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The Solar Impulse 2 mission to fly around the world is off to a roaring start. On Monday the plane departed Abu Dhabi on the first leg of a long journey, and yesterday it was already setting world records: Bertrand Piccard flew the 910-mile trip from Oman to Ahmadabad, India, the longest continuous solar-powered flight.Piccard, co-polit Andre Borschberg, and their team have been setting records since they started flying the original Solar Impulse around Europe and eventually on a tour of America....

Media Platforms Design TeamChemical weapons are reviled around the world. Even Adolph Hitler would not use them on the battlefield in World War II. So why would anyone resort to using them in Syria, especially in urban areas, knowing the world’s attention was fixed on the fighting there?We don’t have a lot of hard data on what’s happening in Syria right now, but the chances are very high that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons on rebel forces, especially in the southern areas of the nation—U....

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will pick up where the Kepler telescope left off, finding thousands of planets that orbit other stars.The mission will map 85 percent of the sky over the next two years.The planets that TESS discovers will be prime candidates for future telescopes to study in the search for extraterrestrial life.There are three basic ways to search for extraterrestrial life: flying spacecraft to planets and watery moons in the solar system to search for microbes, listening to the galaxy with large radio telescopes for signals from any technological civilizations, and probing planets that orbit other stars for signs of habitability....

It’s easy to want it all from your word processor. To want encouragement and spell-checking, Comic Sans and Times New Roman and Adobe Garamond Pro. To want the blank page to feel like a window into endless opportunity instead of overwhelming emptiness. To have page layout options to mess with.And that’s just it: It’s all too easy to be drawn to distraction and the ability to procrastinate by changing type size and margins while blocking out the Twitter window underneath....

Astronaut and artist Alan Bean died over the weekend at age 86. He was the fourth human to walk on the moon as part of the crew of Apollo 12, and spent 31 hours on the lunar surface. Before he got there, the astronaut had to survive his first, hectic launch into space and help the crew find the right way to the moon in a forgotten episode he later remarked “was one of my finer hours....

The original Nine-O-Nine was a decorated veteran of the air war over Europe.The second plane served as a water bomber and nuclear test target.The restored “Nine-O-Nine” crashed in 1987 and was subject to an extensive rebuilding.Nine-O-Nine, the B-17 bomber involved in yesterday’s tragic crash in Connecticut, was built too late to serve in World War II, but was later rebuilt to resemble the original Nine O Nine, a veteran of the bomber campaign over Europe....

Bell Aerospace has long built helicopters for the U.S. military. But in 1967, it pitched the Armed Forces on something it promised would revolutionize warfare: jetpacks. Bell envisioned a whole family of systems that used jet turbines to propel American fighting men into the air—where they could be easily shot down by guerrillas with rifles.Matt Novak at Paleofuture uncovered a briefing report written by Bell Helicopter, Light Mobility Systems Missions. Its purpose was to get Bell’s family of jetpacks, known as Light Mobility Systems, into the Pentagon’s thinking about the future of warfare....

The U.S. Navy has confirmed three UFO videos released by a UFO organization are authentic Navy videos of “unexplained aerial phenomena.“The UFOs were detected by a variety of means, including the human eye, infrared, and radar.There are at least two, maybe three types of craft, including one that was spotted underwater. The U.S. Navy has officially confirmed that three leaked videos indeed show what the service calls “unexplained aerial phenomena” (UAP)....

The highlight of every RIMPAC exercise, held on even-numbered years off the coast of Hawaii, is the sinking exercise, or SINKEX. The U.S. Navy, allies, and other participants unleash live weapons on an old warship hulk, pummeling it relentlessly until it disappears under the waves. This year’s exercise gave the ex-USS Racine, an old Newport-class tank landing ship, the fiery sendoff after a barrage that included a guided US Army artillery rocket, Japanese anti-ship missiles, and finally a back-breaking submarine torpedo....

Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 17 has been through a lot. Originally built to launch Thor missiles in the 50s, the complex’s two pads ended up as the launch site for dozens of Delta rockets over the past several decades. All that has come to an end, however, as the complex’s historic launch towers have been demolished to make way for something new.Here’s a video of the demolition:View full post on YoutubeThose towers helped to launch several high-profile NASA missions over the years, including the Pioneer probes and the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers....

Before we can talk about the Blazer, we have to talk about what it’s not. Revived nameplates are all around us. Ford resurrected the Ranger and Bronco badges; Toyota resuscitated the Supra. The reimagined models pay homage to the essence of the old cars and trucks, even if the looks and the specs are updated for 2020. Less so the Blazer. The revived Chevy bears little resemblance to the beloved box on wheels of so many Reagan-era road trips....

Media Platforms Design TeamYour neighborhood is in flames, the roads destroyed and there at least a dozen hungry zombies gnawing their way through your back door. You need a getaway car, and Michael and Kenny Ham might have just the machine for you. The two brothers are in the midst of developing an electric four-wheeler for the post-apocalyptic era: not a luxury sedan capable of tackling lengthy distances, but a compact, affordable all-terrain vehicle rugged enough to survive the end of the world....

A pioneering burger place in California, CaliBurger, is using facial recognition kiosks in its stores to provide customers the ease of not having to remember their orders. It’s like a regular fast food restaurant, but your friendly waitperson is a machine. View full post on VimeoOnce customers have registered with the kiosk, they can just step in front of it and the software will identify their face and pull up their previously saved order....

Earlier this month, popular pizza purveyor Domino’s unveiled the latest in a long line of technological PR stunts: Points for Pies. Simply download the Domino’s app and use it to take a picture of a pizza, any pizza. For every picture the app identifies as pizza—Domino’s or otherwise—you get ten points (with a limit of ten points per week). Once you get 60 points, you’ll be entitled to one free medium two-topping pizza from Domino’s....

Media Platforms Design TeamBatteries can be both savior and sinner when it comes to EV technology, enabling all-electric motivation at the expense of curb weight. While mass is often trimmed by using carbon fiber chassis components, Volvo joined a group of nine companies in a 3 1/2 year-long research study which hunted for a lighter, tidier, and more streamlined solution.The study’s findings offer an elegant way to trim body mass while maximizing interior volume....

While the rescue mission was underway to save 12 boys and their soccer coach trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand, Elon Musk decided to add his contribution to the rescue. Ten engineers from Space X, Tesla, and the Boring Company showed up to Thailand in an attempt to assist the rescue mission. They built a “kid-sized” submarine with rocket parts. Spoiler alert: it didn’t work. The chief of the rescue mission called the device “not practical” for the operation, unable to fit inside the cave’s narrow passageways....

Media Platforms Design TeamCarbon-fiber and plastic polymers are making artificial limbs stronger and lighter. They can be or a muscle twitch. They can even be re-engineered for rock-climbing or . But a continuing problem is that most prosthetic limbs don’t provide sensory feedback to the user. controlled using just a thoughtOlympic sprintingAs you walk, muscles and neurons constantly send information to your brain about where your legs are, where your feet hit the ground, and how hard they push off....

It’s rare today to find a guitar with totally unique functionality and design, especially one that isn’t a cheesy novelty. Fender is really offering something special with their new Acoustasonic, a hybrid electric/acoustic guitar several years in the making. This guitar is truly an acoustic and an electric, not just an acoustic with a preamp and pickup, nor just an electric with a Piezo pickup for an added “acoustic” tone. It’s a concept all its own and one we’re excited about....

Ford unveiled its Mustang-inspired electric crossover Sunday night, on the eve of the Los Angeles Auto Show. Dubbed the Mach-E, the sleek, low ride promises excellent performance—especially if enthusiasts can wait an extra year for the GT version—and competitive range. But the big question is whether the car has enough of that good ol’ Mustang stuff in it to move enough buyers into the electric realm. Here are eight points that will help you decide for yourself....

The U.S. Army, with funding from the National Science Foundation, has paid researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Northwestern University to come up with a new form of modular robots. Using tiny robots, called “smarticles,” the scientists could use those to build larger robots for a variety of purposes in different situations, outlined in a paper published in Science Robotics.Military applications could keep humans out of dangerous environments or allow the robots to get inside tiny spaces where people simply cannot fit....