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Media Platforms Design TeamNew proposals put forward by Congress and supported by a recently released federal study are roiling researchers at labs that work with biological agents. The effort to better secure infectious agents—and more closely screen those working with them—was ordered by the Bush administration after the FBI traced anthrax that was mailed to a Senate office building to a lab worker at Fort Detrick, Md., where the U.S. government works on countermeasures for biological weapons and natural disease outbreaks....

Media Platforms Design TeamWhen you pull into one of the 12 brightly lit underground entry-and-exit rooms in the 697-car parking garage just beginning construction beneath Brooklyn’s forthcoming Willoughby Square, you will not be greeted by a valet harboring Mario Andretti fantasies. And you won’t have to navigate a labyrinthian maze of concrete. Instead, you’ll confront nothing but a bumper-level fish-eye mirror and a large flat-screen TV. Connected to a quartet of laser guidance sensors, the monitor will help you position your vehicle on a pallet in the floor with tire-width ruts: MOVE TO THE LEFT, INCH FORWARD....

Earlier this week, the new longest tunnel in the world was completed. The Gotthard Base Tunnel started in 2004, and travels underneath the Swiss Alps for 35.4 miles. The cost of the project was just under $10 billion U.S., and now it is finally done, though it won’t see its first passenger trains until next year. The Gotthard Base tunnel was constructed some 2,000 feet below an existing 10 mile tunnel that was opened in 1882....

If you’re thinking about replacing your kitchen counters, and your timing couldn’t be better. Gone forever are the days when your only choices were plastic laminate or wood butcherblock. Today, there are dozens of types of countertop available, ranging from natural-stone and renewable acrylic sheets, to quartz composites and tinted concrete. And countertops come in dozens of colors, patterns, and textures to satisfy any design goal. 🔨 You love badass builds....

Sci-fi director Ruairí Robinson made quite a dent in the internet last week when he released his proof of concept The Leviathan. The short film clocks in at under four minutes long and features a team of spaceship pilots hunting a giant flying whale-like beast in the clouds. Needless to say, it’s amazing. After going viral, racking up over a million views in just a week between YouTube and Vimeo, it looks like the ambitious project might be getting some big-time backing....

The moon has been in plain view for all of human history, but it’s only within the past few decades that it’s been possible to travel there. And for just about as long as the moon has been within reach, people have been arguing about lunar property rights: Can astronauts claim the moon for king and country, as in the Age of Discovery? Are corporations allowed to expropriate its natural resources, and individuals to own its real estate?...

On June 3, 1965, Ed White stepped out of the Gemini 4 capsule and into the near-vacuum of space. In the process, he became the first American to perform a spacewalk. It was just a few months after Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov’s historic first EVA (extravehicular activity) and marked the start of a key fixture of the space program. White later said that the worst moment of his life was having to come back inside the spacecraft....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe 344 robots at the in Atlanta this past weekend all shared similar DNA—each team supplied by FIRST, then tests and them —but it can be difficult to detect the family resemblance. Each bot’s look, appendages and style of movement depend on the goals that each team designs it to achieve. Check out the handful that caught our eye by scrolling down here, then catch up on all the action with , plus behind-the-scenes videos at ....

Media Platforms Design TeamOldsmobile might be history now, but back in 1952 the company­ made history along with Cadillac­ when the brands offered GM’s Autronic Eye, the first automatic headlight-dimming system. When the phototube mounted on the dashboard detected approaching headlights, it would automatically switch the car’s beams to low until the other lane was clear. Despite reportedly being overly sensitive and unreliable, the Autronic Eye evolved, and versions spread to other GM brands and continued in Cadillacs until the 1988 model year....

The FuBusterMedia Platforms Design TeamA coupling of Stanley’s FuBar demolition tool and Black & Decker’s iconic Dustbuster, this tool would contain a wall-wrecking sledge on one end and a cordless hand vacuum on the other. Knock it down and clean it up–beyond all recognition–in one irresistible package. 2. The AutoFat Tape MeasureMedia Platforms Design TeamBlack & Decker’s product designers have a knack for putting a battery where you never knew you needed one–witness the AutoWrench and the AutoClamp....

Media Platforms Design TeamWith only hours before tonight’s college football’s championship game, Richard Billingsley is still doing what he does best: analyze patterns and crunch data. At 16, he realized that humans were pretty lousy at ranking football teams; today he’s the man behind the Billingsley Report, one of six computer polls used by the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) to help determine rankings—and which two teams ultimately play for the national championship....

Media Platforms Design TeamMedia Platforms Design Team Las Vegas– Every year, we hope for the best. We prowl the tiny neighborhood of robotics-related booths here at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, dutifully covering the various models aspiring to be the next Roomba (while looking and performing suspiciously similar to it) and DIY kits for making your own 12-in.-high breakdancing humanoid robots. This time around, there was a $6000 fuzzy baby seal that stands in for traditional animal therapy, batting its eyes at you and responding to petting....

Media Platforms Design TeamI’ve always wondered why pickup trucks have painted beds. Hauling anything immediately scratches a brand-new truck bed. It’s slippery as heck when wet. Of course, there are alternatives: Old trucks used to use wood, which rotted in a few years. You can buy a drop-in plastic bed liner, but it might rub off paint and trap moisture underneath, which leads to rust. I’m starting to think the best solution is an applied surface that’s tougher than paint, like an epoxy concrete-floor coating....

On his new show, Car Matchmaker (Tuesday nights at 9 pm Eastern, starting Oct. 14 on the Esquire Network), car buff and comedy writer Spike Feresten (Seinfeld, Letterman, SNL) finds men in desperate need of new vehicles and gets them into something more appropriate. It’s fun. Like House Hunters for people who can grow a full beard. We asked him for some advice, whether you are buying your next car or just want to assess what you already have....

Even if you’ve never heard of Satoshi Nakamoto, you’re no doubt familiar with his work. As inventor of Bitcoin—the revolutionary and untraceable cryptocurrency that’s roughly the online equivalent of cold, hard cash—Nakamoto is not only the father of an entire economy worth billions of dollars, but also a multi-multi-milionaire himself. But Nakamoto is just an alias, and no one has been able to figure out who he actually is. At least not until now....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt’s been five years since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon—yet a growing chorus of conspiracy theorists accuses the U.S. government of carrying out the attacks. Popular Mechanics executive editor David Dunbar, contributing editor Brad Reagan and editor-in-chief Jim Meigs join me for a detailed discussion of reporting behind the new Popular Mechanics bookDebunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can’t Stand Up To Hard Facts in this special edition of The Popular Mechanics Show....

Media Platforms Design TeamSouthern California is no stranger to wildfires — the city of Los Angeles, after all, subsists on less than 15 inches of rainfall each year. Once the wildfires ravaging the region are brought under control, residents and businesses will rebuild, but it’s possible the ecosystem of Southern California will prove less resilient than its human inhabitants.The effects of major fire events — like the current blazes in Southern California — are much more damaging to flora and fauna than those of naturally occurring fires, says Dr....

Fantastic op-ed by Tom Friedman in today’s NY Times (http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/opinion/10friedman.html?hp). Friedman has been on something of an energy tear lately, and he’s proving himself one of the more reasonable, articulate and well-studied voices in mainstream energy reporting. I’ve been following the Detroit Auto Show from my laptop and am encouraged by the amount of buzz regarding electric cars. A few nights ago, we watched Who Killed The Electric Car?, a fascinating documentary about GM’s EV1, which showed great promise back in the late 90’s....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe burden of testing advanced technology for alternative-fuel vehicles doesn’t have to fall squarely on the shoulders of Detroit’s engineers. Why not enlist some brilliant minds of the future help out, too? Seventeen universities just completed a key stage of the Challenge X, a four-year engineering competition charging students to design and implement a “green” biofuel-powered hybrid vehicle. The students teamed up with GM and the U.S. Department of Energy to re-engineer the 2005 Chevrolet Equinox crossover SUV for better fuel efficiency and a reduced environmental impact, producing advanced powertrains and subsystems while maintaining the SUV’s practicality....

Media Platforms Design TeamWhen you buy a new car, it’s fairly easy to research the costs involved, such as MSRP, local taxes, and delivery charges. We know, however, that the moment a car leaves the dealer’s lot, it starts to lose value. But how is that math figured, anyway?The amount you’ll get when you trade in your car, the amount you’ll have to put down on your next purchase/lease, and even the interest rate you can get on your next car loan are all impacted by the term you’ll hear a lot: “residual value,” which is synonymous with resale value....