Posts

It can really take some of the joy out of your vacation when you have to spend a huge chunk of change just getting to your destination, so it’s no surprise that there’s a demand for cheap air travel. But supplying it is a delicate balance of cutting just the right amount of corners, and being smart about it. YouTuber Wendover Productions already did an awesomely in-depth exploration of all the little costs that add up to one typical plane ticket, but obviously some budget airlines are able to avoid these seemingly inescapable fees....

When the world celebrates the 50th anniversary of Star Trek going on the air, we’ll have a new way to remember the show’s greatest character. Leonard Nimoy’s son Adam has announced plans to make a new documentary about the Vulcan his father brought to logical life, to be called For the Love of Spock.Adam Nimoy told Variety that Zachary Quinto, who portrays Spock in the new films, will narrate. William Shatner will appear, too....

As the Earth gets warmer, the polar ice caps melt and sea levels rise. The more sea levels rise, the more people in low-lying coastal areas are threatened. A new study funded by the U.S. military finds that more than a thousand low-lying islands and atolls across the world will be rendered uninhabitable by mid-century due to rising seas, threatening hundreds of thousands of people as well as key military assets....

When able, humans use their senses in tandem. Hearing a voice, a person turns around to see if it’s their friend. Touching an object can offer tactile information, but viewing it can confirm its true identity. But robots can’t use their senses in tandem as easily, which is why scientists at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) have worked at correcting what they call a robotic “sensory gap.“To connect sight and touch, the CSAIL engineers worked with a KUKA robot arm, a type often used in industrial warehouses....

Media Platforms Design TeamI’m really big on electric vehicles because the total amount of fuel consumption involved is much less than what gas vehicles consume thanks to the efficiencies involved in a power generating plant. But there’s a lot of talk out there that electric vehicles just don’t perform as well as their gas counterparts—and, because we want to keep the planet intact, it sounded like a good myth to bust....

NASA’s earth science arm is funding research that recruits citizen scientists on skis, snowshoes and snowmobiles to measure snow depth in backcountry locations of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.Their measurements will be incorporated into computer models that calculate how much water will end up in the region’s rivers and reservoirs.Early results have been promising.“Our initial model runs show that citizen science measurements are doing an amazing job of improving our simulations,” said David Hill, an Oregon State University professor of civil engineering, who is collaborating with Alaska and University of Washington researchers....

One of the Navy’s newest ships is the recipient of a brand-new engine. The USS Michael Monsoor, a Zumwalt-class stealth destroyer, received the 15 ton engine after damage was discovered on several of the turbine blades. Although the engine still worked, the Navy elected to replace the engine before commissioning in January 2019.The Monsoor is the second of three Zumwalt-class destroyers. Designed to accommodate future weapons such as railguns and lasers, the Zumwalts integrate feature an integrated power system consisting of two main turbine generators, two auxiliary turbine generators, and two 34....

Sen. Dean Heller, Republican of Nevada, has introduced a bill that would mean a lot more people would be able to get the full $7,500 tax credit for buying a Tesla. He introduced the unpublished bill last Thursday, Car and Driver says.The background: U.S. law grants a $7,500 tax credit for people buying an electric vehicle. However, the credits are capped based on the number of vehicles an automaker has sold....

Reports From Around The WorldRare BitWith rich, soft-to-the-touch interior materials and an exacting fit and finish, the GTI may be the most refined car in its segment.The 1983 Volkswagen Rabbit GTI created the sport compact market in the States. And the all-new GTI is true to that spunky original. First, the new GTI comes standard with a 200-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. Second, you choose either a slick-shifting six-speed manual or the Direct Shift Gearbox....

In July, the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) approved the development of the Lowline, soon to be the world’s first underground park. In a few years you’ll be able to walk into an abandoned Manhattan trolley tunnel filled with exotic flora from around the world, all sustained by natural sunlight channeled into the cavern by an intricate arrangement of solar collectors, mirrors, and a transparent tube system.Conceived by James Ramsey and Dan Barasch, the Lowline collects light at street level by using a system of mirrors—similar to concentrated solar power mirrors—that pivot and rotate to follow the sun’s journey across the sky....

Media Platforms Design TeamFirst it was the Mirage, then it was the Colt, now it’s the Mirage again. Whatever the name, it’s always been a bit of a disappointment, and now more than ever Mitsubishi needs a vehicle that will remind people it still makes cars. The 2014 Mirage, with its manufacturer-estimated fuel efficiency of 40 mpg combined, 37 mpg city , 44 mpg highway, is meant to do just that....

Media Platforms Design Team(Credit: All photos by Chris Cantle)Baker, California is a lay-by. A rest stop. A long, parched strip of gas stations, fast-food joints, and mini-marts that dance in the heat-soaked air off the highway. In the hard light of day it’s no place to spend more time than you have to, and there’s no other kind of light as soon as the sun comes up.Sponsored:View full post on Youtube95 miles southwest of Las Vegas and perched on the rim of Death Valley, it was a rail stop before the highway came through and cemented the value of the dry and dusty little intersection....

Russia’s new Zircon missile travels at a whopping Mach 9, or almost 7,000 miles an hour.The sea-launched missile can strike targets on land or at sea.All of Russia’s modernized or upcoming warships will carry Zircon, giving them a weapon that even the U.S. Navy might not be able to stop.All of Russia’s new and upcoming warships will carry a new hypersonic missile capable of traveling nearly 7,000 miles per hour. According to the head of Russia’s main warship manufacturer, all modern warships serving in the Russian Navy and those on the drawing board will carry the weapon....

Russia’s brand-new T-14 Armata main battle tank will finally enter service in 2019, but in numbers far fewer than originally anticipated. The manufacturer will deliver twelve Armatas and four armored recovery vehicle variants by the end of 2019. That’s far short of the thousand or more tanks that were originally supposed to be in service by now. In 2015, Russia unexpectedly debuted a new main battle tank. Known as T-14 Armata, the tank was a break from previous Russian Army tanks and Moscow’s first “clean sheet” tank design in decades....

Media Platforms Design TeamFollowing a series of would-be suitors that left the beleagured Swedish manufacturer empty-handed at the altar, Saab’s future is finally cemented.Thanks to a Chinese-Swedish investment group backed by the Japanese, Saab Automobile will remain in Trollhattan but shift its focus to electric vehicles. Their first product will be based on the 9-3 platform, and could appear as soon as early 2014.Saab’s official buyer is National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB (aka, NEVS), and the purchase excludes vehicle platforms whose licenses are still owned by GM like the 9-5 and 9-4X....

Deep beneath the Earth’s surface, there’s a gigantic cache of diamonds, according to new research. While it’s unlikely that we’ll ever be able to obtain these diamonds, knowing that they’re there helps us learn more about our own planet and what it’s made of.To discover what lies beneath the surface, scientists can’t simply look with their eyes. Instead, they use sound waves and listen. Unlike light, sound can travel through solid rock, and by listening closely scientists can learn a great deal about what the inside of the Earth is like....

Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring….the bananaphone is back. Now, thanks to the debut of the Nokia 8810 4G, you can talk like Neo even though it’s 2018.This weekend saw the 2018 edition of Mobile World Congress, a Barcelona get-together for phonemakers that featured the launch of new top-of-the-line smartphones including the Samsung Galaxy S9. However, this nostalgia offering from Nokia was a surprise star of the show.The original 8810 dates back to the dumbphone era dominated by Nokia devices....

Media Platforms Design TeamWASHINGTON — The past 10 years of Brent Baker’s life have been spent building an incredibly powerful weapon that can fire a 6-ft.-high explosive round from a Navy ship every 6 seconds. But the engineer at BAE Systems’s armament systems division isn’t a welder or metalworker, not even a lobbyist or naval warfare expert.Baker’s role in weapons development is that of the rarely applauded computer tech—a modeling and simulation engineer who guides the design by tweaking the details in countless ways to achieve an optimum blueprint....

Next time you’re looking to buy a new phone, consider instead spending that $800 on a massive Lego set. That’s right, the new Ultimate Collectors Series Millennium Falcon set, announced by Lego this week, costs as much as a month of rent for a decent bedroom in a major US city. But who needs a home when you can own these gleaming Legos–all 7,541 of them. The new Millennium Falcon set is by far the biggest and most expensive the company has ever sold....

Soon, Russian troops will carry new assault rifles into battle. The AK-12 and AK-15, direct descendants of the world-famous AK-47, are set to replace existing rifles and modernize the Russian military’s arsenal.Russian soldiers currently carry the AK-74M assault rifle. This 5.45-millimeter rifle is descended from the 7.62-millimeter AK-47, which was introduced in 1947. The AK-74 was introduced in the 1970s and modernized to the -M standard in 1991. The Russian Army retains a stockpile of approximately two million AK-74s in different variants....