Media Platforms Design TeamHow does working with tools while wearing a spacesuit compare to reaching for a wrench here on Earth? It is tricky. It’s like being in your garage with a big set of gloves on and trying to handle some of the small tools and not drop them. Here on Earth if you drop stuff, of course, it falls down or on your workbench or maybe in a hard part to get at in your car....
Media Platforms Design TeamWhen you were approaching retirement from Shell, were you already thinking about starting Citizens for Affordable Energy? As president of Shell, I spoke out publicly against the unaffordability of oil and gasoline, and I spoke in support of alternative fuels . . . Starting Citizens for Affordable Energy was an evolutionary step for me. Did Shell support your views? Yes. As president, I made decisions to invest in hydrogen-fuel-cell technology and five separate biofuel projects....
A quarter-century after the Cold War came to a close, the only cannon that actually fired in space has finally come to light.Installed on the Almaz space station in the 1970s, the R-23M Kartech was derived from a powerful aircraft weapon; Aron Rikhter designed the original 23-millimeter cannon for the Tupolev Tu-22 Blinder supersonic bomber. That gun is relatively well known, but its space-based cousin has largely remained in obscurity. ✅ You love badass machines....
Most joints are designed with one orientation in mind, maybe two. But this joint—the Kawai Tsugite joint—fits perfectly in three different ways. How does that work? The Kawai Tsugite joint has popped up on the internet now and then, but in the interest of figuring out how it works and explaining it the laymen, prolific Matthias Wandel went through the trouble of making one and explaining the geometric logic each step of the way....
Clean Space One isn’t a catch-all space junk solution–that’s as much of a political problem as it is an engineering one. But what it Clean Space One does do is clean up the mess created by the Swiss EPFL Center for Space Engineering’s own satellites.The EPFL has already launched some test probes called SwissCubes, which are basically their own version of the adorable CubeSat. But once the science payload of the mission is spent, it’s nice to have a good way to de-orbit the satellites so they don’t contribute to our growing space junk problem....
It may not be your next gaming computer, but Stanford researchers have made a pretty incredible technical feat: they’ve created a computer that uses the physics of water for its processing power.The chips inside the computer have been compared to a maze. By using a magnetic field, the researchers can guide a fluid through the chips, creating a slow but steady computational power based not on semiconductors but on fluid dynamics of droplets....
COMPLETE LIVE COVERAGE FROM E3 2008* E3 NEWS: Click Here for Reviews, Roundups, Q&As and Video!LOS ANGELES – The next-gen console war has been over for more than a year. The beginning of the end was November 2006, when Nintendo’s Wii first hit stores. The lower-cost, motion-sensing alternative to Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has sold more than 24 million units so far, compared to more than 9 million PS3s, and more than 19 million 360s....
MARMARAY TUNNELLocation: Istanbul, TurkeyPrice Tag: $3.3 billionCompletion Date: 2010Total Length: 8.25 milesImmersed Section: 4600 feetSince the 19th Century, Turks have dreamed of connecting Europe and Asia via a tunnel under the Bosporus. Soon, that dream will come true in the form of the 8.25-mile-long Marmaray Tunnel, which will provide a rail link for a rapid transit system.Tunnels on such a scale have been built before, but the Marmaray engineers had to deal with an extra hurdle – they’re working in an earthquake zone....
In golf there are mechanical players and feel players. I’m one of the latter. When I swing, I don’t fight through a flurry of technical steps. I wait for the gentle tug at impact to tell me I’ve found the sweet spot, as if I were hitting a marshmallow. In my twenty years of playing, I’ve clung to the belief that overthinking strangles the fun out of the game. But with so many new swing-analysis gadgets being introduced, I finally gave in to curiosity....
Media Platforms Design TeamBigger is better when it comes to hard drive reliability. That’s according to a new report from Backblaze. The cloud-backup company tracked the annual failure rates of nearly all the 41,213 drives it uses to store all its customers’ data and found that 4 TB drives were consistently more reliable than 3 TB ones.Backblaze tested drives from HGST, Seagate, and Western Digital. Seagate’s 3 TB drives did the worst of the three, with a failure rate last year around 40 percent....
As they continue to battle a massive wildfire tearing through the Southern California desert that has already claimed the lives of four firefighters, emergency responders today are keeping a watchful eye on a phenomenon of strong, hot winds making their job more dangerous by the minute.Only about 5 percent of the so-called “Esperanza” blaze had been contained throughout the San Jacinto mountains as of mid-morning, but the dangerous Santa Ana winds will bring in gusts from 20-30 mph, and up to 50 mph in canyons and passes....
Media Platforms Design TeamPrice: $20 to $32Price Difference Relative to Similar Products: about $3 to $5 more Description: The Wiss MultiMaster M300 is one of the most versatile tools I own. Powered by a compound-action hinge and long handles, it’s rated to cut material as tough as 20-gauge low-carbon sheet steel. Although I’ve cut that kind of material with the M300, I use it mostly for odd jobs such as cutting aluminum flashing, light-gauge metal ductwork, opening heavy plastic packages, or cutting up combined materials such as cardboard and plastic....
Media Platforms Design TeamMotorists wave as police cars pursue the Ford Bronco (white, R) driven by Al Cowlings, carrying fugitive murder suspect O.J. Simpson, on June 17, 1994. Credit: Getty Images.Today marks the 20 anniversary of O.J. Simpson’s iconic low-speed chase in a 1992 Ford Bronco, witnessed by more than 95 million Americans. Everyone knows the event, but whatever happened to that famous white truck?Simpson’s Bronco was sold for $75,000 to Michael Pulwer, a friend of Al Cowlings, the man who drove the Bronco while Simpson was in the back seat....
Media Platforms Design Team DEARBORN, Mich. — The new Ford Flex is a master of versatility. It’s part SUV, part minivan and doesn’t carry the stigma of either one. In fact, it’s actually kind of cool. The base $28,995 Flex can seat up to seven, and there’s a long list of options. How many other minivans or crossovers offer a refrigerator and four sunroofs? None. So will the new Flex become the sales success that the Freestar minivan and the Freestyle crossover never were?...
Media Platforms Design Team SEVILLE, Spain — “We’re making Jaguar Jaguar again,” managing director Mike O’Driscoll declared here at the world launch of the new XFR, offering statement that speaks as much to the brand’s rocky past with Ford as it does to its future with its new owners, Indian conglomerate Tata. The leading edge of Jaguar’s product offensive is their Type R performance division, the latest of which is the XFR sedan and XKR coupe....
Media Platforms Design TeamThe new Tucson is the first Hyundai crossover to be designed in Europe at the company’s Frankfurt, Germany design and tech center. Though the Tucson is lighter than its predecessor by 61 pounds, it’s longer by 3.3 inches, and wider by one inch. And that helps the lighter Tucson have a higher power-to-weight ratio than the Toyota RAV4 and the Honda CR-V. The max cargo capacity with the rear seats folded down in this crossover is 55....
Our PM tech team is here on the ground in Las Vegas at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show. Like every year, the show kicks off with the CES Unveiled Event, which gives the press a sneak peek at some of the products that will popping up over the coming week. Here are four of the most fun products we got our hands on last night:Media Platforms Design Team 1. Interactive Toy Concepts Duckhunter///$30 Sure, we’re suckers for robotic flying toys, but we’ve always felt like they could be a little more fun....
Media Platforms Design TeamQ: I’m getting ready to paint my house, again, and this time I want to do it right. I’m striving for that crisp, clean look, and I want it to last. A neighbor had his house done and five years later it still looks great. I painted three years ago and my house looks lousy. Where do I start? A: Preparation. That single word unlocks the mystery of why paint jobs by pros last and those done by a homeowner may not....
Media Platforms Design TeamScientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, N.Y., have discovered the heaviest antimatter ever observed. It’s antihelium-4, a conglomeration of two antiprotons and two antineutrons. This antihelium is the antimatter partner to what physicists call the alpha particle (identical to a standard helium nucleus), and its discovery comes on the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the alpha particle itself, says Aihong Tang, lead author on the paper published in ....
Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design TeamThe diesel-electric hybrid hype has met its match: the U.S. Army. After focusing on hydrogen fuel cells in its original version of “The Aggressor,” a high-performance, off-road Alternative Mobility Vehicle (AMV) for military ground exploration and scouting missions, the Pentagon is now going the way of Detroit—with batteries. The new, second-generation prototype will still utilize the same basic chassis and exterior design for light-duty capacity....
