Mazda has pulled the covers off the new 2019 Mazda3, and we already know that the cars will have new tech to woo buyers. Mazda says that its KODO design is applied to the sedan hood, cabin, and trunk and is meant to evoke elegance and sleekness. The horizontal flow of the car accentuates the wide, and low stance with a calmness says Mazda.
The NASA New Horizons mission is currently out in the Kuiper Belt having a little look around. The spacecraft flew by an object called Ultima Thule, known formally as Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69. The flyby of the object was on January 1.
The Hubble space telescope has been in space for many years now. Of late it has had some challenges, including one that left its Wide Field Camera 3 non-functional for a while. Hubble is back at work, and scientists from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias have shared a new image that took three years to produce. The photo is the deepest image of the Universe ever taken from space.
Multiple challenges face autonomous vehicles as they move into the mainstream in coming years; among those challenges is how to let other drivers and pedestrians know what the autonomous auto is doing. One way that Jaguar has come up with to let people know that an autonomous auto sees them is to put googly eyes on the vehicles that look at the person the car senses. Jaguar Land Rover has unveiled a new system that is designed to show other drivers and pedestrians where the car is going.
Salamanders are fascinating creatures that have one key ability that humans would love to have. The salamander can regenerate just about any of its body parts, including arms, legs, tail, spinal cord, eyes, and in some specimens half the brain. The benefits that humans could have if this ability to regenerate could be transferred to humans is incredible.
A group of researchers from Rice University has been studying an ancient collision between a very early Earth and another planet. They say that most of the essential elements on Earth for life likely came from the planet that Earth collided with. Earth is thought to have received the bulk of its carbon, nitrogen, and other life-sustaining volatile elements from the planetary collision that created the moon.
Boeing has announced that it has completed the first successful test flight of its autonomous passenger air vehicle or PAV. The test flight was performed in Manassas, Virginia and the PAV is a vehicle aimed at urban air mobility. PAV is an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, and the aircraft maker plans to continue to test and advance the safety and reliability of on-demand and autonomous air transportation.
On January 1, 1995, a freak wave was observed in the North Sea, and measurements of the wave were made on the Draupner Oil Platform. That was one of the first confirmed observations of a freak wave in the ocean. Freak waves are unexpectedly large compared to surrounding waves in the ocean.
Astronomers have announced that they have gathered new data on the black hole that lies at the center of our galaxy. The new information was gleaned when the scientists added the ALMA telescope into the array of telescopes being used to study the black hole. The discovery has found that the emissions from the supermassive black hole, called Sagittarius A (Sgr A), comes from a smaller region than previously believed.
Tesla previously offered buyers who bought a Model S EV free supercharging for life, then stopped doing that and began to charge owners. Tesla fans were unhappy with that move, and then Tesla angered the users again this week when it announced that it would be increasing Supercharger pricing. Prices in the US rose from 24 cents per kWh to 32 cents per kWh for about a 33% increase in some markets.
The biggest news in astronomy and space fanatic circles over the last week or so has been the total lunar eclipse that happened recently. The eclipse was visible in many parts of the world, and for those that couldn't see it in person, a live stream of the eclipse was put online. During the eclipse, an eagle-eyed observer viewing the moon through binoculars noticed something interesting.
Researchers have theorized that far away from us in our solar system there might be a mysterious planet, dubbed Planet 9, orbiting. One of the things that some scientists have used to support the theory of Planet 9 is the odd orbits of some small objects in our distant solar system. Cambridge University researchers working with scientists from the American University of Beirut have a new theory.