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Media Platforms Design TeamPrice: $449 (16GB), $599 (32GB)On sale date: NowFrom 5.7-inch phablets to the new super-sized 12.2 Note Pro, Samsung has a tablet in a size that works for anyone. And in most cases, every iteration is better than the last. With the Pro series of tablets, Samsung turns up the performance and unifies the aesthetics into one cohesive line. The Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 ditches the trademark S Pen included in the Note series and employs a few more cost-cutting measures, but the result is a more affordable tablet that loses almost nothing in performance....

Media Platforms Design TeamIn December, the world’s widest cable-stay bridge, weighing more than 72,000 tons and measuring more than 213 feet wide, opened to traffic. Port Mann Bridge, outside Vancouver, British Columbia, is the second-longest cable-stay span in North America at 2800 feet, but this is no suspension bridge as is the Brooklyn Bridge or the Golden Gate. Port Mann is the evidence of cable-stay bridges taking over—and doing the job for less—where once only suspension bridges came to play....

SpaceX is going full-speed ahead this weekend, picking up where it left off after its last attempted first-stage landing. This comes after reports that their next attempt would be a terrestrial landing. But the company has decided instead to press ahead with its next planned barge landing off the coast of Cape Canaveral. This weekend, a Dragon 9 rocket will (tentatively) lift off from Cape Canaveral at 9 a.m. EDT. Shortly thereafter, its first stage will attempt another barge landing....

The F-35 is an impressive disaster. On the one hand, its high-tech helmet is a technological marvel. The F-35B’s hovering tricks are awe-inspiring. On the other hand, the Joint Strike Fighter is just out-and-out bad at some really basic fighter jet stuff. A new report from a test pilot really lays it bare: The F-35 can’t dogfight.The issues are laid out in a previously private but now non-classified report obtained by War Is Boring....

Media Platforms Design TeamA major problem facing the Great Barrier Reef, and coral reefs in general, is the crown-of-thorns starfish. Outbreaks of the critters, which feed on coral, have been a consistent problem over the past several decades, and it’s a huge pain to get rid of them manually.Enter COTSbot (Crown-Of-Thorns Starfish robot), a robot submarine that automates the process.View full post on YoutubePreviously, human divers would go around injecting the pesky sea stars with poison up to 10 times a year just keep their populations in check....

EXPLORE POPULARMECHANICS.COM* PLUS: Science Kit Reviews and DIY Experiments You Can Do for Free* ANALYSIS: 5 Climate Studies That Don’t Live up to Their Hype* SPACE: The Truth About Water on Mars, 4 Studies Reveal All* EXTREME MACHINES: 5 Rides That Push the Limit of Common Sense* FOLLOW US: Popular Mechanics is Now on Twitter!* FRIEND US: Find PM on FacebookWhat do George W. Bush, Roy Orbison and Darth Vader have in common?...

DARPA’s Urban Challenge was, in some ways, a bait and switch. Carmakers touted it as the next great evolutionary leap for the autonomous automobile, but the Pentagon’s research arm was investigating the prospect of self-driving vehicles that can carry supplies or wounded soldiers through the urban battlefield. Now, the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has held its own robotics competition, the Grand Challenge, that cut to the chase with unmanned vehicles stalking human targets through the Copehill Down training village in southwestern England....

Media Platforms Design TeamLate last Friday, July 29, the Army formally canceled the Multi-Function Utility/Logistics and Equipment Vehicle, a heavyweight, six-wheeled robot known as the MULE, which was built by Lockheed Martin. The MULE program was meant to produce three variants of combat robots: One to haul gear, another to counter improvised explosives and a heavily armed version. According to the Army, however, other programs had equaled or bettered the autonomous navigation research at MULE—yet there are plenty of other reasons that Lockheed’s program got the ax....

Media Platforms Design Team(Photo Credit: Astronaut Scholarship Foundation/collectSPACE.com)Before Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin, and Neil Armstrong took off for the moon, the Apollo 11 astronauts autographed a series of envelopes as souvenir for their families to sell in the event the Apollo 11 mission didn’t make it back and the widows needed to make ends meet. Those envelopes were postmarked at NASA Headquarters the day of the launch.Armstrong’s envelopes have spent decades as a family heirloom....

The first 26 elements of the periodic table–from hydrogen to iron–formed inside stars during the process of nuclear fusion. The rest of the naturally occurring elements–cobalt, atomic number 27, through uranium, atomic number 92–arose through the incredible energy present in a supernova. But the periodic table doesn’t end at 92–not even close. Last week the official tally reached 112 when the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, the guardians of the table, after 13 years of discussion, welcomed element 112 into the fold....

Media Platforms Design TeamAfter taking you inside the Air Force’s investigation into the crash of a B-2 stealth bomber, PopularMechanics.com has obtained the first still photos of the February accident—and they’re pretty stunning. With last month’s technical report detailing the demise of the Spirit of Kansas came footage from security cameras at Andersen Air Force base in Guam. Officials also snapped—but, until now, did not release—still photos of that crash site....

Media Platforms Design TeamLIVE COVERAGE OF THE LAUNCH OF SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY “What if” is not a question most people would want to ask themselves the day before a mission as complicated and risky as a shuttle launch, but for NASA safety officers, it’s their job. And this time, they have a real answer. Once in orbit, if Discovery is deemed unsafe for manned re-entry, shuttle managers have the option to initiate an audacious plan for rescuing the $2 billion craft: Fly her home by remote control....

Media Platforms Design TeamBorrowing a trick from the pharmaceutical industry, scientists led by chemist of the University of Michigan have combined the powerful explosive CL-20 with the standard high melting-point explosive (HMX) used by the military to create a hybrid explosive that could be better than either—with as much oomph as HMX, but not as delicate and prone to accidental detonation as CL-20.Adam MatzgerMatzger says research into new explosive materials tends to focus on finding entirely new chemistries....

Munich, Germany—Tomorrow’s automotive technology is usually tucked away in research labs—well out of public view. But every once in a while we’re granted access to these top-secret incubators, as was the case when we recently paid a visit to BMW’s headquarters in Munich. The next-gen tech we examined ranged from the trivial to the dramatic. BMW’s prototype systems can enhance driving efficiency, improve the human/machine interface, instigate evasive maneuvers and even take control if a pilot suddenly becomes incapacitated....

Media Platforms Design TeamClick here to enlarge. (Photo Credit: xkcd) If you’ve ever wondered how the size of Apollo spacecraft compared to, say, the space shuttles or the Mir space station, XKCD cartoonist Randall Munroe decided to make it easy for you with today’s cartoon, which displays the mass and payload of spacecraft and launch vehicles in an easy-to-understand unit of measurement: the horse.Sputnik 2, once in orbit with just orphan dog Laika in tow, it weighed less than a single horse....

Winterizing your RV will ensure that it’s ready to roll in the spring with minimal effort. The process may take a few hours, but it will be well worth it to prevent damage that may occur during the winter months.The ideal way to store your RV during the winter is in an enclosed steel garage space. With this type of storage you can regulate the temperature and not worry about freezing pipes and harming the plumbing....

At Sony headquarters in New York, video game fever is looking more like prolonged torture today, with a line wrapping along two city blocks full of nearly 500 people—many of whom have been sleeping there all week. Trying to, anyway.From the passed-out leader of the caged-in queue to the 17-year-old playing hooky from high school at its end, these gamers hope to be the first to get their hands on the highly anticipated—and much delayed—Playstation 3....

Media Platforms Design TeamOn Sale Date: NowPrice: $400The newest addition to the Jabra family is also the largest. But the Solemate Max maintains the portability of earlier speakers while improving in areas where previous speakers were wanting.Hardware and Design The speaker’s distinctive, gray molded-rubber base makes it look tough. It’s not the completely submergible type of rugged, but it is dust- and splash-resistant and looks like it can take its fair share of knocks....

Media Platforms Design TeamAs Joe Kittinger found out in 1960, it’s hard to jump from a height of 102,800 feet—let alone in an open gondola, in minus 100 F temperatures, wearing 160 pounds of equipment—and survive. As Michel Fournier reaffirmed this weekend on an airfield in Saskatchewan, it’s even more difficult to break that 50-year-old record for the highest free fall. The French parachutist attempted, for the fourth time, to rise to a height of 130,000 feet in a pressurized capsule dangling beneath a high-altitude air balloon, then step out of it and hurtle toward Earth at supersonic speed, breaking the sound barrier....

Media Platforms Design TeamHarmful algal blooms can turn normal-looking shellfish into toxic payloads that, if eaten, can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea to death. This unseen danger unnerves shellfish growers and fisheries managers, who need to know immediately when and where to shut down fisheries to prevent illness. Now, with the help of a new autonomous underwater robot, researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) are one step closer to sniffing out ocean toxins and ensuring that safe seafood ends up on your plate....