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.Fifty years ago, the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, which we lovingly refer to as ARPANET, went live, a packet-switching network and the first to implement the TCP/IP protocols that have become the technical backbone of the internet. But what does that all mean and just what are the steps involved in even some of the basic functions of enjoying the internet, such as, say, reading your favorite PopularMechanics.com article? Dr....

Today, it seems as if we define civilization in terms of the small things, like decoded strands of DNA, splitting atoms and microscopic bumps on plastic compact discs. With a focus so fine, it’s easy to forget the bigger, simpler things that got us here and continue to define our lives. Back up a bit and look at what the real world is made of. In there with wood, steel and glass you’ll find another material quietly holding it all up....

Making contact with an alien species would be the most important event in human history. The fabric of human culture, ranging from the arts to science to religion, would be irrevocably altered. Of course, it hasn’t happened yet and there’s no guarantee that it ever will. But humanity is without a doubt looking. And it may be in our best interest to find them before they find us.As Wendover Productions posits, with a somewhat militaristic and very un-Star Trek view of the whole endeavor, is that when two civilizations meet, one of them tends to be destroyed, historically....

Telling a robot to build a better robot seems like the beginning of any number of terrifying dystopian stories in science fiction. But this seems innocuous enough.A team led by University of Cambridge researchers designed a robot “mother” to design, create, and test robot “children.” The mother can take a look at the results of its children and design future generations to incorporate certain traits over others. That’s without any signal from a human to pick one or the other....

Indian just released details on all the updates they’ll bring to the middleweight Scout and heavyweight Chief-based models in 2019. These updates may not be as groundbreaking as brand-new models, like the electric Livewire and Pan America adventure bike Harley-Davidson plans bring to market over the next four years. But anyone interested in a new V-Twin in the nearer future should pay attention to the subtle changes at Indian.Chief, Springfield, and Roadmaster2019 Indian ChiefIndianThe most interesting changes concern Indian’s biggest engine, the 111-cubic-inch (1818 cc) Thunder Stroke....

In two years, NASA will launch its most advanced Mars explorer yet: the Mars2020 rover, which will explore the Red Planet for signs of life. Aboard the rover will be dozens of high-tech instruments designed to measure everything about Mars, plus a piece of the planet itself: NASA is reporting that Mars2020 will carry a fragment of a meteorite that originally came from Mars.The meteorite, Sayh al Uhaymir 008 (SaU008), was discovered in Oman in 2008, and was likely blasted off the surface of Mars millions of years ago....

DETROIT — General Motors announced a partnership today with bio-fuel developer Coskata that it hopes will result in the production of cost-effective E85 by 2011.GM chief Rick Wagoner announced the partnership, saying that GM had taken an undisclosed equity stake in Coskata: “We are very excited about what this breakthrough will mean to the viability of biofuels and, more importantly, to our ability to reduce dependence on petroleum.“Coskata’s process addresses many of the issues associated with grain-based ethanol production, including environmental, transportation and land use concerns (i....

Asking a movie for historical accuracy is an invitation to disappointment, and flicks set during medieval times have especially bad track records. So it was with some trepidation that we sat down to watch Outlaw King, Netflix’s recently released prestige drama starring Chris Pine as Robert the Bruce. You might remember Robert from 1995’s Braveheart, and given that these movies cover the Wars of Scottish Independence nearly back-to-back in the early 1300s, with only some years overlapping, it’s impossible not to compare them....

Media Platforms Design TeamShould we rebuild big cities after disasters?We need to learn what we did wrong in the first place and then address truly tough questions: Should we rebuild New Orleans post-Katrina, knowing that another Category 5 hurricane there is inevitable? Should we be living on active earthquake faults, knowing that another magnitude 9 is inevitable, or on coastlines prone to hurricanes or tsunamis? In our world, the answer is unlikely to be no....

Media Platforms Design TeamSIPRNET, along with the Non-Classified Internet Protocol Router Network, or NIPRNet, now made famous by Wikileaks, is simply the way the Defense Department moves information around on computer systems. SIPRNet can handle classified information, up to the secret level, while NIPRNet is reserved for less sensitive unclassified information. After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, access to SIPRNet was expanded along with the push to share information between government agencies....

Media Platforms Design Team The imagined post-industrial wasteland, projected at the T-Mobile event, from which T-Mobile offers an escape. “Please—stop the bullshit!” squealed T-Mobile CEO John Legere this morning. In introducing T-Mobile’s new prepaid plans, he billed himself and his company as the “uncarrier,” the anti-cellular company cellular company, one that’s now doing away with contracts in favor of unlimited talk plans tiered according to data limits. Wearing a T-Mobile T-shirt under a suit jacket and jeans, John Legere excitedly proclaimed his company’s empathy for weary smartphone customers....

The new V-280 Valor tiltrotor aircraft is now flying with a network of cameras designed to allow pilots and passengers the ability to “see” in all directions outside the aircraft. The Pilotage Distributed Aperture System is based on a similar system employed on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The result is increased situational awareness for pilots and ability for passengers to see exactly what kind of situation they’re flying into.The Piloted Distributed Aperture System, as reported by Defense News, involves the stationing of six video cameras across the fuselage of the V-280 Valor: two facing front, two facing to the rear, one facing up, and one facing down....

The European Space Agency (ESA) has taken the first of many steps that would be needed to extract resources like oxygen and water from the moon. It has signed a one-year contract with Europe’s largest launch services provider and former lunar XPrize competitor to study the feasibility of mining the moon.The hypothetical mission would launch by 2025 and focus on lunar regolith, which is a fancy name for lunar soil. While lunar soil has no organic content, it does contain molecular oxygen and water....

The Hoover Dam is one of the crown jewels of American infrastructure. It was one of the most ambitious projects of the early 20th century, requiring millions of cubic feet of concrete and tens of millions of pounds of steel to build a dam that could provide electricity to 1.3 million people. Millions of people visit the dam every year. It’s even been immortalized in song.Now there’s a new plan to update the Dam and bring it in line with America’s new energy needs in the 21st century, one that would turn the Hoover Dam into a more efficient energy-producing and energy-storing machine....

If you know anything about how traffic patterns work and congestion actually occurs, you’ll already know a frustrating and basic truth about driving: It only takes a tap of the brakes to spark a traffic jam that can reach for miles and last for hours. This issue is only exacerbated by drivers who don’t understand what makes a traffic jam worse and what makes it go away. But as CGP Grey explains, there’s actually a strategy that—if every driver knew it and adhered to it—could make many traffic jams just disappear....

While everyone is busy around Thanksgiving with cooking, hosting, and traveling, no one is busier than a small turkey farmer. To provide customers with the freshest birds, they’re selling Tuesday and Wednesday and working their tails off through Thanksgiving morning. To get a feel for what the processing entails, we spoke to Robert Elliott, a Marine veteran who ran Cypress Hill Farms in Louisburg, North Carolina, one of the most well-regarded small turkey farms in the southeast....

The U.S. Navy uses hovercraft to speed Marines and their equipment to shore quickly.Ship to Shore Connector will replace older LCACs build in the 1980s.The new generation hovercraft are easier to build and use more powerful engines.The U.S. Navy is set to test its next generation transport hovercraft. Designed to ferry Marine Corps vehicles, supplies, and other equipment to shore in a hurry, the Ship to Shore Connector (SSC) will replace older Landing Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC) hovercraft....

Here’s an unpopular opinion: Chapstick sucks. I’ve heard all the arguments of why this opinion makes me stupid, but I’ve just never liked the stuff. And I have seen plenty of people forget about it and put a stick in the dryer, say goodbye to those chinos. So how do my lips survive the winter? Strangely enough, a straw. Recently, I started using a Klean Kanteen reusable straw, and while I was surprised I liked it so much—I am no “straw guy”—they’re the perfect tool for keeping lips hydrated (and for saving the environment)....

The new armor mimics processes in nature that give the outer shell of pearls their strength.The process involves an interlocking, brick-like pattern similar to LEGOs.Eventually, the lightweight, tough armor could be used on everything from body armor to armored vehicles and aircraft.On the surface, pearls and LEGOs don’t seem to have much in common, and their connection to body armor seems more unusual still. However, all three have quite a bit in common, something U....

If you’ve ever surfed or swam in the ocean, you’re probably familiar with one of the ocean’s most potent qualities: it’s saltiness. On average, the concentration of salt in the ocean hovers around 35 parts per thousand. If you were to remove all the salt from the oceans and spread it thick across Earth’s land surface, it was form a layer roughly 500 feet thick—the height of two Taj Mahal’s stacked on top of each other, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration....