Posts

Some tiny spiders can use their silk strands to surf on the wind. Now scientists are beginning to understand how they do it. Research from the Technical University of Berlin shows how these tiny spiders measure the wind and secure themselves before launching into the breeze.Many species of spider exhibit this kind of parachuting/windsurfing behavior, which is properly called “ballooning.” Young spiders, born in nests of hundreds or thousands, use this technique to spread over a larger area....

Late last year, our solar system received an unexpected visitor from interstellar space: The asteroid ‘Oumuamua that was discovered suddenly in October and then just as quickly disappeared, passing briefly through our solar system on the way to somewhere else. But now we have a better chance to study a visitor from beyond our solar system.According to scientists from the Côte d’Azur Observatory and São Paulo State University, there’s at least one interstellar asteroid already here....

Media Platforms Design TeamHooking Up I was trying to replace the manifold air sensor on my car. Everything seemed to go so simply until I tried to plug the connector into the new harness on the sensor. One of the wires pushed right out the end of the connector. I pushed it back in partway, but now it works only intermittently. My Check Engine light comes on every few weeks, and I have to go under the hood and try to reseat the connector in the plug....

Media Platforms Design Team(Photo Credit: NASA)The Orion spacecraft, NASA’s long-awaited ship intended to take humans beyond Earth orbit, is nearing completion. Construction will be done within days, and the first test launch is scheduled for Dec 4, now less than a month away.While you’re waiting for the next-gen spacecraft to make its debut, why not build your own? The printable paper-craft, courtesy of NASA, is meant to provide a realistic, scaled view of the command module to show people how it fits together....

Future deep-space explorers and Mars colonists may have a new worry to consider: Heart disease. A team of space radiation researchers, led by Michael Delp at Florida State University, has just come across a troubling relationship. The 24 moon-bound astronauts that flew the Apollo missions are dying of cardiovascular diseases at an unusually high rate. These men were only humans ever to have left the protection of Earth’s magnetic field—a natural barrier which reaches beyond the International Space Station and helps deflect deadly space radiation....

Things are looking a bit grim in Venezuela these days. The country’s economy, which is dependent on exporting oil, has been in a 2016 tailspin as the price of oil stays low. The double whammy is an El Nino-related drought that’s depleting the water levels at hydropower plants. It’s gotten so bad that President Nicolas Maduro is instituting mandatory Fridays off during April and May, hoping two months of three-day weekends will ease the country’s electricity demands....

Archaeologists believe they have found the world’s oldest intact shipwreck. Discovered at the bottom of the Black Sea, the 75-foot-long vessel has been lying in wait for more than 2,400 years.“It’s something I would never have believed possible.“Assumed to be a Greek trading vessel, the ship was so well preserved because it was buried deep in the Black Sea in anoxic (oxygen-deprived) water. Without oxygen corroding the wooden hull, the ship has remained more or less the same since it sank around 400 BCE....

During World War Two, a Royal Air Force base known as RAF Graveley was the location where aircraft would set off for battle in Europe. Although there was a nice airstrip to lift off, there was one huge obstacle that made landing a challenge. Huge clouds of smog—created by coal fire and fog—made seeing runway lights nearly impossible in harsh weather. This very annoying smog led to the invention of the “Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation” or “Fog, Intensive, Disposal Of”—FIDO for short—and this device came to the rescue with jets of flame, as Tom Scott explains: [youtube ]https://www....

Additive manufacturing company Geomiq is asking for volunteers to send in photos of their face to be considered for a new line of humanoid robots.If selected, the person signing over the rights to their likeness will receive over $125,000 in compensation.The client is mysterious, but Geomiq says the company is working on robots for elderly care, and those prototypes will be produced next year.Need a pile of cash, fast? Have a face?...

Media Platforms Design TeamThomas D. Jones: What were the highlights of your stay aboard the International Space Station?Col. Timothy J. Creamer: The arrival of three shuttle crews; two Progresses [Russian freighters]; the MRM-1 [Russian-built Rassvet, or Mini Research Module-1]; Node 3, or Tranquility [ESA-built berthing module]; and the Cupola [European Space Agency-built observation module]. Perhaps the greatest highlight was the arrival of the Cupola. When I opened the shutters for visiting crews to reveal the Earth, and the full breadth of the view hit them, I saw tears in their eyes....

LAS VEGAS – Every biker knows that distinctive “potato-potato” exhaust note that emanates from the dual exhaust of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Well now you can add supercharger whine to that melody. Here at the SEMA auto product show, Procharger is showing off a new intercooled supercharger kit for fuel injected Harley’s that claims to boost power by 55 to 65 percent. Procharger says you’d get 180-plus hp out of the new 95-cid engines....

Media Platforms Design TeamParachute Diameter: 52 feet. (Photograph by NASA).When the NASA Mars Science Laboratory rover lands on Mars in 2012, it will face a unique obstacle: With an Earth weight of nearly a ton (compared to about 400 pounds for previous Mars rovers) and a Mars weight of about 750 pounds, it is too massive for any existing space parachute. So to cushion its fall through the thin Martian atmosphere (which is less than 1 percent as dense as Earth’s), NASA engineers had to come up with something really big....

NASA has begun preparations to study Psyche, the largest metal asteroid known to humanity. The space agency hopes to reach what it calls one of the “most intriguing targets in the main asteroid belt” by 2030.Asteroids are generally made up of rock, metal, sometimes ice, and a few other elements. However, Psyche is unlike other asteroids in that its composition is mostly metallic iron and nickel. This makes the unique asteroid, which is 130 miles (210 kilometers) in diameter, similar in structure to Earth’s own core....

The Nintendo Switch is more than the sum of its parts. The bits and pieces aren’t necessarily new—other gadgets have gone modular before, and the whole thing looks a lot like a Wii U gamepad. But no one has ever managed to cram all those parts into one cohesive package quite like this. The result is that the Nintendo Switch is a weird console, mostly in good ways. But its strange, transforming nature may make it a harder sell for anyone who isn’t 100 percent sold at the mere mention of Nintendo....

On Sunday, January 21, in New Zealand, Rocket Lab launched satellites to orbit for the first time on the second test flight of its Electron rocket—a major milestone for this burgeoning rocket company, and one that could boost the company’s hopes of making it big in the small satellite market. The U.S. aerospace company (with holdings in New Zealand) launched the rocket from the first private launch pad in the world, situated on the Māhia Peninsula of New Zealand’s North Island, at 2:43 p....

India’s first ballistic missile submarine was out of commission for ten months after someone neglected to properly close a hatch. The nuclear-powered submarine INS Arihant was flooded with saltwater, necessitating nearly a year’s worth of repairs. The submarine is designed to function as a floating arsenal of nuclear weapons, guaranteeing a retaliatory strike in case of surprise attack.The incident was first reported by The Hindu. According to an Indian Navy source, a hatch was left open on the rear left side of the ship, allowing seawater to rush into the propulsion area while the Arihant was in harbor....

Q: I have a 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee with a steel rim that will not come off even after all the nuts were removed. A friend told me to hit the tire with a heavy piece of lumber or a sledge hammer to dislodge it. I was successful with three of the rims. I can’t even remove the center cap of the fourth rim to take a look at the hub since you need to take off the rim before removing the center cap....

Media Platforms Design TeamAre surveillance cameras the answer to terrorism? The recent failed attack on Times Square has led to calls for more cameras in the area, while others argue that CCTV will not stop terrorists. It’s true that suicide bombers would not be deterred by cameras as criminals might be, but surveillance cameras are still a powerful tool—if only the nuggets of useful information can be picked out of thousands of hours of video....

The U.S. Air Force wants 22 new GPS satellites that are built to resist jamming and electronic interference. The service expects to spend $2 billion on the new satellites for the GPS 3 constellation in the next five years. The production of all 22 sats (outlined in a request for proposal released on Feb. 13) is expected to be worth as much as $10 billion, as reported by Space News. “The GPS 3 that we are moving toward is more jam-resistant, and it is intended to be able to operate in a contested environment,” Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson told reporters on Tuesday....

More than half a century after it gave up the mission, the U.S. Army is once again learning to keep enemy fleets at bay using modern firepower. During the July 2018 exercise to sink the ex-USS Racine, a Army crew fired a Naval Strike Missile at the ship, striking it. The goal is to deny enemy fleets the ability to operate near land masses–particularly islands–occupied by U.S. ground forces.The RIMPAC SINKEX, or “sinking exercise”, saw a U....