Science and Future Technology

The 2018 Aston Martin Vantage will make its world premiere later this month. Before the overhauled British sports car is unveiled, a few details have already been revealed. Earlier this week, Aston Martin released a new  teaser image  for the next-generation Vantage. The promotional picture does not feature the sports car; instead, it focuses on the piercing blue eyes of a wolf. The social media post came with the hashtag #BeautifulWontBeTamed and confirmed the 2018 Aston Martin Vantage's debut on Tuesday, Nov. 21. The British automaker previously released two other  teaser images , showing the new Vantage's headlights and taillights albeit under drapes. Though official details for the upcoming sports car have not been revealed yet, it is expected to be heavily inspired by the bespoke DB10 coupe used by James Bond in the 2015 movie "Spectre." According to  Autocar , the 2018 Vantage will be built using a new aluminum architecture, which is a shorter ve...

On Saturday, the Dream Chaser space plane completed a milestone in its development. During an “approach and landing” test, the spacecraft was dropped from a helicopter to fly back to a landing strip at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The company behind the space plane confirmed the successful test in a tweet on Saturday night,  saying , “The Dream Chaser had a beautiful flight and landing!” The company released no immediate, additional details about the test. (It promised more information Monday). But Saturday’s flight clearly marks a significant milestone for Dream Chaser and its manufacturer, Sierra Nevada Corporation. During the last free-flight test in 2013, the spacecraft had a problem with the deployment of its left landing gear, causing the plane to skid off the runway and leading to minor damage. At the time,  Dream Chaser  was competing with Boeing’s Starliner and SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft as entrants in NASA’s commercial crew competition. A year...

The TicHome Mini is a welcome newcomer in the world of smart speakers. It brings some excellent features that currently aren’t available on other  Google Home devices , such as IPX6 splash-resistance and a built-in battery. Pound-for-pound it’s the most feature-packed smart speaker I’ve tested. At first glance Mobvoi ’s TicHome Mini looks like a baby Roomba, or slightly less like a hockey puck than an Echo Dot. It’s also slightly larger than the Echo Dot or Google Home Mini, at over 4 inches in diameter. And it comes with an attached strap, giving it a leg up in convenience — you can hang it on the wall or dangle it from a bicycle or  I was surprised by the speaker’s sound. Earlier impressions I’d read led me to believe it would be tinny or lacking lows. My experience with it was pleasant – it sounds better than the modest 3W speaker should thanks to clever design. A 360 degrees speaker-grill on the bottom helps it fill a room, but it does lose a touch of depth i...

Rumors in early October had Nintendo  more than doubling production  for the highly successful  Switch  in order to meet what will almost certainly be crushing demand during the holidays. The company may be planning even higher volumes for next year — perhaps as many as 30 million consoles. Citing sources with direct knowledge of the plans,  the Wall Street Journal reports  that Nintendo has started sharing the idea of expanded manufacturing with partners. 25 to 30 million is the cited goal volume, but they could aim even higher depending on how the holidays go. The goal mentioned in October’s report was 10 million units out the door by March 2018, but by the end of the month Nintendo had  upped its sales predictions to 14 million  in the same period, perhaps even as high as 17 million. That would put its first-year sales well ahead of the lifetime sales of the unfortunate Wii U. With games like the new  Zelda  and  ...

Handle Handle is a research robot that stands 6.5 ft tall, travels at 9 mph and jumps 4​ ​feet vertically. ​It uses electric power to operate both electric and hydraulic actuators, with a range of about 15 miles on one battery charge. ​​​ Handle uses many of the same dynamics, balance and mobile manipulation principles​ found in the quadruped and biped robots we build, but with only about 10 actuated joints, it is significantly less complex. Wheels are efficient on flat surfaces while legs can go almost anywhere: by combining wheels and legs Handle can have the best of both worlds . WATCH VIDEO

If you want a nice view of the moon, instead of squinting into the night sky or cursing tall buildings, you could soon gaze at an expertly crafted model of the stunning celestial object. And this version is small enough sit atop your coffee table. The lunar globe, dubbed MOON, bills itself as the most accurate of its kind. Its makers used NASA data to re-create the moon's many  craters , including Petavius and Copernicus, at 1/20,000,000th the original size. The mini moon comes with a ring of LED lights that revolve around the globe and illuminate the face of the moon as seen from Earth. MOON also reveals the far side (sometimes  referred to as the "dark side") of the moon, which faces away from Earth. This mysterious lunar region is even more pockmarked with craters than the Earth-facing side is, said Oscar Lhermitte, creator of MOON. "It’s quite stunning," he said. [ Top 10 Amazing Moon Facts ] The road to building MOON began four years ago, Lherm...

Is it possible to develop bombproof underwear? And why is it so difficult to perform a whole-body transplant? These are just some of the fascinating questions tackled by science writer Mary Roach in her new book, "Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War." The book, published by W. W. Norton & Co. and scheduled for release tomorrow (June 7), dives into the science of the military — a world that encompasses research on everything from  heatstroke  to the medical benefits of maggots (yes, maggots). In her characteristic up-for-anything approach, Roach takes readers into the labs of the unsung heroes who are working to keep U.S. soldiers alive and safe while they're deployed. [ Flying Saucers to Mind Control: 7 Declassified Military & CIA Secrets ] Roach caught up with Live Science recently to talk about her new book, why she decided to delve into  military science  and the weirdest chapter of World War II history that she stumbled on. (This Q&A...