planes

In February, the Ministry of Defense (MOD) in Great Britain unveiled its plans for modernizing its military. Curiously similar to the US Army's recently killed Future Combat System, the British program looks to bring a new generation of unmanned vehicles, advanced sensors and energy weapons to the battlefield.

However, unlike its American counterpart, it looks like this project is a go.

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In 2006, a bunch of terrorists went ahead and ruined air travel for the rest of us. After the terrorists failed to bring liquid explosives onto a British flight, the airlines banned liquid carry-on items larger than 3.4 ounces. This forced us to leave shampoo at home and buy outrageously overpriced drinks by the gate, to say nothing of the flask of whiskey I liked to travel with.

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Believe it or not, this image isn't Photoshopped in any way.

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Did you ever once doubt that extreme radio-controlled airplane flying would exist, somewhere? Proof of just that is above, in a video showing practitioners of dynamic soaring, a technique that utilizes specialized wind phenomenon to get RC gliders looping through the air at world-record speeds nearing 400MPH. So how does it all work?

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While watching news footage of a wildfire raging, maybe you've been struck by frustration at the lack of a high-tech, super-sized firefighting solution. Why, in 2009, don't firefighters have access to a super water-cannon? Where is the quick-hardening smothering shell? How much longer will we wait for a mountain-climbing hydro-Roomba?

The answer may be closer than you think. I was treated to a demonstration of the largest firefighting vehicle in the world, the Evergreen Supertanker.

Check out the photos.

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This fall, Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard and his team will begin test flights of a prototype of Solar Impulse, a sun-powered plane designed to circumnavigate the globe without burning a drop of oil. Piccard wants the project to demonstrate the potential of green technology, and he’s feeling the pressure. "We still have to prove that this plane will fly," he says.

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Terrafugia's prototype roadable aircraft - or flying car - recently completed its first successful flight after six months of road and runway testing. The company announced the flight of the Transition, an aircraft with foldable wings that can drive at highway speeds and fit into the average garage, at Boston's Museum of Science yesterday, calling the feat a historic milestone in aviation. "This breakthrough changes the world of personal mobility," says Terrafugia CEO Carl Dietrich. "It's what aviation enthusiasts have been striving for since 1918."

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In the not-so-distant future, cars could run on electricity, power plants on wind and solar energy, and city buses on zero-emission hydrogen fuel cells. But airplanes? Those just might run on coal.

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Today US Airways flight 1549 made an unexpected stop: the Hudson River. After a troubled take off around 3:30PM, the Airbus A320 descended into the river on the west side of Manhattan. Local ferry operators immediately began to throw life vests into the water and pick up passengers, with the Coast Guard Cutter Ridley and NYPD arriving shortly there after. All 148 passengers, as well as the 5 crew members, are all alive and accounted for. An FAA report said that a flock of geese likely caused the crash.

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For decades, we've fantasized about watching paper-thin TVs, soaring hundreds of feet with personal jetpacks, riding in cars that drive themselves, and re-growing organs.

The 21st annual Best of What's New celebrates all of those dreams coming true. Now we've collected them all into one single slideshow. Launch it here to learn about these achievements and 96 other breakthroughs that, whether long awaited or completely unexpected, are equally amazing.

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