Media Platforms Design TeamNWA 7533 traveled a long way to get into the lab of Munir Humayun at Florida State University. The ancient meteorite was recovered in 2011 after its long interplanetary journey. Soon the space rock was sold off to a collectors in the United States and France, but eventually a sample found its way into Humayun’s hands. Once he got a look at it, Humayun knew he had something rare....
The United States armed forces and its NATO allies are performing the biggest airborne drill training since the Cold War in response to further violence from pro-Russian forces in the eastern part of Ukraine. A total of 11 NATO nations and 5,000 soldiers are participating in the month-long drill in a training called Swift Response 15. It’s taking place in Germany, Romania, Italy, and Bulgaria. The drill began Saturday. A U....
Media Platforms Design TeamIn science’s relentless pursuit to fulfill the predications of Gattaca, not only has DNA sequencing become better, faster, and cheaper in the last few years. It also just got a lot smaller. A team of scientists at the University of Otago in New Zealand has just unveiled the world’s first handheld DNA sequencer.About the size and shape of a clay brick, the battery-powered prototype called Freedom4 is the result of a six-year collaboration between a computer programmer, a physicist, a chemist, and a team of biologists....
Media Platforms Design TeamAt first glance, it looks like any ol’ Airstream silver bullet on wheels. But inside, this 28-foot trailer boasts a one-off, nautically themed interior that makes us want to leave our earthly possessions behind and hit the open road.Media Platforms Design TeamThis “Land Yacht” concept was executed in collaboration with Italian cabinet makers Tecnoform and the Officina Italiana Design studios, executed in partnership with Riva Yachts designer Mauro Micheli....
View full post on YoutubeTiny-veined brethren, breathe a sigh of relief: the Australian Red Cross is working on a device that makes it easy for nurses to find veins when they draw blood.The device first scans an arm in infrared light, which is then processed and projected onto the arm. Hemoglobin in the blood shines under infrared, which is why the veins are so easy to spot. With the help of that visual overlay, the technician can easily find the right vein and reduce the pain of trial-and-error probing....
Yes, BattleBots may be back but its bigger brother is arriving too, in the form of a paintball duel between two gigantic, human piloted mechs. It’s called MegaBots, and the United States team along with its Megabot Mark II, just put out its first video taunt, challenging Japan and its million-dollar robot mech suit called Kuratas to a duel. View full post on YoutubeThis isn’t some sort of off the cuff plan; the MegaBot Mark I made its appearance at New York Comic Con 2014, though it wasn’t completely finished....
The Polaris Slingshot SL you see here is red, but base versions come in only one color: titanium metallic. One might call it gray, as in the gray area between cars and motorcycles, a regulatory DMZ where few dare to tread.Yes, the Slingshot is a three-wheeler, a reverse trike, the ol’ tripod. Three points make a plane, but it’s not plain whether Polaris will be able to convince state bureaucrats that this contraption belongs to the motorcycle family....
Next week, pilot André Borschberg will take off in the solar-powered plane Solar Impulse 2. After he does, he’ll be in the air for five days, traversing the Pacific Ocean on his way from Nanjing, China, to Honolulu, Hawaii alone. It only gets crazier from there. This hop from China to Hawaii is just one leg in a much longer 12-jump trip that’s taking the solar-powered plane and its two pilots around the globe....
Media Platforms Design TeamPrice: $15 to $26 for 25-foot modelPrice Difference Relative to Similar Products: $5 to $8 more.Description: Stanley’s PowerLock is a time-tested design. Introduced in March 1963, it became one of the first pocket-size heavy-duty tape measures suited for a variety of users, from handymen to metal fabricators to carpenters. Back then, folding rulers were still widely used, and the PowerLock easily bested them for speed and accuracy. Its slide-operated thumb latch, shape, and ease of use made it a breakthrough design....
Media Platforms Design TeamIn the old days, the descriptive word was “facelift.” But today, Jeep calls its mildly restyled 2008 model Grand Cherokee “refreshed.” The subtle styling changes are mostly confined to the front of the vehicle, especially the grille and headlights. Actually, you have to look close and hard to notice the differences: Grilles are taller, the headlights are almost round in shape. The new fascia is a two-piece design that allows for removal of the lower half, in case off-roaders want the ultimate in front-end approach and departure angles....
Media Platforms Design TeamIn a recent post, we looked inside “Canada’s Greenest Home,” which is an amazing place with one shortcoming: With a $600,000-plus price tag, it was comparatively expensive to build. If the story ended there, you might think there is no way you could afford to build an awesome environmentally sustainable house. You"d be wrong, as is evidenced by the story of Eric Thomas and his wife, Alex, who built a true net-zero home in Seattle for the bargain basement price of $125 per square foot, or a little under $250,000....
iHandy Carpenter Plumb Bob$1.99 for the iHandy Carpenter program suiteMedia Platforms Design TeamThe Promise:Builders, carpenters and masons use plumb bobs all the time to make sure that their constructions are “plumb,” or vertically true. The tools typically come as small weights that are suspended from a point using a string known as a plumb line. The iPhone app recreates this experience using the iPhone’s accelerometer. As the phone is tilted back and forth or side-to-side, the animated plumb bob swings, and the program tells you how far off plumb you are....
Do you remember the first time you watched the original Jurassic Park? If, like me, you were a kid, you probably lost countless nights of sleep to that horrifying T-Rex roar. Or the sounds of two villainous raptors searching an empty cafeteria kitchen for a little bit of human child flesh. Well that’s all thanks to Jurassic Park sound designer Gary Rydstrom, the mastermind behind the sounds of my 1990s nightmares (not including this one)....
This past January, two brothers from Texas, Michael and Robert Edman, appeared in court to face federal charges of selling counterfeit computer equipment to, among others, the Air Force, Marine Corps, Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Energy, numerous universities and defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin. According to prosecutors, the pair, working largely out of Michael Edman’s house in the rural town of Richmond, bought cheap network cards from a supplier in China....
The Claim “Tired of getting last week’s burned mess on this week’s dinner?” The Grill Daddy Pro “uses the power of steam to break up caked-on food residue.” Fill the hollow handle with water, heat the grill and open a valve, and holes between the stainless steel bristles release “a stream of water that steam-cleans that cooked-on, charred-on mess away in seconds.” Additionally, by rinsing away the grease, “bacteria is eliminate [sic] and the grill is sterilized....
Media Platforms Design Team LAS VEGAS—This CES has featured a lot of environmental slogans, and some degree of action, as electronics manufacturers push recycling, energy savings, etc. But they could be doing a lot more. Energy economist Lynne Kiesling has been thinking about this, and suggests that we should make our devices – and the power grid – smarter, so that peak consumption is reduced and cheaper off-peak power is used for lots of mundane tasks: I think there are two related questions that should be on the minds of electronics manufacturers, and consumers:...
Media Platforms Design TeamOn Saturday afternoon, Joe Quesada, chief creative officer of Marvel Entertainment and overall creative mastermind, held his “Cup o Joe” panel at New York Comic Con. On the panel were a lineup of Marvel heavy-hitters including editor-in-chief Axel Alonso, editor Tom Brevoort, artists Reilly Brown and Alex Maleev, as well as writers C.B. Cebulski, Gerry Duggan, and Dan Slott. Ten minutes later, the comic creatives were joined by zombie guru George A....
Media Platforms Design TeamPerhaps the biggest news to come out of Microsoft yesterday was that the company not only has a new HoloLens 3D augmented reality visor on deck, but that it has been working with the NASA Mars Curiosity team on ways to virtually explore Mars. The project, called OnSight, has been in the works for more than two years, as Microsoft and NASA worked collaboratively to perfect the technology and make it as intuitive as possible....
Media Platforms Design TeamWhat Is It? Mercedes-Benz E250 BlueTEC concept The Specs The E250 is already sold in Europe and Mercedes is considering offering the car stateside. It uses a 2.1-liter, four-cylinder diesel engine rather than the sixes and eights currently for sale. The new, small diesel produces 204 horsepower and an astounding 369 pound-feet of torque. It’s also estimated to achieve 28/39 city/hwy fuel economy. The Bottom Line This car should perform adequately and return class-leading fuel economy....
Media Platforms Design TeamA sample of soil from the rim of Camelot crater slid from my scoop into a Teflon bag to begin its trip to Earth with the crew of Apollo 17. Little did I know at the time, on Dec. 13, 1972, that sample 75501, along with samples from Apollo 11 and other missions, would provide the best reason to return to the moon in the 21st century. That realization would come 13 years later....
