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Media Platforms Design TeamFor snipers, every war is different. Recognizing the differences between conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army is now selecting a contractor to upgrade the 22-year-old Remington bolt-action rifle to become a more effective killing machine. The Army will pour about $5.6 million into upgrades to the M24, with the new gear expected to be delivered to troops by this fall. The M24’s barrel is being modified to shoot heavier ....

Media Platforms Design TeamThere are plenty of binary star systems out there, but VFTS 352 is an especially rare type: an ultra-contact binary, two stars so closely intertwined that they begin to share parts of the other’s atmosphere. In this case, 30 percent of the material between the stars is shared. These kind of stars burn out over a few million to a few hundred million years, meaning that catching them is, on a cosmic scale, relatively hard....

We live in a galaxy that’s home to billions of stars and billions of habitable planets, which would seem to offer life the chance to spring up around the Milky Way. But if there are advanced alien civilizations out there, then where the hell is everybody and why haven’t we heard from them?That question is the Fermi Paradox at its most basic level. But, as this excellent video by “In a Nutshell” explains, there’s more to it than you might think....

Media Platforms Design Team(Photo Credit: David Ramos/Getty Images)Even though GoPro video is about its creator (Look how well I can surf!), the creator usually isn’t in them, at least not for long—what we see is their point of view. But that turns out to be not entirely true: The filmmaker is in the movie—he or she can be revealed in the particular wobble of the shots.According to a new study of “ecocentric video biometrics....

Raspberry Pi has been pushing down the price of computers for years. First to just $35 and then further to $25. The newest model, the Raspberry Pi Zero, drops that cost to a rock-bottom five dollars. Good luck buying one though because they sold out in just 24 hours. Announced on Thanksgiving, the Pi Zero has an ARM core that’s actually 40 percent faster than the original Raspberry Pi, and comes with a hefty 512MB of RAM, twice as much as you’d find in the $25 Raspberry Pi Model A....

Last week’s failure of telecommunications satellite Express-AM11 is being blamed on a “sudden external impact,“according to New Scientist. The satellite’s operators, Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC), placed Express-AM11 in a disposal orbit over the weekend. Operators first noticed a problem when telemetry from the satellite indicated that a fluid cooling loop had depressurized rapidly, likely frying electronics after the craft experienced massive fluctuations in temperature. Although there are over 4 million pounds of space junk in orbit, a NASA orbital debris expert tells New Scientist that it is extremely rare for a geostationary satellite such as Express-AM11 to be hit by debris....

Media Platforms Design TeamIf the ridiculously fast ZX-14 sport bike is the thrill-seeking teenager of Kawasaki’s lineup, the new Concours 14 tourer is its older, wiser sibling who still knows how to have fun. Both bikes share the same potent powertrain, but the Concours 14 isn’t simply a ZX-14 slapped with saddlebags. Underneath its faceted body panels are high-tech mods that smooth out the ZX’s barnstorming personality for long hauls. By reinforcing the aluminum monocoque chassis for the rigors of two-up touring, the Concours bulks up a bit while also boasting increased torsional rigidity....

Media Platforms Design TeamTeam: Edison2Car: Very Light CarClass: MainstreamDrivetrain: Internal combustion engineEnergy Storage: E85PM Says: A machine optimized for the competition. Can it reach 100 mpg?Odds to Win: 5 to 1To Edison2, there are only two absolute virtues: low weight and low aerodynamic drag. Standing 53 inches high with its wheels mounted outboard under fairings, the four-passenger version of Edison2’s Very Light Car (VLC) seems incredibly tiny—it’s 7 inches shorter than a Honda Fit....

Media Platforms Design TeamIn a recent survey of 926 public high school biology teachers across the nation, only 28 percent of teachers taught evolution as a well-supported fundamental idea of science. Meanwhile, 13 percent openly supported “intelligent design” in the classroom, and 60 percent fell somewhere in-between. This majority presented evolution cautiouslyby including non-scientific viewpoints, by limiting discussion to genetics, or by saying that students only needed to learn the material to pass exams....

Heating the washer fluid makes a lot of sense. During especially cold days—as often seen in Detroit in January—even the alcohol-based washer fluid doesn’t cut through the grime. So GM offered a system that heated the fluid, and on the few cars we tried with the feature, the system worked brilliantly. But, unfortunately, the system may also cause an engine fire. The first fix, in 2008, was to install a separate fuse in the system’s wiring—apparently that wasn’t enough....

There were once nine planets in the solar system – and no, we’re not talking about Pluto. In the mid-1800s, hot on the heels of the discovery of Neptune, some astronomers were all but convinced that a scorching-hot planet lie between the Sun and Mercury. A tiny quirk in Mercury’s orbit seemed to indicate the tug of an unseen object. Math, and the understanding of gravity at the time, seemed to make finding this planet, Vulcan, an inevitability....

Media Platforms Design TeamDoor skins can be replaced without welding by grinding off the original skin’s flange and drilling out the welds, then gluing the new panel in place.Backing a boat trailer into a barn is easy. Well, maybe not quite as easy if the barn roof is supported on posts. In that case, you pay a lot of attention to not backing the boat or trailer into any posts.Which is how the door on the truck acquired a big dent – you were so focused on the boat, you forgot to pay attention to the truck....

Media Platforms Design TeamIf you own an old house, chances are you have at least one window that needs reglazing. There are two situations that can lead to this—a broken pane or deterioration over time.Glazing is the name of the hardened putty that creates a weathertight seal on the exterior of the window between the wood and the glass. Over time it can fall off or become badly cracked, leaving your window vulnerable to the effects of water and rot....

Media Platforms Design Team Last night’s episode of Lost, “Jughead,” had its fair share of “Holy cow, what did he just say!?” moments. Like when we learned that uber-rich (and uber-mysterious) businessman Charles Widmore was funding physicist Daniel Faraday’s time travel research. Or that Widmore himself was once a Latin-speaking Other on the very island he’s spent the last 20 years trying to find. And then there’s that little fact that, oh my, there’s a nuclear bomb on the island!...

Media Platforms Design TeamJust after 7 pm on April 20, the offshore oil-drilling platform Deepwater Horizon exploded and was engulfed in flames. It was 41 miles off the coast of Louisiana, working for BP Exploration and Production, Inc., drilling in what is known as the Mississippi Canyon block 252. The Coast Guard received the first call for assistance at 7:23 pm and within the hour dispatched its first of six helicopters, soon followed by six surface cutters....

Media Platforms Design TeamPlaying bike messenger Wilee in Premium Rush left a mark on Joseph Gordon-Levitt—in the form of actual scars. The actor was filming on Sixth Avenue in New York City when an SUV drove into the lanes closed for the production. “Joe’s approaching at 30 mph,” director David Koepp says, “and he can either hit the guy, or swerve abruptly into live traffic that doesn’t know he’s coming, or go left....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe nets come out of the water like giant sopping drapes, 15-foot-tall cascades of blue and green mesh dripping seaweed. The wooden decks of the ­Grandville Davis shudder with the weight of tautog, scup, flounder, butterfish and hundreds of squid jetting streams of ink and sea­water. The vessel’s captain, Chris Brown, is dwarfed by the trawl. He wears the waterman’s uniform: blue jeans, a sweatshirt and a ball cap grimed with fish scales....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe United Nations this weekreleased its investigationchemical weapons attack into the reported in Syria on August 21. The U.N. says that, yes, chemical weapons were used in Syria, and its report provides details about how these weapons were deployed. The U.N. team found evidence of several different rockets that were used in the attack.This is the story of one of them.What It IsThe investigators discovered a small crater in a porch in a Damascus suburb called Moadamiyah; inside the crater was a rocket motor....

The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence has unveiled its high-tech soldier suit of the future. Equipped with centipede-like armor, biometric sensors, and advanced networking and communications, Future Soldier Vision (FSV) is designed to make British soldiers safer and more effective on the battlefield. In war, the side with the most information usually wins. FSV is a set of armor, computers, antennas, and sensors that are worn over standard military fatigues. The goal is to make each soldier a networked sensor in wartime, capable of sharing and receiving information, calling for support, and coordinating action over long distances....

A new device that connects to smartphones can perform rapid HIV testing in the field, a potential breakthrough for healthcare workers in places where the disease is near epidemic.The device, created by a Columbia Engineering team led by Samuel K. Sia, uses a blood finger prick method to simultaneously test for HIV and both active and non-active syphillis. Using what’s called the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method, the device draws energy from the smartphone rather than an external battery....