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Concorde Comback? New York to Los Angeles in just over two hours? Passenger jets that fly faster than the speed of sound without that annoying sonic boom? That could become reality thanks to two projects that aim to bring supersonic planes back to commercial air travel. Lockheed Martin is working with NASA on a design called the N+2, an 80-passenger jet capable of cruising at Mach 1.7 (1.7 times the speed of sound).

The "wonder material" graphene could be used to make bulletproof armour.

US researchers carried out miniature ballistic tests by firing tiny silica spheres at sheets of graphene

In Science magazine, they report that atom-thick layers of this material can be stronger than steel when it comes to absorbing impacts. Graphene consists of a sheet of single atoms arranged in a honeycomb structure. It is thin, strong, flexible and electrically conductive, and has the potential to transform electronics …

A startup wants to make it easier for people with epilepsy to detect seizures and let others know when they need help. Why it matters: There are about 50 million people in the world with epilepsy.

A new wristband from a startup called Empatica is built for people with epilepsy—it hopes to detect their seizures and alert family when they’re in the throes of one—but it could also appeal to people who simply want a sleek-looking gadget for logging activities and stress.

Empatica, which builds wear…

Light can prod blood vessels to relax, a discovery that came about almost accidentally when researchers moved some gear into a room with motion-triggered lights. They found that blood vessels in mice have a light-sensitive receptor that, when activated, causes arteries, veins, and capillaries to relax.

"I had this slightly crazy idea," says Dan Berkowitz. "What if there were receptors for light on blood vessels? Perhaps blood vessels could 'see' the light or 'had eyes.'" (Credit: Lucas Cobb/…

In recent years, credit scores have been used for pre-employment screening and many other functions beyond their original intent, Salomon Israel says. This study seems to bear out their usefulness as a proxy for a person's reliability and steadfastness, and in turn how healthy they may be.

(Credit: iStockphoto)

A new study confirms what insurance companies already know: Credit scores can reveal how healthy you are.

Researchers have uncovered a strong relationship between low credit scores an…

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, Posted by Jean Spinelli-Arizona on November 25, 2014

Insomnia is relatively common. About 20 percent of adults in the United States have difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking too early. But chronic insomnia is associated with a 58 percent increase in risk of death. (Credit: Kevin Jaako/Flickr)

A 40-year study shows that people who suffer from chronic insomnia face a higher risk of dying.

Insomnia—difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking too ea…

Electric Mirror continues its industry-leading innovation by introducing Vive™, the first and only Bluetooth® enabled smart ready mirror. Vive is simple and easy to use and transforms any of our products into a wireless stereo system. It is the perfect way to create a streaming audio experience in any space with just a touch. Connect any Bluetooth smart ready device, such as a smart phone or tablet to Vive, and your hotel bathroom or guest room is revolutionized!

Vive is part of the SmartMirr…

Like the convenience of browsing different colors and styles while clothes shopping online, but still prefer to physically try things on before buying? Two Nordstrom locations are about to give you the perfect combination in their dressing rooms, thanks to "smart mirrors" designed by eBay.

The new technology turns what at first glance appears to be a regular full-length mirror into a touch-screen, interactive display. Customers can browse different sizes, colors, styles, and even product re…

Audi schraubt in München fleißig weiter am Vorsprung durch Technik. Besucher des Münchner Flughafens erlebten das Markenversprechen des Automobilherstellers hautnah in der Audi Erlebniswelt. Die Ingolstädter verzauberten Europas größte überdachte Freifläche in eine spannende Welt aus zukunftsträchtigen Ideen und technischen Errungenschaften. Bei der Inszenierung ging es allerdings nicht nur ums Automobil sondern um Erlebnisse und Berührungspunkte mit Technologien, die vielleicht schon bald zu …

Don't act too surprised if, some time in the next year, you meet someone who explains that their business card isn't just a card; it's an augmented reality business card. You can see a collection and, at visualcard.me, you can even design your own, by adding a special marker to your card, which, once put in front of a webcam linked to the internet, will show not only your contact details but also a video or sound clip. Or pretty much anything you want.

It's not just business cards. London Fash…

Rolls-Royce presents the future of tug bridge controls : Rolls-Royce created this concept under FIMECC (Finnish Metals and Engineering Competence Cluster) user experience and usability program, UXUS.

By 2025, the first batch of autonomous vehicles will be driving through your neighborhood.
But what about cargo ships?
They’ll still have humans at the helm–at least most of the time–and this is the augmented reality bridge they’ll use to traverse the high seas.

The introduction of the aluminum body 2015 F-150 is an aggressive move by Ford in the automotive lightweighting battle.

DEARBORN, Mich. -- Ford will begin production of its aluminum body F-150 pickup today at the Ford Rouge Center just outside of Detroit.

The new pickup truck, which was unveiled during the 2014 North American International Auto Show in January, will be available at dealerships in the U.S. next month.

The introduction of the 2015 F-150 -- a pickup with a high-strength steel fra…

China's first jumbo jet, the C919, is scheduled to take its first flight in 2015.

SHANGHAI - China is seeking suppliers to develop its own wide-body passenger plane over the next decade, industry executives said, expanding its ambitions and rivalry withBoeing (IW 500/13) (BA) and Airbus (IW 1000/47).

The proposed aircraft -- tentatively called the C929 -- would be state-backed Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC)'s largest, according to suppliers that have held discussions with the firm.…

Synthetische Kraftstoffe

Forscher arbeiten an Verfahren, um Benzin und Diesel synthetisch aus Kohlendioxid herzustellen. Eine vor wenigen Tagen in Betrieb genommene Pilotanlage in Dresden zeigt, wie es geht.

Das Herz der Sunfire-Anlage: Hier spaltet sich bei 800 Grad der Dampf in Wasserstoff und Sauerstoff

Die Erdölvorräte sind endlich, der menschliche Erfindungsgeist offenbar nicht. Technisch ist es möglich, Kohlenwasserstoffe – also unter anderem Benzin, Diesel, Kerosin und auch Fette – aus …

If you’re the kind of person that tends to notice these things, a fair weather weekend stroll in any Chinese city or town lacks a distinct sound: the buzzing of light propeller aircraft in the sky. Outside the commercial and military realms, aviation is strictly limited, and private citizens who just want to take to the air have few options. That’s problematic, since booming growth in the country’s airline industry has generated a need for pilots, and it’s easier to recruit when you’ve got a po…

Wasserabweisende Sprays für Kleidung versuchen den Effekt von Lotusblättern zu imitieren. Solche Beschichtungen nutzen sich aber schnell ab, sie verpuffen bei höhreren Temperaturen und gegen Öl sind sie sowieso nutzlos. Forscher der Universität Kalifornien haben nun eine 3D-Struktur entworfen und getestet, die verschiedenste Oberflächen zum flüssigkeitsabweisenden Supermaterial macht.

Wer ganz genau hinschaut, Elektronenmikroskop-genau, erkennt auf der Oberfläche von Lotusblättern kleine Hügel …

The Wall Street Journal has uncovered Sony's clandestine involvement in a smartwatch project. Under the name Fashion Entertainment (FES), the company has thrown an electronic paper watch into the wearable product scrum.

All credit to Sony, the watch itself is very slick looking. It overcomes many of the problems existing smartwatches on the market present -- namely that they are overly bulky and have naff battery lives. Electronic paper, which is famously used in ebook readers to provide them …

Danish architecture studio EFFEKT has triumphed in a competition to design a street sports facility in and around a crumbling train engine roundhouse in Esbjerg, south-west Denmark.

EFFEKT will transform the former locomotive maintenance shed, arranged around a circular turntable, with a new youth and community centre centred around skateboarding – one of Europe's fastest-growing sports.

Named Streetmekka Esbjerg, it is one of three facilities proposed in Denmark by non-profit organisation Re…

Researchers studying honey bees have found that genes switch off as memories are being formed, allowing for new connections between nerve cells. Memory management in the bee brain is controlled by small genetic elements called microRNAs that help regulate gene expression. These microRNAs could directly target the key developmental gene “actin,” which controls the ability of nerve cells to connect with other nerve cells.

"The nervous system behind memory formation is fundamentally no differen…