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Everything you’ve ever owned was shaped by chemical reactions, and with few exceptions, these chemical reactions require some type of energy in order to occur. Enzymes in your body break down and recombine atoms and molecules. Sunlight triggers fading colors, photosynthesis, and degrading plastics. Heat is perhaps the most common way to trigger chemical reactions, with fire being the most common example.But in none of these cases is a chemical reaction triggered by simple pressure....

The SpaceX Falcon Heavy was recently raised vertical on the pad at Launch Complex 39 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The rocket was then returned to the hangar as SpaceX prepares it for a static fire test, which is expected to take place before the end of the month. The test will see all 27 Merlin engines on the rocket’s three cores ignited simultaneously for the first time—engines that will produce about 5....

SpaceXUpdate 1/5/2017: The Zuma launch has been postponed to January 7. View full post on TwitterUpdate 3:20 p.m.: The SpaceX Zuma mission has been pushed back 24 hours, with the launch now targeted for Friday, January 5, at 8:00 p.m.Original PostSpaceX has set a new launch window for the clandestine Zuma mission that opens Thursday, January 4, at 8 p.m. EST and closes at 10 p.m. The launch was originally scheduled for last November, but it was scrubbed as SpaceX announced it would take additional time to review data from a rocket fairing test....

Jason Hite has created a hand-built, crucifix-shaped shrine to Star Wars called Episode X: Childhood Religion that recreates the original trilogy in painstaking detail. Using gaming figurines and other toys from the first three movies, he’s crafted scenes from Jabba’s Palace, Cloud City, and Death Stars I and II.Hite says the project is a labor of both love and hate. He’s gotten his kids involved in the process and made them part of his Star Wars nostalgia....

A new concept in underwater detection spurred by mammalian facial hair could turn undersea warfare on its head. Developed by Mother Nature to help seals (the mammals, not the naval commandos) detect food in murky water, the method involves using the animal’s whiskers to detect movement in water left by a moving object. If scientists replicate the method using modern technology, it could make submarines much more detectable.Over millions of years, seals have evolved to hunt fish in the sea....

The Lordstown plant in Warren, Ohio, builds the Chevy Cruze and is one of the plants that will be idled next year. Last year the plant paid out $250 million in wages.GMToday GM announced, in typically cryptic corporate-speak, that it is undergoing a “staffing transformation” and will soon have five “unallocated plants.” In other words, it’s firing a bunch of people—14,300, or thereabouts—and closing down plants. There are many reasons for the layoffs, including Trump’s new tariffs, which GM warned could add more than $700 million to its costs this year....

Just as Star Wars had Star Tours, the Ghostbusters film and cartoon series could have had its own amusement park ride, one that expanded the scope of the franchise in ways only hinted at in the movies and subsequent sequels. 2600 Connection elaborates on the details of the ride that never happened, by way of an interview with its designer Roger Hector. In the 1980s, Six Flags wanted to cash in on the success of the film by preparing a Ghostbusters ride called The Hauntington Hotel....

Cockroaches are among nature’s ultimate survivors. While they’re often considered unwanted pests, scientists at the UC Berkeley and Harvard see them as natural models to learn from. Robotics researchers copied one of the cockroach’s most remarkable traits: the ability to crash headfirst into a wall and then start climbing.“Under the naked eye, cockroaches appeared to perform a smooth, ‘elegant’ transition onto the vertical wall,” says a new paper published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface....

Media Platforms Design TeamAt Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) today, senior VP of iOS, Scott Forstall, introduced iOS 6. The new operating system has more than 200 features, including an update to Siri that makes the voice-recognition program more sports-friendly, movie-friendly, Twitter-friendly, iPad-friendly, and car-friendly (nine automakers will be integrating it within the year). The iOS 6 phone app will include smart new auto responses and a do-not-disturb function that keeps the phone dark and quiet at night, yet makes an exception for emergencies....

President Donald Trump’s theoretical “Space Force” looks like it is in trouble. The Pentagon, concerned the Space Force may not make it through Congress as a proposal for a completely new branch of the military, is mulling downsizing the organization into a division of another established armed service, particularly the Air Force, according to DefenseOne. The setup would be similar to the Department of the Navy, which controls both the U....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe space shuttle is due for retirement in 2010, and NASA’s next spaceship, Orion, won’t be available until at least 2015. That will leave a five-year gap during which NASA astronauts and space-station cargo will be grounded unless they find other ways to get to orbit. In the past, NASA has cadged rides off its former arch-rival, the Russian Federal Space Agency, and its Soyuz (for astronauts) and Progress (for cargo) spacecraft....

The U.S. Navy’s newest aircraft carrier suffered a propulsion issue in January 2018 that forced it to return to port early from sea trials. The USS Gerald R. Ford experienced an issue with the main thrust bearing that was the result of a manufacturing defect. Both the U.S. Navy and shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries are looking into the problem.The USS Ford was on a shakedown cruise designed to detect issues in the brand-new ship....

The Pentagon established the Space Force earlier this year, but there is no official name for Space Force personnel.The Space Force is considering a number of names but hasn’t settled on one.Science fiction has some ideas, but the term “spacer” is our personal pick.Now that America has a Space Force, it’s time to figure out what we should call those that serve. Whatever it is will likely stick for decades, even centuries, if we look at the other armed forces as an example....

Sony took the pricing freefall in digital displays to the next level at last week’s CEDIA expo, a tradeshow for custom and (custom) installed electronics. Those who want the big-screen home theater experience without shelling out five figures to get one will want to check out the latest addition to Sony’s SXRD (Silicon X-tal Reflective Display) front projector line. The VPL-VW50, unveiled at this week’s Custom Electronics Design & Installation Association trade show in Denver, rings in at $4,999....

The Continental Divide Trail is one of America’s great hikes. It traverses the Rocky Mountain region more than 3,000 miles from Mexico to Canada, passing through states from New Mexico to Montana. If you want to see that kind of country pass before you (but don’t have the resolve to hike it), check out this video. In the clip, the guys hike the entirety of the CDT in four minutes. They managed this marvelous feat by grabbing one second of footage from every single day on the trail....

Form or function? Old-school design or new-school innovation? As Halt and Catch Fire closes in on the end of its first season, the team at Cardiff Electric is running out of time in its quest to revolutionize the PC.In a few weeks, Cardiff Electric will reveal its prototype at COMDEX, the annual computer expo in Las Vegas. But the design still has a long way to go, and the company’s PC division is broke....

Nothing offers more drama than the ticking countdown to a devastating bomb, and the bigger the bomb, the bigger the thrills. That’s why nuclear weapons often show up in cinema as the ultimate threat to our heroes—and humanity.You wouldn’t expect the movies to depict nuclear weapons with perfect realism, but some blockbusters do a much better job than others. Here’s a guide that separates the good from the useless when it comes to fictional treatments of nukes....

Protesters from the environmental group Extinction Rebellion lost control of a fire hose filled with fake blood during a protest in front of the U.K. Treasury.They set out to protest the British government’s subsidies of the fossil fuel industry. Eight protesters, including an 83-year-old grandfather, were arrested on suspicion of criminal activity. It was a grisly scene today at the gates of the U.K. Treasury in London as protesters lost control of a firehose filled with 475 gallons of fake blood....

The Bill Gates-backed startup Heliogen has generated solar heat topping 1,000 degrees Celsius using mirrors.Concentrated solar power isn’t new, but high heat can be used to manufacture cement and steel.Heliogen says it plans to split hydrogen and offer a hydrogen fuel source next.CNN Business reports that scientists working in “stealth mode” have announced a way to turn solar energy into extreme heat that could be used by industry. Startup company Heliogen, funded by Bill Gates and other high-profile environmental investors, has built a solar plant where large mirror panels point the sunlight toward each other to harness and multiply heat, a phenomenon called concentrated solar power....

“Please work,” I mutter.Over the last three months senior home editor Roy Berendsohn and I have been building a guitar in the Popular Mechanics workshop. With so many roadblocks behind us, we can’t wait to finish this damn thing. Now, perched against my knee are two halves of our guitar body—a worn-down clarinet case—connected by a dangling wire. Despite the ragged appearance, the parts are all assembled, the guitar is strung, and it’s time for a sound check....