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Nick Acosta, last seen inserting the original USS Enterprise model into scenes from the Star Trek film series, is back with another great Star Trek project. This time, it’s making a working tricorder from an ordinary 1990s toy model. “I gutted the toy, sanded it down so it would fit my disused iPhone 4S, and then created custom graphics for it,” Acosta said. “I did it to have a beautiful, programable movie prop on my desk while I work at night....

Above a construction site in Karlsruhe, Germany, a small house dangles from a tall crane. But roots visible on the house’s underside give it away: This is not a surreal innovation in urban renewal, or a home in the middle of a move across town. It’s the surreal centerpiece of an international arts festival called “The City is the Star,” which celebrates and repurposes construction sites and “poor materials” to celebrate the aesthetics of the everyday....

When New York State police confirmed that all 49 passengers aboard Continental Connection flight 3407 died in this morning’s crash, it broke an unprecedented streak of fatality-free aviation in the U.S. It has been two years since a fatality has been reported on board a U.S. flight.The airplane was a Dash-8 Q400, barely a year old. (For FAA records on this airplane, click here.) Continental Connection, operated by Manassas, Va.-based Colgan Air, bought the airplane in 2008 and recently announced plans to buy more....

E-voting is off to a glitch-full start this Election Day, with early reports of computer errors from Colorado to Indiana and Pennsylvania, confused poll workers in Ohio and frustrated voters returning to the paper ballot in Florida, where the technological shortcomings of America’s election system came to a freakish peak in the first place. This year’s midterm elections mark the deadline for changes enacted by the 2002 Help America Vote Act in the wake of 2000’s hanging chad fiasco, with close to half of voters using optical scanners that feed votes into a computer and another 38 percent of voters—across at least 34 states—operating within the murky (if dated) system of touchscreen machines....

Forget what you think you know about the electric car. That bog-slow glorified golf cart in your mind is about to be history. The new Tesla Roadster doesn’t just break that stodgy and sluggish century old mold of the electric car—it shatters it. The Tesla Roadster is the very first a high performance electric car. It’s said to run to 60 mph in around 4 seconds and top out at 130 mph thanks to a powerful 185 KW, 3-phase, 4-pole AC induction motor that can spin up to 13,000 rpm....

Media Platforms Design TeamPhoto credit: Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty ImagesThe Federal Communications Commission has voted to accept chairman Tom Wheelers’ proposal for an adoption of new net neutrality rules. Last month, Wheeler drew ire from net neutrality supporters and journalists when he proposed a plan, pockmarked by vague terminology surrounding key phrases such as “commercially unreasonable,” that would provide preferential treatment to big content providers, like Netflix, who paid for premium service. Despite Wheeler’s insistence to the contrary, many believe these “fast lanes” could hinder startups who can’t afford higher costs and also raised other First Amendment concerns on the free flow of information on the internet....

Tesla’s new Powerwall batteries are huge, expensive, and powerful. The largest has a capacity of 10 kWh—roughly 1,000 times more than the battery in your phone. These batteries are gigantic. But how much energy is that really, in terms you can fathom?All the numbers come from this absolutely lovely visualization by GE, except where noted. All of the examples here are mutually exclusive, assuming you’re using the Powerwall’s full charge for just one thing....

Media Platforms Design TeamNano art has come a long way since researchers arranged atoms to spell IBM in 1989. The latest feat is Mini Lisa, a detailed grayscale version of the Mona Lisa on a canvas just 32 microns across—one-third the width of a hair. The image was created with a new technique in which the heated tip of a powerful microscope controls the speed of a chemical reaction at each pixel: More heat produces a faster reaction and the lighter shade of gray....

Media Platforms Design TeamNobody really has to buy a motorcycle. But these days plenty of people want to. And you may be one of them. Before you plunk down your money, swing your leg over the seat and feel that warm breeze of freedom, you need to resolve several critical issues.Am I an experienced rider?Riding a motorcycle is undeniably fun. It also can be lethal if done wrong. Therefore, before you even consider buying any kind of motorcycle, assess your skills and abilities....

Media Platforms Design TeamInfiniti continues to hold BMW clearly focused in its crosshairs. The first G35 Coupe came very close to matching BMW’s superb driving dynamics, and the all-new G37 Coupe could close the gap further. Infiniti revealed the coupe’s sleek and sexy bodywork at the New York International auto show this afternoon.From the chiseled hood to the enhanced grille, this Infiniti coupe will likely win as many new owners as its G35 predecessor....

Media Platforms Design Team LAS VEGAS-Few companies are as associated with excess as Monster. This is a company that made its name by slapping what might generously be called premium price tags on HDMI and speaker cables, and aggressively courting television retailers to push their wares on consumers by promising them better picture quality with their investment. The key: a system of “speed ratings” that purport to show that consumers need faster, more expensive cables for better picture quality....

Media Platforms Design TeamNASA has a proven track record of space imaging prowess—the success of the Hubble and Kepler telescopes in capturing the farthest reaches of space proves this. The problem? Hubble alone has cost about to taxpayers since its launch in 1990. In short, telescopes are expensive. So how can NASA deliver the same high-quality galactic images and information for less?$9.6 billionChuck Hailey, a professor of physics at Columbia University, has one answer—cheaper lenses....

Popular Mechanics’ first-ever DIY Rally turned some of our brightest readers into PM contributors by showcasing their ingenuity in the pages of our July issue, out on newsstands now. Check out these six of videos of the contraptions at work.Robert Lange Robert Lange weaves through the trees in his mean, clean racing machine:Sideways Bike Michael Killian carves up a public park on his unusually oriented bike while onlookers stare on: Pedal Air Gun Bill Llewellin’s human-powered spud launcher punches through a board:Self-Tending BBQ Oven Nathan Moore explains the merits of his controlled outdoor cooker: Biodiesel Motorcycle David Hubber fires up his veggie-fueled BMW: Monowheel David Southall zips by on his precariously balanced one-wheeled vehicle: Multimachine Pat Delaney demonstrates the varied capabilities of his all-in-one machine shop:Plans for the multimachine may be downloaded directly from Popular Mechanics, although we strongly recommend visiting Delaney’s Yahoo group for additional information....

Hue bulbs are lightbulbs that connect to your Wi-Fi network with a bridge. When your smartphone is connected to your home Wi-Fi network, you can set the bulbs to turn on with the sunrise, shut off when you (and your phone) leave the house, or have them flash in sync with your music. I’m a total believer, got them all through my apartment, and I like having them turn dark red before I got to bed – that light is forgiving and flattering, and science has it that those long wavelengths don’t suppress melatonin production the way blue light does....

Media Platforms Design TeamFrom left: Audi A3 TDI, Toyota Prius V, Smart Fortwo Passion, Honda Insight EX Navi and Ford Fusion HybridForget about horsepower, dragstrip time slips or torque curves. The most important automotive performance yardstick of the next decade will be miles per gallon. Gyrating fuel prices and a cratered economy have made car buyers more concerned about fuel economy than ever. “It’s definitely one of their top factors in a purchase decision,” says Mike Omotoso, senior manager of powertrain forecasting for J....

Russia’s latest cruise missile has been used for the first time in the Syria conflict. Introduced in 2013, the Raduga Kh-101 has been spotted on Russian Tu-95MS heavy bombers (pictured above) lobbing salvos of cruise missiles at Islamic State targets. The Kh-101 is a subsonic, conventionally armed cruise missile that flies at low level to avoid enemy radar. Compounding the difficulty of detecting the Kh-101 is that the missile is low-observable—not quite stealthy, but still designed with radar evasion in mind....

Media Platforms Design TeamAt 11:42 Eastern this morning, the SpaceX Dragon capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean about 500 miles off the coast of Baja California, at 27 degrees north latitude and 120 degrees west longitude. NASA TV captured the spacecraft descending through the atmosphere slowed by three parachutes, while CEO Elon Musk and others nervously awaited Dragon’s return from the company’s Hawthorne, Calif., headquarters.SpaceX made history last week when it launched Dragon via a Falcon 9 rocket and the spacecraft became the first one built, launched, and operated by a private firm to berth with the International Space Station....

Last month, researchers spotted a mysterious manmade object on a crash course with Earth. While scientists were able to figure out when and where it would hit us, they were not able to figure out what the heck it was. Now it’s burned up in the atmosphere and we’ll likely never know. On the upside, the International Astronomy Center and the Unite Arab Emirates Space Agency caught some footage of it....

UPDATE: October 19, 2018: Right on schedule, the BepiColombo spacecraft is scheduled to blast off in the early morning of Saturday, October. Its seven-year mission will begin at the Guiana Space Center in South America, a spaceport that is a joint collaboration between French Guiana and the European Union.“This is an exciting time,” says Rolf Densing, ESA’s Director of Operations, in a press statement. “After months of practice, teams here at mission control are eager to see BepiColombo depart from our planet, and they’re ready to guide it carefully every day for seven years until it arrives at Mercury....

Full sun. Just an incredibly beautiful winter’s day in northern Vermont. Of course, when your electrical supply is sun-dependant, cloudless days take on a whole new meaning. First thing I did this morning was sweep off our Thermo-Dynamics solar hot water collectors and our Evergreen Solar pv array. They’d accumulated about three-inches of fluffy snow over the past couple days. It’s not a big deal to clean them off, and if I forgot, the sun would quickly melt the snow, but it is a reminder of the altered state of consciousness our alternative systems demand....