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Fiorella Terenzi, a professor of physics and astronomy at Florida International University, has spent three decades capturing the strange, spooky symphony of the cosmos. Now, after going (largely) ignored for decades, her work is edging toward the mainstream. This isn’t just for fun, though, or for the ‘wow’ factor of turning the rhythms of the cosmos into music. Terenzi’s unorthodox research methods might reveal tiny details about the behavior of binary stars, let us listen in on the interactions of galaxies and their satellites, and reveal details about the cosmos that can be heard rather than seen....

Media Platforms Design TeamWithout Gerhard Ertl, fuel cells and Miracle-Gro may never have been invented. The 71-year-old German scientist won the 2007 Nobel Prize for chemistry today for his work on surface chemistry, which studies the chemical reaction of gases to solid surfaces. In his experiments, Ertl observed how atoms and molecules react to surfaces like metal in a vacuum. The research explains why iron rusts or how cars clean their exhaust emissions, and it paved the way for artificial fertilizers, which use iron surfaces to extract nitrogen from the air....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt starts as a smell. The unmistakable odor of burning insulation. Shortly thereafter a wisp of smoke curls out from under the dash. Then comes the similarly unmistakable pop of a fuse blowing. At which point your radio cuts out.Or maybe it’s the windshield wipers that stop–or the engine itself. No doubt about it, you have a short circuit.Media Platforms Design TeamNOW WHAT?It may well be that the source of the short is obvious, like that wiring dangling under the dash....

Media Platforms Design Team1) Longest Powered ParaglideMay 15, 2009, to Sept. 5, 2009Dangling from a parachute with a 202-cc engine and a carbon-fiber propeller on his back, Ben Jordan glided more than 6000 miles across Canada at 25 to 30 mph, stopping every few hours to refuel. On his 114-day journey from the Pacific Coast to Newfoundland, he traveled over vast expanses of uninhabited land that most paragliders wouldn’t attempt to cross....

Media Platforms Design Team(Photo by Getty Images/Ritam Banerjee/Stringer) The world is buzzing about the launch of the Tata Nano, the tiny four-door, $2230 car that Tata Motors claims will be “the world’s cheapest car.” Although this is not something you will find in our garage any time soon—because it won’t be available in the U.S., not to mention the 623-cc two-cylinder engine with about 30 horsepower, optional power steering and power brakes and lack of airbags, anti-lock brakes or even radio....

Forget all those broken boards and crumbled concrete slabs. No feat of martial arts is more impressive than Bruce Lee’s famous strike, the one-inch punch. From a single inch away, Lee was able to muster an explosive blow that could knock opponents clean off the ground. Lee mastered it, fans worldwide adored it, and Kill Bill “borrowed” it. But if you’re like us, you want to know how it works.While the biomechanics behind the powerful blow certainly aren’t trivial, the punch owes far more to brain structure than to raw strength....

We’ve all seen basic 3D pictures before. There are those distorted picture-globes you can take with your phone, or Google’s Street View photospheres. They’re impressive in their own way, but they’re just 2D images arranged in a slightly 3D-ish manner. Pretty, but not quite convincingly real. The pictures taken by this crazy rotating camera rig are. This weird spinning camera rig developed by a company called OTOY doesn’t just create one static 2D image you can pan around....

Maybe you’ve seen them in the night sky the past few nights – two bright lights coming awfully close together. That’s Venus and Jupiter, and they’ve been on their way to a spectacular meet-up that culminates tonight, when they’ll be less than a degree apart in the night sky. Use a small, inexpensive telescope – even a 70 mm basic model from Orion or Celestron – and you’ll be able to resolve the bands in the clouds of Jupiter, as well as the four Galilean moons of Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto....

With a sleek needle nose and a swept double-delta wing with two prominent nacelles, the supersonic SR-71 Blackbird spy plane is the stuff aviation legend. Although the SR-71 first flew in late December of 1964 and hasn’t been in service for almost 25 years, it’s still the fastest plane that’s ever seen action.Related StoryWhy the A-10 Warthog Is Such a Badass PlanePowered by two Pratt & Whitney J58 turboramjets, the jet could fly faster than Mach 3 and climb so high that the crew needed to wear pressure suits so as not to pass out....

Media Platforms Design TeamWith the dozens of camera angles used to show a football game on TV, why hasn’t anyone ever thought of giving us a ball’s-eye view? Because with the spheroid spiraling at speeds up to 600 rpm, a football-cam would produce unwatchable, nauseating footage.But what if it didn’t? Imagine the footage a football would capture if it flew down the gridiron without spinning. That’s what researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo have developed, using an algorithm that analyzes frames shot by a football’s built-in camera as it spirals across the field....

Media Platforms Design TeamWe have a nice old house with an obvious flaw: The chimney curves. One contractor told us to brace the chimney and convert the home’s heating system to a boiler that vents through the sidewall, not through the chimney flue. Taking the chimney out of use seems extreme, as one of its flues serves a fireplace that we use. Others say we should rebuild the curved section, and still others advise installing a stainless-steel liner....

Media Platforms Design TeamI have a ‘93 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and the cruise control has completely stopped working. Any idea what the problem might be?Cruise control has gone through so many different iterations over the years, it’s almost comical. At the beginning it was purely mechanical, then it was vacuum-actuated, then it was electromechanical, and now the state of the art is to directly control the electronic throttle body. Your version is electromechanical, which means that the throttle pedal is directly connected to the throttle body through a cable, and the cruise control is achieved by way of a servomotor that sucks in that cable and holds it in place....

Media Platforms Design TeamA direct descendant of the 1954 300 SL Gullwing, Benz’s SL series gets a fresh look for 2009—and a heavy dose of technology on the inside. It’s less a complete redesign than a refreshing of the current platform across the 550, 600 and 63 AMG models. The most recognizable difference between old and new is the much more aggressive, V-shape nose section with multi-element bi-xenon headlamps. But travel around the outside of the SL and you’ll notice a multitude of other changes like the longer hood (with dual power domes), new rear diffuser, trapezoidal exhaust outlets and new taillamps....

NASA has learned an important lesson: ants don’t take well to space. When a bunch of pavement ants went to space recently, they lost one of their vital skills: exploration. Placed in a container on Earth, the ants will canvas the entire area of their enclosure. But in space, they lost track of where they were. It seems the insects could not deal particularly well with microgravity, which disrupted their orientation....

Media Platforms Design TeamCorporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations have a huge impact on the cars we buy. Two years ago, the nation’s fuel economy standards went through the first major overhaul since 1985; new rules required the U.S. car fleet to reach the . Now, policy makers are working on the next round of regulations for 2017 through 2025. They’re talking about much more stringent numbers—and, automakers argue, much more expensive cars....

Media Platforms Design TeamJeremy Reid’s roller-coaster maintenance schedule includes regular weed control around the track, wood sealant once or twice a year and oil for the chain. (Photograph by Chris Buck)Track StarJeremy Reid; Oklahoma CityOn a 10-acre plot southwest of Oklahoma City, Jeremy Reid built an unexpected addition to his parents’ backyard: a roller coaster. “I thought it would be great to have a small one to piece together and ride,” he says....

Media Platforms Design Team(Photo Credit: Colorblind Images/Getty Images)There’s a new kind of computer attack out there, and your computer doesn’t have to be online to be compromised. These attacks could target your computer while you’re working at a coffee shop or other public space. Now, Georgia Tech researchers are working on a way to protect you.The attackers in this case is looking for sources of low power “leaks” that can let out information from your computer....

Media Platforms Design TeamFor generations, tradesmen of all persuasions have been banging together simple wooden boxes for their gear. Long and narrow for easy carrying, these toolboxes were little more than five boards and a heavy dowel handle. They were the ultimate in utility–and they’re just as handy now, whether you wear overalls to work or not. Our version is inspired by these old designs, but we’ve added a drawer for small tools and hardware....

Media Platforms Design TeamAn asphalt driveway is an investment that’s well worth protecting. A little time spent patching and sealing can extend the life of the blacktop and improve the curb appeal—and value—of your home. There’s no better time of year to restore asphalt than right now, before winter arrives with its punishing weather and subfreezing temperatures. But before you apply a topcoat sealer, you must inspect the driveway and make the necessary repairs....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn Sale Date: NowPrice: Wi-Fi only: $399 for 16GB, $499 for 32GB, $599 for 64GB, $699 for 128GB; Wi-Fi + Cellular: $529 for 16GB, $629 for 32GB, $729 for 64GB, $829 for 128GBWhen Apple released its iPad Mini last year, it didn’t receive Retina treatment—a strange move considering many of its products at the time got the high-definition displays. A little more than a year later, this newest model of the downsized tablet gets the update to help appease our pixel-hungry eyes....