Dec 28
Despite the general incompetence of Soviet long-range nuclear bombers, the US couldn’t allow a single such plane to reach American airspace. Its response—a new breed of fighter jet with an unprecedented wing design and handling. More »
Dec 26
Transect China in Half the Time Aboard the World’s Longest High-Speed Rail Line
Posted in: Today's Chili
High speed rail may be a quixotic public works project here in California but for China, it’s a cornerstone of the country’s transportation infrastructure. Yesterday, Chinese officials expanded that infrastructure by inaugurating the longest such rail line on Earth and announced plans for seven more. More »
Dec 26
In November of 2011, American commercial airlines consumed 48.3 million gallons of fuel—every day—and paid a total of $49.8 billion that month to do so. And with increasingly tight operating budgets, fuel efficiency has quickly become a primary concern for the airlines. Boeing thinks one possible solution is its new plug-in hybrid jet concept that burns 70 percent less gas per flight with the help of the local power grid. More »
Dec 25
The Opportunity, Spirit, and Curiosity rovers may get the headlines for their craters clambering exploits but it’s NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, quietly observing the planet turn from 178 miles up, that’s most critical to our exploration of the Red Planet. More »
Dec 24
These Machines Eat Forests
Posted in: Today's Chili
At the turn of the 20th century, the logging industry relied on armies of lumberjacks swinging axes and band saws to fell a forest. These days, we just send in Harvesters. More »
Dec 04
Japan’s Eco Cycle Stows Bikes in a Quake-Proof Underground Storage Cylinder
Posted in: Today's Chili
Roughly 90 percent of Tokyo’s 13.1 million residents commute to work each day by rail, with a third of those riding their bikes on the “last mile” to and from the train station. The result: as many as 3.5 million bikes left illegally parked on city streets every day, crowding already packed sidewalks and exposing the bikes to weather and thievery. More »
Nov 29
This Future-Proofing Torture Test Puts Next-Gen Materials Through the Wringer
Posted in: Today's Chili
Our gadgets sure have it rough. Between change-filled pockets, waist-high falls onto concrete, and dunks in the toilet bowl, gadget surfaces need to be tougher and more resilient than ever. To develop the next generation of durable surfaces, materials scientists rely on specialized torture testing equipment like the Bruker Universal Mechanical Tester to put prototype samples through their paces. More »
Nov 28
The fastest train in America, the Amtrak Acela line running from Boston and DC tops out at 110MPH. Sure, that’s way faster than taking a Greyhound, but pathetically pokey compared to the 311MPH bullet of the Mag-Lev train currently being developed by Japan’s JR Tokai. More »
Nov 27
The advent of cochlear implants in the 1970s and ocular implants in the early 2000s revolutionized hearing and vision loss treatment by circumventing damaged organs with digital prostheses that directly stimulated neural pathways. But these devices have been poor substitutes for the real thing. That is, until now. More »
Nov 26
The most expensive part of that flimsy burger from your local fast food joint isn’t what you put in your mouth; it’s the human hands that put it together. But this robotic burger-maker that preps, grills, and assembles your Royale with Cheese—automatically—may soon replace human line cooks altogether while saving the fast food industry billions. More »
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