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Media Platforms Design TeamIt’s Eric Anderson’s job to know how much it costs you to own a car. And number-crunchers like Anderson, a senior analyst at IntelliChoice, know more than they ever have before—thanks partly to the proliferation of certified preowned (CPO) programs that nearly every carmaker in America now offers. These programs offer extended service contracts as part of the package when you buy a used car, which means, among other things, that all the repairs are tracked—and tracked in the same way that repairs done under new-car warranties are....

Magadan Oblast in Russia is a popular ice fishing spot—right up until it isn’t. When crack suddenly appeared in the ice, hundreds of ice fisherman were suddenly forced to scramble, jump, or even snowmobile over of the sudden ice floe. You can see the full on chaos here:View full post on YoutubeIce fishing is inherently dangerous sport. While Yahoo News reports that only a few fisherman needed emergency help, plenty die every year angling for catches beneath frozen lakes....

On May 16, almost two months ago, NASA launched a balloon high into the atmosphere. On Saturday, it finally came down. The balloon, a NASA Super Pressure Balloon, was designed to float about 100,000 feet above sea level for months, carrying scientific equipment for a variety of experiments. It flew for 46 days, 20 hours, and 19 minutes, the longest ever mid-latitude flight of a heavy lift scientific research balloon.NASA initially planned for the SPB to stay in the air for a full 100 days, but ended the mission early due to some variations in the balloon’s altitude....

Media Platforms Design TeamUPDATE: Because of high winds in Florida, NASA scrapped Thursday’s GRAIL launch attempt. The next launch window in now Friday morning, beginning at about 8:30 a.m. Eastern.This morning, twin spacecraft are scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral on a new kind of moon mission. While we know a lot about the surface of the moon from past exploration, NASA’s GRAIL (Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory) mission will try to find some elusive answers about what we can’t see: what’s going on deep inside the moon....

Coal has been our dominant source of energy for more than a century, powering the Industrial Revolution and generated electricity for millions of households. But nothing lasts forever. A new study by the London-based think tank Carbon Tracker highlights just what that demise looks like. According to their numbers, around 42 percent of the world’s coal plants are losing money.The claims echoes similar statistics we’ve been hearing over the past few years....

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is one of the most successful space probes in recent history, sending us the first ever high-resolution images of Pluto. But that was back in 2015, and since then New Horizons has been preparing for its next adventure: a flyby of an asteroid even further away than Pluto, recently nicknamed Ultima Thule.On Monday, New Horizons woke up from its months-long hibernation in preparation for the final approach to Ultima Thule, scheduled for New Years Day 2019....

Today’s microscopes don’t get down to the nanoscale reliably enough for researchers who want to study objects at the atomic level. The nanoscale is at one billionth of a meter. A team of researchers from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have created a new “nano ruler” that can measure down to 1/4,000 the wavelength of light. Nanotechnology, which is developed at the impossibly small size of one billionth of a meter, is essential to everything from more powerful chips in smartphones to finding cures for the worst diseases....

Russia’s next-generation main battle tank can fire an anti-tank missile at targets more than seven miles away. That gives the T-14 Armata tank, set to begin testing with the Russian Army in 2019, nearly twice the range of the America’s latest version of the venerable Abrams, the M1A2 SEP V3. Whether this extended range is all the useful is another matter.The T-14 is a formidable-looking beast. Armed with a new 125-millimeter main gun, an unmanned turret, modular armor, and an active protection system designed to shoot down incoming missiles, the vehicle has caused a stir within NATO’s tank community....

A group of researchers have developed a new material that can be used to turn waste heat into electricity. This technology could allow power plants to recycle their waste heat and save money, while reducing our fossil fuel consumption and helping the environment. Their results are published in a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.In many power generators, such as coal plants and automobile engines, most of the energy produced ends up as heat....

Middle Eastern countries armed with the U.S.-made Patriot missile system have shot down over 100 ballistic missiles in the past two years, DefenseNews reports. The article highlights the largely underreported missile war between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on one side and Yemeni Houthi rebels and their Iranian backers on the other. According to U.S. defense contractor Raytheon, maker of the Patriot air defense missile system, Patriot operators in the Middle East have shot down these more than 100 enemy ballistic missiles since the year Saudi Arabia and the UAE intervened on behalf of the government in the Yemeni Civil War....

A surprisingly large number of people still seem to believe that their data is only at risk on public Internet connections. The hard truth is that your private and personal data—ranging from credit card numbers and banking information to browsing history and contact information—is just as hackable if you’re sitting on your sofa in the comfort of your own home.This Gryphon router lets you rest easy every time you browse the Web at home thanks to a wide range of parental controls and intrusion detection features, and it’s currently available for over 15 percent off at just $210....

Meteorites fall to Earth all the time. One estimate says that between 36 and 166 meteorites larger than 10 grams (0.02 pounds) make their way down here every year. Most of the time, these incidents are non-events, but sometimes they can turn violent, like when a space rock ripped through the roof of a Costa Rican home last month.Now, upon further investigation, the two-pound rock that destroyed a family’s dining room has an even odder quality: It’s a carbonaceous chondrite, a rare meteorite filled with organic compounds and water, say the researchers at Arizona State University who recently got their hands on it....

A new video shows a unique view of a B-52 cockpit as it takes off from one of America’s most important outposts in the Pacific—the tiny island of Guam. The heavy strategic bomber is part of a program meant to assure allies of America’s commitment to the Pacific region.View full post on YoutubeThe video shows a cockpit view from a B-52H bomber as it taxis across Guam’s Andersen Air Force Base....

Update 7:45 p.m. EST: Elon Musk confirmed that the core booster of Falcon Heavy failed to land on the drone ship and was lost. Update 4:03 p.m. EST: The launch of Falcon Heavy was successful, and the two side boosters returned to conduct successful landings on two landing pads at Cape Canaveral. SpaceX has yet to confirm what happened to the center booster. Read more here.Original Post:The day has finally come....

In the grand contest between air and land, we tend to think flying has a speed advantage over driving. There’s less friction, no road to overcome. But physics is a funny thing, and helicopters have some serious disadvantages over good old-fashioned cars in terms of pure speed. Real Engineering breaks down the physics of the race.Once the lift in a helicopter’s blades is greater than the weight of the helicopter, it will begin to rise in the air....

Media Platforms Design TeamHonda’s CRX, the wedgy, two-seat, extraordinarily-entertaining sports hatchback, left us in 1992. Its replacement was a far less practical targa roof model called the Del Sol that didn’t sell very well and ultimately killed the model. Finally, Honda has a proper CRX replacement, the upcoming 2011 CR-Z. Like the first CRX, it’s a two-seat hatchback, but it dramatically departs from the original formula.When it goes on sale later this summer, the CR-Z will be available as only a gas-electric hybrid, with a powertrain that employs Honda’s Integrated Motor Assist architecture....

The King of Lawn VacuumsMedia Platforms Design TeamThere may be no faster, more expensive or more fun way to pick up leaves than with the Cyclone Rake XL ($1,845), especially if you’ve got a large yard with lots of trees. Simply attach this monster vacuum to your riding mower, crank up its crazy-powerful 9-hp engine, and take a leisurely spin around your yard. The Cyclone Rake has an oversized 8-in....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt’s been an eventful year for space exploration, and in the spirit of pioneering the unknown, filmmaker Max Shishkin has put together a stunning compilation of space shots.A collection of iconic footage from some of the best sci-fi films in history, Cinema Space Tribute features footage from 2001: A Space Odyssey to Star Wars to Interstellar, the latter of which lends its soundtrack to the stunning montage. All of this is played to the voice of Anthony Hopkins reciting Dylan Thomas’ famous poem Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night....

Media Platforms Design TeamMicrobes are nature’s ultimate garbage disposal, devouring the dead, decomposing and inert material that litters Earth’s surface. They’re so good at it, in fact, that humans have taken an increasing interest in coercing them to clean up our environmental messes. The concept is called bioremediation, and it involves using organisms that either naturally love to eat contaminants or have been genetically altered to give them the taste for toxins....

The Chinese military put out notice it wants airborne laser pods.The pods could be used offensively or defensively, against aircraft or even missiles.Airborne lasers, moving at light speed, could end dogfighting as we know it.China’s military is soliciting would-be suppliers for a new airborne laser weapon. Notices on a government website invited defense contractors to provide information on an airborne laser attack pod. Depending on the level of power, the pod could be used to defend a friendly aircraft from incoming missile threats or destroy enemy aircraft and ground targets....