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Media Platforms Design TeamIf this year’s swine flu scare taught us anything, it was that the behavior of a pandemic is impossible to predict. That’s why accurate, real-time flu surveillance information is crucial—if we know what a virus did yesterday, we at least have an inkling of what it might do tomorrow. Experts have heralded Google Flu Trends, a tool launched in 2008 that estimates influenza activity based on flu-related search trends, as the first system to provide flu surveillance data with a lag of just one day—a big improvement over the U....

A team from the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California has made an important step toward imaging single-celled organisms: They’ve taken an x-ray of a blue-green algae cell, catching images of a living, working cell.In their experiment, an aerosol stream of the bacteria passed through a stream of x-ray pulses, which quickly imaged them. From there, computers tracked the movements of the bacteria, constructing an image of their behavior. The image here is of the complete cell....

Media Platforms Design TeamColorado River BridgeHeight: 900 feetLength: 1900 feetConcrete Arch: 1060 feet in length(26 sections, fourth longest in the world) Nowadays, people expect mega-engineering projects to be over budget—and, often, underwhelming. But the newly opened Hoover Dam Bypass is an example of big-ticket civil engineering done right. The roadway—which spans the Black Canyon 1500 feet south of the dam—provides a more direct route between Arizona and Nevada, cutting travel time by as much as two-thirds....

The Precision DieselNobody tinkers with internal combustion like Mazda does. Over the past two decades, it’s produced a Miller-cycle engine, rotaries, and a tiny 1.8-liter V-6. Now it’s made a 2.2-liter four-cylinder diesel that’s built more like a gas engine, conferring some of those benefits (light weight, better responsiveness) with the torque and efficiency of diesel.“You can even smooth out the clatters that you associate with diesel.” With a low compression ratio—14....

The Campaign So FarThe offensive began with several days of air strikes against Gaza. Most air strikes were aimed at killing specific people, rather than taking out infrastructure. While homes were targeted, few Hamas government office buildings were bombed. Knowing who to hit, and when, takes high-quality intelligence from spies and fleets of unmanned aerial vehicles. “They apparently hit every target that they knew Hamas personnel, and few civilians, would be inside,” says author and military analyst Jim Dunnigan....

Media Platforms Design Team We can always count on Hurley to bring into question exactly what we’re thinking. In last night’s episode, of Lost, “Whatever Happened, Happened,” he came through once again when he asked what should be a simple question: Does Ben (2004) remember being shot by Sayid back in 1977? Clearly, the chronology of time on the island is as perplexing to the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 as it is to us....

One World Trade Center finally opened its doors last year, but work on its counterpart is yet to begin. Today, architecture firm BIG and its founder Bjarke Ingels have revealed the plans for Two World Trade Center in Wired, giving us our first look at how the new tower will grace the New York City skyline. The challenge of designing the tower was finding a middle ground between a conservative and respectful design and something more unique and striking....

Media Platforms Design TeamWhen you combine a sci-fi flick and a western into one movie, you’re sure to have plenty of mind-blowing stunts. The blockbuster movie is full of explosions and abductions as extraterrestrials invade an Old West town. In the clip below, director Jon Favreau and others who made the film explain the rigs and strategies they used to pull off the visual effects in this mad genre mash-up.Cowboys & AliensTo mark the film’s DVD and Blu-ray release, December 6, Popular Mechanics has a sweepstakes going in which you could win a Cowboys & Aliens combo pack featuring a DVD, Blu-ray, and digital download of the film....

If you’re on the run from the law, try not to use anything that can be tracked. That includes websites or services that store your personal information and access the internet. Yes, that means Spotify. Yes, that means Netflix too. That’s the mistake Brittany Nunn of Larimer County, Colorado made when she just absolutely needed to get her New Music Tuesday fix while hiding away in Mexico with her husband Peter Barr and the two daughters she had recently lost custody of....

Neural prosthetics are getting so good that they can now automatically trigger natural movements in the legs. In a new experiment with paralyzed rats, scientists sent electrical signals to the spinal cord to mimic signals from the brain that could no long reach the limbs. This kind of research could lead to robot-assisted rehabilitation to help people with partial damage to their spinal cords learn to walk again.Automatic MotionSpinal cord injuries can cause paralysis by damaging the brain’s connections to the legs, and so direct electrical stimulation is one way in which scientists are striving to help patients overcome spinal cord injuries....

Media Platforms Design Team(Photograph by Caren Brinkeman/Getty Images) Yesterday afternoon, one of the biggest announcements in the history of stem cell research came down: The Food and Drug Administration approved the first clinical trial of injecting embryonic stem cells into a human being. The Geron Corp., based in California, officially said this morning that it has the FDA’s go-ahead to begin the first stage of testing with up to 10 patients suffering serious spinal cord injuries....

Before widespread electricity, people had to figure out other ways to make home tasks easier. Maybe that’s why, 89 years later, what was once common place seems now like an anachronism. In 1927, a Maytag clothes washer came with a gas engine. That bit of automotive engineering-turned-home chore helper seems strange today.In this video from 2012, a few intrepid home repairmen take a renovated Maytag 92 gas engine (produced from 1927 into 1937) and put it on an old machine....

Media Platforms Design TeamLooking through the Land Warrior System’s flip-down eyepiece, shown here being used by a member of the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, from Fort Lewis, Wash., is equivalent to viewing a 17-in. computer monitor. Along with maps and other information, the eyepiece displays the view through the lens of a video camera mounted on a soldier’s M-4, enabling him to peer over walls in safety. The brigade, now deployed in Iraq, is the first unit to test the gear in combat....

Media Platforms Design TeamLawyersWhen you want to withdraw billions of dollars worth of assets that have been frozen by United Nations sanctions, it helps to bring in some quality professional counsel. Fortunately for the Libyan rebels, their National Transitional Council has the international law firm Hogan Lovells as its legal middleman, and today that partnership paid off. The U.K. released roughly $1.5 billion (950 million pounds)—bank notes printed in Britain and frozen since March by the sanctions—to the NTC....

Media Platforms Design TeamAmericans don’t have chauffeurs. Maybe at the hedge-fund-billionaire level, sure, but the Audi-owning bourgeoisie drives itself. Strange, then, that the U.S. fleet of long- wheelbase models just keeps expanding, with a stretched Infiniti Q70, Porsche Panamera Executive, and the new Range Rover Long Wheelbase (above) joining the Audi A8 L, Lexus LS 460 L, Jaguar XJL, and BMW 750Li. What gives? Why would an American Range Rover owner want an extra 7 inches of legroom in the back, or an Audi A8 customer give a back-seat passenger control over the right front seat?...

Media Platforms Design TeamThe moon turned one side of itself away from the Earth 4.4 billion years ago and never looked back. This cosmic insult has turned the moon’s far side into a mysterious, troublesome place where, at least in the imaginations of sci-fi writers, human-hating robot aliens crashed, and miffed Nazi colonists in 2018 (yes, you read that correctly).build spaceships to conquer EarthThat it is so close yet so unexplored, lends the far side of the moon a shadowy mystique....

NiteRider MiNewt Mini-USB, $99Media Platforms Design TeamPurpose: Lights are crucial to keep the dusk-to-dawn rider safe. This is a seriously bright light in a small package. The USB-charged lighting system pumps out more than 110 lumens and mounts to the handlebar. Its lithium-ion batteries get about three hours per charge, and the whole device weighs just over 6 ounces. 2) Cateye Strada Wireless, $60Media Platforms Design TeamPurpose: This wireless computer helps log miles, an aid for workout regimens or calculating gas money saved on a commute....

LOS ANGELES — Decades before paddle shifters and traction control, muscle cars like the 1970 Dodge Challenger brought raw V8 power to the masses. After selling over 83,000 Challengers in the first year alone, Dodge knew it had struck muscle-car gold. And like that—poof—it disappeared. Thirty-eight years later, in spite of pricey fuel and economic uncertainty, Dodge is at it again. We’d already driven a covered version of the 2008 Challenger on a rainy test track before its official unveil in February, but now it’s time for the real rubber roastin’ to begin....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn-Sale Date: October 2012Price: $68,000 to $120,000 Competitors: Mercedes-Benz S-Class, BMW 7-Series, Cadillac XTS, quadruple-bypass heart surgery.Powertrains: 4.6-liter V-8, 386 hp, 367 lb-ft; 5.0-liter V-8, 389 hp, 385 lb-ft with two electric motors for 438 total hp; 8-speed or CVT auto, RWD or AWDEPA Fuel Economy (city/hwy): 16–19/23–24What’s New: The structure, most of the sheet metal; the suspension; and the basic powertrain carry over from the last LS....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn-Sale Date: NowBase Price: $16,315 (LX with six-speed manual); $17,115 (LX with CVT); $18,225 (EX with six-speed manual); $19,025 (EX with CVT); $20,590 (EX-L); $21,590 (EX-L with navigation) Competitors: Chevrolet Sonic, Ford Fiesta, Mazda 2, Nissan Versa, Toyota YarisPowertrains: 1.5-liter I4, 130 hp, 114 lb-ft; six-speed manual or CVT automatic, FWD EPA Fuel Economy (city/hwy): 29/37 (manual), 33/41 (LX with CVT), 32/38 (EX, EX-L with CVT) Honda’s Fit has a well-earned reputation among consumers and critics alike as reliable, surprisingly roomy, and an unnecessarily fun car to drive....