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Fiat Chrysler is recalling 4.8 million cars, SUVs, and trucks due to a rare but dangerous problem that can cause cruise control to become stuck in the on state. The company is warning drivers to not use the cruise control feature until the problem is fixed with a software update. The issue, discovered during a round of software testing, can occur if a vehicle is accelerating on command from active cruise control at the same time that there is an electric short in the system....

Ants have no explicit system of organization. No government, no formalized chain of command. Despite terms like “queen” and “worker,” no one ant give other ants orders. One ant, on its own, is pretty dumb. But together they know how to form colonies that work with remarkable efficiency—there wouldn’t be 10 billion billion (yes, two billions) ants in the world otherwise. But how? The principle is emergence, as Kurzgesagt explains in this overview of how many parts can add up to a whole that not only bigger, but smarter, and wildly different from its component parts....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt all started with an epic fail on the Atkins diet. Millions of people have used the Atkins diet to lose weight quickly. Unfortunately, I was not one of them. In the first two weeks on Atkins, I immediately lost 10 pounds—gone, like a wisp of smoke. Over six months I stayed true to the no-carb formula. But my problems started when I realized I was compensating for the lack of carbohydrates in my diet by eating too many snacks such as peanuts and pickles, which have low carbs, and by eating too much meat and cheese....

Is it possible for someone to scare himself to death?Mark Young, an employee at the mysterious, possibly evil, corporation Massive Dynamic, is so convinced he is being attacked by butterflies that he jumps out of a window to escape them, and the team is called in to investigate this bizarre tragedy. The butterflies were a hallucination, but the cuts Young suffered from them were very real.Mad scientist Walter Bishop concludes that Young suffered from psychosomatic effects, which is the ability of the mind to cause actual physical changes in the body....

Media Platforms Design TeamHumans are not built for space. That fact becomes most obvious when astronauts return to Earth with atrophied muscles, weakened bones, cardiovascular problems, and some immune deficiencies. And it seems we also age faster in space, too.A study published earlier this month in the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Journal revealed that microgravity in space accelerates biological aging by affecting cells known as endothelium. Dysfunction of these cells, which line the interior of blood vessels, are commonly seen in age- and space-related diseases....

The clutch pedal is that third one you’ll find in manual transmission cars, the one on the far left a driver must press for every gear change. If you can drive stick, then you already knew that. But you might not have spent much time thinking about the nitty-gritty mechanics of the clutch.The YouTube channel LearnEngineering posted this clip full of nice animations and simple explanations. Watch it and come away with a better understanding of what the clutch actually does....

Media Platforms Design TeamPOP Projects is a collection of new and classic projects from more than a century of Popular Mechanics. Master skills, get tool recommendations, and, most importantly, build something of your very own.Update: When we commissioned this shed project 20 years ago, we had no idea we were creating a hero of a DIY project. Super Shed indeed. Hundreds of thousands of visits later, Neal tells us his shed is still standing proudly in the Adirondacks, despite an utter lack of maintenance!...

Media Platforms Design TeamMy friends and I often text each other about meeting up at the same two restaurants, which have names that our phones always autocorrect to completely different words. Can we teach our phones to stop doing this?Smartphones tend to do pretty well in their correctionsbut sometimes they can be a tad overzealous, automatically changing what you mean to say into an absurd malapropism. If you catch your phone in the act enough times, you can fix the problem by x’ing out the suggestion on an iPhone or long-pressing the word on an Android device and pressing the check mark....

Media Platforms Design TeamHumans aren’t supposed to stare into the sun–the unfiltered UV rays will make your corneas burn and crack almost immediately, and can cause permanent tissue damage. But that doesn’t stop us from trying. Amateur astronomers produce that rival those from government satellites, and NASA spacecraft keep constant tabs on our star. So how do sun gazers enjoy the glow without going blind? overstimulation of the light-sensing cells in the retinadazzling sun pictures such as these recent shotsExpert Amateurs Staring at the sun through unfiltered cameras will record only a glowing splotch....

Submarines use batteries for quiet propulsion underwater.Until recently, submarines used lead acid batteries, which were heavy and less energy efficient.The adoption of lithium ion batteries is a huge improvement over the older batteries but carries some risks.Japan’s submarine fleet is getting a major upgrade, and it’s likely the same tech found in the device you’re using to read this article. The new submarine Toryu, or “Fighting Dragon,” is equipped with lithium ion batteries, which power most of the consumer technology available worldwide....

Iran introduced new unmanned 6x6 ground drones.The armed drones are primitive but could be used to kill tanks and armored vehicles.Although invented by Iran, they will probably escape into the wild and eventually fall into the hands of groups that Iran supports throughout the Middle East.The Iranian Army recently showed off a small remote-controlled military vehicle on Twitter that could prove a big danger to tanks and vehicles with troops riding in them....

Media Platforms Design TeamJay’s goal: Transfer the soul of a race car into a powerful sports car that runs on a fuel other than gasoline. The result: a 600-hp flex-fuel C6RS Vette.Whether it’s a high-tech wind turbine, a vintage generator that runs on coal gas or a restored steam engine, I’m fascinated by alternative power sources and fuels. I’m also interested in powerful cars that are fun to drive. Hey, I’m a car guy first, environmentalist second–what can I say?...

The U.S. Army’s effort to replace the aging M2 Bradley has failed again for the third time. The Army has spent $20 billion to develop a replacement, without a single vehicle to show for it.The latest competition fell apart after a disqualification left only one entrant still in the race.The U.S. Army’s effort to replace its Cold War-era Bradley infantry fighting vehicles has collapsed, again, leaving the service with no choice but to keep the older vehicles in service....

An overheated Samsung device created smoke that caused a plane to be evacuated at Louisville International Airport on Wednesday, an official said.The smoke prompted Southwest Airlines to evacuate the plane before it departed for Baltimore, Louisville Metro Arson Capt. Kevin Fletcher told news outlets.A total of 75 people, including crew members, were evacuated from the flight, and no one was injured, said airport authority spokeswoman Natalie Chaudoin.Fletcher said there was minor damage to the plane’s carpet where the device was dropped....

UV radiation flares from red dwarfs could help uncover hidden biospheres throughout the galaxy by triggering a protective reaction from any lifeforms on exoplanets known as biofluorescence.This is a new way to search for life in the universe, scientists say. An energy source that astronomers have long regarded as destructive could, in fact, help discover alien life. Powerful ultraviolet radiation flares from red dwarfs could help uncover hidden biospheres throughout the galaxy by triggering a protective reaction from any lifeforms on exoplanets known as biofluorescence....

The U.S. Air Force has returned a B-52 bomber retired eleven years ago to active duty service, only the second time in history that has happened. The bomber, nicknamed “Wise Guy,” was brought out of storage at the aircraft “Boneyard” in Arizona, refurbished, and returned to service at Barksdale, Louisiana. The bomber could easily spend another two or three decades on active duty.“Wise Guy”, a B-52H bomber, was retired in 2008 and sent to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Monathan Air Force Base in Arizona....

Last Friday’s Facebook hack affecting 50 million users drew all the condemnation and blame you’d expect from another high-profile security breach, but the attack wasn’t merely confined to Facebook. Many of the third-party apps that people log into via Facebook were potentially caught up in the mess as well. By exploiting the social network’s code and obtaining access tokens to commandeer Facebook profiles without a password, hackers made ample use of Facebook’s Single Sign-On (SSO) feature and potentially scores of data stored on different websites....

In November, scientists from New Zealand used a hot water drill to go deep into Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf. The shelf, which can be up to 10,000 feet thick, is the largest of several that hold back West Antarctica’s massive amounts of ice. If these were to collapse, global sea level would rise by ten feet. Drilling a hole and lowering a camera and thermometer inside is a way for researchers to understand the history of the shelf, and what is happening to it now....

Engines: Twin 1.8-liter I4, 180 hp each / Drives: jet drives with 155 mm high-pressure pumps and stainless steel three-blade impellers, saltwater corrosion-resistant driveline / Length: 24 feet / Beam: 8’ 6" / Draft: 20" / Dry weight: 3,713 pounds / Passenger Capacity: 12 people or 2,698 pounds / Fuel capacity: 50 gallons / Base price: $66,999Yamaha’s jet-drive bowriders aren’t known as ocean boats. You tend to see them on lakes, pulling tubers and anchored at party coves....

Parbunkells is a 17th century word that means “coming together through the binding of two ropes” but you’d be hard-pressed to look it up. Until a few days ago, there was hardly any trace of it on the internet. There was, however, a 672 square-foot billboard of it in Queens. The curious situation is part of an art project by Julia Weist in conjunction with 14x48, a nonprofit that makes use of empty advertising space as art installations....