OtherTechnology

Chinese companies are going all-out on unmanned systems for delivery logistics. A fleet of new autonomous cargo drones, robotic trucks, and fast quadcopters are private-sector developments that are making China a future world leader in robotics. Alibaba, China's largest e-commerce firm, is already making drone deliveries in Shanghai. Through the software of its Ele.me subsidiary, Alibaba's drones grab meals and other packages and fly them between delivery points. Human drivers then shuttle the packages the final distance to the customer. By using aircraft, the delivery service can skip China's crowded roads, cutting total delivery time to 20 minutes for customers in the participating area. Currently, drone delivery is only for the 22.5-square-mile Shanghai Jinshan Industrial Park, but there are plans to expand the program to other cities in coming years. Alibaba is also planning to start mass production of the world's first solid-state LiDAR delivery robo...

Have you heard of Stickman? It’s a 7-foot-tall swinging robot performer who weighs just around 40 pounds, can execute backflips, and then decide on his own when to untuck and land flat on its back. First revealed in May, Stickman was an early version of a fearless robotic performer, while the newest artificial acrobatic figure that Disney has shown off is in a category they call “Stuntronics.” They’re building flying machines like these for a couple reasons. First, these robots can achieve feats that would be too difficult or dangerous for a human to do. What’s more, machines can perform over and over without getting tired. (That’s a good reason for a company to use robotics: For example, at a General Motors foundry in Michigan, a large robot pours engine blocks out of burning hot liquid aluminum.) Another reason has to do with taking the kind of computer-generated feats people see in Disney films and bringing them into the real world. After all, it’s safer to create a r...

For a while there in the ‘90s it felt like every teen-girl magazine was required to publish at least one (terrifying) it-happened-to-me toxic shock syndrome story per year. “I left a tampon in for eight hours and almost died.” “My friend looked at a tampon once and died from TSS.” Maybe these tales were leftovers from the TSS epidemic in the late 1970s, or maybe editors tracked down new cases from actual teens. I can only assume that the intent was to make young girls aware of the dangers of toxic shock syndrome. Mission accomplished. Now, TSS is back in the news because a model—who lost her leg to the disease in 2012—is on an awareness campaign to teach young girls about the dangers of tampons. Her story is horrifying, and is only more depressing now that she may have to have a second leg amputated. It seems all the scarier when you realize that she hadn’t even left the offending tampon in for very long (in fact, based on her telling of it, she felt ill before she put one i...

China's defense industry has been rapidly modernizing, though a few key gaps still lie between the nation and its bid to become a major military power. One such gap: a long-range bomber. Right now, Xian Aircraft Corporation (XAC) builds the H-6K, a version of the 1950s Soviet Tu-16 Badger medium bomber modernized for avionics and increased range. But a series of reports demonstrate that, along with fielding modern missiles and expanding its range of military activities across the Pacific Ocean, China is planning to build out its strategic bomber force with a new generation of planes. After years of speculation, in September 2016 People's Liberation Army Air Force commander General Ma Xiaotian announced that China was researching the development of a long-range bomber. The news was reflected in the 2017 U.S. Defense Department Annual Report on the Chinese Military, which said China was developing a strategic bomber with a "nuclear mission." The futur...

A music video from a Norwegian duo called Ylvis is primed to, as the kids marketers say, "go viral," because it is catchy and weird and foreign and about animals. The lyrics are simple: Bård Ylvisåker and Vegard Ylvisåker, the folks behind Ylvis, describe the vocalizations of various common animals, from cats to dogs to ducks to cows, and then in the pre-chorus, wonder what sound the fox makes. The chorus then suggests a few possibilities, like "Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding" and "Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow." Good suggestions, Bård Ylvisåker and Vegard Ylvisåker! But I think we can come up with something slightly more scientifically accurate, and also watch lots of videos of foxes while we do it. So! In Norway, where Ylvis is from, there are two species of fox: the arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) and the red fox (Vulpes vulpes). Here in the States, we have a few others, like the gray fox and the kit fox. All species of fox have a pretty wide variety of v...