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Media Platforms Design TeamRange anxiety has long been the hot topic for electric-powered vehicles. With the exception of high-end oddities like the since-discontinued Tesla Roadster, EVs tend to be defined by their practical limitations, not their pulse-quickening possibilities.Nissan’s Leaf, the first mass market EV, went a long way towards legitimizing the genre, but its EPA range of 73 miles is slowly being surpassed by a slew of new offerings with expanding real world efficiency numbers....

Researchers at Penn State University have found a way to charge the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles in about 10 minutes.The ticket to a quick charge, they say, involves heating the battery to about 140 degrees Fahrenheit and then rapidly cooling it down.The technique would provide a 200-mile charge without degrading the battery.Imagine an electric vehicle that can be fully charged in just a matter of minutes. Sounds crazy, right?...

At 9,993 feet, high on Cerro Armazones in the Atacama Desert of Chile, the foundation for the Extremely Large Telescope is being laid. The ELT, a project from the European Southern Observatory, promises to be the largest optical reflecting telescope in the world (meaning it’s not a radio dish, but uses a mirror to collect light).The primary mirror of this behemoth will span 39.3 meters, or 130 feet from end to end....

Long before your flight is officially delayed, the ingredients are there to make it happen. Weather, a late landing, other unusual deviations from the norm. Instead of waiting for the airline to realize its running behind, a new feature of Google Flights uses machine learning and public data to try and predict upcoming delays and warn you about them before they’re even announced. Machine learning can’t actually predict the future, of course, but with enough data it can make a reasonable guess and put some percentages on the possible outcomes....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe SpecsNot surprisingly, the Honda Accord Crosstour is based on, wait for it, the Honda Accord’s chassis. The wheelbase is within a tenth of an inch of the sedan, but the Crosstour is 2.5-inches longer. The modifications to the Accord platform are minimal, with unique springs and dampers and a constant ratio hydraulic steering rack replacing the variable unit. The Crosstour also has a more powerful brake system with two-piston calipers upfront and larger rear discs....

The era of the A380 might be coming to an end. The double-deck, widebody, four-engine commercial plane has been a standard for luxury since it first started flying in 2005 but flying it makes less and less financial sense. At a recent trade show in Dubai, even the plane’s main backers have shown caution in committing to the plane.“The A380, I’ll be honest with you, has not been a wildly successful aircraft given that [Emirates] is the main operator of the plane,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian tells Business Insider in an interview....

Russia is a big country, with eleven consecutive time zones and plenty of room to hide things like nuclear missiles. Unlike the United States, the Russian Strategic Missile Forces utilize mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles that traverse the backroads of the Russian Federation, prepared to launch their nuclear-tipped missiles against targets worldwide.The video, shared by the Russian Ministry of Defense’s YouTube channel, shows a missile convoy consisting of an 8x8 mobile transporter-erector-launcher, command vehicles, communications vehicles, armored personnel carriers, drone carriers, and even an armored snow plow—everything needed to protect and launch a nuclear missile on the go....

How much more black could this chicken be? The answer is none. None more black. The rare Ayam Cemani chicken has a dominant gene that causes hyperpigmentation in the beast, which make it one of the blackest animals alive.Great Big Story has the details.View full post on YoutubeAyam Cemani chickens are black on the inside and out, with total pigmentation covering its organs as well as its feathers. The only part of the chicken that isn’t black is its blood, which is a normal red....

Welcome to PM/AM, Popular Mechanics’ morning briefing on the top science and tech stories for today.Media Platforms Design TeamAFP/Getty ImagesThe monetization of the music industry has changed irrevocably over the last couple of years. Physical media continues its death spiral, and even digital downloads begin their own dip into oblivion. Now, it’s all about streaming, and YouTube knows it. The giant video hosting website, with more than 1 billion unique monthly views, will be launching a new service preliminarily called YouTube Music Pass to compete against music streaming services like Spotify, Deezer, Rdio, and even Google Play Music All Access....

Drinking and driving don’t mix. Getting behind the wheel after you’ve had one too many puts everyone in harm’s way.But it’s notoriously difficult to know if you’re actually impaired, and counting your drinks doesn’t always go as planned. Enter the BACtrack Personal Breathalyzer, which makes it easier than ever to stay safe when you’re out on the town. And right now this police-grade breathalyzer is available for over 10 percent off at just $60....

Die hard Formula 1 race fans will generally know what to expect plotwise when they indulge in Ron Howard’s soon-to-be released “Rush”. But viewers unsteeped in the intricacies and epochal evolutions of the sport will be in for an analog treat for the senses that distract with a seemingly endless stream of period-correct details.Media Platforms Design TeamSure, the film’s all about the epic personality clash (and eventual, paradoxical bromance) between the two protagonists, James Hunt (fire) and Niki Lauda (ice)....

During its 26 year history, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute has sent a handful of satellites to Earth orbit and astronaut Yi So-yeon to the International Space Station on a Soyuz rocket. But the South Korean agency is swiftly preparing to get out of low Earth orbit and shoot for the moon, with a call for instrument proposals to take place in 2016 and an intended launch date of 2018. This would make it the fourth Asian country (fifth, depending on how you count Russia) to make it to the moon, should the probe be successful....

After years of hints, Elon Musk finally unveiled the real Tesla Model X last night at his 5.3 million-square-foot factory in Fremont, California.The Model X is the first electric SUV/crossover. And as with Tesla Motors’ other two vehicles, the original Roadster sports car and Model S sedan, we were delighted to discover that it’s as sleek as it is powerfully engineered. On a single charge, the Model X can take you more than 250 miles, hitting 155 mph if you’re reckless and, in “Ludicrous Mode,” accelerating from 0 to 60 with the same haste as a Porsche 911 Turbo (3....

The U.S. Army is equipping ground troops with a new handheld drone it claims will eliminate dead space on the battlefield, allowing soldiers to see beyond their line of sight. The Black Hornet drone, set to deploy with infantry platoons and other units, will also allow troops to thoroughly reconnoiter an objective, gathering information about enemy forces, while staying hidden and preserving the element of surprise. Originally developed by Prox Dynamics of Norway, the Black Hornet drone is designed to be a very small, practically birdlike handheld drone that can do quick local surveillance missions over the battlefield....

Media Platforms Design TeamLong before they were a seemingly invincible monolith responsible for commercial juggernauts like the Corolla and Camry, the Toyota Motor Corporation was a scrappy manufacturer with a bit of an inferiority complex. During the early days, the Japanese manufacturer had so much to learn that founder Kiichiro Toyoda dispatched his cousin Eiji to Ford Motor Company’s Rouge Plant in 1950 to learn the ways of efficient mass production, setting in motion a decades-long sequence of events that would forever change the automotive industry....

The top U.S. military officer in Europe has warned the United States not to sell the F-35 to Turkey—if that country follows through on its attempt to buy an advanced Russian surface-to-air missile system. Even though Turkey is a NATO ally, the worry is that sensitive information about America’s most advanced fighter could find its way to the Kremlin. General Curtis Scaparotti, the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and the head of U....

Media Platforms Design TeamSix weeks ago in Aspen, Colo., with her Winter X Games gold medal already sewn up, snowboarder Kelly Clark dropped into the halfpipe for her final run and made history. On her third jump —three full rotations—ever executed by a woman in competition. she uncorked the first 1080Clark’s record-breaking acrobatics illustrated the evolution of a sport that becomes more athletic and daring every year. And though today’s snowboarders train more rigorously and exercise more creativity than ever before, their gravity-defying feats are made possible by the technology behind halfpipes, the U-shaped structure that started in skateboarding and now lifts snowboarders to new heights....

Volkswagen has announced a program to retrofit vintage Beetles into electric cars. The automaker is using technology from another electric model, the e-up!, to do so.It’s an idea that has existed on the fringes of car culture for decades, but major brands have begun exploring retrofitting options with greater seriousness.Volkswagen is in the midst of reimagining its classic Beetle, and among other things that means giving current owners a chance to get in on the electric revolution....

If you imagine a traditional Japanese print, there’s a good chance it’s the iconic picture The Great Wave off Kanagawa. Now a more sci-fi subject matter is getting the same treatment: Star Wars. Below is the video for a Japanese crowd-funding campaign on Makuake, sort of the country’s version of Kickstarter, to make these woodblock prints of famous characters and scenes from a galaxy far, far away.The style is called ukiyo-e, and it was popular for centuries in Japan....

From the cockpit of a Cessna 340 A 10,000 ft. over North Dakota, I watch a bucolic conveyor belt of farming towns scroll below. Then, the whole world goes grayish-white.“We’re just popping through the edge of this cloud bank,” says Hans Ahlness, a pilot and vice president of the Fargo-based company Weather Modification, which specializes in teasing rain from the sky. Ahlness points to a mushroom formation a few hundred feet away....