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Q: I love the new Google Maps Street View feature, but it’s not available for my neighborhood yet. Can ordinary citizens contribute photography to it?A: Currently available in five cities, the “Street View” function of Google Maps displays a 360-degree panorama of any location on the map – as if you were standing in the middle of the street and turning in a circle. According to Stephen Chau, a product manager on the Google Maps team, “There’s no feature to [accept user-contributed images] at this time....

Media Platforms Design TeamHow long has the sensor system been around, and how much better have we gotten?We have been around since 1949, and then for the first several years of existence of the tsunami warning system it was just to warn Hawaii. But then 1960 happened, which was the big Chile earthquakethe 9.5. The tsunami that occurred from that event across the ocean killed people as far away as Japan....

Update 1/9 9:20 a.m. EST: Gwynne Shotwell, president and COO of SpaceX, released the following statement this morning: “For clarity: after review of all data to date, Falcon 9 did everything correctly on Sunday night. If we or others find otherwise based on further review, we will report it immediately. Information published that is contrary to this statement is categorically false. Due to the classified nature of the payload, no further comment is possible....

Complete with a decidedly retro feel, SpaceX’s new experimental rocket has been fully assembled at the company’s Boca Chica, Texas, launch site. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has tweeted out a picture of the Starship test rocket. View full post on TwitterThe “test hopper,” as Musk and COO Gwynne Shotwell call it, isn’t actually meant to fly into space. It’s meant for suborbital VTOL testing (vertical takeoff and landing). It will hop, so to speak, around 16,400 feet into the air and then land again, according to documents filed with the FCC....

Today, a study published in Nature Physics brought scientists one step closer to proving once and for all that the particle discovered back in 2012 is indeed the Higgs Boson. Based on data obtained from the Large Hadron Collider, the CMS Collaboration at CERN provided evidence for the first time that the particle assumed to be the Higgs Boson decays into fermions, a broad class of particles that includes many atoms and nuclei....

One of the biggest problems in online discourse is how to moderate comment sections. Increasingly, much of online discussion is taken over by hateful and derailing comments, which are so frequent they’ve become nearly impossible to moderate. To help solve this problem, Google is turning to artificial intelligence.Engineers at Google’s Jigsaw division, which focuses on cybersecurity, developed Perspective, an algorithm that can sort online comments based on “toxicity” as rated by other users....

View full post on YoutubeIn the 1950s, fear of nuclear-armed Soviet bombers led to the creation of the Genie rocket. Fired from an American or Canadian fighter jet, the Genie had no guidance system. It merely had to be aimed at a Soviet bomber and the 1.7 kiloton nuclear warhead—packing the equivalent of 1,700 tons of TNT—took care of the rest. The 221-pound warhead was only used once, in a test code-named “John....

The latest purchase deal for the F-35 reduces the price 13 percent over three years.The savings are the result of bulk buys and increased production efficiency.Despite the cost savings, the F-35 still costs about twice as much to fly per hour than its non-stealthy equivalents.The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s price tag is falling about 13 percent over the next three years, the result according to Lockheed Martin, of “smart acquisition strategies, strong government-industry partnership and a relentless focus on quality and cost reduction....

In the basement of Carnegie Observatories sits a storeroom filled with plates of glass. These kinds of photographic glass plates are among the earliest astronomical photos we have—and some of these plates still contain discoveries waiting to be made.We now know that one plate in particular, created in 1917, contained a surprising piece of information: the first known evidence of planets around another star. At the time, nobody knew enough about the cosmos to recognize the discovery for what it was, so it sat buried in a vault until it was dug up by an enterprising researcher in 2014....

Media Platforms Design TeamQuantum mechanics boasts all sorts of delightfully odd features. There’s the fact that two separated particles can interact instantaneously, a phenomenon called quantum entanglement. (Einstein disparaged the theory, which he called “spooky action at a distance,” but there is significant evidence to support the theory of quantum entanglement.) And there’s another phenomenon called quantum superposition. This principle of quantum mechanics suggests that particles can exist in two separate locations at once....

An artist rendering showing the latest design of the Deep Space Gateway, during the integration of the Russian multi-purpose module. However, the design could change to meet the latest requirements of international partners.Anatoly Zak/RussianSpaceWeb.comTop NASA officials and their partners in the International Space Station program gathered in Tokyo this past Friday and Monday, Popular Mechanics has learned, for behind-closed-doors talks on the next big step in human spaceflight: the lunar orbiting station....

Toyota has showcased its second-generation Mirai, a concept car coming in 2021. Toyota says the Mirai could run on the hydrogen from one cow’s poop for a year.The company is currently building its first manure-powered fueling station in California. The Mirai’s success depends on reliable fuel cell infrastructure.Toyota has debuted a complete redesign of its Mirai concept vehicle, which would run on hydrogen fuel cells. Speaking at the 2019 Tokyo Motor Show, the company’s chief technology officer, Shigeki Terashi, wanted to make clear how revolutionary the car’s technology could be, so he chose an unorthodox example of its abilities: The splashy Mirai could be powered for a year from hydrogen from a single cow’s manure....

View full post on YoutubeDanish archer Lars Andersen likes to show how amazing feats in bow-and-arrow history can be repeated today—with enough practice. He’s tackled Saracen challenges like firing three arrows in 1.5 seconds. Now, he’s replicating what ancient Arabic and English archers knew: how to get arrows to bend around corners.“It can be done with ordinary arrows, but it is far easier to learn with an arrow where there is air resistance at the tip of the arrow,” Andersen says in his video’s description....

There’s never been a better time than now to research UFOs, especially after the Navy recently confirmed their existence. Still, a new group—comprised of military veterans and an ex-NASA scientist—says the research can be more legitimate, and hopes to professionalize the study of UFOs.The group has secured funding from Silicon Valley investors.A new nonprofit will explore what the U.S Navy calls “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” (UAPs), according to Motherboard. Backed in part by Silicon Valley investors, UAP eXpeditions hopes to “field a top-notch group of uber-experienced professionals providing the public service of field testing new UAP related technologies....

Virginia is for lovers, and for autonomous cars. The state is opening more than 70 miles of road to allow companies to test drive their self-driving cars. The highways, which are also named the “Virginia Automated Corridors,” encompass some of the country’s busiest roads, including portions of I-95 and I-66 in the northern part of the state.The clogged arteries will present a challenge for Nokia, whose HERE 3D mapping system “will allow the cars to recognize their lane positioning while also providing real-time information such as traffic conditions,” writes the Richmond Times-Dispatch....

We all know the story of the Hindenburg, but long before it ever flew there was the British R 101, the largest flying craft in the world at the time of its construction in 1929. Much like the Hindenburg, its short life ended in fire and flame, but not before brilliant engineers solved some of the toughest aerospace challenges of their day to build the prototype ship dreamt up to ferry British subjects around the country’s enormous empire....

I didn’t want to climb over my bike every time I crawled into bed. It wouldn’t be possible without dragging grime from the street or chain grease onto my sheets. Some things you just want to keep separate. I may have this problem because I’m living out of my pickup truck as I drive around the country testing gear. After I built out the back of my truck with wooden shelves that convert into a sleeping platform, boxed up my clothes, found a spot for my cooler, I stared at the two bikes I wanted to bring: a Diamondback Haanjo and a Canyon Neuron....

Since the Tesla Semi truck was unveiled in November, every week has brought a new announcement of investors: PepsiCo preordered 100. Sysco ordered 50. Anheuser-Busch ordered 40. Canadian grocery chain Loblaw’s ordered 25. It’s a remarkable display of confidence in electric trucking by a single industry—not to mention a huge investment. The reasons behind this surprising confluence turn out to be not surprising at all.Idling RestrictionsWith diesel trucks, there are all sorts of restrictions on idling rules, and those engines actually have to be on to power supporting systems like lift gates and refrigeration....

Smart already has the kind of hipster, enviro-concious image other car companies spend millions to cultivate. These small-on-the-outside, large-on-the-inside rides, designed by Daimler (Mercedes-Benz), have been a hit in Europe for almost 10 years and will start rolling onto United States streets in January. The Smart Fortwo (as in for two passengers) will create a new, sub “B” car class in the U.S. market. It’s a vehicle specifically designed to comfortably and efficiently transport its occupants through the worst areas of urban congestion....

New York City subways—and subways in general—have a reputation for being slow, crowded, stop-and-go misery machines full of strangers. And for good reason! For all their worth as cheap and accessible public transportations, subways aren’t quite pleasant. That is, until you see the driver’s view sped up to 10x. YouTuber DJ Hammers has gone and started recording footage from the front of many NYC trains and releasing it both in real-time and timelapse forms....