.0-liter turbo diesel V-6, 240 hp, 455 lb-ft; 4.7-liter twin-turbo V-8, 362 hp, 406 lb-ft; 4.7-liter twin-turbo V-8, 429 hp, 516 lb-ft; 5.5-liter twin-turbo V-8, 550 hp, 560 lb-ft; 7-speed auto, AWDEPA Fuel Economy (city/hwy): 18–24/13–18What’s New: The seven-passenger GL embarks on its second generation in 2013....

Unfortunately, few people build with an eye to future dismantling. Instead, builders naively assume that the world wants their works to last forever. And, building supply manufacturers aren’t any help. Take construction adhesive, for example. Why would anyone want to glue construction lumber together? Who convinced builders that this was a good idea? Fortunately, the adhesive I’ve encountered during my 30-year-old-barn renovation hasn’t seemed to have worked that well. On the other hand, today’s goop is probably more effective—look out 30 years from now....

The scientist who shocked the world last year with his announcement that he had used CRISPR technology to edit the genes of infant girls, He Jiankui, has officially been accused of criminal acts by the Chinese government. First published by the Wall Street Journal, Chinese officials spoke through the state-sanctioned Xinuha News Agency to say that He “will be transferred to public security authorities," while others involved in the experiments will be “severely dealt with according to the law....

Media Platforms Design TeamCommander Chris Hadfield returns to Earth tonight after five months on the ISS. During that time, he went from 20,000 Twitter followers to more than 825,000.By tweeting celestial images, explaining the finer details of life in space on YouTube, and participating in one of Reddit’s most popular Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions, the outgoing ISS commander has become a social network rock star. By performing live with a earthbound Canadian band Barenaked Ladies, and posting a slightly modified rendition of David Bowie’s Space Oddity to mark the end of his stay on ISS, he has proven himself an actual rock star....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe business plan doesn’t seem quite so outrageous the second time around. Deep Space Industries (DSI), the second company within a year to announce a plan to mine asteroids for water and mineral wealth, made its plans public on Tuesday at the Museum of Flying at the Santa Monica Airport in California. DSI joins Planetary Resources, the subject of , in the quest to harvest the wealth of asteroids....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn-Sale Date: NowPrice: $15,995Competitors: Brammo Empulse R, Triumph Street TriplePowertrain: AC permanent-magnet electric motor, 54 bhp, 68 lb-ft; single-speed automatic, RWDEPA Fuel Economy (city/hwy): 463 mpge / 236 mpgeWhat’s New: Zero’s batteries and electric drive systems are advancing so quickly that they refresh or redesign their motorcycles almost every year. The range-topping 2012 ZF9 had a 9-kwh battery pack. This year’s bike has 11.4 kwj, which extends the range by 22 miles—to 137 miles—and boosts top speed by 7 mph to 95 mph....

There are two ways in which the savage, adrenaline-fueled Hardcore Henry gets in your face. One is pretty fun. The other proves progressively less so.An almost-real-time action-thriller in which we see the entire movie from the main character’s point of view, the feature debut of Russian writer-director Ilya Naishuller (who also fronts the Russian punk band Biting Elbows) can be a naughty, exhilarating rush, its embrace of over-the-top violence both liberating and funny....

Media Platforms Design TeamEight years ago, Larry Woody was heading toward Eugene, Ore., when the driver of an oncoming tractor-trailer lost control of his rig. Woody’s Toyota Celica was no match; the accident broke his back and shattered bones in his face. Seven hours of surgery closed the wounds and set the bones—but doctors weren’t able to restore his sight. Suddenly, the everyday activities the then 42-year-old had taken for granted weren’t so routine anymore....

Shortly after World War I, the U.S. Army set off on its most ambitious expeditions to date: traveling from one end of America to the other with nothing but trucks. The Army, eager to prove the utility of trucks and roads in a future war, sent nearly one hundred vehicles on a trip from Washington D.C. to San Francisco. The trip was unfathomably difficult by today’s standards, with vehicles breaking down and bursting into flames, soldiers falling ill, and bridges and other road works damaged....

It’s a plan so simple even a Vogon could do it. Sci-fi writer Charles Stross, a the author of Accelerando, published a thought experiment about an easy way to render the entire galaxy uninhabitable with just a few easy steps.You see, to some pessimists, we haven’t found alien life not because it isn’t out there, but because it’s out there and incredibly hostile, and whenever one civilization becomes technologically adept it goes out and obliterates them....

NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter has captured the best view of the planet’s moon Phobos yet. The image, which depicts Phobos in its full moon phase, gives us one of the best views of this strange moon that we’ve ever seen.Phobos is the biggest moon orbiting Mars, but that isn’t saying much: At only about seven miles across, it’s really more of a large asteroid than a proper moon. In fact, many astronomers suspect Phobos was once an asteroid that Mars snatched up and then made its moon....

Media Platforms Design TeamCasio EX-FS10 /// $350 & Casio EX-FC100 /// $400 Last year, Casio wowed CES with a digital camera whose shutter speed rivaled that of a hummingbird. The EX-F1 takes full-resolution shots at 60 frames per second (most cameras top out at two or three), and video at 1200 frames per second. But the EX-F1 is as big as an SLR and costs $1000. This year, Casio has brought high-speed shooting into smaller, cheaper models....

According to Census data, Null is the roughly the 4,590th most popular last name in the world. There are 8,450 Nulls in the United States. But maybe that’s just a database error. That’s the problem: Null, in computer terms, is akin to “returns no value.” But for people who have the last name, it’s also a curse when it comes to online forms. As BBC Future reports, the nihilistic-sounding last name makes it impossible to do some every day tasks....

First, the good news: We’ve found water vapor in the atmosphere of a planet in the habitable zone of its star. Now, the bad: That doesn’t mean we’ve found a truly habitable planet yet. But it sure is a promising sign. In a paper published today in Nature Astronomy, a University College London team reported the detection of water vapor in the atmosphere of K2-18b, a planet 110 lightyears away. “This is the first detection of its kind, and in addition, this is a planet that’s orbiting in the habitable zone of its host star,” said Angelos Tsiaras, one of the paper’s authors and a research associate at University College London, in a press call in advance of the paper’s publication....

Standing just under a foot tall, Irony Man looks unassuming, if not a bit goofy. The small robot was created by German researchers to improve the experience humans have interacting with robots. To make this possible, Irony Man was created with the ability to understand what irony is—and dish it out. That’s right: Now there’s a robot who can sass you as well as any teenager.The idea behind the ironic robot was that it could deliver bad news without being rude, according to Dr....

Mexican archaeologists in Tlalpan, a city south of Mexico City have found a 2,400 year old burial site where skeletons were laid in a spiral pattern. Researchers have never encountered such a burial before, and believe it may be part of a previously unknown ritual practice. Excavations have been underway in Tlalpan since 2006, when an ancient city was discovered in the area. Archaeologists from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (NIAH) found the remains about four feet underground, beneath a building of the Pontifical University of Mexico....

Self-driving cars in Wisconsin might soon have their own lane on the highway, if Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn gets its way.The lane, which would be the first exclusive self-driving car lane in the United States, would be part of the I-94 highway, which extends from Montana to the Canadian border with Michigan. Foxconn’s request comes as the Milwaukee region prepares for as many 13,000 employees stemming from the Taiwanese company’s new investment in the state....

A retired U.S. navy captain recommends setting off powerful explosive charges near America’s latest aircraft carrier to make sure it can survive the rigors of combat. The U.S. Navy wants to put off the so-called “shock test” until the next carrier enters service, but advocates believe that, with the threat of big power war looming, the more the Navy knows about its latest aircraft carriers the better.Writing in The National Review, retired captain Jerry Hendrix makes the case for shock testing the USS Gerald R....

Media Platforms Design TeamUpdate, 9:45 a.m. Tuesday: PM contributor Rand Simberg has more details in about the launch.his updateUpdate, 6 p.m.: SpaceX confirmed in a statement this afternoon that the failed engine did not explode, but rather lost pressure and immediately shut down. “Our review indicates that the fairing that protects the engine from aerodynamic loads ruptured due to the engine pressure release, and that none of Falcon 9’s other eight engines were impacted by this event,” the company said....