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After years of waiting—and worrying—Star Wars fans on Friday will finally experience the first new live-action installment of the beloved sci-fi franchise in a decade. Tonight, critics see Star Wars: The Force Awakens, so you can expect a flurry of reactions this week in the lead-up to the big release.With that in mind, it seems an appropriate time to set one’s expectations for what filmmaker J.J. Abrams and his cast (which includes Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, and Domhnall Gleeson, alongside returnees Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher) will bring to a cinematic phenomenon that has dominated our culture for the last 40 years....

What you see above is not a scene from the next Star Trek or a set from The Phantom Menace. It’s the inside of a Bell 525 “Relentless” helicopter, aka the most swingin’ pad to hover under blades. The 525 is a medium-lift helicopter unveiled in 2012 and due for its first flight sometime later this year. The reason its innards can be home to something as roomy and luxurious as what you see above is because instead of traditional manual controls, the 525 uses electronic “fly-by-wire” controls which not only add features like automatic stabilization that can make for a smoother flight, but also free up a whole bunch of cabin room for redecoration....

DETROIT – The show here is abuzz with the imminence of mainland China producing cars to be sold in the United States market. Here’s what we can say with certainty: They’re coming alright … eventually.When they get here, like Korean and Japanese cars before them, new Chinese rides will represent seriously low-end, inexpensive products (and we’ve been hearing a lot about those lately). They’ll need to build a distribution and parts network, a body of dealers, recognition from the American car-buying public, plus a market share–however small....

Media Platforms Design TeamHow long have you been trying to break the world record?I started at 10 or 11 and I just kept on folding. Now Im an overnight sensationafter 40 years of folding. This particular quest started four years ago. Id been bragging about planes to my friends for so long, but Im a middle-aged man with a 51-year-old arm, so I cant throw that far. I had worked with a couple other quarterbacks before I found Joe [Ayoob]....

A monster plane deserves a monster engine.With a composite fan more than 11 feet in diameter tucked inside a 14-and-a-half foot nacelle, General Electric’s GE9X is the biggest jet engine in the world. It will be used to power the new Boeing 777X long-range wide-body airliners currently under development. GE has been testing the GE9X around the clock and around the world as the the engine enters the final phases of FAA certification....

One of the most embarrassing security goofs in recent memory started with soldiers going for a run.A GPS company called Strava Labs recently released what it calls the Global Heat Map, meant to be a neat visualization of where people exercise. Strava makes the GPS tech inside fitness trackers such as Fitbits and some smartphones, the stuff that makes it possible for you to track and map your runs and your bike rides....

Migrating birds have adapted to climate change by shrinking, with smaller bodies and shorter legs offset by longer wings.The Field Museum collected over 70,000 birds killed mostly in building collisions, painstakingly measured every one, and built an almost unprecedented data set.While scientists work to mitigate bird deaths from manmade structures, this is a rare silver lining.Birds are getting smaller, and scientists attribute it to climate change. University of Michigan researchers analyzed a data set measured from migrating birds over the last 40 years—over 70,000 birds in total—which shows that their bodies are getting smaller while their wings are getting bigger....

Scientists have designed a new wind turbine that they say can better recover from turbulent conditions. By adding rotors to turbines, it will help them rebound from what are known as wakes.The new design also has the potential to allow wind turbines to produce more energy.Wind turbines are generally cost-effective, which is why they’re one of the fastest-growing sources of energy in the world. For years, they’ve more or less been built the same way: with one rotor....

Media Platforms Design Team1. It can be hard to measure a door opening or other inside dimension accurately. Instead of using your tape measure, find a couple of sticks that are shorter than the space and clamp or tape them together so that their ends touch the sides of the opening. Then go find your tape and measure the length of the joined sticks. 2. Accurately measuring the length of a curved surface can be tricky as well....

Media Platforms Design TeamNo one likes to replace their favorite pieces of backpacking equipment. But if you’re lugging some really old gear, your body will probably thank you. “A $300 tent that’s a few ounces lighter won’t matter, but if you’re hauling around a steel-and-canvas number from the 1950s that’s three times heavier than a new one, it’s probably worth the money,” says Mitch Lillie, veteran backpacker and former Eagle Scout....

The bad news is, new technology is altering Homo sapiens’ evolution such that, in one generation, few of us will know how to change a tire, a basic skill man has been performing for millions of years. Still, the technology shows progress in our species. The spare tire is disappearing, and standard equipment nowadays is more likely to be a canister of tire sealant—or a cellphone to call for roadside repair....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe European Commission met last month to discuss linking all the European Union countries together in a continental supergrid. No, they’re not planning to the spend millions (perhaps even billions) of Euros it would cost to install powerlines across land borders. Europeans are looking offshore–to connect their growing supply of offshore wind power with a grid spanning the Baltic Sea, North Sea and Mediterranean Sea. Europe is well on the way to its goal of drawing 20 percent of its total energy from renewable sources by 2020....

Perhaps one of the greatest challenges facing solar technology is wasted heat. One crucial measure of solar panels is how efficient they are in converting the sun’s rays into electricity. So it’s potentially huge news that a team from Rice University has produced a method they say could radically improve solar panels work. It’s not that the scientists have created significantly more efficient solar panels. Instead, they’re working to capture the thermal photons—the heat—those panels are releasing....

Chang’e 4’s historic mission across the dark side of the moon continues. The Chinese spacecraft, which made history with the first soft landing on the moon’s lesser-known far side, has begun exploring the rocky terrain in earnest. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) has begun releasing pictures of the Chang’e 4’s rover on its journey.Chang’e 4 is exploring the South Pole-Aitken basin (SPA), one of the largest impact craters in the solar system....

We’ve just spent the day previewing the auction of Otis Chandler’s car and motorcycle collection in Oxnard, California. Chandler, who passed away in February, is best known for his brilliant and rapid transformation of The Los Angeles Times in the 1960s. His family had owned the paper since the 1800s, but it was Chandler who turned it into a world-class news organization. Under his watch as publisher, The Times was one of the first papers to adopt a computerized editorial process....

In 2017, sustainable energy has become “the new normal” in America, and coal power continues slipping away. Coal production slightly increased in 2017, as did coal prices. But that’s not because more Americans are using coal energy. Instead, American coal has become more valuable for its metallurgical properties in China. Coal energy production is facing something of a crisis in 2018, with almost 15 gigawatts of generation capacity expected to be retired this year....

We’ve all heard Fourth of July fireworks horror stories: burns, blown-off appendages, fires, and disasters. But despite the serious risks, fireworks use has, well, exploded over the last few decades. (Credit the steady relaxation of state laws nationwide.) Right now, every state in the country except Massachusetts allows the sale and use of consumer fireworks.But even though you won’t be able to walk into a Walmart or Target this week without seeing massive, colorful displays of prepackaged guerrilla warfare kits, there’s a ray of light breaking through the smoky aftermath of that Everlasting Extravaganza detonation: Injuries appear to be on the decline....

It’s not unusual for a riveted handle to loosen, whether it’s on a kitchen knife, a garden trowel or a long-handled shovel. Tightening the loose handle is easy. With the tool on a firm surface, strike the center of the handle rivet with a centerpunch driven by a ball-peen hammer. Don’t hit it very hard, just enough to leave a small dimple. This expands the rivet slightly, taking up the slack between it and the handle....

The Pentagon’s newest anti-ship missile uses technology from the B-2 stealth bomber to home in on and sink enemy ships. The Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), the U.S. Military’s first new anti-ship missile in more than thirty years, homes in on the very radar signals an enemy ship broadcasts to defend itself. The result is a missile that can work in so-called “denied” environments when navigational assets such as the Global Positioning System are unavailable....

I’m a different sort of survivalist. When the electricity fails, the floodwaters begin to rise and the orders for evacuation come, everyone will surely be concerned with stockpiles of food, blankets and water, but I’m going to be equally worried about Blu-rays, computers, Wii games and cold drinks. After all, I’ve got a modern family to provide for. How are we going to maintain our high-tech lifestyle? I recently decided to design and test a plan to keep our gadgetry humming once society collapses....