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Media Platforms Design TeamYou can get an X-ray to see your bones, an MRI to see your brain, and a CT scan to see virtually everything else. But getting a glimpse of the gastrointestinal tract (the esophagus, stomach, and intestines) is a little more invasive. Endoscopes have been able to provide doctors with a picture of their patients’ insides, but they have their limitations: For instance, the person performing the endoscopy needs extensive training on guiding the camera down the patient’s throat....

When the total solar eclipse made its way across the United States on August 21, it did more than just give viewers on the ground a cosmic show. According to researchers from MIT, the shadow cast by the solar eclipse also created waves in Earth’s upper atmosphere that stretched hundreds of miles across.During a total solar eclipse, when the moon passes between the sun and the Earth, it blocks all sunlight and casts a shadow on the globe....

This year I played as many new board games as I could get my hands on. And I’m not particularly picky, so if it was popular, I played it. If it had a fascinating theme or novel game mechanic, I played it. And if other reviewers said they loved it, I played it. I only avoided games that required any sort of phone or app.I tested just shy of 40 new games, published from December ’18 to October ’19 (when this issue went to print)....

Media Platforms Design TeamI’ve got some basement remodeling to do that entails drilling large holes in studs and joists. What works better, a holesaw or one of those big drill bits that plumbers use? I have a ½-inch drill. Will that do the trick, or should I rent a larger one?Media Platforms Design TeamWhen plumbers and electricians need to drill a large hole in framing lumber or other material—to make way for pipes and wiring—they usually opt for a self-feed bit (above)....

The U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels flying team is getting a new sidekick—one procured from “across the pond”. Fat Albert, the C-130T that flies to air show locations with the rest of the team, is being replaced with a newer C-130J recently retired from the Royal Air Force. The new Fat Albert will have a longer range and greater carrying capacity, allowing it to carry more of the team’s equipment. As reported by The Aviationist, the U....

Media Platforms Design Team(Photo Credit: ESA)The European Space Agency is sending a distinctly un-vegan probe to the sun. When it launches in 2017, the simply named Solar Orbiter will have a titanium foil heat shield on the outside painted black, with a hint of charred animal bone.Black charred bones have been used as a pigment for thousands of years. Now the Stone Age tool is ready for the Space Age. This black outer layer will allow the craft to absorb heat and radiate it out, protecting the instruments inside....

As far as spring cleaning goes, there are few jobs bigger than Mt. Everest. Standing at 29,029 feet, the world’s tallest mountain above sea level has long been overdue for a cleanup effort. After just two weeks in, the endeavor has already yielded more than 6,600 pounds of trash that humans have left on the summit—and four dead bodies.The Sagarmatha Cleaning Campaign, named after the Nepali word used to describe Everest (it loosely translates to “sky head”), began on April 14....

The USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group is currently in the Western Pacific.Roosevelt, also nicknamed “Big Stick,” is currently cruising with no less than six armed escorts, an unusually high number.The carrier is one of the best protected ships at sea—if not ever. The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is currently operating in the Pacific Ocean and from the looks of it the “Big Stick” is one of the most well-protected warships in history....

Media Platforms Design Team(Photograph by Harry Sawyers)Hard-hatted Department of Energy inspectors roamed the Solar Decathalon job sites with check lists, stopping during PM’s stay to ask the workers, “Your PV situation under control? Any code violations I should know about?” The Hokies, like many on the Mall the first day, were still scrambling to get their house rebuilt in a matter of hours after shipping it to DC from Blacksburg, Virginia....

Twenty years ago today, the International Space Station’s first assembly mission launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazhakstan. The payload: the Zarya module, which kept the station fueled and aligned during its early assembly, and whose name, poetically, means “sunrise.” It was the dawn of the ISS age—a period, two decades and counting, that has seen humankind dramatically extend its understanding of space and of itself, particularly how its frailties might be magnified or diminished in the strange environments that await beyond our home planet....

Logistics are the most vital part of any military campaign, and especially a proxy war like the one Russia is waging in Eastern Ukraine. There, under a variety of thin but effective guises, the Russians are supporting and supplying separatists who are fighting the Ukrainian government.Yesterday, columns of armored vehicles crossed from Russia into Ukraine, flying separatist banners but with Russian troops seemingly along for the ride. This is a definite escalation—and one that hints at Russian president Vladimir Putin’s next step: To step up support for the rebels, he needs a port....

Media Platforms Design TeamAt one time or another, everybody thinks they’ve driven over the worst road this country has to offer. But we’d like to find and objectively measure the absolute worst road in America. Popular Mechanics has teamed up with National Instruments, a manufacturer of industrial test and measurement technology, to create a customized data logger with a multiaxis accelerometer. We’re going to bolt this thing to a test car, then drive over the most cracked, crumbling, pothole-ridden, frost-heaved stretches of highway in the nation....

Call it the blowout heard ‘round the world. Duke basketball superstar Zion Williamson was taking on North Carolina Wednesday night in one of the most-viewed college hoops games ever aired on ESPN when, just 33 seconds into the game, his shoes came flying apart. As the six-seven, 284-pound freshman planted his left foot on the hard maple floor at Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Duke-specific PG 2.5 — a signature model crafted for NBA star Paul George and one of the most-worn models in both college basketball and the NBA — gave out, with the upper ripping away from the midsole....

EarthquakeCrawl under a sturdy table and cover your face and head with your arms. Stay away from windows and large bureaus or bookcases that could fall. If you become trapped under debris, cover your mouth with a cloth or shirt, and tap against a pipe or other object to make noise. (Don’t yell for help unless you have to; you risk inhaling dangerous quantities of dust.) If you are able, leave the building once the shaking stops–aftershocks can bring down a structure compromised by the initial quake....

A Florida company that specializes in secondhand business jets and helicopters also deals in old jet fighters—particularly those from the former Soviet bloc. Raptor Aviation of St. Lucie, Fla., has a variety of fighters from the famous Mikoyan-Gurevich aircraft design bureau, from the 1950s-era MiG-17 to the MiG-29.Polish Air Force MiG-17.Wikipedia photoRaptor offers a range of Soviet bloc MiG fighters. The oldest is a sporty-looking MiG-17PF (NATO code name: Fresco) formerly of the Polish Air Force....

Media Platforms Design Team3:20: Instant analysis from senior tech editor Glenn Derene: The Starbucks deal is a doozy, but the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store far overshadows it, ushering in “a new era of always-on, anywhere content shopping that makes our iPods less of an accessory and more of an entertainment hub.” Much more on that here. Again, stay tuned for podcasting, Starbucks testing and more.2:17: Despite a cheesy segment here and there, Steve Jobs had a lot of important breakthroughs to announce today: the iPod Touch, which is essentially the iPhone without the phone and costs $299 (8GB) and $399 (16GB); the new iPod Nano, a fatter, slimmer version of the original with a 2-in....

Media Platforms Design TeamLenovo Yogo 2 13-inchLenovo has already made a pretty big announcement predating CES by giving up more details on its extended line of smartphones, including the high-powered Vibe Z. Now the Chinese-based tech company is focusing on its other products and giving much-deserved attention to convertible PCs, which Lenovo has dubbed “multimode,” a market they entered and refined with their Yoga line of laptops. Here’s a quick look at the updates they have coming to their transforming PCs....

Reusable rockets are one of the biggest potential boons to space exploration. If you could relaunch a rocket multiple times before discarding it, you could drastically cut down on the costs of spaceflight. So the China National Space Administration (CNSA) is developing a system to recover parts of rockets used in launches.Others have done this in various ways. NASA’s Space Shuttle, flown from 1976 to 2011, was partially reusable. The first stage of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is reusable as well, with the company’s first relaunch of a booster occurring today....

An unnamed Chinese defense contractor appears to have developed a four-door luxury vehicle with a roof-mounted, remote-control .50-caliber machine gun. We are not 100 percent sure what to make of it, or if it’s even real, but we hope it never sees a Los Angeles traffic jam.Images showing the SUV and its main gun from every angle turned up on Chinese internet portal Sina.com. The gun appears to be part of a remote weapons station that includes electro-optical sensors and is aimed from the back row of seats by a control panel....

Chinese police were able to identify a single wanted fugitive out of a crowd of 60,000 concert goers using the technology, according to the South China Morning Post.The wanted man, revealed to the press only as Mr. Ao, was attending a Jacky Cheung last week in the southeastern Nanchang, Jiangxi province when local police apprehended him. 31 years old, Mr. Ao is said to be wanted for “economic crimes.“Mr. Ao had driven 56 miles (90 km) from his local Zhangshu to see the concert, his family has told reporters....