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Scars have been a persistent problem for people healing from injuries and surgery for all of human existence. But that might be about to change. New research from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California, Irvine found a way to heal wounds with regular skin instead of scar tissue. Scar tissue is made of different cells than regular skin. Myofibroblasts are the most common type of cells present, and are thought to help cause scar formation....

Over the past few years, we’ve gotten acquainted with SpaceX’s fleet of drone ships built to be maritime landing pads for Elon Musk’s reusable rockets. Today the company debuted another kind of boat—the Go Searcher, which will retrieve astronauts who return to Earth on board a SpaceX capsule. Here’s how a landing with a SpaceX Crew Dragon, which is scheduled to have its first flight in 2019, is supposed to look: The capsule makes a splash landing in the Atlantic Ocean off Florida’s eastern seaboard....

Mobile providers have been intentionally slowing down the data coming to your phone depending on what it is, and a study from Northwestern shows exactly how the practice works, and what data is being affected. The process, as the paper explains, can be described as ‘differentiation,’ when service providers treat different kinds of traffic with inconsistent rules by throttling—artificially slowing—some forms of data but not others. You’ve been on the receiving end of throttling if you’ve ever blown through the data cap on your monthly plan and saw your speeds slow to a crawl across the board....

In April 1861, Richard Jordan Gatling watched hundreds of Union soldiers march through Indianapolis, ready to ride the rails to the front. In the opposite direction came a never-ending stream of badly wounded men, to say nothing of those who lost their lives. Gatling set about inventing a “labor-saving device for warfare” he hoped would minimize the number of men needed to fight a war, and thus minimize the number of men exposed to its horrors....

Around 20 people in the United States die every day waiting for a replacement organ. There simply aren’t enough people donating organs to save all of these people, but this isn’t even the biggest problem. Donated organs only last so long before the recipient’s body starts rejecting them, and medication can only delay that process. Eventually, all donated organs have an expiration date.The solution to this problem is to replace a patient’s organs with new organs made from the patient’s own cells....

Before there were Lego, a model hobbyist’s toughest challenge was creating a ship in a bottle. Now, you can mix together the old and the new. Jake Sadovich’s Ship in a Bottle: Flagship Leviathan is finally coming to stores in February for $70.Sadovich is a life long Lego enthusiast, he told local Idaho news when his approval was announced last August. After building his own actual ship, Sadovich spent a year working out the details of making one exclusively with Lego....

Batteries are by our sides all the time, providing extra power to phones and running our cars. But it’s worth wondering what would happen if we tried to make the switch over to them entirely. Minute Physics takes a look at the hypothetical of converting all electricity into batteries.View full post on YoutubeThe problem comes with the most popular type of battery today: lithium-ion. If you wanted enough batteries to power the entire planet, you’d need much more effective technology....

Media Platforms Design TeamAll kinds of things slow down your Wi-Fi. Neighbors streaming Netflix, a flaky router, junior torrenting the Lord of the Rings Trilogy (the extended cuts, no less). But this holiday season, add another item to the checklist: Christmas lights. Ofcom—the government-approved regulatory authority for broadcasting and telecommunications in the United Kingdom—just released an app that can check the strength of a Wi-Fi network, along with some advice about beefing it up....

Hasbro A.M.P. Robot | $500Media Platforms Design TeamAs if the Rolly wasn’t enough dancing robot for you. Plug your MP3 player into this Automated Music Personality (A.M.P.) and he starts dancing with all the skill that his Segway-like wheel will lend him. Using a control, you can roll him across the room and turn his plate-like hands into makeshift turntables. Sure, it’s cool, but when it comes out in October, A....

There might be a large planet lurking somewhere at the very edge of our solar system, and astronomers are hunting for it. While they have yet to find direct evidence of the planet, a recent discovery provides yet more indirect evidence that the planet does, in fact, exist. Astronomers found a small solar system body with a strange orbit that they say can only be explained by another, bigger planet hiding out there somewhere....

Media Platforms Design TeamTennis players know all about the feel of hitting the sweet spot in the strings. Now they can back up that feeling with facts. The first tennis racquet with an on/off switch is also the first racquet to track stroke data, including where the ball hits the string bed.The Babolat Play Pure Drive Set will launch on Dec. 12. Babolat, a French racquet manufacturer founded in 1875, revealed the racket to PopMech early, showing off the culmination of a 10-year project....

Can you tell someone’s nationality from the way they laugh?You’re probably able to ascertain someone’s nationality better by what they laugh at than by the way they laugh. Norwegians laugh at Swedes. Swedes laugh at Norwegians. The French laugh at Jerry Lewis. And if you’re American, you’d better learn to laugh at everything because it’s the only way you’re going to get out of bed these days.You’re not the first to wonder if our laughs give us away....

Approximately 4,000 people live in Antarctica, and they’re all there for a reason. They’ve got scientific studies to perform, and turnover is high. The environment at these bases is closer to a military base or oil rig than it is an actual town. Things are constantly in flux. But that doesn’t mean people can’t take a moment to appreciate where they are. View full post on YoutubeThis video doesn’t come with much context....

Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamLEXUS OR LEARJET? Hot on the heels of Mercedes-Benz’s launch of the all-new S-Class, Lexus has completely remade its flagship LS sedan line. And the all-new, fourth-generation LS–with the standard-wheelbase LS 460 and long-wheelbase LS 460L–truly makes it a car “line.” There will even be a hybrid model launched at the New York International Auto Show that will rival the V12 models from the German manufacturers....

Q: Where’s the safest place to live, in terms of avoiding natural disasters? A: How long can you hold your breath? It seems to us you’d be best off suspended at some depth underwater, safely beneath hurricanes and tsunamis, insulated from earthquakes, immune to mudslides, and at reduced risk from forest fires. Assuming, however, that you’re talking about places that are composed of actual earth, experts have a few more realistic suggestions....

Japan has cleared the way to purchase the vertical-takeoff and -landing version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter while looking into basing them on so-called helicopter carriers. The result would be Japan’s first fixed-wing aircraft carriers since World War II. The report in Nippon News Network says that Japan has finalized plans to purchase 40 F-35B Joint Strike Fighters. Unlike its siblings, the F-35B is capable of taking off and landing vertically by rotating its exhaust nozzle ninety degrees down....

The U.S. Air Force may not buy a stealthy tanker after all, dashing hopes of a radar-invisible refueling plane that could fly close to the aerial front line. Meanwhile, the service also announced its new OA-X light attack aircraft program is on indefinite hold. It would seem that the Air Force is cutting back programs to reflect the changing global landscape and the fact that USAF has a number of other, higher priorities in the form of new aircraft and missiles....

Today in Shanghai, Microsoft announced its new Surface Pro. It’s the fifth model of the tablet PC with laptop brains, but pointedly not the Surface Pro 5. That may seem like a slight (and slightly annoying) naming detail, but it indicates something noteworthy: Microsoft is just about done tweaking the form and format of the Surface Pro line. The Surface Pro is all grown up.From the outside, the new Surface Pro looks almost identical to its Pro 4 forebear....

Welcome to PM/AM, Popular Mechanics’ morning briefing on the top science and tech stories for today.Media Platforms Design TeamPhoto: Andrew Burton/Getty ImagesSocial media has allowed us to stay connected with long-lost friends or distant relatives. It’s fundamentally changed the way we form relationships and communicate with one another. It can also be pretty annoying. Yesterday, Twitter announced a way that might help alleviate the latter: It is adding a mute button....

The Federal Aviation Administration is getting the word out: Airplanes and lithium batteries don’t mix.This might seem alarmist given how ubiquitous these batteries have become. Lithium-ion powers our phones, our computers, and even our cars. But on a moving aircraft they could be deadly, the agency said this month. The risk is that, if left unattended, the batteries could overheat and burst into flames, and that in the confines of a cargo hold a battery fire could spread so quickly that it could overpower existing fire-suppression systems....