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Scientists discovered a fragment of a 99-million-year-old dinosaur tail (bones, tissue, feathers and all) preserved in amber. The amber sample had already been polished for jewelry when scientists discovered that it held a bigger treasure: the first dinosaur feathers preserved in amber. Researchers believe the tail came from a juvenile coelurosaur, a sparrow sized dinosaur. Professor Mike Benton, Co-author of the study, published in Current Biology, told the BCC: “It’s amazing to see all the details of a dinosaur tail - the bones, flesh, skin, and feathers - and to imagine how this little fellow got his tail caught in the resin, and then presumably died because he could not wrestle free....

Many types of body armor are made with boron carbide, a hard, light material.But a major problem with boron carbide is it is much less effective against high velocity projectiles.Texas A&M researchers have discovered that by adding silicon to boron carbide, body armor can better withstand projectiles moving 2,950 feet per second or faster.Researchers at Texas A&M University have figured out how to make boron carbide body armor capable of stopping high velocity bullets and other projectiles....

Update 1/23 2:00 p.m. EST: SpaceX is now targeting Wednesday, January 24, between 12:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. EST as the next opportunity to conduct a Falcon Heavy static fire test. Original Post:Following what turned out to be an eventful Zuma launch on January 7, SpaceX is gearing up to perform a static fire test on Falcon Heavy as early as today, January 10. In the static fire test, SpaceX engineers will ignite all 27 of the heavy-lift rocket’s engines nearly simultaneously for the first time, holding the rocket down on the launch pad while they do....

Last year, a research team from the NASA Ames Research Center came up with an idea to use a modified SpaceX Dragon capsule to send a sample return mission to Mars. Though SpaceX has not endorsed the project, NASA Ames thinks a sample return mission would be possible in 2022. Now SpaceX just tweeted an announcement that it plans to launch a mission to Mars in 2018. View full post on TwitterDetails are still unclear, as the original plan put forth by NASA Ames was to have the Red Dragon capsule pick up samples gathered by the Mars 2020 rover and bring them back to Earth....

Media Platforms Design Team LAS VEGAS, January 6 — So I’m at the Sony event, waiting for all sorts of nifty technologies to be unveiled, but one thing’s the same as last year (and, I’m sure, every year since press events started)—they’re already ladling out the free food and booze. Only as you can see from the large “Information” sign over the bar, they’ve set it up so that reporters can tell their editors that they spent all night “hustling up information....

Media Platforms Design Team01. BOOST » F1 cars have an electric-hybrid system known as KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) that regenerates braking energy, then boosts acceleration—at the push of a button—via an 80-hp electric motor. Another feature that increases speed is the movable rear wing that flattens to reduce drag. The wing is controlled by a foot pedal.02. LAP TIME03. HARVEST » Regulates the amount of energy “harvested” during braking. The regen system can alter the feel of the brakes, and because these guys drive with exacting precision, they’re picky about tactile feedback....

The Navy’s next generation ballistic missile submarine will cost $100 billion over the lifetime of the program, an amount Secretary of Defense Richard V. Spencer describes as “eye-watering.” The amount covers everything from research and development of the submarines to construction of the twelve submarines. The Columbia-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines will form the sea-based leg of America’s nuclear triad through the 2080s.Speaking at a Washington, D.C. think tank gathering, Spencer said, “All of sudden you’re talking about the submarines and there is a number that will make your eyes water....

Nearly 30 years ago, inside a classified facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory, researchers test-fired a new type of laser. The target: a piece of wet chamois leather meant to simulate human skin. The intense laser pulse lasted just a few microseconds, but created a brilliant flash and a loud bang, as though the leather had been hit by an explosive projectile.Those early 1990s tests were part of the Pentagon’s plan to develop a more effective, nonlethal way to engage a target—an area where the services have experienced chronic shortcomings....

On a cold, windswept island in the remote Aleutian islands chain lies one of the largest radars ever built. At the farthest edge of the American frontier 1,455 miles west of Anchorage, Alaska, sits Eareckson Air Station, home of the radar code-named Cobra Dane. The radar, permanently facing westward, is a silent sentry against surprise missile attack.View full post on YoutubeCobra Dane was built in 1976 to support the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty II, or SALT II....

Orbital-ATK is still recuperating from a catastrophe in October 2014 that sidelined its Antares rockets and left its Wallops Island, Virginia launchpad severely damaged. But tonight, it will launch its second resupply mission to the ISS since that fateful day. Orbital’s Cygnus vehicle will launch atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at 11:05 p.m. ET.This launch, OA-6, is the last mission before Orbital will try again to launch with its own Antares rocket this May....

Media Platforms Design TeamUpdate 11:40 Eastern: The booster test was a blazing, roaring success, as the QM-1 lit up the Utah desert with flame.Media Platforms Design Team10:30 AM Eastern: Today, Orbital-ATK will test fire the QM-1 rocket motor, and this is no ordinary practice run. The QM-1 is a key component in what will be the Space Launch System, a NASA-contracted deep-space rocket. SLS will be the agency’s first heavy-lift rocket since the Apollo era and its first serious attempt at one in decades....

The U.S. Military is facing an unlikely new threat: Drones, including commercially available ones, are capable of spying on and attacking U.S. forces. Two so-called Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UAS) tested by the Army are the Raytheon high power microwave (HPM) and high energy laser (HEL). Together, the two weapons burned a total of 45 drones during a recent Army exercise, plus some mortar projectiles. The Maneuver Fire Integrated Experiment, or MFIX, took place in December 2018 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma....

Most Americans recognize Labor Day as a chance to host their last summer barbecues and to shop retailers’ weekend sales—who doesn’t love having a hot dog and hunting for the best deals? But there’s much more to know about the history of the holiday before kicking off this year’s celebrations.A Peaceful Protest That Turned ViolentAn eight-hour work day wasn’t always the golden standard: Two centuries ago, American workers often clocked double digits at physically demanding and often unsafe jobs—something workers protested on September 5, 1882 in the first Labor Day parade, in which approximately 10,000 people peacefully marched from New York’s City Hall, the New York Times archives show....

Media Platforms Design TeamNothing taunts the North American car enthusiast like out-of-reach automotive fruit, and– not to parse genres too finely– but the phenomenon of pining for Europe-only wagons is a sore spot that’s only exceeded by so-called hunchback-like shooting brake variants we can’t get here.Stoking the fires of envy, Mercedes-Benz design honcho Gordon Wagener let slip to What Car? that a shooting brake version of the $29,900 CLA is in the works, which would make it a sort of baby version of the CLS Shooting Brake you can’t buy stateside– a rare and jealousy-inspiring bird, indeed....

A newly discovered bomb from World War II has shut down the London City airport on Monday, leading to the cancellation of at least 261 flights scheduled to arrive or depart that day. Police have set up a 700-foot (214 meter) exclusion zone while specialists attempt to remove the 1,100-pound (500 kilogram) bomb in time to resume flights on Tuesday. The bomb was uncovered during planned work on a nearby dock, ultimately disrupting the travel plans of at least 16,000 fliers....

Self-driving cars got boring. We heard the hype about the world-changing benefits. We saw Google’s plucky test cars venture out in the world. But somewhere along the way, autonomous vehicles drove into an expanse of indifference, the place where tech gets stuck until the day it actually changes your life.“Why are you yelling at me?” I blurt out loud at the car. “You’re the one driving.“Which brings me to the Nissan Rogue that is sort-of driving me down I-95 toward Washington, D....

A Chinese AI system diagnosed brain tumors and other conditions more accurately and faster than a team of top Chinese physicians, according to Xinhua. The AI, called BioMind, was developed by the Artificial Intelligence Research Centre for Neurological Disorders at Beijing Tiantan Hospital.The AI correctly diagnosed 87 percent of 225 cases in just 15 minutes, while a team of 15 senior physicians diagnosed 66-percent of the cases accurately. When it came to predicting cases of brain hematoma expansion, the AI won yet again: with correction predictions in 83 percent of cases, whereas doctors only achieved 63-percent....

Media Platforms Design TeamDeltare built an impressive piece of pure Dutch engineering. It’s called the Delta Flume. At 300 meters, it’s one long water trough with a big purpose: to make the highest man-made waves in the world. Inaugurated yesterday in Delft, Netherlands, the waves at the flume will reach 30 feet in height to test out solutions to erosion and flooding.A giant plate at one end of the 16 foot-wide pool pushes water down the canal, gradually increasing force until a giant wave crashes on the other side, with whatever is being tested on the other end....

After a severe earthquake and tsunami threaten meltdowns within Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plants, politicians and pundits have been quick to invoke the 1986 disaster at Chernobyl. For example, Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) released a statement saying he hoped “Japanese experts can successfully bring these reactors under control and avert a Chernobyl-style disaster.“While the situation is dire, and still unfolding, it’s clear that even if the worst happens at Fukushima the outcome will be much better than Chernobyl....

Welcome to Apollo Week, celebrating 50 years since the Apollo 11 mission, explaining what it means today, and exploring how its legacy will shape the future of space exploration.The Apollo program wasn’t all about getting us to the Moon. Innovation and technology developed for those lunar voyages often have had second lives here on planet Earth. Here are eight examples.Innovation: Freeze-Dried Meals Invention Date: 1965, developed for the Gemini missions and improved for the Apollo program....