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Media Platforms Design TeamBrooklyn, Mich.— “They said this wasn’t a knockout round,” one of the undergraduates working on the University of Western Washington’s (WWU) Automotive X Prize entry said as the team’s entry was pushed into the technical-inspection barn. “But they’re all knockout rounds. And I think we’re in trouble.“For the teams competing in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize “Shakedown” event, this past Wednesday at Michigan International Speedway (MIS) was all about tech inspection....

Rocket Lab, an American spaceflight company with a subsidiary division in New Zealand, is gearing up for the debut of its small launch vehicle, the two-stage Electron rocket. The company recently announced it will open a 10-day launch window starting May 21 to launch the first Electron from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand’s North Island. The maiden flight of the Electron rocket, which the company has dubbed “It’s a Test,” will launch a small test payload to an elliptical orbit between 300 and 500 km above the Earth at an 83-degree inclination, the company said....

In a 3D printing first, scientists have figured out how to print artificial versions of the body’s complex vascular networks, which mimic our natural passageways for blood, air, lymph, and other vital fluids. “One of the biggest road blocks to generating functional tissue replacements has been our inability to print the complex vasculature that can supply nutrients to densely populated tissues,” says Jordan Miller, assistant professor of bioengineering at Rice’s Brown School of Engineering, who helped lead the team, in a press statement....

The Army and Raytheon are working on a new tactical missile capable of reaching enemy targets as far as 312 miles away. The new Long Range Precision Fires missile will provide strike capability at long ranges, while abiding by a U.S. Military directive to rid itself of cluster munitions.For decades, the U.S. Army relied upon the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) for long-range precision artillery fire. ATACMS is a big, fat 610-millimeter wide missile fired from the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System and the truck-based High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe first redesign for Acura’s flagship sedan since 2005, the new RLX is loaded with technology. The front-wheel-drive version that comes out in the spring will include Precision All-Wheel Steer, which can tweak the toe angle of the rear wheels independently for improved traction and braking stability. Other nerdy bits include LED headlights, adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assistance, lane-departure warning, blind-spot monitoring, and an optional 14-speaker Krell stereo....

Toshiba Corp.’s energy systems unit on Friday unveiled a long telescopic pipe carrying a pan-tilt camera designed to gather crucial information about the situation inside the reactor chambers at Japan’s tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant.The device is 13 meters (43 feet) long and designed to give officials a deeper view into the nuclear plant’s Unit 2 primary containment vessel, where details on melted fuel damage remain largely unknown.The Fukushima plant had triple meltdowns following the 2011 quake and tsunami....

Media Platforms Design TeamIf it was the beginning of August 2009–not February 2010–America’s new Charlotte, N.C.-based Formula One entrant, Team USF1, would be in great shape. They have finalized the design of the winged, open-wheel car, constructed many parts of the car, and have signed one of the two drivers. Again, if this were August, that would leave plenty of time to assemble the car, submit it to the sanctioning body for the mandatory crash-testing, and build additional cars for testing and development....

The era of space tourism is drawing closer. Virgin Galactic, on its fifth supersonic, rocket-powered test flight, successfully sent passenger Beth Moses, the company’s chief astronaut instructor, to the edge of space, the first non-pilot to ever fly on a commercial aircraft. The flight marks the second time the company has reached the landmark height.According to the standards set by the U.S. military and NASA, the crew of three becomes the 569th to 571st people to enter space, with Moses also becoming the first woman to do so on a commercial spaceflight....

The YouTube account Binkov’s Battlegrounds, previously featured here for its comparison of U.S. and Russian air-to-air missiles, is back with an explainer for the Aegis Combat System. First developed in the 1970s, Aegis is the backbone of the U.S. Navy’s defensive capabilities. It equips all serving destroyers and cruisers, giving them the ability to protect aircraft carriers and large amphibious transports from attack. Aegis combines the SPY-1 radar with the SM-6 surface-to-air missile to protect the fleet from swarms of enemy aircraft and anti-ship missiles....

Ford has introduced its new prototype all-electric F-150 to truck owners with a powerful test of its capabilities: pulling more than one million pounds. View full post on Youtube"There is no greater tension for Ford engineers than doing live tests in front of real truck owners, while cameras are rolling," says Ted Cannis, the Global Director of Electrification at Ford, in a Medium post. “But that’s exactly what we did. As you can imagine, math on paper is never quite the same as real work on the job....

Media Platforms Design TeamUp until now, no Super Bowl has ever been shared in any way but broadcast television. But on Sunday, when the Giants and Patriots square off in Super Bowl XLVI, the big game will be streamed on NBC.com and to Verizon phones via the NFL Mobile app. NBC’s move is a boon for the increasing share of Americans who have ditched cable, and this year could have friends over for a streaming Super Bowl party....

A dozen unusual blobs appeared earlier this month on imagery taken at a secret airfield in Nevada.The objects are roughly fighter-jet sized—or larger.The airfield, the Tonopah Test Range, was previously the home of the F-117A stealth fighter when it was a secret Air Force program. A private satellite network has apparently detected what could be a secret fleet of aircraft at a remote airfield in Nevada. An overflight of the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada captured unusual activity on the ground that could be up to a dozen previously unacknowledged military aircraft....

The Air Force’s secret stealth bomber program has passed a major early milestone, according to Air Force officials. “Our most recent review was last week, and the B-21 Raider is on schedule and performance,” Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said at a defense forum in California over the weekend.Air Force officials confirmed to Popular Mechanics that she was referring to the Critical Design Review (CDR), considered a major milestone in the program....

Math could settle, once and for all, the speculative debate over the Battle of Britain. The battle was a pivotal point where Britain held off the invading Nazi Luftwaffe.Statistical bootstrapping lets mathematicians accurately multiply sample size into something much larger and more precise.Researchers have built a mathematical model to try to understand how changes would affect the Battle of Britain in World War II. Both armchair and pedigreed historians have argued for decades that small changes in the strategy of Nazi Germany’s air force, the Luftwaffe, could have turned a British victory into a Nazi one....

Your home may be your castle, but there’s no need for exorbitant utility bills to make it as pricey as the real thing. From windows that can insulate against Antarctic temperatures to a machine that converts your garage into a biofuel pumping station, these pages showcase today’s most ingenious products for achieving energy and water efficiency. They also feature resourceful ways to cut the amount of waste produced by constructing and furnishing your home....

Engine (CT6-V): 4.2-liter twin-turbo V8, 550 hp and 640 lb-ft of torque / Transmission: 10-speed automatic, all-wheel-drive with rear-biased torque distribution / Fuel economy: 18 mpg EPA combined (est) / Base curb weight: 4,600 pounds (est) / Base price: $95,890In the grand GM tradition of doing a car a big favor just before killing it, the Cadillac CT6 goes into what might be its final year of production with an enticing new engine option: a hand-built 4....

An Avalanche In Tahoe Following the introduction of the Tahoe full-size SUV, it was only a matter of time before Chevrolet introduced the pickup version. And here it is, the 2007 Avalanche. Exterior styling follows almost exactly that of the Tahoe, with the exception of the pickup box. Chevy also increased the power of the flex-fuel engine–you can use methanol or gasoline–made the cabin quieter and gave the truck a more precise driving feel, according to company descriptions....

Existing chemical and biological warfare suits are difficult to wear and lack some protective features.DARPA wants to eliminate the bulk in chemical and biological warfare suits, giving those that wear them greater freedom of improvement.The agency cites shark skin as one possible solution for solving the problem of protecting wearers from microscopic weapons.The Pentagon’s research arm wants a better suit for those responding to chemical and biological warfare attacks. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, says it wants a less clumsy suit that does an even better job of protecting soldiers, first responders, and researchers from deadly biological and chemical weapons....

The Claim: “You’ll say wow every time you use the Shamwow.” This revolutionary fabric works wet or dry, acts like a vacuum to soak up spills and holds 20 times its weight in moisture. The machine-washable rayonlike textile wicks liquid and air-dries quickly for reuse, saving big bucks on paper towels. Eight for $19.95 The Test: Soaking soda from a carpet, cleaning a spill from a plant pot, wiping kitchen countertops, turning it into a bath mat and drying off after a swim....

Researchers at the National Cancer Institutes HIV Drug Resistance Program developed RT-SHIV, a virus that acts like HIV when used with drugs. (Photo courtesy of the National Institutes of Health)PopularMechanics.com, Dec. 1 – In order to find out how one of the world’s most devastating diseases overcomes state-of-the-art drugs, scientists in Maryland are re-engineering the HIV virus. They have combined pieces of HIV and another virus to create a deadly new hybrid–a tenacious little microbe that knows all the tricks of its parent pathogens....