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The existence of life on Earth is, as far as science knows so far, a completely unique phenomena throughout the universe. How the planet became a breeding ground for a life is a question that scientists looked to answer for a long time, and a new study looking at how a subterranean ocean was born through ancient tectonic plate shifting helps answer that question.“The mechanism which caused the crust that had been altered by seawater to sink into the mantle functioned over 3....

The U.S. Army is concentrating its efforts on fielding a new infantry fighting vehicle. The new vehicle will replace the M2 Bradley, first fielded in 1981. The vehicle will incorporate new technologies that the Army has increasingly had to bolt onto the older vehicle, as well as be more lethal and survivable against modern threats.The M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle was introduced in 1981 as a new type of vehicle, the infantry fighting vehicle (IFV)....

Using a staccato burst of laser fire, this ingenious camera peers around a distant corner, tracking the position, movement, and rough shape of any solid object that human eyes cannot even see. The team of engineers and optics researcher, led by Genevieve Gariepy and Daniele Faccio at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, say it’s the first such camera that can track moving objects around corners in real time.“For future use, this could be incredibly helpful for [computer assisted] vehicles to avoid collisions around sharp turns....

Ceramatec’s advanced-materials specialists and electrochemists have developed a sodium-sulfur battery that potentially could produce 5 kilowatt-hours for 4 hours before needing to recharge. So far, Ceramatec’s scientists only have a prototype–a super-thin ceramic conductor sandwiched between a sodium-metal anode and a sulfur-compound cathode–that proves the concept of a high-energy-density battery that operates at relatively low temperatures. But expectations for Ceramatec’s battery are high. In April, the (Provo) Daily Herald profiled the company and its sodium-sulfur deep-storage battery, and called the technology “the single most important breakthrough for clean, alternative energy since Socrates first noted solar heating 2400 years ago....

Since its launch in 2009, the Kepler spacecraft has found thousands of planets outside our solar system. One of NASA’s least known but most remarkable—and important—missions, it has quietly changed our understanding of our place in the cosmos, providing hard information about the chances of life in the far reaches of space. But its planet-hunting days may be done. “On Friday October 19, during a regularly scheduled spacecraft contact using NASA’s Deep Space Network, the team learned that the spacecraft had transitioned to its no-fuel-use sleep mode,” the Kepler team said in an update yesterday....

The U.S. Marines are testing a new prototype laser weapon system designed to clear the skies of pesky drones. The Compact Laser Weapon System, or CLaWS for short, is a vehicle-mounted laser meant to disable or down small unmanned aerial vehicles, preventing them from acting as spotters or even flying suicide bombs. The laser weapons are being mounted on the new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (above). View full post on YoutubeThe CLaWS weapon system is designed to down drones at ranges of hundreds of meters by burning off parts of the body or igniting onboard fuel supply or an explosive payload....

A new study asks a familiar question: was Christopher Columbus right about cannibalistic marauders in the New World?According to Columbus’ journals, the Caniba, a group of murderous pillagers, terrorized the Arawak natives. Supposedly, the Caniba would kill and eat the men they captured and kidnap the women.While there is some evidence that Columbus’ accounts could’ve been true, there is no definitive evidence so the the claims continue to remain a mystery....

Gin doesn’t age in barrels like bourbon or Scotch, picking up golden color and rich characteristics from wood. But just because it’s see-through doesn’t mean it’s not as structurally complex as any brown spirit. Instead of deriving flavor from a limited mixture of grains, gin gets its flavor from an array of botanicals. In Berkshire Mountain Distillers’ new Ethereal line, there is always the backbone of juniper, plus multiple levels of citrus—lemon, lime, grapefruit....

In the Kannah Creek area of western Colorado, about 25 miles south of Grand Junction, archaeologists found part of a Spanish pistol that was dated at about 500 years old. The piece, known as a “dog,” is a spring-load arm for 16th century wheellock pistols. These firearms predate the flintstock pistols and muskets of the 17th century. The find suggests that Spanish colonialists could have ventured north into Colorado more than a hundred years before historians had previously believed....

A Chinese Air Force colonel has suggested ramming U.S. ships sent to challenge Beijing’s control of the South China Sea. Col. Dai Xu made the remarks at an event sponsored by Global Times, published by the Chinese government. Dai also recommended invading Taiwan when the opportunity presented itself, even at the cost of economic growth. The remarks were published in the Global Times on December 8, 2018. During a panel discussion on the South China Sea, “(Dai) said he didn’t understand why some people were afraid when Chinese warships intercepted U....

The Drone Racing League (DRL) has been publicly racing drones since 2016, hoping to take the sport mainstream. After some success with human pilots, the league is expanding into autonomous drone races in which the drones navigate through courses solely with AI and no human pilot. Teams will be invited to compete for a variety of prizes that will total over $2 million.The Artificial Intelligence Robotic Racing (AIRR) circuit, as the DRL is calling it, will begin in 2019 and consist of four AI vs....

Media Platforms Design TeamWe’ve researched and conjectured endlessly about the next-gen 2014 Corvette C7, but General Motors has finally given us a date to mark on our calendars: January 13, 2013, when the next iteration of the iconic sports car will be unveiled in Detroit.The updated “Crossed Flags” logo was unveiled today at Road Atlanta, where 77 class wins, 8 driver’s championships, and nine manufacturer and team championships since 2001 have made Corvette Racing the most successful team in ALMS history....

We love when a tiny company does big things.LiquidPiston, Inc., of Bloomfield, CT, recently signed an agreement with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, better known as DARPA, to use the hyper-efficient rotary engine technology for military purposes. The advanced combustion tech could be used in weaponized UAVs, robotic soldiers, and generators that produce 3kW of electric power—but fit in a backpack.Father-and-son team Nikolay and Alec Shkolnik say LiquidPiston can dramatically downsize combustion engines used in military scenarios....

U.S. lawmakers spent this past weekend drafting an emergency aid bill for the auto industry. According to the Detroit Free Press, several major topics remain up for debate. These include how much control the government will have over the auto industry in exchange for the money, where that money will come from, and whether General Motors chief Rick Wagoner gets to keep his job. Sen. Chris Dodd, R-Conn., (remarked on a talk show this past weekend that it’s time for Wagoner to “move along....

Robots the size of a human blood cell could monitor everything from human bodies to oil pipelines. But first they’ve got to get built. A team from MIT has developed a new model for building microscopic robots, a system they’re calling “autoperforation.“The system uses a type of carbon called graphene, a super strong material that contains a single layer of atoms. Graphene is heavily hyped these days, but the MIT researchers were able to exploit an unusual quality: Its brittle nature....

In the last months of World War II, with its massive navy defeated, Japan was desperate for a way to stem a possible Allied invasion on the horizon. The answer: building hundreds of kamikaze miniature submarines. Known as Kairyu, the sub carried two torpedoes each and were fitted with an explosive charge to ram and sink Allied ships and troop transports. In 1945, defeat was at Japan’s door. The four-year War in the Pacific had island-hopped from Hawaii to near Japan’s “Home Islands....

Media Platforms Design Team"Play Missy Elliott," I said to the speaker. It sighed. It rolled its Cyclops eye at me. And then it played Missy Elliott (“Work It,” to be specific).So went my first interaction with the Aether Cone, a so-called thinking speaker driven by Rdio and powered by algorithms that pay attention to what (and how) you listen to in an attempt to deliver exactly what you want to hear when you want to hear it....

The 1,000-mph Bloodhound LSR is the result of 10 years of meticulous building.After a 2018 brush with bankruptcy, the car is back and testing at 500 mph this month.Jet cars are wildly dangerous, but driver and RAF officer Andy Green is a record-holding veteran.This week brought an important update on the Bloodhound LSR car, which broke 500 miles per hour (mph) on a test track in Africa on Wednesday, according to Ars Technica....

Before the Gold Rush, before Seward’s Folly, even before its earliest Aleut settlers thousands of years ago, Alaska had permafrost. The frozen ground makes up almost 85 percent of Alaska. But global warming is proving to be a threat to both the permafrost and the manmade structures that reside on top of it. A new study shows that “nearly four million people and 70 percent of current infrastructure” will be affected by permafrost damage in the next 30 years....

When NASA got its marching orders last week to return astronauts to the Moon in 2024, many predicted that it would spell the end of the near-lunar Gateway project, a plan years in the making to build a cis-lunar spacecraft—in partnership with the U.S. space agency and four other international partners.But William H. Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations at NASA, told Popular Mechanics that the controversial Gateway project could actually be beneficial for facilitating the early return of astronauts to the surface of the moon....