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Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design Team(Photograph by Mono County Sheriff’s Search & Rescue via Getty Images) After more than a year in which the search for missing millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett came up empty, a chance sighting has led to the discovery of the remains of his aircraft in the California mountains. On Monday, a hiker stumbled upon Fossett’s pilot’s license and other forms of ID stuck in a bush in Inyo National Forest....

Media Platforms Design TeamIf you’re going to have just one router, a plunge router is a pretty good choice. Not only can a plunge router do anything the old fixed-base design can, but it also handles a complete range of internal cuts, like mortises, enclosed holes and recesses, with a level of safety and accuracy that’s hard to beat. So, why would anyone want a fixed-base router? Well, glad you asked....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt’s another normal day on the Internet, but halfway through a funny cat video, your computer shuts down. A message fills your screen, informing you in bold letters accompanied by an FBI logo that you have been caught downloading illegal content. You are instructed to pay a fine immediately in order to regain use of your computer.This kind of attack is called ransomware, and experts say it is on the rise....

Media Platforms Design TeamMore than 2 miles beneath the coldest spot on Earth, Russians scientists have finally reached the surface of Antarctica’s Lake Vostok. The team confirmed today it has finally pierced the upper reaches of the lake, which is roughly the size of Lake Ontario and has been sealed off from the atmosphere for 15 to 34 million years. It’s the first time anybody has drilled into one of Antarctica’s roughly 280 subglacial lakes, and scientists are hoping the lake water might reveal heretofore unknown forms of life....

You probably know that the FBI kept a file on a surprising number of Americans, especially famous ones. You might not know that among that count was the famed sci-fi author Ray Bradbury. The bureau once investigated the writer on suspicions he was a communist, and that science fiction in general could be a breeding ground for communism.A 2012 FOIA request by MuckRock for the FBI’s file on Bradbury uncovered a treasure trove of mid-20th century fear-mongering....

Let’s turn the moon into the largest cosmic ray detector in the solar system. That’s the outlandish sounding proposal from Justin Bray, a scientist from the University of Southampton in the U.K. He’s in search of “ultra-high-energy” cosmic rays—protons or heavier atomic nuclei that are whipped into a frenzy by galaxy-sized magnetic fields that make Earth-bound particle accelerators look like pea shooters. “Ultra high energy cosmic rays represent an extreme of the universe,” Bray says....

Media Platforms Design TeamYou may have seen it already: The message telling you that your friend, family member, or acquaintance doesn’t give Facebook the right to their content, and that by declaring it on their timeline, it must be legally binding.This, of course, is all horse honky.Gizmodo has a great takedown of exactly why it’s bunk. The short version: by signing up for Facebook, you give them tacit permission to use your information....

One might think that the United States’ nuclear weapons–the cornerstone deterrent in the country’s arsenal–would be treated with the utmost precision.This comfortable illusion was shaken on Aug. 31, 2007, when crews loaded six live nuclear warheads onto a B-52 bomber and flew from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, cruising over the nation’s heartland. Each warhead was 10 times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II....

I N T R O D U C T I O NDeLand of the Free: Wingsuits for WhuffosThe giant Belgian I’m strapped to, Vladi Pesa, goes over the plan one more time–we will jump out of the plane together (actually, I’ll lift my legs, and he’ll do the jumping) and hurtle toward earth at 120 miles per hour. After thirty seconds or so, our parachute will open and then we will look directly up to see Jari Kuosma flying in our direction....

This morning, I had the opportunity to break bread with Peter Schwarzenbauer, the president and C.E.O. of Porsche Cars North America. Not a bad gig—his or mine, actually.Unlike many auto executives, Schwarzenbauer was able to announce record sales, with Porsche selling 7.2% more through November than last year (a record-breaker itself). He has every reason to expect that things won’t go down the toilet in the remaining three weeks of 2006....

When you’re offered the chance to drive a Tesla Model S P85D, you take it. It doesn’t matter if it’s only to whip the car around the parking lot of Citi Field for 15 minutes. It doesn’t matter if said lot is covered in ice and snow. And it certainly doesn’t matter if you’ll be accompanied by Tesla employees the whole time. You take it. The company is currently parading a fleet of its super sedans around the U....

I’m not a gun nut, but I’m also not an antigun nut. Strip away the emotions, passions and politics surrounding sporting handguns and long guns and you simply have a machine made for throwing round balls or pointy bullets.A lot of folks are afraid of guns and won’t even go near one, let alone handle a firearm. Undeniably, guns can be lethal when not treated in a safe and sane manner, but they are not a coiled rattlesnake ready to deal instant death the moment you open a gun box....

Media Platforms Design TeamUPDATE, August 21, 2013: Today, Bradley Manning’s court martial ended with an Army judge sentencing him to 35 years in prison. He’ll be eligible for parole after serving one-third of that sentence.This story, originally published June 10, 2013, has been updated.Name: Edward SnowdenJob Title: Former CIA employee currently employed by defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton.Age: 30Security clearance: Snowden had access to NSA documents during the last four years as an employee of various outside contractors....

After seven major incinerations in the past century–including Sunday’s colossal, twelve-hour blaze–Universal Studios’ Backlot sets might just seem cursed. But it may be the Backlot’s flimsy, flammable, congested faux-downtown set construction that keeps fires burning, decade after decade. After a day of investigation, county fire officials reported that this weekend’s fire began when a worker’s blowtorch ignited asphalt roofing shingles on set.A tower of smoke was visible for miles across Los Angeles Countyand as leaping flames razed several sets, including the clocktower rigged up to power Back to the Future’s time-traveling DeLorean; parts of the King Kong attraction; and a warehouse stocked with old movies vaults (all of which had copies in other locations)....

LAS VEGAS — There are two audiences for what’s said at the Consumer Electronics Show. One is obvious: Consumers. Companies want their products to get good press, to ensure good sales. Good reports are important.But the other audience is the business/investment community. Companies want shareholders, the investment community, and the like to think that they’re doing well, and that they’ll do even better in the coming year. I have to say that to me, the tone seems a bit… well, not desperate, really, but certainly like people are trying just a bit hard to be convincing....

On March 11, Japan was hit with the largest earthquake in its recorded history and one of the five strongest earthquakes ever recorded anywhere on earth. This quake and the ensuing tsunami crippled Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant, about 150 miles north of Tokyo. Within days, three of the plant’s six reactors had suffered severe fuel damage—and possibly even melted down—raising fears of radiation dispersal in Japan and around the world....

Media Platforms Design TeamApple sold 22 million iPods in the first quarter of this year—a boon for the nearly $2 billion MP3 accessories market, which Apple audits for licensing fees sometimes near 10 percent per product. “It’s trying to control that environment so it can control the level of the quality of the piece,” says a product decision maker at a global consumer electronics company. (Photograph by Paul Sakuma/Associated Press)Last year, when Apple introduced the original iPhone and the latest generation of iPods, another new product came out of Cupertino, Calif....

Media Platforms Design TeamSpring is still many weeks away, but you can get a start on a bountiful summer garden by building a cold frame now, in the depths of winter. It’s a simple carpentry project that takes advantage of passive solar heating to effectively turn the calendar ahead. Essentially, a cold frame is a miniature greenhouse–a bottomless box with a clear lid that captures sunlight, insulates plants and warms the soil....

As the U.S. economy continues to battle tough headwinds, many drivers are keeping their cars longer. The average age of a passenger vehicle in the U.S. has increased to about 11 years, according to researchers R.L. Polk. (It was only nine years back in 2000.)I’m in that aging-car crowd. I own two 12-year-old vehicles, one with 168,000 miles on its odometer, the other with just under 100,000. My 9-year-old car has suffered through 170,000 miles and two teenagers....

The road ahead looks like a black hole. It’s so dark and so dreary, even the bravest Saturday mechanic would prefer to be off the highway and safe at home. Unfortunately, you’re still hours away from your destination. You can’t see anything except the small puddle of light cast by your headlights. And that puddle seems to be getting smaller. And yellower. A quick stop at the convenience store for gasoline and a quart of carrot juice reveals the cause–one of your headlights is as yellow as Satan’s toenails....