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Media Platforms Design TeamLAS VEGAS—With the rapid proliferation of massive 60-inch (or more) televisions, it’s becoming harder and harder to make a product that stands out. At CES 2014, Sharp announced a line of new televisions and one in particular it thinks will be a “game changer” in the Full HD/4K space.In the press conference, with presentations from Sharp CEO Toshi Osawa and President John Herrington, Sharp focused primarily on new additions to the Aquos line of high-definition and 4K televisions as well as SmartCentral, a reimagined Sharp smart television interface....

Robots can do a lot of things, and increasingly acrobatics is one of them. Some robots are into flying off bars, and others backflip from a standing position. Not to be outdone, Disney built a robot it calls ‘Stickman,’ which is capable of performing backflips in the air after swinging on a trapeze. Stickman is roughly human-sized, about seven feet tall, and is designed to mimic the height of a human gymnast with arms outstretched....

Next week, travelers from all over the world will flood into China to see the world’s best athletes compete at the Beijing Olympics. Among those in attendance will be the press corps, powerful corporate executives and heads of state, including President Bush. Many of these people can’t afford to be disconnected from their jobs while at the games, but they may want to consider leaving their computers, smartphones and other gadgets at home–along with any expectations of privacy during their stay....

The human body isn’t built to fly, but we do it anyway, and that’s how scientists started to discover the human g-tolerance, or how much acceleration a person can take that causes the perception of weight. YouTuber Tom Scott took a spin in a Royal Air Force training centrifuge in southern England to test his own g-tolerance and to get a look at the phenomena of g-force first hand.View full post on YoutubeThere are numerous ways to measure speed....

Media Platforms Design TeamSummer is more than a season. It’s as much a state of mind—a time of work but also of rest, healing and recovery. For such a powerful season of growth, it can be surprisingly subtle. Listen carefully and you’re liable to hear it whisper its arrival or departure. If you’re not paying attention, it’s easy to miss.The other day I was standing at the front of a garage and shop testing drills with Joe Truini, one of PM’s contributing editors....

When a ship’s mission is to pound through ice as thick as a couple tree trunks – in negative 60-degree weather, no less – it has to be tough. From the power of their engines to the design of their hulls, these six icebreakers are some of the hardiest, most stand-out vessels in the world.MACKINAWMedia Platforms Design Team+ Click to enlargeHome Base: Cheboygan, Mich.Commissioned: Replaced old Mackinaw in 2006Capacity: 56Length: 240 ft....

NASA will present new findings about Mars from the Curiosity rover this Thursday, June 7, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. The public and the media will have a chance to submit questions to NASA during the presentation by using the hashtag #askNASA on social media. You can watch the NASA announcement live on NASA TV here, and the event will also be streamed live on Facebook, Twitch, Upstream, YouTube, and Twitter/Periscope.Two scientists from NASA Goddard, Paul Mahaffy and Jen Eigenbrode, as well as two researchers from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Chris Webster and Ashwin Vasavada, will be discussing the latest findings from NASA’s Mars rover....

In a new paper published in the journal Science Robotics, researchers from Boston University have outlined the process by which they taught a robot how to grill a hot dog. The team used reinforcement learning, which borrows concepts from the psychology term by the same name. In either case—robot or human—the reinforcement, or reward, is used to encourage a behavior.It’s not the first time that a robot has learned how to man the grill (or the oven): In the past, we’ve already seen robots trained to flip burgers and make pizzas....

If you’ve ever struggled to carry a cast iron skillet heavy with burgers from the grill or stove over to a tabletop with just one long handle, then you’re probably in the market for a pan with dual handles. The good news is that one of our favorite cast iron brands, Smithey Ironware, has just released a new skillet with this design. The No. 14 features 1.5-inch handles on either side of its (you guessed it) 14-inch diameter....

The era of true nuclear fusion may be fast approaching thanks to some cutting-edge work from MIT. While fusion has been demonstrated before, it’s always used more energy than it’s created. But finding a new way to apply a strong magnetic field to a prototype device, the MIT team has learned how to better contain super-hot plasma, and that’s a step towards practical application. A fusion reactor works like a mini-star, fusing hydrogen atoms into helium just as the sun does....

Jim Keller, who has been running Tesla’s Autopilot hardware program since 2016, is leaving the company for Intel. The news, a major loss for Tesla, was first reported by Electrek.Keller has had crucial roles in overseeing some of the major tech projects of the last decade. Before Tesla, he played a major role in Apple’s development of A4 and A5 processors, the processors that powered many Apple mobile devices from 2010 to 2012....

Tiny particles of iron are snowing down from Earth’s molten outer core to the surface of its solid inner core.Scientists used seismic waves, which measure anomalies found in the density of materials in Earth’s interior, to approximate where these iron-based snow banks might be. The research could help scientists better understand how Earth and planets like it formed.The weather outside Earth’s solid iron core is frightful. In a new paper published in the journal JGR Solid Earth, researchers claim that tiny particles of iron drift down from Earth’s molten outer core and form up tp 200-mile-thick piles of iron “snow” around the inner core....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe mansion sits in a clearing amid old-growth trees, a gorgeous home at the end of a long driveway off a shaded street off a winding road. Farmhouses dating to the Revolutionary War sit at the edge of hilly meadows. The roboticist strolls across the lawn wearing a simple blue dress, the lush grass cool under her bare feet. Her black hair hangs below her shoulders, and she waves as she walks through the metal gate that separates the sprawling front lawn from the swimming pool behind the house....

A series of newly surfaced photos recently caused a flurry on social media as they appeared to show an actual North Korean midget submarine in the hands of the U.S. Navy. In fact, the submarine was a target built for torpedo practice, but it was towed off the coast of California where it was sunk. National ArchivesThe photographs are dated to 2004 but only recently surfaced on social media, depicting a submarine that looks exactly like a Korean People’s Navy Sang-O (“Shark”) class midget submarine towed by a tugboat with a pair of divers on deck....

NASA is testing new materials that take advantage of the organization’s smarts in high-temperature materials to help firefighters survive intense blazes in emergency situations, such as the deadly Yarnell fire of 2013. The shelters must be able to survive both the flames themselves and the hot atmosphere around a blaze.A variety of shelters were tested of varying thickness and materials, including some used for re-entry vehicles. While the agency didn’t elaborate further on its testing this summer, it indicated that the experiments found some potential avenues for further research....

Sean Casey’s job is to find huge storms, and drive straight into them with a camera to capture the mayhem. He shoots for IMAX and has an array of cameras and lenses, but his most impressive equipment is his tornado intercept vehicle (TIV). It’s an 8-ton truck with spikes to keep it grounded, and flaps to stop wind from getting underneath the body. He’s been running towards tornadoes for over a decade....

Lithium-ion batteries going boom have been in the news a lot recently because of Samsung’s exploding Galaxy Note 7. But Samsung isn’t the only one with an exploding battery problem. NASA’s having its own difficulties.Back in June, a group of researchers from NASA JPL working on the RoboSimian robot were replacing the battery when they left it charging to go eat lunch. While they were gone, the robot sort of exploded....

Lizards have a rough time during hurricanes. Typically, it’s all these tiny reptiles can do to hang on to a leaf or a tree and hope they don’t get blown away. During the hurricane season last year, lizards in many Caribbean countries were not happy, but according to new research, those that survived helped make their species a little bit more resilient to hurricanes in the future.Ecologist Colin Donihue made a trip to the Caribbean islands of Turks and Caicos to study their lizard populations last summer....

A Singapore-based advertising firm is using drones that can track wireless signals to gather marketing data that will be used to refine ad delivery, which is definitely not totally creepy. Essentially, the drones can sniff out cellular or wireless internet signals coming from a device and identify it by device ID. Using this (allegedly anonimized) data, it can track the movements and behaviors of individual users. This system or one like it may one day be used to push specific ads to users....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe sequel to the open-world arm of Microsoft’s acclaimed Forza racing series will race through Southern Europe this fall. IGN reports the new game will be developed for the Xbox 360 by Sumo Games and for the Xbox One by Playground Games—in both cases, in close collaboration with Forza series developer Turn 10.In addition to changing setting from Colorado to Southern Europe, Horizon 2 is set to add new cars, a weather system, and other gameplay improvements....