by Noah Shachtman | Aug 13, 2012 | Monitor
The Air Force’s X-51A Waverider. Photo: USAF On Tuesday, an Air Force B-52 bomber is scheduled to take off from Edwards Air Force Base in California. Under its wing will be the closest thing in the world to a hypersonic missile. The plane will soar over the...
by Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai | Aug 7, 2012 | Monitor
The rare earth element Europium, used to make lasers, TV sets and fluorescent lamps. They’re used to build everything from stealth choppers to lasers and night vision goggles. They’re even essential to making smartphones and hybrid cars. They’re rare...
by Liat Clark, Wired.co.uk | Jul 31, 2012 | Monitor
An engineering team has published a paper revealing that by giving a robot the right tail, it can always land on its feet — just like a cat. The University of Pennsylvania’s Kod*lab appears to have found a way to gracefully circumvent a robot’s...
by Robert Beckhusen | Jul 26, 2012 | Monitor
The military wants to boost vaccine production for the deadly flu, and do so with tobacco plants like these, pictured at a Medicago greenhouse in North Carolina in May 2012. Photo: Darpa In the event of a global and highly lethal flu pandemic, we’ll need to...
by Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai | Jul 26, 2012 | Monitor
Artist rendering of a GPS III Satellite. Illustration: Lockheed Martin Without GPS, drones can’t fly, communications networks can’t function, and you don’t have a chance of figuring out how to get to your Aunt Sadie’s place in New Jersey. And...