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Media Platforms Design TeamGetty ImagesIn his ongoing efforts to promote STEM programs, President Barack Obama has accomplished a new first in his life: he’s written his first line of code.Obama was participating in an Hour of Code event as part of 2014 Computer Science Education Week. He was joined by 20 middle school students as they plugged away on Blocky and JavaScript. With a little guidance, the president wrote a few simple lines of code that helped a square appear on screen....

The Governator and Friends Embrace Global Warming Campaign In a break with the Bush Administration’s voluntary reduction emissions policy, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order today that authorizes the development of a market-based emissions reduction program. The announcement follows the Democrat-sponsored Global Warming Solutions Act—a plan that aims to cut greenhouse gases 25 percent by 2020 through caps on emissions from power plants, refineries and utilities—which Schwarzenegger signed into law last month....

For more than half a century, physicists have predicted the existence of the pentaquark, a subatomic particle that’s made of four quarks and one antiquark all bound up together. Now, thanks to new experiments at the Large Hadron Collider’s LHCb experiment, they’ve finally found it and confirmed that it’s the real deal.Quarks are the super-small elementary particles that make up the neutrons and protons that make up atoms. (Neutrons and protons are each made of three quarks....

For the past few years, radio astronomers have been haunted by a phantom called “fast radio bursts.” Radio observatories detect a fast, high energy signal coming from seemingly out of nowhere, then just as quickly disappearing before they’ve had any chance to figure out where they came from or what caused them. The radio signal is spread out enough to indicate it came from a far off galaxy, but beyond that, not much is known....

It’s hard out there for a crew working the Stryker Mobile Gun System (MGS). In addition to battling insurgents in the cities of Iraq, the soldiers assigned to the armored support vehicle have had to fend off attacks from critics back home, including some in the military itself. The 2008 Pentagon Authorization bill included language to limit funds for MGS until the Army drafts a report detailing fixes to the vehicle....

Mars isn’t quite the dry desert planet we’ve imagine. It’s cold, yes, but there’s more and more evidence of water still on the surface. A lot of it.Like on Earth, the poles of Mars contain glaciers. But on Mars it doesn’t stop there—the planet also has ample ice buried in its mid-latitude regions. According to research to be published in Geophysical Research Letters, those glaciers hold up to 150 billion cubic meters of ice....

MIT’s new origami robot looks like a tiny cube of aluminum foil, but don’t let that fool you. It can assemble itself into a set of predetermined shapes, roll right along, and can be easily dissolved. Best of all, it’s completely untethered.The main feature is a magnet, which is layered with PVC and polystyrene. The transformation happens when that material meets a heating element, and then folds into shape origami-style. Rather than relying on wires, it moves in tandem with an external magnetic field that shapes its path....

Media Platforms Design TeamWhen a man identifying himself as Jarno Smeets uploaded a video to YouTube of himself apparently taking flight with a homemade flapping wing, it immediately went viral and set off a tidal wave of joy and wonderment: He can fly like a bird! Just as quickly, a backlash of derision followed. Impossible, the doubters declared—it’s a hoax. And indeed, some deeper reporting and analysis cast serious doubt on the video’s authenticity....

Husky Tough Tape | $13-$25Every kitchen drawer needs a tape measure. The Husky Tough Tape will not only provide an accurate measurement, but the extra-rigid tape and powerful magnets at the end of the hook will enable you to retrieve fallen keys or fish out the screws that have rolled beneath the oven. Available in 16’ ($13), 25’ ($16), and 40’ ($25).2. Dremel Driver | $70This 7.2-volt drill/driver may not look like much when compared to its construction site counterparts, but the Dremel Driver can handle drilling through wood and drywall with little problem....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn-Sale Date: NovemberBase Price: $22,999Competitors: NonePowertrain: 1.3-liter I-3, 115 hp, 96 lb-ft; six-speed manual, six-speed automated manualFuel Economy (hwy, est.): 33What’s New: When BRP’s Can-Am road vehicle division launched its radical three-wheeled Spyder in 2007, there was nothing else like it on the market. Six years later that’s still true. The Spyder has become a favorite among long-haul tourers looking for more stability and comfort than traditional two-wheeled bikes can offer but still want the open-air thrills of a motorcycle....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn a more or less weekly basis, I find myself rummaging through the photos on my iPhone, trying to delete enough of them that I have free space to take more. Each episode of mass deletion begins with the same assurance to myself: Hey, it’s all right. You’ve got these backed up. Get a few hundred of them off your phone. It’s fine. And inevitably, I can bring myself to cut maybe 50 out of a couple thousand before giving up on the project until the next week....

Demolition work is tricky business for corded metal cutoff tools. Too often, fixtures are hiding in remote regions, around tight corners or away from a working outlet or generator. And even if you can reach a pipe, a cord can handle only so much of being dragged through a war-zone-like rehab job. The DeWalt DC413 Heavy-Duty 28V Cordless Cut-Off Tool ($449) can be easily toted to out-of-the-way jobs (it weighs just 7....

Media Platforms Design TeamQ: How do I unlock the audio antitheft sytem on a 2005 Chevy Aveo? I disconnected the battery to clean the terminals. Do I need to take it to the dealer?A: The code you need to enter should be in the glove box with the owner’s manual.Q: I have a convertible that I put away for 6 months a year. Will I have a problem with rust on my brakes in May when I bring the car out of the garage and put it on the road?...

Media Platforms Design TeamGlaciers, at least in the popular imagination, are one of the great bellwethers of climate change: If the earth heats up, the glaciers melt and sea levels rise. But not all of these huge ice sheets react to a changing planet in the same way. A few recent studies have suggested that, while the overriding global trend in glaciers shrinking, a few oddballs in the Himalayas for reasons unknown....

Everybody wants his car to stand out. Big wheels and tires are one way–but have you checked the price of 20-in. rims with 30-series tires lately? Actually, there are cheaper ways to make sure you can find your car parked outside at the mall. Vinyl graphics can be had at Pep Boys and other auto parts stores, and any place that does window tinting will have catalogs full of graphics to order....

Media Platforms Design TeamBegin with a coat of primer. Spot-prime bare patches, but prime the entire surface if it’s weather-beaten or needs a lot of scraping. Next, apply the topcoat to the siding. Cut in along the trim using a trim brush–switch to a roller for large, flat areas. Apply two topcoats. Finish the job with gloss or semigloss enamel applied to the trim. Again, apply two coats. Build Right to Make It LastMedia Platforms Design Team>1....

Adam, every year you do Adam Incognito, where you dress up in costume, walk the Comic-Con floor and ask fans to find you. What was your costume this year?Adam Savage: Two days ago, when I first arrived, I walked the floor as a Ringwraith from The Lord of the Rings. It was a costume that I had made a couple months ago and its gorgeous. Today, just before our panel, Im going to walk the line a couple more times in a couple of different costumes, but Im not going to reveal that its me....

As long as you can connect to the cloud, the iPad’s lack of expandable storage isn’t a problem. But if you lose access the Internet, you’re stuck with whatever fits on the tablet’s relatively small internal flash memory.LaCie offers a solution to that problem with its just-launched Fuel, a $200 newcomer to the small lineup of similar wireless, iOS-compatible drives made by SanDisk, Kingston, and Corsair. (The Fuel works with Android, too, but, as with most LaCie products, it’s aimed at a Mac-and-iOS audience....

A $100 million plane pulls up in front of you, ready for the final stage of assembly. When you’re done, the jet will leave the factory floor for a life of cruising at more than 1,000 mph and dodge enemy missiles. So you’d better build it right.Until recently, Lockheed Martin needed a team of technicians with years of training to wrench on its sophisticated machines. But now, in the advanced factory where the company is building the F-35, engineers are using augmented reality glasses and educational software that provide real-time visuals during the plane’s assembly, ensuring that every part on the warplane is in the right place....

A brand-new battlefield guided missile developed for the U.S. Army is being launched from an unlikely place—a grenade launcher. Developed by Raytheon, the Pike missile promises to give individual grunts the ability to hit targets more than a mile away.For decades, U.S. Army infantrymen have been been stymied in their quest for greater firepower. Weight limitations, set by the average load a soldier can carry, put a limit on the number of bullets and grenades that can be carried into battle....