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Utopian science fiction always imagines some sort of semi-benevolent united world government by the time humanity goes onward and upward to the stars. If that sort of future comes true, we’ll need a flag to plant into the ground on new worlds or plaster onto the spacesuits of our astronauts.Oskar Pernefeldt of “The International Flag of Planet Earth” has just the solution. On his concept flag, seven rings represent the seven continents, while the blue hue stands out against darker backgrounds....

Media Platforms Design TeamThere is the kind of problem kids solve in math class. And then there is the kind of problem they solve mathclass. For the nearly 300,000 students involved in FIRST programs, founded by master inventor Dean Kamen, the latter isn’t homework—it’s a way of life. Each year the students spend countless hours building a path to robotic glory that culminates in a world championship in April. But given enough hardware, mentoring, and ambitious challenges, it was only a matter of time before these engineers in training began patenting inventions of their own....

In September 2015, cosmonaut Gennady Padalka arrived back on Earth for the last time. He had just completed his sixth mission in space, and broke the record for the most cumulative time spent beyond Earth’s atmosphere: 879 days. And because of these 2.5 years spent orbiting the planet at high speeds, Padalka also became a time traveler, experiencing Einstein’s theory of general relativity in action.“When Mr. Padalka came back from his adventures, he found the Earth to be 1/44th of a second to the future of where he expected it to be,” explains J....

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), which co-developed the almost-successful Beresheet moon lander earlier this year, is partnering with an American company to build U.S.-based versions of Beresheet. As one of the nine companies chosen by NASA to participate in the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, Firefly Aerospace will be dusting off IAI designs for the next Moon mission.“Firefly is excited to partner with IAI in architecting a complete lunar science mission for NASA’s CLPS initiative,” says Firefly CEO Tom Markusic in a press statement....

Aspiring inventors and entrepreneurs listen up: You have until February 25 to register for One Spark—the biggest crowdfunding festival in the world just a couple of years after it launched. In Jacksonville, Florida. Yes, we’re sort of baffled too. But the numbers don’t lie. This year One Spark is offering up to $3.5 million in investment capital, which will be awarded to the most promising projects. The festival, which runs from April 7 thru April 12, has grown dramatically since its inception....

Studying the Rockies, scientists made a surprising discovery: it’s covered in plastics.Microplastics, pieces of plastic microscopically small, appeared on 90% of their samples.Microplastics are everywhere on the globe, even the depths of the Arctic Ocean.Plastic is so commonplace in modern society that even protected natural areas are being inundated with it. When U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) researchers were taking samples high up in the Rocky Mountains, they were hoping to study soil, minerals, and other nature-y things—but plastic was touching nearly everything....

Media Platforms Design TeamKnight and Day ///Release Date: June 23 ///[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/v/-0cSz62nq9Y&hl=en_US&fs=1&[/youtube]We had our doubts about Knight and Day—in which rogue agent Roy Miller (Tom Cruise) takes civilian June Havens (Cameron Diaz) on a tour of exotic locations as he tries to protect a mysterious technology called “the Zephyr.” Those doubts washed away once we actually saw the movie. This spy caper has plenty for the Popular Mechanics reader: Havens is a car nut who travels for the parts she needs to restore a 1960s GTO, the Zephyr technology has roots in real-life science, and the stunts (most of which Diaz and Cruise performed themselves) are completely crazy....

The Winchester rifle was hailed by its manufacturer as “the gun that won the West.” But there’s a lot more to the story than that. The rifle that became the Winchester had a long, tortuous development that involved some of the era’s most influential businessmen and inventors. Its famed lever action fought the American Civil War and many other battles long before the Winchester became a favorite of the likes of Buffalo Bill, sharpshooter Annie Oakley, and even President Teddy Roosevelt....

In a surprise move, the U.S. Army is asking industry for ideas for a new submachine gun. The last time the Army adopted a submachine gun was in 1943. It’s not clear why the Army wants a new subgun but it likely has to do with the service’s eventual adoption of a new rifle caliber and new assault rifle.Submachine guns were developed during the World War I as an alternative to bulky, slow-firing bolt action rifles....

Right now scientists across the globe are hunting for Earth-like exoplanets. Often these planets are relatively close to their stars, much like the fourth planet in the TRAPPIST-1 system, and parsing the light between a planet and its parent star can be tricky. That’s why an international team has built DARKNESS, a 10,000-pixel camera designed to overcome traditional exoplanet limitations.The DARKNESS, shorthand for “Dark-speckle Near-infrared Energy-resolved Superconducting Spectrophotometer” reads noise and dark current, small electric currents that flow through photosensitive devices....

Images of what appears to be a new unmanned strike drone have emerged from Russia. The aircraft is believed to be the Sukhoi “Okhotnik” (“Hunter”) heavy strike drone, under development since 2011. Okhotnik is designed to strike targets on the ground in support of manned aircraft, destroying air defenses and headquarters units. The images first appeared on Russian social media depicting cockpit-free, single-engine flying wing aircraft. The drone is clearly built for stealth but lacks certain stealth features: It appears studded with what are likely antennas for testing purposes, and the engine nozzle is unshrouded and exposed....

The Islamic State captured several armored recovery vehicles during its rise, vehicles it turned into moving fortresses on the battlefield.The vehicles were not high tech by any means, but better than nothing.The “mobile battle fortresses” had a mixed record on the battlefield, with one destroyed in action and the other disappearing in the confusion of war. The Islamic State may not have high-tech factories cranking out the latest in armored vehicles, but they do have blowtorches, steel plating, and captured garages....

Twenty years ago, long before Sabine Schmitz became a Top Gear host, she was my driver.It was 1998, and I had stopped by the Nurburgring for a lap in the Ring Taxi—a service in which a pro driver will let you ride along for a blistering trip through “Green Hell.” Schmitz drove a BMW 540i with the sport package, and she drove it like a madwoman. During our 13-mile lap, we were passed only once, by a psycho on a bullet bike....

Q: I recently purchased Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Nintendo Wii. But when I insert the disc, I get a system error. What is going on here?A: Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the first Wii game to arrive on a dual-layered DVD. It is a massive game, and the extra capacity allows Nintendo to fit the whole thing onto a single disc. However, the Wii’s DVD-reading lasers have never had to flex their muscles for anything other than single-layered discs, and the game has unearthed a previously unnoticed hardware problem....

In 2018 the California-based company FireEye tipped Facebook and Google off to a network of fake social media accounts from Iran that was conducting campaigns to influence people in the United States.In response, Google and Facebook, using backend data to determine that a branch of the Iranian government was responsible, removed dozens of YouTube channels, a score of Google+ accounts and a handful of blogs.Lee Foster, manager of information operations at FireEye, was at the forefront of the firms’ investigation....

After Katrina devastated his hometown, Douglas Brinkley was not content resting safely in Houston. Leaving his wife and two toddlers on dry Texas land, the Tulane University history professor returned to New Orleans to become part of the rapidly forming civilian rescue effort. He and his compatriots launched into the floodwaters to help whomever they could, wherever they could. His book, The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, chronicles the disaster and its aftermath....

Media Platforms Design TeamAs Manchester United and Arsenal fans crowd into select pubs around UK and Ireland this Sunday to cheer on their respective clubs, it will feel like the players are right there with them. The soccer match between the heated English Premier League rivals will be the world’s first live sports event aired on 3D TVs for a public audience. British satellite company Sky will partner with Burbank-based company 3ality Digital to bring the broadcast to nine pubs outfitted with 3D-ready sets in London, Manchester, Cardiff, Dublin and Edinburgh....

Media Platforms Design TeamMany firearms are laid flat and slid under a bed, or they are stood in a closet or buried in a drawer. Others are simply laid across bland-looking racks. It doesn’t have to be that way. Firearms should be stored in a convenient and secure place that allows us to admire and handle them or easily remove them for hunting or target practice. We think this gun cabinet succeeds on all counts....

Media Platforms Design TeamSince HealthCare.gov went live in the beginning of October, the site has provided a , from incorrect information to inconvenient crashes, which have shut down the site for days. Bad omens began before launch; last June the that the project was running behind schedule and at risk for a failed execution. And debugging efforts have made the site erratic during the hours it is online.perfect storm of problems for usersGovernment Accountability Office warnedSome mishaps are to be expected from a project tasked with uniting many government agencies on such a mammoth scale....

According to a new report, China may have beaten the U.S. to mounting a railgun on a ship.A naval vessel called the Haiyangshan, carrying what appears to be a railgun on the bow, allegedly left the confines of the Yangtze River and is being tested on the Pacific Ocean. First spotted in January of 2018, the railgun appears to be the first put on a warship by any country—the United States included....