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Sometime in the next 24 hours, the guided missile destroyer USS Lassen will sail within twelve miles of what China considers sovereign territory. Sounds risky? It is. The patrol is meant as a warning to China that the United States does not recognize what it considers inflated territorial claims. China will be forced to defend its claims—possibly by force—or back down in front of the international community. The patrol is meant as a warning to China that the United States does not recognize what it considers inflated territorial claimsSince 2010, China has laid economic claim to approximately 90 percent of the South China Sea....

Media Platforms Design TeamAfter staring into this eternal abyss of darkness for 15 minutes straight, I can say that this carbon nanotube coating is incredible, yet unsettling. The material is called Vantablack and it may be the closest thing to a visual black hole science will ever create. Grown on a sheet of aluminum foil and comprised of nanotubes 10,000 times thinner than the width of a human hair, the material traps all but 0....

Media Platforms Design TeamWish the Golf TDI had a bit more oomph? Or that the Golf GTI had a little more low-end torque? Of course you do. That’s why Volkswagen is continuing the Golf GTD for its upcoming seventh-generation Golf. Unveiled today ahead of its official debut at the Geneva Motor Show next month, the GTD is the performance-minded diesel cousin of the original hot hatchback, the GTI. Carrying VW’s latest 2....

Media Platforms Design TeamA series of photographs taken October 31st in China’s western Xinjiang province appear to depict a new high altitude air defense missile being developed by the Chinese military. The photos, posted that evening to the Chinese Internet, depict unusual corkscrewing contrails, suggesting a high speed missile intentionally being made to slow itself down.The photos were taken from the town of Korla, near the Chinese government’s Korla Missile Test Complex....

You’d think what with “carbide” this and “lithium” that, modern technology would sound the death knell for the humble handsaw. Not so fast. You’d be cutting yourself short if you ditched your Disston. Power tools still have their place, and one might assume they’d be the go-to tool for the six jobs below. But my experience has proven that these tasks can be more capably managed by hand. Even as the technology advances, I go back to handsaws more than ever before....

Capturing rain may be one of humanity’s most ancient methods of acquiring water, but now it’s coming back in vogue. Rather than press their luck with drought, conservation-conscious homeowners are setting up rudimentary rain barrels and elaborate rainwater storage systems to catch precipitation for nondrinking purposes, such as watering their lawns. But while rainwater may seem like a global common, nowadays it depends on where you live: By capturing rainwater, some homeowners are breaking the law....

Media Platforms Design TeamFor the first time in several years, Daniel Santos feels like buying a car. The 41-year-old computer programmer from Fresno, Calif., says he was “jazzed” in 2004, when then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced plans to build a so-called “Hydrogen Highway” that would include upward of 200 hydrogen fueling stations spaced 20 miles apart, all open for business by 2010. Santos decided then his next car would run on hydrogen....

View full post on YoutubeSomeday soon, targeting medical treatments at just the right part of the body will get a lot easier, and that’s because we’ll have nanomachines to help us. Scientists are building devices so small they could travel through the bloodstream like the Magic School bus to deliver insulin for diabetics who need it or attack cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone.This week the University of Texas announced what it is calling the smallest and best such nanomotor ever built....

Readers and astrophysicists alike praised Andy Weir’s The Martian for a fact-first approach to the sci-fi disaster model. This was bliss to the computer programmer’s ears. He was the son of a particle physicist father and an electrical engineer mother. He loved math and physics. He adored Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. And he worked is ass off to ensure his stranded-on-Mars story would stand up to NASA scrutiny. Lucky for the writer, critics heaped the same praise when the film adaptation premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month....

LONDON—There was a time in my life when reaching the magic ton (100 mph) in the underpowered junkers of my youth was something of a holy grail. Yet recently, when the needle on one of Britain’s most economical cars crept toward that speed on a quiet road near my home, I was more amazed to see 50 mpg (U.S.) flash up on the instant fuel consumption readout than to see 100 mph on the speedometer....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe SpecsThe 2.5-liter five-cylinder engine motivating the gasoline-powered Golf VI turns out to be identical to the one powering the current Rabbit. At 170 hp, there is no huge gain in muscle over the previous model. The 177 lb-ft of torque stays the same and fuel economy still hovers around 30 mpg on freeways. If this is a new Golf, where’s the bump in power we’re so accustomed to seeing?...

Media Platforms Design TeamOn-Sale Date: January 2014Base Price: $35,300Competitors: Audi Allroad 2.0T, BMW 3-Series Sports Wagon, Acura TSX Sport WagonPowertrains: 2.0-liter turbocharged I-4, 240 hp, 258 lb-ft; 2.5-liter I-5, 250 hp, 266 lb-ft; 3.2-liter V-6, 325 hp, 354 lb-ft; 8-speed automatic, FWD or AWDEPA Fuel Economy (city/hwy): 25/37 (I-4); 20/29 (I-5); 19/28 (V-6)What’s New: Volvo is reintroducing the sport wagon under a new name: V60. It’s a risky bet, to be sure, considering the slim sales figures other automakers log from the few remaining station wagons on the market....

No one wants to declare a new Cold War between NATO and Russia, but things sure seem to be trending that direction. It’s hard to come to any other conclusion this week. After Russia ignored international rebukes and moved convoys and weaponry into Ukraine, all while claiming the Ukrainian government is causing a humanitarian crisis by using weapons on its own people, NATO talked openly about moving a bigger military presence into Eastern European nations such as Poland....

White dwarfs are intense. These white-hot remnants of supernovae are condensed, gravitationally strong stellar cores well on their way to becoming black holes. In fact, they may be strong enough to rip apart a planet. The discovery happened because the Chandra X-Ray Observatory found an unusual x-ray source in NGC 6388, a globular cluster 35,000 light years away in the Milky Way. Astronomers first thought it was a mid-sized black hole, but further data from Chandra ruled that out....

Media Platforms Design TeamWhere did the idea come from?Discovery approached us with a very broad mandate: Would you guys be interested in creating a show for us based on chain reaction machines? We came back with the caveat that we dont like competition shoes, and in general we dont like chain reaction machines for their own sake. Weve done them, but we tend to find them somewhat limiting. So then Jamie and I started to talk about what would solve these problems for us....

Media Platforms Design TeamHow We TestedAfter building a quick-and-dirty test platform–a crossarm bolted to a steel L-bracket–we used three fasteners at a time to attach our contraption to the 38-in. drywall. We timed how long it took to install the bracket. Then we gradually added weights, in increments ranging from a quarter pound to 10 pounds, noting when the bracket began to pull away, and when it finally tore free.The Results>Hillman Light Duty Plastic Anchor w/Screw$6....

Media Platforms Design TeamEarl Scime is part of the team that designed the particle cameras on spacecraft TWINS I and II, which are now collecting and analyzing spectroscopic data for NASA. He helped build a new laser system to be used in magnetic fusion experiments. He’s the chair of the physics department at West Virginia University. And he’s a great mentor.At the FIRST robotics national championship this weekend, Scime won the Woodie Flowers Award, given to one team mentor each year....

Batman: Arkham City Game of the Year Edition, out May 29, is the complete experience for one of last year’s most celebrated games. The brought together an all-star cast of beloved criminal masterminds from the Batman universe, and put an array of gadgets and gizmos at the player’s disposal to help the Dark Knight soar above Gotham’s maximum security prison. Arkham City also stood out for its impeccable sound design. In this exclusive video, Sefton Hill of Rocksteady and foley artist John Roesch explain how they captured some of the most important sounds in the game, from beating up Mr....

Last month, Oculus announced that the final version of its Rift headset would be coming in early 2016. Now at a pre-E3 event today Oculus is finally showing the real thing.We saw the first images of the new headset last month, and it looks pretty much just as expected. A new edition just announced at today’s event includes a minimal head-tracking sensor that helps keep track of your head while you’re in VR....

Smoky kerosene lamps cast a dull glow across the fruit and vegetable stands of a bustling night market in a slum outside Nairobi, Kenya. Evan Mills watches as customers squint to examine produce in the dim light and merchants hold grubby money close to their eyes.The researcher with California’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has come to witness the effects of inadequate lighting in Africa–where only 25 percent of inhabitants have electricity and most rely on crude kerosene lamps made of welded-together soup cans....