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When the Army is conducting operations overseas, they often need a bridge where there isn’t one. Fortunately, the United States Army’s Multi-Role Bridge Company (MRBC) has a floating, collapsible system of barges called the Improved Ribbon Bridge (IRB) that can quickly make a bridge where none existed before.View full post on YoutubeThe IRB enables the armed forces to ferry weapons, supplies, troops, and vehicles across waterways that don’t have a permanent bridge spanning them....

Philly Hybrid X TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamWhen We Last Saw Them: The Philly team, comprised of high school students in an after school mechanical engineering class, planned on deploying a lithium-ion battery Toyota Corolla plug-in hybrid with some help from Boeing engineers and Drexel University’s MBA program. The Changes: The Philly team made two changes in the last six months. First, it switched from a Toyota Corolla chassis to a Ford Focus chassis for four-door entry in an effort to show that government car fleets, which are usually made in America, could be composed of hybrids....

Even if you’re a skilled driver with a well-maintained car, ice and snow are hazardous, and you should know what to do if your car breaks down or slips off the road in the middle of nowhere. Survival stories like those of the family that recently found itself lost in Nevada show the importance of being prepared.Unless you can see a nearby house or building, striking off into the wilderness in search of help is not the best idea....

Your newest app hums away in the background as your phone lies on the coffee table. The gentle thump of your speakers, the quiver of sound waves from a slammed door or a coffee mug set down too abruptly—these things do not perturb it. But as soon as the app feels the telltale rumble of a earthquake, it perks up.Shooting out a tiny data packet, the app automatically warns scientists at a central database about the quake within milliseconds....

Normally if you want to liquify a peice of fruit, you turn to a blender or food processor. But why would you want to do that when you could make the whole process much more complicated, dangerous, and messy? Forget the kitchen, breakout the 20,000 joule capacitor bank and get to work in the backyard.OK, so maybe electrocuting fruit into a pulp is not particularly practical but it is spectacular, as this video from the ever-crazier Backyard Scientist indicates....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn Sale: NowBase Price: $46,025Competitors: Audi A6, BMW 5-Series, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Lexus GSPowertrain: 2.0-liter Turbocharged I-4, 272 hp, 295 lb-ft, 6-speed automatic; 3.6-liter V-6, 321 hp, 275 lb-ft, 6-speed automatic; 3.6-liter Twin-turbo V-6, 420 hp, 430 lb-ft, 8-speed automaticFuel Economy (city/hwy): 18/30 (I-4), 19/28 (V-6), 17/25 (TT V-6)What’s New: The chassis that lies under the skin of the new CTS not only says a lot about the car’s mission, but also about how it performs....

Two years after announcing its goal of an electric plane capable of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) as well as autonomous flying, Airbus has achieved a successful flight. Through its experimental division A³, the European aerospace giant just staged a full-scale flight test, with the Vahan aircraft rising to 16 feet in the air for 53 seconds. The “Alpha One” test flight was followed by another test the next day. “In just under two years, Vahana took a concept sketch on a napkin and built a full-scale, self-piloted aircraft," says Zach Lovering, Project Executive of Vahana in a press release....

A civilian photographer landed his $350 drone on the flight deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth, the United Kingdom’s brand-new aircraft carrier, without anyone noticing. Even more alarming, when the incident was reported, the government authorities didn’t seem particularly concerned by the breach of security. The incident comes after drones have been used to monitor military bases, conduct acts of sabotage, and even kill.The drone operator, who only goes by the working name Black Isle Images, flew the DJI Phantom drone (The Register says it was a Parrot Bebop) over Queen Elizabeth as she was docked at Invergordon, Scotland....

Arnold Palmer was sitting near a table of crackers and dip at a Callaway Golf press event yesterday evening when I approached him. Popular Mechanics, I explained, had come down to the product launch to take a look at the latest in golf club design and technology.“You did that already,” Palmer said. “Must have been 1963 or 1964. I was in there testing what was considered the new technology at the time—steel shafts—against the old hickory types....

Media Platforms Design TeamWhen Steve Menneto, vice president of motorcycles at Polaris Industries, unveiled Indian’s all-new Thunder Stroke 111 engine at Daytona Bike Week in March, motorcycle enthusiasts were giddy with anticipation. Polaris bought the nearly dormant Indian Motorcycle brand in 2011. Would the company be able to revive it? The undeniably beautiful piece of engineering didn’t disappoint. But Indian’s new Thunder Stroke also represents something deeper for throttle twisters: the restoration of one of America’s most iconic motorcycle brands....

In a 60 Minutes interview, Harvard geneticist George Church said he’d like to start a dating app that aligns lovers based on their genetic compatibility. When two users have a low likelihood of passing on diseases to possible children, they’ll be designated as a match.This sort of dating app sounds a bit like eugenics—and, indeed, critics are speaking out against Church.George Church, a Harvard geneticist renowned for his work on reversing aging, is creating an app that could eliminate human disease for good by matching potential partners based on their DNA compatibility....

Exercise Red Flag at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada is considered one of the most realistic and challenging aviation warfare exercises, and pilots from this year’s event say the Air Force’s F-35A exceeded expectations by dominating the air space and improving the lethality of other legacy aircraft. It’s stellar performance is a major victory for a war plane that’s been criticized for its high costs and plagued with several development setbacks....

Media Platforms Design Team(Illustration by Gabriel Silveira)In the late 1990s, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents debated the existence of craft they called Bigfoots, semisubmersible cocaine-smuggling boats that ride low in the water to avoid detection. These days, law enforcement officials know these custom-built vessels exist—45 have been seized in the past three years alone—but no one in the DEA had seen anything like the craft discovered this year hidden in a jungle in Ecuador, near the Colombian border....

Solar energy is crucial to our survival as a species, and thankfully, the industry is booming. Since Congress passed a tax credit in 2006, the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA) says the solar industry has been averaging an annual growth rate of 50 percent in the last decade. In most fields, that would be macro news. But solar energy has a mission beyond making money—it’s supposed to save the planet.There’s no plan to prevent human-made global warming from permanently warping the Earth’s climate without solar panels and the energy they can convert....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe most important tool in any shop doesn’t have a motor, a battery or a cutting edge, and it has remained largely unchanged for centuries. A traditional woodworking bench, at its most elaborate, was a virtual showpiece, bristling with vises, bench dogs and holddown clamps. And it was planed dead true to act as a standard for the craftsman to follow. Our rough-and-ready work surface visually recalls one of these classic double-trestle benches, but it’s a far simpler affair....

In a dismaying new study, tapping shaken beer cans did not reduce their potential for explosion and beer loss.Carbonation is usually the result of carbon dioxide forced into pressurized containers.Tapping didn’t make anything worse, so hey, just keep tapping if it makes you feel good.Bad news for beer tappers: Tapping your shaken beer doesn’t reduce its likelihood of exploding. In a new study, scientists found no statistically significant link between tapping on a shaken beer and a reduction in explosive foam....

Media Platforms Design TeamWhen my computer wouldn’t boot for the second time in one week, I knew the end was coming for the 4-year-old PC. It was hard to diagnose exactly what the problem was from its brief moments of lucidity—it could have been the hard drive failing, or the motherboard refusing to recognize the drive, or maybe something as simple as a corrupted file structure. It didn’t really matter, though....

There’s no quicker, more convenient way to paint small- to medium-size parts and projects than with spray paint. The challenge is how do you apply a smooth, even coat of paint without runs, drips and errors? Spraying paint is deceivingly simple to do, but difficult to perfect. Practice and experience certainly helps, but there are also several techniques that’ll help you spray paint like a pro. Here, are our top 10 spray painting tips:Start Smooth, Finish SmoothSpray paint typically has a sheen that, when dry, reflects light and emphasizes any surface imperfections, including scratches, dents and nicks....

The new iPhone 7 is packed with great tech and a fancy new shell. It’s the best iPhone ever, Apple CEO Tim Cook said on stage earlier this year. And not for the first time. Apple says that about every new iPhone. Given the inexorable march of technology, it’s probably true. But my favorite iPhone is not the best iPhone ever. It is nine years old. A fully functional original—no bloody 3G, 3GS, 4, 4S 5, 5S, 6, 6S, or 7....

Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design Team Apple previewed its 3.0 version of the iPhone operating system today (it comes out “sometime” this summer). Many of the new capabilities coming to the device are answers to longstanding complaints by users. It is, in fact, somewhat amazing that Apple can get such attention for an update that largely introduces functionality–cut-and-paste, MMS, in-phone search–that competing devices have offered for years. But what most got my attention was an expansion of the iPhone’s Bluetooth capabilities....