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Our house is at the base of a hill, and every spring we get ferocious runoff that damages flower beds and undercuts the driveway shoulder. The hill is not on our property, so we can only control the runoff once it reaches the yard. Every year I repair the damage, and every spring it happens again. What’s a permanent fix?Media Platforms Design TeamRunoff frustrates many homeowners, while the dirt, wood chips, grass clippings, and debris it scours from the yard can pollute public waters....

Lexus has been drip-feeding us information about its fancy new hoverboard for months, now but the main event is finally here. In a video released today, we finally get to see the hoverboard in action, with a rider on top, cruising around in its specially-built skatepark. Yes, it’s kind of a trick. Yes, it only works on a very special track. No, it is not going to be for sale. But damned if it is not wildly awesome regardless....

Media Platforms Design Team1. They’re children of 1998. The periodical cicadas emerging this summer are 13-year cicadas that were born in 1998—when dominated the box office and the Monica Lewinsky scandal dominated the news—and have been laying low ever since. Periodical cicadas emerge every 13 or 17 years, but their life cycles are staggered, so it won’t be the same 13- (or 17-) year period for each area. The 13-year cicadas are concentrated in the South, while the 17-year cicadas dwell in the Northeast....

The fight for catalytic converters has moved to America’s backyards – literally. The EPA and state regulators in California, are calling for mandatory converters in lawnmowers to cut down on their surprisingly high amount of emissions (according to the New York Times, putting catalytic converters on lawnmowers in California would be the equivalent of taking over 800,000 cars—daily!—off the road—a testament to how clean cars have become). Engine makers, on the other hand, argue that these converters will create a fire hazard in owner’s sheds, similar to the debates that raged in the ’70s about fire hazards from automotive cat converters....

Media Platforms Design TeamVolkswagen displays its Up! Lite Diesel Hybrid at the 2009 LA Auto Show.German automakers Volkswagen, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz are selling their newest “clean” diesel vehicles nationally, including in California–home of the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show–a state that, historically, with its air pollution regulations, has been hostile to diesel cars. But even the auto companies with umlauts on their computer keyboards are making plug-in electrics and hybrids a major part of their U....

MARANELLO, Italy—Ferrari is probably the last car company from which you’d expect to see a hybrid vehicle. Yes, we are aware that there was a hybrid driveline (called a Kinetic Energy Recovery System, or KERS) in the 2009 Formula One car, but that was in response to regulations imposed by the governing body.The car Ferrari is showing at this year’s Geneva Auto Show is in response to a different set of regulations....

Media Platforms Design TeamA quixotic Kickstarter-funded project has won the Sikorsky Prize, one of the most elusive goals in aviation, by keeping a human powered helicopter aloft for more than a minute. Aerovelo, an aeronautical engineering startup founded by Canadians , announced this morning that the Federation d’Aviation Intenationale (FAI)—the governing body of international aeronautical prizes—has certified a flight that Reichert piloted on June 13 as having met the qualifications for the $250,000 prize....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe Cadillac CTS and Lexus IS sedans were all new for 2014, with two major exceptions: the highest horsepower models, the CTS-V and IS F. By keeping the previous-generation performance flagships alive for another year, Cadillac and Lexus buy time to develop their next hypersedans while moving a few more old ones.Porsche plays the same game when it introduces a new 911—the Turbos always come later—and BMW has followed this routine with its M cars....

Media Platforms Design TeamOne of Israel’s Iron Dome batteries, which will work in tandem with the Iron Beam laser system. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.A homemade rocket ignites in the Gaza strip and screams toward a small town in Southern Israel. Warning sirens blare as civilians duck for cover, but miles away the Iron Dome missile defense system has already begun its sweep across the skyline. In a matter of seconds, the Iron Dome locks onto the incoming rocket, fires a missile and strikes home....

In February 2014, developer and designer Josh Worth published an interactive map of the solar system on his website. It seems his five-year-old daughter had asked him, “How big is outer space?” and the best answer seemed to be one that honestly demonstrated the staggering emptiness of the void. You know, for kids.Worth’s map is scrollable, and as you scroll to the right you soar across our solar system at a speed that reinforces the feeling that it’s the longest article you’ve ever tried to read....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt’s no Roswell, but dedicated UFOlogists have spent decades debating the true nature of the Tunguska event, a June 30, 1908, explosion that cleared an 800-sq.-mi. swath of Siberian forest. After all, there are discrepancies: Though many scientists believe the destruction came from an asteroid detonating in the atmosphere, extraterrestrial fragments have yet to be recovered. A team of Italian scientists believes that a hunk of asteroid may be in a nearby lake, buried deep within a submerged impact crater....

Many high-tech weapons are announced by military scientists and defense firms with great fanfare; then the systems can fade into obscurity once they face the realities of war. But the XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System—a grenade launcher with a ballistic computer that places air-bursting rounds with precision—has been field-tested in Afghanistan, where a limited number of troops determined its readiness for wider deployment. In 2010, the Army delivered five XM25s to soldiers in Afghanistan; they fired 55 rounds in combat and dubbed the weapon “the Punisher....

There’s nothing worse than a dead battery. Well, nothing worse that is also incredibly likely to happen to you later tonight. Backup batteries abound, but you’re generally out of luck if your laptop goes and dies. But thanks to USB-C, there’s a new breed of backup batteries around the corner that could make life much easier. The MOS’s new Reach Go is a hefty 15,000 mAh battery that charges by USB-C, and has three output ports: two traditional USBs and one of the new Type-C variety....

The Warn PowerPlant ($1777) is like a 114-pound Swiss army knife mounted on the front of your truck. First, it’s a winch that hauls up to 12,000 pounds, depending on which version you get. (See details below.) Then, flip a switch and the 4.6-hp electric winch motor becomes a monster air compressor providing up to 100 psi. You could find a winch and a compressor for less, but matching the power and spacesaving convenience of this all-in-one unit wouldn’t be easy....

Media Platforms Design Team The World Car of the Year competition announced winners this morning in four categories. World Green car of the year honors went to the Honda FCX Clarity (above), an innovative fuel-cell-powered vehicle available for lease to selected customers. Finalists in this category included the Mitsubishi iMiev electric vehicle and the Toyota iQ. World Design of the Year went to the Fiat 500. Media Platforms Design Team Finalsts included the Citroen C5 and the Jaguar XF World Performance Car of the Year was awarded to the Nissan GTR....

Would-be hackers attempting to get the line for online Burning Man tickets are going to have their tickets revoked, an event representative said. Approximately 200 hackers exploited a vulnerability in the Ticketfly queue for the festival to get their hands on some of the 40,000 tickets available for the event.After Idle Games software engineer Jonathan Hart pointed out the weakness on Twitter (since deleted), others came flooding in to try it....

Media Platforms Design Team2010 is the year that Volkswagen is saying farewell to today’s generation of the Beetle legacy as they introduce the new 2010 Beetle Coupe and Convertible “Final Editions.” Only 1,500 units of each model will be available in the U.S., beginning spring 2010.To set the new, more exclusive Beetles aside from the rest on the road, each individual car has its own numbered “Final Edition” badge located on the exterior of the car and the steering wheel....

Dawn of the Dead (1978/2004)Media Platforms Design TeamThe Scenario /// Both the 1978 original and the Zack Snyder-directed remake offer the same basic premise: The zombies are coming, so a group of survivors takes refuge in a shopping mall, with its endless supply of food, flat screens and a modern security system. The Scene /// Camping out in a shopping mall never quite pans out into the childhood fantasy we all imagine it would be....

Body armor is always being improved. When I first joined the Army, I was issued a FLAK vest. Then when I deployed to Afghanistan, I received the Interceptor Body Armor vest. Neither was particularly comfortable. They’re heavy. They’re hot. But after being shown a Kevlar plate with a bullet lodged in it, I didn’t think twice about wearing it. The Cupola Protective Ensemble being used by Military Police Officers in Northern Iraq may be pushing a soldier’s complacency a little too far....

Media Platforms Design TeamE-readers like the Kindle and tablets like the iPad are replacing older reading media in all parts of our lives, and our beach vacations are no exception. ( even featured people reading them at the beach.) But while a little sand brushes right off a paperback, it could worm its way deep into the electrical innards of a Kindle or iPad. The same thing goes for smartphones, which owners tend to take everywhere....