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Media Platforms Design TeamOn-Sale Date: Now Price: $45,290 Competitors: Chevrolet Silverado Z71 Powertrains: 6.2-liter V8, 411 hp, 434 lb-ft; six-speed auto, 4x4 EPA Fuel Economy (city/hwy): N/A What’s New: Off-road racers inspired SVT’s mean Raptor, so the 2010 model used the lightest, shortest F-150 chassis (SuperCab/short-bed). But consumers wanted more. So for 2011, SVT adds the extended SuperCrew cab option with more rear-seat legroom, more towing capacity (8000 pounds versus 6000), more cargo capacity (1030 pounds versus 930) and a 36-gallon gas tank (10 gallons larger)....

Media Platforms Design TeamMustangs and Camaros have faced off at stoplights and drag races for four decades—give or take a few model years. But recently, with the Chevy Camaro and Dodge Challenger rising from the ashes to take on the stalwart ‘Stang, the folks at Ford have added fuel to the muscle car conflict. Or rather, they’ve increased the Mustang’s fuel efficiency along with its power output—for both available engines. The Specs"I’m most proud of our V6," says Dave Pericak, Mustang’s chief engineer....

The researchers sailing aboard Weatherbird II aren’t studying global warming – they’re trying to end it. The ship’s three-year mission, funded by for-profit eco­renewal firm Planktos, is to seed oceans with iron-rich dust, which should trigger plankton blooms. More plankton means more carbon dioxide can be pulled out of the atmosphere and trapped in the seas. The project is the first large-scale effort in a controversial field, known as geoengineering, that aims to actively combat global warming....

Media Platforms Design TeamFalse Witness: Conspiracy theorists claim this photo “proves” the 9/11 attacks were a U.S. military operation. (Photograph by Rob Howard)From the moment the first airplane crashed into the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11, 2001, the world has asked one simple and compelling question: How could it happen? Three and a half years later, not everyone is convinced we know the truth. Go to Google....

• The space shuttle retired in 2011.• No American-made spacecraft has launched American astronauts into orbit since then.• NASA tasked SpaceX and Boeing with the job. Following delays, both are now scheduled to start in 2018.Back in 2014, SpaceX and Boeing both received contracts under NASA’s Commercial Crew Development program to build spacecraft that could carry astronauts to the International Space Station. The program is intended to allow NASA to launch astronauts on American spacecraft again, something that hasn’t happened since the last flight of the space shuttle in 2011....

PM west coast editor Ben Stewart drives a brand-new Corvette Z06 from Los Angeles to New York this week, in search of America’s best driving roads.We’ve got a lot of miles to cover if we’re going to make it to New York just two days from now. So today we’re slaves to I-40–no twisty-road detours. The Vette really is a great highway machine. Our best mileage to date was today when we averaged a whopping 27....

The FCC finally, officially took a huge step to protect net neutrality at its February Open Commission Meeting this morning. The commissioners approved reclassifying the internet as a public utility under what’s called its Title II powers. The action defends the open internet and bars companies from restricting the internet for profit. Basically, that means no internet fast lanes, no slowing down particular websites, and no throttling internet speeds by ISPs....

Media Platforms Design TeamToday in the journal Science, researchers at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, a scientific instrument buried in the Antarctic ice, report the that originated from outside Earth’s atmosphere, and beyond the solar system. It’s the first time since 1987 that physicists have detected such particles, and back then, neutrino detectors that were far less advanced picked up lower-energy neutrinos from a supernova explosion in a nearby galaxy. The detection of these neutrinos at IceCube marks the beginning of a new era of astronomy, astrophysicists say....

Over at the Googleplex, trekkies reign supreme. A number of employees have always wanted to have a pin-on communicator device similar to those worn by Captain Picard and Commander Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation, which allows characters to communicate with each other as well as the AI system onboard the Starship Enterprise by simply tapping and talking. Original \’star trek' communicator pin from 'the next generation.'Media Platforms Design TeamAlthough Google’s search engine doesn’t quite stand up to the ship’s computer on the Enterprise, it’s not a bad substitute for now....

Media Platforms Design TeamWhen you think of a tornado, you rightly think that there’s little you can do to protect yourself short of huddling in a fortified underground bunker. Yet in the case of an F4 or F5 tornado, a fortified underground shelter would be the best bet. Still, underground shelters have their own set of problems, including the possibility that groundwater can seep in or that they can easily become moldy as condensation forms on their walls....

Media Platforms Design TeamSince the Dawn spacecraft arrived at Ceres earlier this year, its revealed an ancient, dazzling, and puzzling world. As Dawn zips into a closer and closer orbit, some mysteries will be solved–like what those bright spots are made of–while more will arise to take their place. For instance, it appears that a haze rises out from some places on the dwarf planet, creating a localized atmosphere. What’s that about?...

Media Platforms Design TeamThere is something about a bus that is tied intrinsically to the romance of the American road–the sleek Greyhound humming through the night, the yellow school bus rattling with lunchboxes and children. But it takes a certain eccentric, self-reliant type to look at one and think: With an arc welder, some plumbing and a propane stove, I can turn this pre-owned tube of steel into the ultimate traveling home....

Media Platforms Design TeamCleaning up after a Halloween nightmare is a simple, straightforward business, but you don’t want to make a bad situation worse by using the wrong cleaners or methods. But keep in mind that it’s easier to clean up eggs, toilet paper, and other Halloween tricks sooner rather than later. So let’s get to work.Eggs on Your HouseCleaning materials: Strong alkaline cleaner, warm water, garden hose and nozzle, siding brush mounted on an extension pole or low-psi pressure washer....

Media Platforms Design TeamHow do you build a human liver that could one day function normally inside a patient?We’ve been working on the concept of building solid organs for quite some time now, and we have many different strategies. One strategy is to take a donor organ that’s not being used and would have been discarded and, using very mild detergents, wash the cells away. Basically, two weeks later, you’re left with something that looks a liver, you can hold it like a liver, it feels like a liver, but it has no cells....

One day last year, while sitting at a bar with coworkers, Scott Bush, founder of Templeton Rye, a superior spirit aged in the Iowa cornfields, had an epiphany: He should raise a batch of pigs on spent rye mash, the leftover grains from the whiskey-making process. That way, the rich flavor of the mash—and, by extension, of Templeton Rye—might find its way into the hogs’ flesh. And then the pork—and the bacon!...

It’s a straightforward question: How many miles can a fire-breathing beast like the new 2014 Chevrolet Corvette eke out of a gallon of gasoline? Back in 2009 I took the previous-generation C6 Corvette coupe on a mileage loop and it returned an astonishing 32.8 mpg. The new C7 Corvette promised to be even better.The C7 coupe takes all the fuel economy advantages of the C6 and stretches them. For instance, the C6’s 436-hp LS3 6....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt must have been just like any other Friday night in the Ohio State University’s Stradley Hall dormitory: heading out for the evening to spend time with friends and get set for Saturday’s football game against Indiana. But for students living on the top floors of an 11-story high-rise, it doesn’t always make sense to use the stairs—which must have been what students were thinking when, at 11:20 p....

Media Platforms Design TeamRescue workers clear debris and search for victims near the wreckage of Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric dam’s Turbine 2. The 1500-ton piece of equipment exploded out of its seating and flew 50 feet in the air on Aug. 17, 2009; 75 people died in the accident.Just before 8 am on Aug. 17, 2009, workers on the morning shift stepped off a clattering Soviet-era tram and made their way past security and into position at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power plant in south-central Siberia....

Media Platforms Design Team ALTON, Va. —Blasting into the famed Oak Tree corner of Viginia International Raceway (VIR) here, 30 drivers scramble three Volkswagen Jetta TDIs deep for the same chunk of burning-rubber real estate. Giant, race-spec calipers mercilessly cinch down on the 14-in. front rotors before each trio dive-bombs the apex. Body panels crunch, and the sound of slicks tearing at the asphalt breaks the spring silence. Sure, it’s got racing’s zoom-zoom—only each sound is discernible from the next, right down to the pebbles showering into the naked wheel wells....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe evolution of the Mercedes-Benz SL can be sliced countless ways: From sales (518,000 and growing) and design (those ever-evolving sculptural shapes) to technology (folding hardtops, etc.) M-B’s flagship roadster has earned its self-described status as the longest running car model* with a six decade span, a streak that was initiated by the steel-tubed, W194-series 1952 race car– a replica of which is seen here– which inspired the Sport Leicht (Sport Light) designation....