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WASHINGTON –It’s been nearly two decades since drones made their debut on the battlefield. But, South African filmmaker Gavin Hood argues in his new film, governments have yet to fully grapple with the tough ethical and moral questions about drone killings. “It’s the Trolley Problem on steroids,” Hood says. You may have heard of this philosophical thought experiment, which involves someone being forced to decide between saving multiple people at the expense of one life or doing nothing and having many people die....

A whole century passed between the time gravitational waves were predicted to when they were finally confirmed. But now, just two and a half years after that first announcement, suddenly we’re finding them four at a time. Scientists just laid out this discovery in a presentation at the Joint Space-Science Institute-Gravitational Wave Physics and Astronomy Workshop. and in two papers released on Arxiv. Gravitational waves are distortions caused by energetic events in space....

Media Platforms Design TeamGoogle has famously hit the streets with its fleet of self-driving cars, pushing the technology that will put the task of operating autos in the hands of machines. But that doesn’t mean Mountain View has forgotten about the flesh-and-blood occupants. Yesterday Google applied for a patent that would let drivers control their auto’s entertainment and temperature controls with just hand gestures. The currently hypothetical process would use ceiling-mounted depth cameras and laser scanners to record gestures....

The green army men toys are getting an update.The green army women are the result of queries by female veterans and one six-year-old girl’s letter in particular.The figures will release in 2020. One of the leading producers of green army men toys is preparing to march lockstep with today’s U.S. Army. In response to queries by female veterans and girls, BMC Toys will release a set of female Army soldiers in all the classic poses, including holding bazookas and shooting rifles....

A new video shows the intricate process involved in deactivating a nuclear-tipped missile. The video by the Outrider Foundation explains step-by-step how to break down a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile, from disassembling and disposing of the rocket side to the nuclear weapon payload itself. View full post on YoutubeIntroduced in the early 1970s, the Minuteman III forms the land-based component of the United States nuclear triad (nukes launches from the air and the sea for the other two legs)....

I have some old farming tools that have been in my family for years, and I want to restore them. Most need wood handles that I can’t find for sale anywhere. Please help.It’s tremendously satisfying to put a tool back in working order, especially one that connects you with your ancestors. I’ve done the job many times, and I always start by contacting the House Handle Company (househandle.com). The 70-year-old family business in Cassville, Mo....

Media Platforms Design TeamAs a mechanical contractor, I sweat a lot of copper pipe, yet people don’t believe me when I say the preparation is more important than the torch work. Even the experienced tend to rush the job — maybe a 3650 F flame is just more fun to handle than a wire brush.Solder, which melts at low temperatures, wicks into a joint by capillary action and bonds with copper at the molecular level....

After a killer wave of hardware innovation, it’s now been well over a year since a major video-game console launched–and we’re likely several years from a PlayStation 4, Xbox 720 or Wii 2.0. If last week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco is any indication, gaming geeks have become squarely focused on building the next killer app. And that truly next-gen software will be no small feat, considering the industry is still coming down from last fall’s introduction of Halo 3–an event a deadpan Microsoft VP Peter Moore called “the biggest day in entertainment history” and “this generation’s Star Wars....

A powerful storm has left nearly 1,000 people trapped in a mine in central South Africa. Mining officials are currently able to send food and water down to the miners but have not set a timetable on recovery. So long as ventilation remains unaffected, no one is in immediate danger. The 955 miners aren’t able to rise to the surface because of a powerful storm that hit Free State, a South African province....

Media Platforms Design TeamLAS VEGAS—Sony’s rumored virtual reality headset may not have materialized at this year’s CES, but that doesn’t mean there’s a lack of VR presence at the show. Among the rows of booths at a conference room on the first floor of the Venetian Hotel, Virtuix Omni showed off the latest version of its omni-directional treadmill for gamers donning virtual reality goggles. A small throng—with conspicuously more people than the booth’s neighbors—had gathered around the machine to watch a strapped-in gamer wearing an Oculus Rift headset walk, sprint, and point his gun around a video game environment....

Researchers in Nova Scotia have found a unique species that appears to be from a completely new kingdom of life, separate from plants, animals, or pretty much everything else. The new discovery helps us learn more about life on Earth and how it evolved.In the wilderness of Nova Scotia, biology grad student Yana Eglit from Dalhousie University was hiking and decided to collect some dirt samples. When she got back to the lab to analyze them, she discovered a strange microscopic creature she had only ever seen once before: a hemimastigote....

Studying the biology of autism spectrum disorder has been difficult for researchers: rats and mice are not reliable models for the condition. But when scientists turned to monkeys, they found a species that can be an effective stand-in for people. In a paper published in Science Translational Medicine, researchers may have found a hormone that signposts autism by studying rhesus macaque monkeys.For the study, researchers found 15 male rhesus macaques that weren’t interested in playing, grooming or socializing with their fellow monkeys, and compared them with 15 high social animals....

After a cancer patient loses the battle, when the funeral has ended and the mourners have returned home, the cancer remains. It doesn’t go where the body goes, to the funeral home or the crematorium. The hospital doesn’t throw it away. Usually a pathologist freezes a piece of a tumor, or bathes it in an embalming fluid called formalin and sends it out to be fixed in a paraffin block. Then he seals it in a clear biohazard bag, puts it on dry ice, and adds it to a stockpile of other samples, their identities stripped to random sequences of numbers and letters, all awaiting a journey to a biorepository, a tissue bank for samples such as these....

The U.S. Army has selected a new round to replace those equipping its M4A1 carbine and M249 Squad Automatic Weapons. The Army selected five companies to produce prototype weapons in the new, mysterious 6.8-millimeter round.Since the 1960s, the U.S. Army has used the 5.56-millimeter round. The number refers to the diameter of the bullet, which also corresponds to .22 inches. Unlike civilian .22 rounds however the 5.56 round is heavier, longer, and travels at greater velocity, transferring much more energy to the target and causing much more serious wounds....

Bermuda fireworms are tiny sea dwellers that ordinarily wouldn’t attract much attention: they’re less than one inch long, and live concealed among corals and algae on the seabed. But during mating season, they turn into something spectacular, lighting up the water with bioluminescence. The night before Christopher Columbus landed in the New World, he may have been a lucky witness to the ritual, seeing the flickering glow in the ocean “like the light of a wax candle....

Paper craft—the fine art of sculpting truly detailed models of of nothing but paper and a little adhesive—can turn just a little bit of scrap paper into really impressive stuff. Everything from the Millennium Falcon to a scale model of an Airbus A380. This project by YouTuber Aliaksei Zholner is on the smaller side, but no less impressive. This tiny V8 engine is small enough to fit in your hand, with a piston stroke of just 6mm and cylinders with a 5....

If you spend any time in the woods, or even the grass in your backyard, you should know how to properly remove a tick. If a tick is left in your skin for more than 36 hours, it puts you at risk for Lyme disease. According to the CDC, although there are many species, ticks can be found across most of America.The most important step for avoiding any effects of a tick bite is to do a thorough tick check after spending time outdoors, even your backyard....

JAXA, the Japanese space agency, says it has agreed “to study the possibility of collaborating on international space exploration” with Japanese carmaker Toyota. Specifically, the two plan to explore the possibility of a manned, pressurized rover capable of driving on other worlds, using fuel cells as a power source.View full post on Youtube"Manned, pressurized rovers will be an important element supporting human lunar exploration, which we envision will take place in the 2030s," says JAXA Vice President Koichi Wakata in a joint press statement....

Remember back when the internet was perfect and flawless and joyful, with nothing bad or horrible about it whatsoever? Okay maybe those days didn’t exist, but remember when it was at least marginally better than it is now because Vine still existed? Good news, time travel is possible and we’re about to go back. Or at least there’s about to be a New Vine. Here is the good word, from none other than original Vine’s original dad, Dom Hofmann: View full post on TwitterDetails about this new Vine successor, called byte with an assertively casual b, are scarce, but hopefully there’s not much to know....

Another day, another example of somebody doing something insane in Dubai. This time it’s from a YouTube user named OlegCricket who uploaded a nauseating clip of himself dangerously dashing between pillars on top of a skyscraper.Captured by a head-mounted camera, the 15-second clip shows him perilously leaping between ledges on the roof of the Sofitel hotel near Jumeirah Beach. On what is purported to be his Tumblr, he explained that he snuck up to the 37th floor and found stairs that led him to the roof....