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FORT WORTH, Texas – True to its name, our first drive of the new Dodge Challenger prototype went down under extremely challenging conditions. Days of rain had left Dodge’s rental track soaked and slippery, and the weather didn’t look promising. It was hardly the perfect day to test a brawny new entry into the musclecar world–a model with the look and the sound of power in plentiful quantities. Even the ear buds we were wearing under our helmet to maintain radio contact with the pits couldn’t muffle the baritone exhaust note from the big, 6....

The Department of Energy has awarded Michigan State University with a $550 million grant for the construction of a Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), a laboratory that will produce and study rare nuclear isotopes–the byproduct of an atom that has lost neutrons after high-energy collisions of nuclei. At its core, FRIB is a scientific research facility–so don’t expect tangible results like fifth-generation nuclear power to solve our energy woes anytime soon....

Media Platforms Design TeamFollowing a year of multiple notorious aircraft disappearances including Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, the National Transportation Safety Board is calling on the Federal Aviation Administration to require new tamper-proof tracking devices that would be distinct from the “black box” flight data recorders already installed on all commercial planes. This plan lines up with a set of proposals by the International Civil Aviation Organization, which is meeting next month to discuss this and other new safety measures, and by the European Aviation Safety Agency, which will announce its own changes in March....

Media Platforms Design TeamWith the 101 XS tablet, French manufacturer Archos enters the tablet-with-keyboard market, competing for a spot at the top among a slew of hybrid devices. Its $399 price tag pits it against midrange Android devices such as the Asus Transformer Pad 300 and the Acer Iconia Tab A510. Though Archos is the underdog of the bunch, it shouldn’t be overlooked; the top-tier brand has come up with a solid tablet that won’t break the bank....

Media Platforms Design TeamIn the U.S., crossovers still outsell traditional wagons by a wide margin. But that may change in the future, as automakers will need to meet tougher fuel-economy standards. A low-to-the-ground wagon naturally lends itself to a more aerodynamic design—and sleek wagons don’t necessarily have to compromise utility. This concept hints at a new line of coupelike A7 sedans and wagons from Audi that should hit our shores within the next eighteen months....

No one likes a trip to the dentist–and for good reason. But if you’re going to devalue the tooth industry’s turn toward high-tech, as demonstrated at the Greater New York Dental Meeting, go spend some more time in those inverted torture chairs. You’ll be happy these oral solutions are right around the corner.Taking a Bite Out for 3DMedia Platforms Design TeamModeling teeth doesn’t have to taste like biting down on chalk....

Media Platforms Design TeamWhen we got on the phone with Michael Bacall recently to talk about his science-infused script 21 Jump Street, he couldn’t help but gush about his next project: An adaptation of Neal Bascomb’s book The New Cool about Dean Kamen’s FIRST robotics competition. “It follows an underdog team through a season,” Bacall says. “I’m completely obsessed with it. I think [Kamen] founded this league is because he was so frustrated with the athlete and celebrity worship that dominates our pop culture....

Save time and money on costly future home repairs, by performing a DIY home inspection. Once you know the trouble spots to look out for, you can easily examine your home throughout the year. We’ve provided a helpful home inspection checklist that you can refer to as often as needed. It’s helpful to take notes of issues and repairs and make sure it’s dated. This log will serve as a great reference point as long as you live in your home....

UPDATED 5:45 PM EDT: The problem of foam insulation breaking off from the Space Shuttle’s external tank (ET) is back in the spotlight today after technicians discovered that a small piece of the spray-on insulation had already separated. Unlike the foam chunk that fell off Discovery’s ET last year, and the infamous piece that ultimately doomed Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003, this new incident of foam separation occurred before the Space Shuttle launched....

Media Platforms Design TeamLas Vegas–It’s become an annual tradition: I go to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, I sit in a ludicrously expensive massage chair, and proceed to make fun of it while someone shoots an slightly embarrassing video of me. No more. Inada’s newest model, the Doctor’s Choice, has officially rubbed me the right way. Most of the technology is the same as the company’s previous top-of-the-line chairs: It squeezes your feet, your hands, your neck, back and, yes, your buttocks with an auto-adaptive motor that conforms to your body height and shape....

6:137 || ARCTIC LIGHT:Your frostless freezer is building an igloo from the inside out.THE QUICK FIXThis can be the result of a leaking door gasket. The gasket allows the cold air to constantly seep out, making the refrigerator run overtime and produce extra chill in the freezer. Check the gasket by placing a high-power flashlight or emergency battery-powered light unit in the freezer with the beam pointed at the door. Turn the light off in the kitchen and check around the perimeter of the door....

Conflicts of interest, questionable accounting and government regulation are all on the political hot plate right now as the financial markets slide into meltdown mode. As a technology journalist I find it interesting that these very same factors are pivotal to another issue that probably will never make it into a presidential debate (it certainly wasn’t mentioned last night). Network neutrality has gathered enough political momentum for both candidates to take an official stand on it....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt seems that Desmond’s has left him a little looney. On the island in this week’s episode of , “Everybody Loves Hugo,” the Scot is dead behind the eyes, a little too willing to go off into the jungle with Fake Locke (and getting pushed into the island’s infamous well for his trouble). And in the alternate universe, he’s driving his BMW at break-neck speed into wheelchair-bound substitute teacher John Locke....

Everyone has an airport or airplane horror story, right? Something about missing luggage, or getting stranded, or TSA agents being horrible. Most of those probably can’t compare to the man that reportedly confused a plane’s door to the outside for one to the toilet.According to the Telegraph, a passenger named James Gray made the mistake while on a flight from Edinburgh to Amsterdam on the Dutch airline KLM. When the flight landed at Schiphol Airport, Gray was escorted away by police and detained overnight....

A mistimed feathering maneuver resulted in the fatal crash of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo last October, an accident which killed one, critically injured another, and set back the company’s space tourism ambitions. Feathering is the maneuver in which part of the wings change position to increase drag and slow re-entry. But the feathering system was unlocked too early, compromising the craft and shearing off the wings. The maneuver should have taken place at Mach 1....

Chances are you’re aware of Disney’s World War Two propaganda cartoons, those animated shorts complete with Donald Duck as a Nazi, cartoonish exaggerations of Hitler, and astonishingly racist caricatures of Japanese Emperor Hirohito. Over the course of the war, Disney produced a handful of these anti-Japanese and anti-German shorts at the behest of the US Government. But before Donald Duck saluted Hitler in Der Fuehrer’s Face or single-handedly destroyed a Japanese airbase in Commando Duck, Walt Disney Productions was working on something a little more toned down and less aggressively cartoonish: animated instructional videos for the United States Armed Forces....

Media Platforms Design TeamYou don’t have to be a basketball fan to loveGlory Road. Walt Disney Picturesfamous car-chase drama and lightning-fast cameraworkGlory RoadIt’s ’ new triumphant story of the underdog Texas Western Miners who clinched the 1966 NCAA tournament title with the first all-African American starting lineup, against the all-white juggernaut of the University of Kentucky Wildcats. Jerry Bruckheimer produced this flick, and he brought his to the basketball court. During play, your eyes can barely keep up with the intense action....

The venue for the Pan Am Games, currently happening in Toronto, is hiding a secret: a 22-foot-long, 8-foot-tall secret tunnel with reinforced walls and a generator. It was found by a Toronto and Region Conservation Authority employee who noticed it after lifting a piece of corrugated steel. Authorities have since filled in the hole, despite the fact that they said they don’t suspect the tunnel was used for storing drugs or growing marijuana....

We all want them, but it’ll be years before self-driving cars take over the roads. In the meantime though, these sneaky little pancake robots can move any car autonomously by slipping underneath and picking it up. Developed by a team of European scientists, the AVERT system—that’s “Autonomous Vehicle Emergency Recovery Tool”—consists of a team of eight robots that can basically replace a tow truck. As you can see in the video below, four pairs of the flat little guys slip under the target car to pinch and lift its tires off the ground....

View full post on YoutubeA team of Swiss engineers at the National Centre of Competence in Research have made a drone that’s at home both in the sky and on the ground.The Deployable Air-Land Exploration Robot takes after a vampire bat; when it needs to, it can shift from flying through the air to crawling on the ground. It walks on its wings, scooting toward its destination. Thanks to a flexible wing structure, the wings can contract and expand as needed to shift between methods of locomotion....