Media Platforms Design TeamAnother one of life’s great mysteries solved! Why you can’t remember what day of the week it is when you wake up, or hit the alarm clock within five inches of the snooze button on the first three tries. A recent study found that, even after eight hours of sound sleep, people have more impaired thinking and memory skills than they do after being deprived of sleep for 24 hours....
The FAA is serious about its new drone rules. Serious to the tune of nearly $2 million as far as SkyPan International is concernedis concerned.It sounds like a huge number (and it is) but it also sounds like SkyPan International was asking for it. The fine is related to 65 separate illegal flights in New York City and Chicago airspace. Airspace in New York City—where 43 of the flights took place—is especially restricted....
If you’re reading this, it probably means you’re staring at a file icon with a question mark, or Windows is telling you it detected “a hard disk problem.” Maybe you accidentally deleted something you now need—and you didn’t backup your files to a hard drive, or a cloud storage system, did you? We’ve been there.👩🏻💻 Tech can be tricky. We’ll be your support—join Pop Mech Pro.First, stop whatever you’re doing on the device on which you lost the file, and read this on a phone or another computer....
Elements 113, 115, 117, and 118 aren’t just nameless candidates awaiting addition to the periodic table. Now they’ve got names—nihonium, moscovium, tennessine, and oganesson, respectively. Now, these monikers are not set in stone yet. Back in January, the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), the organization in charge of such things, confirmed the existence of these short-lived, lab-created elements. Afterwards, the discoverers got to put forth these suggested names....
Media Platforms Design TeamEngineers have been building disaster-ready robots that can be mechanical first responders, bomb defusers, or investigators that go places too dangerous for humans. But how can we enlist robotic help in the fight to stop Ebola? this week that researchers are getting set to meet around the U.S. on November 7 to hash out ideas.The New York Times reportsThe Times lists three types of robots that might be able to help out....
Before the folks at John Deere’s Coal Valley Demonstration Grounds allowed me to get behind the wheel of their enormous yellow $246,000 544K 4WD Loader, they insisted that I complete some training. This was not a bad idea—I was likely the least experienced operator who had ever visited the facility. I’ve never even driven a riding mower. Fortunately, Deere had a solution, and one that also works for educating veteran construction-equipment drivers: computer simulators....
If you’re planning on tossing your your old iPhone in the garbage or shoving it in a drawer to collect dust—don’t. Instead, if you use Apple’s Trade-In program you can pat yourself on the back for not contributing to the heaps of non-recycled electronics that literally lay in heaps around the world (and sometimes explode).The new Apple Trade-In program, which basically lets you turn in your old device for a discount on a newer one, is just one of the steps the Cupertino tech giant has made toward sustainability and green tech....
There are three levers where the center seat heaters and climate control should be. One controls the actuators that move the wheels outward, away from the center. Another extends the legs vertically, pushing the car up onto stilts that make it tall enough to clear a Honda Accord. The third is the throttle for creeping over standstill traffic. This heavily modified Jeep Cherokee is PR disguised in a feat of engineering....
This is the Tricentennial Tower, a planned (but not locked down yet) mothership of the New Orleans waterfront. US Thrill Rides, a company more known for roller coasters than skyscrapers, is planning this building, which Gizmodo compares to the “Seattle Space Needle with a gondola ride slapped on.“Cable cars pulled by an overhead rail will carry visitors on a leisurely ride up to the top for a great view of the Mississippi River as well as the rest of the Big Easy....
Last week, Audi unveiled its stunning new R8 supercar at the Paris Motor Show. The sexy mid-engine sports car rides on a modified version of the Lamborghini Gallardo chassis and packs a 420-hp, 4.2-liter V8. Audi claims the new R8 will hit 60 mph in 4.6-seconds and top out near 185 mph. Awesome, right? Well, it turns out the R8 doesn’t even scratch the surface of Audi’s performance future.We’ve just spent the day driving Audi’s new 5....
The problem of what to do with carbon dioxide once it’s been captured has long perplexed scientists pursuing carbon sequestration. Do we store it in the ocean? In salt formations underground? And how long will those solutions work? A new study suggests that huge volumes of the key greenhouse gas could be converted into inert rock–and stored safely forever.As PM reported in July, Columbia University geologist Peter Kelemen has been studying peridotite, a highly-reactive rock that covers about half the landscape of Oman, and appears at scattered locations worldwide....
It’s official: The U.S. Air Force will buy new wings for aging A-10 Warthogs that risked a one way trip to the boneyard. The Air Force has made clear its intention to keep the A-10 flying after concerns surfaced that the service was taking advantage of the issue to get rid of the iconic close air support plane.Earlier this month, a Pentagon official in charge of the A-10 program announced an effort to re-wing 110 of the jets “was not going to happen....
While in the Army, I remember a constant pang of jealousy over other branches’ equipment: uniforms, body-armor, weapons, whatever. And the Marines’ recently-fielded M-32 six-shot 40mm grenade launcher is no exception. For the February issues of Popular Mechanics, I wrote an article that included an update on the XM-25 the Army’s High Explosive Air Burst weapon. Still in the prototype stage, the XM-25 fires a 25mm smart round. The technology and capabilities of this weapon are astounding; I thought it was pretty cool....
The world’s largest amphibian seaplane, the Chinese AG600, made its first flight from Jinwan Civil Aviation Airport in Zhuhai, Guangdong, China. Large as a civilian airliner, the AG600 can take off and land from water. The aircraft, nicknamed Kunlong, was in development for seven years and will be used to perform firefighting, rescues at sea, and patrol China’s artificial islands in the South China Sea.The AG600’s first flight didn’t involve any water....
Traditional aircraft are powered by loud and mechanical components, with engines and propellers generating the thrust and power necessary to achieve flight. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), however, have developed an airplane that can cruise over ground without the aid of heavy machinery, using only lithium-ion batteries and electricity to ply air quietly. While it may “glide” it is no mere “glider” and can summon up its own wind on which to fly....
View full post on YoutubeLast night Fry finally met Homer as Fox aired the much-teased Simpsons-Futurama crossover, with plenty of little nods and Easter eggs for hardcore fans of both shows. The episode opened with an appearance from our favorite Dionysian automaton, Hedonism Bot, who became the couch for the couch gag.They also saved a great one for the bitter end—a Simpsons-fied version of the Futurama opening credits, in which Homer Simpson hums the theme music as the Planet Express ship zips through a New New York populated by Simpsons characters and references....
Last night’s 60 Minutes took a look inside MIT’s Media Lab. Calling it"the Future Factory, " the show got a look at some of the remarkable projects being built, including devices that can Google your thoughts and capture the brain’s creativity while going to sleep.View full post on TwitterEver since its creation in 1988, books like Steward Brand’s The Media Lab: Inventing the Future at M.I.T looked at its early work in studying how to create holograms, recreate human motion, create flatscreens, and a host of other technical achievements of the past....
Team: Edison2Car: SevenClass: Very Light CarDrivetrain: Internal combustion engineEnergy Storage: E85PM Says: Built to the rules, it’s a very simple design. But it’s not a finished product.Odds to Win: 4 to 1The Virginia-based Edison2 team is made up mostly of racers and former racers—people good at leveraging a rule book in their favor. So while a four-seat version of their Very Light Car (VLC) competes in the Mainstream class, two-seat versions—one side-by-side and one tandem—are running under the Alternative rules....
Lasers aren’t just for destroying incoming missiles or driving your cat crazy. Laser beams can provide high-powered communications datalinks between ground stations and UAVs, aircraft, or satellites. For the last two years Airbus and the University of Oxford have collaborated on the Hyperion Project, an effort to develop an eye-safe laser data communications link between a ground station and a drone. Researchers have successfully flight-tested a proof-of-concept system with a range of about one kilometer....
If you’ve always wanted to legally purchase a set of Buckyballs, those small spherical magnets that can be messed with and molded into whatever you desire, now’s your chance. A federal judge overturned a 2012 ban on the sale of the toy, meaning it’s now legal to sell them in the U.S. again.If you’re not familiar with Buckyballs, also known as Zen Magnets and Neoballs, they’re small balls made of neodymium magnets....
