Posts

(Image: The heavy-lift carrier rocket Long March 5 moves to the launch tower at Wenchang Space Launch Center on October 28, 2016 in Wenchang, Hainan Province of China.)China is working on a new generation of heavy-lift rocket designed to take its taikonauts to the moon and beyond. The Long March 9, as it is informally known, would dwarf SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy. The launch vehicle should be capable of sending 50 metric tons of people and cargo to the moon as China gears up for lunar missions in the early 2030s....

While birds are a more direct ancestor to ancient dinosaurs, crocodiles come with a similarly ancient lineage. With a species who’s life stretches hundreds of millions of years, there are bound to be a few mysteries—but it seems at least one is slowly being solved.Five years after after discovering an incredibly well-preserved crocodile fossil the late Jurassic period, paleontologists are learning that the croc’s early ancestor Cricosaurus bambergensis had a tail fin and paddle-like limbs—similar to a sea turtles or dolphins....

Media Platforms Design TeamLast night we kicked off the North American International Auto Show with the Volkswagen Group at its annual shindig in downtown Detroit. Other than some delicious fried shrimp and tasty fish tacos, there wasn’t much to get excited about. The big news is that a three-row 7-person SUV is already in development and heading to the U.S in 2016. Volkswagen didn’t release any more information about the upcoming vehicle, but it should be based on the CrossBlue concept the carmaker unveiled last year in Detroit....

Q: I have a 1997 Ford Explorer and most of the time it doesn’t like to start unless I put it into neutral first. At the same time, it doesn’t like to stay still in park; I’m forced to find a parking space on a flat surface or one that allows me to rest my tires against a curb. Would these problems be related to each other and/or be easily fixed?...

The Sun may engage in nuclear fusion like it’s no big deal, but attempting to make it happen here on Earth is perhaps one of the largest challenges that faces scientists today. On Earth, you can’t rely on the mass of a giant star to help you out, and you also have to worry about creating, maintaining, and sustaining streams of super hot plasma without letting them die out or destroy everything around them....

The skies were clear.The aircraft was practically new, having logged just 800 hours since it was delivered in August. The experienced captain and first officer had 11,000 flying hours between them. It was supposed to be a quick flight on a regular run for the airline.In the days since Lion Air Flight 160 crashed in the waters off Jakarta just minutes after takeoff, most questions remain unanswered—but there are leads. A former member of the National Transportation Safety Board told Popular Mechanics that while it’s too soon to determine a conclusive cause or causes of the crash, which likely claimed the lives of all 189 people on board, investigators have some clues....

While E. Coli is found in the stomachs of many living creatures, some enterprising Virginia Tech scientists decided that wasn’t enough. They used a colony of the bacteria to power an artificial system. Which is to say: bacteria-powered robotics may now be possible. Essentially, the robot is powered by gene circuits in the bacteria, altered to give off chemical signals in response to outside stimuli, which helps guide the robot toward a target....

Nowhere is Scrabble taken more seriously than in Africa, where many countries recognize the game as an official sport. We spoke to Kenya’s Jared Omolo, a professional player (and CDC epidemiologist) who earns his title with deep preparation and tested techniques. Word Power As you might expect, pro Scrabble players live and die by their voluminous vocabulary. “We call it ‘Word Power,’ and it’s definitely the most critical element in Scrabble strategy,” says Omolo....

The moon is a dry and barren place, utterly devoid of life. But has it always been this way? New research suggests that perhaps at one point in its history, the moon may have harbored microorganisms similar to those on Earth.Looking at the moon today, it’s easy to reach the conclusion that it is devoid of life. The moon has no atmosphere, no magnetic field, and what little water it does have is frozen in craters at the poles....

NASA just announced the next step in supersonic flight research: a new piloted X-plane to be built by Lockheed Martin called the Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator (LBFD). The aircraft, about the size of an F-16, will take advantage of a long and slender shape to decrease the noise of a sonic boom. First flight of the LBFD is slated for summer of 2021. Shortly thereafter, NASA plans to fly the plane up to Mach 1....

Rocket Lab, a start-up aerospace company with a focus on reducing the prices on getting to low-Earth orbit (LEO), has successfully launched its first commercial payload. If SpaceX and Blue Origin have goals of expanding the human race into a space-faring species, companies like Rocket Lab have much more utilitarian aims: lowering the price of LEO entry. The company’s Electron rocket boosters can carry a maximum payload of a little under 500 pounds and it uses its own 3D-printed liquid-propellent engines called Curies....

The Russian Federation is set to receive an unknown number of tank support vehicles dubbed “Terminators” in 2018. Designed to support tanks on the battlefield with a withering amount of firepower, Terminators carry a mix of missiles, light cannon, and machine guns that can engage everything from enemy tanks to ground troops.The BMPT armored vehicle is the result of Soviet and Russian experiences in Afghanistan and post-Cold War conflicts in Chechnya....

A SpaceX Dragon capsule is en route to the International Space Station after a successful launch today. However, the rocket landing—which SpaceX has made routine by this point—went off less swimmingly. Or maybe more swimmingly, depending on how you look at it.The rocket’s first stage booster—the large bottom half of the rocket that gets the craft into space—typically lands back on a platform either on land or at sea. But during Wednesday’s launch, a malfunction caused the booster to land a little off target....

‘Tis summer, and the roar of the lawnmower is heard throughout the land. For the people who feel that the only good lawn is a short one, that’s music to their ears. Chances are, it’s not so good for the grass. Here, then, are three brief lawn-care tips from Scotts, the well-known manufacturer of lawn chemicals, grass seeds and related products.Longer Is Better Many people cut their grass too short. Optimal length is around 3 in....

The U.S. Air Force is standing up a new squadron to simulate the latest stealth fighters from countries such as Russia and China, allowing pilots to test their mettle in simulated combat. The squadron will be equipped with eleven older F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, making it the first non-combat role for the aircraft.F-15C Eagle of the 65th Aggressor Squadron, 2012.Airman 1st Class Matthew J. BruchFrom 2005 to 2014, the 65th Aggressor Squadron served as stand-ins for adversaries in mock aerial dogfights at Nellis Air Force Base....

Media Platforms Design TeamQ:Where can I find one of those cool magnetic screwdrivers I saw my mechanic using? He was able to start a Phillips-head screw in the most impossible-to-reach location by simply sticking the screw head to the tip of the screwdriver blade and twisting away. A: I’ve owned a few “magnetic” screwdrivers in my career. Usually these have been gifts that one of my well-meaning friends or relatives has given me as a token of their esteem....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn August 1, 2007, an old, blandly ominous truism—America’s infrastructure is crumbling—turned deadly real. The I-35W bridge in Minneapolis buckled. Rush-hour traffic that was stalled on the bridge went into free fall; as dozens of vehicles plummeted into the Mississippi River. Thirteen people died, and 145 were hurt.The collapse galvanized national interest in the state of U.S. infrastructure and inspired a swift and remarkably innovative project to replace the fallen roadway....

The U.S. Navy and Boeing are working to update the service’s fleet of Super Hornet fighters to a new Block III standard while gradually updating existing planes to the new standard. The Super Hornet Block III will have improvements to the plane’s electronics, radar cross section, and range, allowing it to fight alongside the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter for the foreseeable future. The Super Hornet fighter was introduced in the 1990s as a bigger, more capable version of the original Hornet fighter, now called “legacy Hornet....

Getting anything down to true absolute zero—where there is no atomic movement whatsoever—is probably a physical impossibility. But in our quest to see how cold things can get, we’ve come across some pretty unusual states of matter. PBS SpaceTime gets down to the molecular level for a look.View full post on YoutubeHelium is a unique element, a bit of a loner on the periodic table in terms in how it can handle the cold....

Media Platforms Design TeamLAS VEGAS — The all-new 2009 Toyota Corolla was unveiled today at SEMA, and its redesign makes it an even stronger contender in the subcompact market. A new 1.8 liter engine with Dual VVT-I (Variable Valve Timing with intelligence) produces 132 hp, and achieves preliminary EPA numbers of 27/35 city/highway. A 158-hp 2.4 liter powerplant is available in the XRS model, and transmission choices include a 5-speed manual and a 4-speed Electronically Controlled Transmission (ECT....