Posts

The United States and South Korea conducted joint missile tests on the southern half of the Korean peninsula, in a direct answer to the July 4th North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test. Although the two missiles fired lack the range and firepower of Pyongyang’s missile, they send a very personal message to leader Kim Jong Un—that in the event of war, he will be a target.The two missiles were fired from an undisclosed location somewhere along South Korea’s east coast and later crashed into the Sea of Japan....

MIT announced on Thursday afternoon a new method of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen, predicting that it will unleash a “solar revolution.” And they’re partly right. The research, which appears in the new issue Science, has little to do with solar power as we usually think of it. But it has wide-reaching implications as a storage medium, making renewable but intermittent energy sources like the sun and wind more practical for everyday use....

The Dream Chaser has not made a single flight or carried any cargo into space. Yet space-savvy American cities are already rolling out the aeronautical equivalent of a red carpet, hoping to entice Sierra Nevada to land its spaceplane at their airports. In March, Ellington Airport in Houston announced it was obtaining an FAA license to land the spaceplane. Last week at the important Paris air show, city officials from Huntsville, Alabama, announced the start of an engineering study to examine whether the spaceplane could set down at their airport....

cellspacing=“0” cellpadding=“0”>Media Platforms Design TeamSnowboard BindingsTwo magnets tightly attract when aligned but repel when twisted more than 45 degrees, easily clicking on and off. Other apps: cycling cleats, pick-proof locks, standard prosthetic-limb fittings.Media Platforms Design TeamSpinal ImplantsMagnetic discs attract and repel simultaneously, offering friction-free cushioning for bones of the spine. Other apps: bearings for energy-storing flywheels, assembly-line arms.Media Platforms Design TeamIdiot-Proof AssemblyMagnets on the joints of furniture or toys click together only when correctly aligned, making Christmas Eve easier for dads everywhere....

Media Platforms Design TeamWe are living in the age of drones and sophisticated, remotely piloted vehicles. And as goes for the military, so goes for Nerf.Say hello to the Combat Creature RC Robot, coming this fall. This six-legged bot can march into combat on your behalf and fire up to a dozen darts a maximum distance of 45 feet. That range can’t quite match some of the other new Nerf offerings we saw this week at the New York Toy Fair, but hey—you’re willing to sacrifice range if it means staying out of the enemy’s line of sight, and the Combat Creature can rotate 360 degrees to fire....

The Notre Dame cathedral in Paris will be rebuilt as it previously stood, according to a new resolution passed by the French Senate. The vote comes after a fire destroyed the international landmark and amidst discussions of modernizing it.While not yet binding law, the resolution is the biggest sign yet that the dreams of architects around the world will be crushed in the name of tradition. The Senate’s resolution, which must be reworded to match the lower National Assembly’s, declares that the famed cathedral will appear “in the same way visually as before....

A report published by the libertarian think tank the Cato Institute warns that the fruits of technological innovation could mean a new range of unexpected threats to the United States. Terrorists and small states equipped with weapons that take advantage of new technologies could devastate U.S. forces abroad—and even strike the homeland.T.X. Hammes, a retired U.S. Marine Corps infantry officer and expert on so-called “asymmetrical warfare”—warfare in which combatants avoid enemy strengths to strike weaknesses—warns that technologies such as 3D printing, nanotechnology, space and near-space travel, drones, and artificial intelligence could lead to cheap, inexpensive weapons with intercontinental reach, devastating lethality, and the ability to overwhelm U....

Russia is prepping a new unmanned combat aircraft set to fly later this year. The twenty ton Okhotnik (“Hunter”) unmanned air combat vehicle is as heavy as a manned fighter jet and meant for dangerous, high risk strike and reconnaissance missions. According to the state-owned TASS news agency, the aircraft will fly for the first time sometime in 2018.Russia lags behind the United States in unmanned aircraft technology but the new Hunter drone could help change that....

As bacterium goes, E. coli is a public health scourge, but a lab favorite. It’s one of the most thoroughly studied microbes out there, and so one of the most easily manipulated for genetic engineering. Scientists can tweak its metabolic pathways to produce insulin, antibiotics and anticancer drugs; they can increase its ability to make ethanol or even engineer it to manufacture hydrocarbons. But until now, they couldn’t push it to create something that didn’t exist naturally: long-chain alcohols....

Media Platforms Design TeamSo you’ve bought a chainsaw and your wood cutting worries are over, right? Not so fast, Paul Bunyan. Yes, from now on you’ll save a bundle on your fuel costs as you cut your own firewood. But there’s a lot that goes along with owning and operating a chainsaw if you have any hope of using it safely and efficiently.The EssentialsA few specialized hand tools are all you need to keep your saw in working order....

The U.S. military is worryingly dependent on GPS. Our global positioning satellites tell planes where they are, provide targeting info for smart weapons, and support communication and navigation systems. But in a war with a tech-advanced adversary—think China, Russia, or Iran—GPS could become a big liability because it could be jammed, spoofed, or outright destroyed. So how does the U.S. Air Force train for such a scenario? Simple—just turn it off....

Two teams competing for the Google Lunar XPRIZE have decided to join forces, signing a rideshare partnership agreement to get their respective lunar rovers on the same rocket to the moon.Team Indus of India and team HAKYTO of Japan will share a ride to the moon on a tried and true PSLV rocket, developed and launched by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). “We’re proud to verify HAKUTO’s launch agreement and are pleased to see two Google Lunar XPRIZE teams collaborating on this mission to the moon,” Chanda Gonzales-Mowrer, a senior director at Google Lunar XPRIZE, said in a statement....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe Department of Energy’s latest report on the Weatherization Assistance Program—a $5 billion piece of the now year-old Recovery Act—is disheartening. A mere $368.2 million dollars of the $5 billion have been spent and about 5 percent of units allocated funding across the nation have been completed. Of the top 10 most funded states, only two have completed more than 2 percent of the planned units (as you can see in the chart below), and there has been more time spent taking wage surveys, in accordance with the Davis-Bacon Act, than there has been caulking, stripping and insulating homes....

Today, the FCC Commission officially repealed net neutrality protections despite protests, bipartisan opposition from Congress, and strong opposition from members of the FCC Commission’s own members. Related StoriesThe Twilight of the Internet’s Golden AgeWatch This Powerful Defense of Net NeutralityIn a powerful statement against repeal given during the hearing, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn put it this way: Many have asked, what happens next? How will all of this – Net Neutrality, my internet experience, look after today?...

Editor’s Note: First Man has been nominated for four Academy Awards: Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Production Design, and Visual Effects. The Oscars air February 24.It’s one of the most iconic moments in human history. On July 20, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped out of the lunar module and took one small step onto the moon’s surface. Back on Earth, 530 million people were able to watch live as this singular figure put his boot on a desolate surface that no other human had ever touched....

The universe is filled with gigantic, world-shattering explosions. Entire stars can explode in spectacular supernovas, black holes can output huge amounts of energy in the form of gamma ray bursts, and black holes and neutron stars can collide with enough force to shake the very fabric of spacetime millions of light-years away.Given the sheer number of different explosions, it shouldn’t be surprising that there are still some we’re just discovering. Recently, a group of astronomers did just that, identifying a new type of explosion in a distant galaxy....

The U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division is headed to Europe for Exercise Defender Europe 2020.The Georgia-based division is deploying hundreds of tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and artillery pieces to Germany.One of the tanks being shipped to Europe is nicknamed “Baby Yoda.”The U.S. Army is headed to Europe, and one of the most dangerous fighting vehicles being sent that way is named… “Baby Yoda”. The tank is part of an entire division’s worth of combat troops and equipment being shipped across the Atlantic to prove that the U....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe first warning that hackers had penetrated the American oil company came soon after the initial breach, in the summer of 2009. The computer help desk received complaints from employees who were locked out of their accounts or whose computers had already been logged onto. Then the complaints abruptly ceased: The digital spies had obtained an administrator password and were intercepting help-desk tickets, unlocking accounts, and notifying users that their problems had been fixed....

Popular Mechanics gaming correspondent Brittany Vincent is on the scene this week at the 2019 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles. Check back all week to see her dispatches from the trade show, including the coolest upcoming games and big announcements from major developers.It’s a wrap! E3 2019 is officially in the books, and the entire week has been a whirlwind of announcements, trailers, gameplay, and surprise revelations. The dust has barely settled on the final day, but it was the biggest one of the entire week....

Click to enlargeMedia Platforms Design TeamJust because it’s brawny doesn’t mean it can’t be well-appointed. The Super Duty now has one of the most elegantly finished interiors in all of pickupdom.We’ve towed trailers before, but until we tested the 2008 Ford Super Duty we hadn’t really towed. In an F-450, we hauled a 20,000-pound fifth wheel up a 6 percent grade outside Laughlin, Nev. The new 350-hp sequential twin-turbo 6....