CABOT, Vt. — Forget the plow truck. It would have been nearly useless against the onslaught of the past day and a half. We got about 30 in. in our yard; the mountains picked up anywhere from three to five ft. This happened over the course of about 20 hours, so it was snowing hard! Yesterday I skied; today, I hooked up our snowblower to the back of the Kubota. It’s 5-ft....
North Korea has been making threats for months regarding its missile arsenal, including claiming some of them can reduce a tank “into a boiled pumpkin.” But according to a BBC News report, South Korean officials spotted six short range missiles being fired from their North Korea shortly after the United Nations condemned missile testing by the country. The missiles were said to originate in the city of Wonsan. After launch that travelled about 60 to 90 mile distance before plunging into the sea....
Northrop Grumman wants to send a plane to Venus. But it has to give the Venus Atmospheric Maneuverable Platform some wings on Earth first: Northrop is hoping to win the New Frontiers competition next year and land $1 billion of that sweet, sweet NASA money. New Frontiers is a program designed to sponsor medium-sized space missions. That is probes that are bigger than Discovery missions like the Dawn spacecraft currently visiting the dwarf planet Ceres, but smaller than flagship missions like Cassini, the spacecraft that beams back all those beautiful pictures of Saturn and its moons....
Russia is modifying an existing cruise missile design to extend its range to 4,500 kilometers, or approximately 3,000 miles. The new missile, Kalibr-M, could be launched against targets deep within the United States from extended distances. Coupled with the low flying altitude of cruise missiles in general, Kalibr-M would be difficult to defend against. According to Russian state news outlet TASS, Kalibr-M is “at the stage of scientific research and financed by the Ministry of Defense....
Math is exceedingly useful in physics, engineering and everywhere else, but let us not forget: math is also beautiful. Take the spiral, for instance. Simple mathematical spirals have been the focus of many paintings and sculptures; the famous Fibonacci spiral appears subtly in dozens of pieces of artwork. Artist John Edmark takes the concept of turning spirals into art to the next level with his incredible spiral sculptures:View full post on YoutubeEdmark uses many of the unique properties of spirals to create his mind-bending sculptures....
Star Trek never really goes away, but it’s having a renaissance at the moment unlike any in the history of the franchise. It’s a new golden age, and it’s fun as heck—for Trekkies and regular humans alike.CBS has been releasing new Trek every month in the form of the excellent Short Treks. Then there’s Star Trek: Discovery, currently ramping up for its second season, and we’re learning more every day about the upcoming Picard series....
Tesla has announced a proposal for its largest energy storage project date, a power plant in California that will be capable of producing “up to 1.1 GWh” in the California desert.The project would be a partnership with the California investor-owned utility Pacific Gas & Electricity (PG&E). The publicly traded PG&E covers the northern two-thirds of California, making it responsible for the electricity in around 5.2 million homes. The two groups want to build a lithium-ion battery energy storage system (BESS) with 182....
Elon Musk says Tesla’s cars will soon have customized horn and movement sounds. You’ll be able to pick from goats, coconuts, and farts, the CEO suggested in a tweet. This should go well.Tesla CEO Elon Musk has teased on Twitter that the company’s cars will soon allow for a wide variety of horn and movement sounds, ranging from goats to farts to coconuts. The announcement comes two weeks after another Tesla update, which focused on “entertainment, gaming, music, and convenience features” within the vehicles, according to a company press release....
One of the most exciting developments in astronomy in recent years has been the explosion in the discovery of exoplanets. Finding planets outside of our solar system was once a relatively rare occurrence, but starting in 2014 the numbers began to increase exponentially. It hasn’t been solid growth year-to-year, but in 2017 there were over 1,400 discovered. That’s out of 3,767 total discovered. What’s to explain the sudden growth? Real Engineering takes a look at how technology has changed the way we discover planets, and how math helps us turn small observations into a lot of data....
The U.S. Army says it will develop technology block the heat signatures of ground troops and armored vehicles. Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley said the future of warfare, in which soldiers will operate in a “highly lethal” environment, demands that the service develop the means to hide its soldiers. Milley made these comments in front of the House Appropriations Committee. Responding to a member of Congress, Milley said: “We know that adversary [target] acquisition systems are very, very capable in that, if you can see a target with precision munitions, … you can hit a target....
The power plant associated with America’s all-time worst commercial nuclear accident is closing. After 45 years, Three Mile Island Generating Station Unit 1 in southern Pennsylvania will shut down on September 30.Exelon, the Chicago-based company that owns Three Mile Island (TMI), had been petitioning Pennsylvania’s legislature for subsidies to keep the money-losing plant open. The company’s argument, made along the lines of climate change, was met with resistance from a coalition of natural gas companies operating in the state as well as others, including the powerful senior-advocacy group AARP....
The Navy isn’t the only one with a laser. Boeing has its Compact Laser Weapons System as well, and and the very portable system just recently took out its very first free-flying drone. Boeing has been working on its lasers for years now and we’ve seen them light up immobile targets, but Boeings newest offering is unique in how much power it can fit in a relatively small package. Lockheed Martin’s ATHENA laser is a truck-mounted affair, and the Navy’s drone-blaster lives on boats....
NASA’s Opportunity rover has been exploring the surface of Mars for more than a decade, but the past few months have presented its greatest challenge yet. Since early June, a dust storm has been blocking out the sun around Opportunity, which is particularly challenging for a solar-powered rover. Since then, the dust storm has grown to encompass the entire planet, and almost three months later it’s finally showing the first signs of slowing down....
Light pollution, the inappropriate or excessive use of artificial light, has never been more prevalent and it is taking a toll on bugs, animals, and crops in the millions, often with lethal and damaging consequences. A new report in Nature highlights the growing problem as well as potential solutions.While artificial light has been a common sight on the planet since the 1880s, the world continues to get brighter and brighter on a yearly basis....
Even as the federal government jump-starts electric cars with $2.4 billion in research funds, electric airplanes are getting held back. In fact, current Federal Aviation Administration rules prohibit electric motors in light sport aircraft, a class of planes typically flown by less experienced pilots. The FAA decrees that LSAs be powered only by reciprocating engines, a measure intended to keep high-powered turbine engines out of the hands of novice sport pilots....
A woman in England will be the first person in the country to undergo mitochondrial donation therapy, more commonly known as a “three-person pregnancy.” The decision follows a successful three-parent birth in Mexico in 2016.The public doesn’t know much about the participants in the procedure due to their desire for privacy, but the British Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) says the case involves two women, both of whom suffer from a rare condition known as Merrf Syndrome....
Media Platforms Design TeamWith 21 moons and nine major rings, the periphery of Uranus is already crowded—and it’s only getting worse. Thanks to theHubble Space Telescopethe Bull’s-Eye Planet, scientists have learned that there are at least two more moons and two more rings orbiting “.” The rings are removed from the previously known cluster and are thus called the “second ring system.” The significance of the discovery lies in the outermost ring, which shares its orbit with the new moon Mab....
Jackson Gordon is the hero Gotham Philadelphia needs. Well, at least he dresses like the hero Philadelphia needs now.Gordon, a design student at Philadelphia University, built this 25-pound kevlar batsuit designed to withstand machete blows. It comes with a three-pound mask-helmet that will help him in combat situations—or at least protect him from falling objects at comic conventions. He debuted the full costume at Katsucon, a three-day anime convention in the DC that took place earlier this month, where convention-goers were invited to help test him out....
TOW (Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire-guided) missiles have been in the field for decades now, used by over 45 of the world’s militaries, with at least 15,000 in service. But in recent years, as Raytheon has continued to develop its weapon system, new variants have made it even more terrifying, particularly for standing heavy armor.View full post on YoutubeWhat you’re seeing above is the TOW 2B Aero system, also known as the TOW 2B BGM-71F, being tested against a Russian T-72 tank....
Look at this terrible patch.NROThe National Reconnaissance Office is well known for the amazing, sardonic artwork of its mission patches. But lately, the man has been trying to keep the man down. NRO tried to sneak a reference to the 2006 Will Ferrell race car comedy Talladega Nightsinto the logo of a classified spy satellite mission, only to have it rejected in favor of a forgettable, bureaucrat-friendly logo. The NROL-76 mission logo now stands as a case study on how bureaucrats make life less fun....
