Love the all-new electrified incarnation or not, the Volkswagen Microbus is finally making a return to the US market. And with it, the Volkswagen camper bus – and some promising sub-$100K camper van options in general – also make a much-welcome return to US shores. We had the chance to test the world's first ID. Buzz camper van ahead of its official US availability to take an early taste of the dawning era of Volkswagen van life.

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Category: Automotive, Transport

Tags: Volkswagen, mini-campervan, Campervan, Reviews, ququq, camper-in-a-box, Camping, Outdoors and Camping

Lockheed Martin's famous-but-secret Skunk Works has released a sort-of-new image of a concept for the company's Next Generation Aerial Refueling System (NGAS) military tanker aircraft for in-flight refueling of multiple warplanes.

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Category: Military, Technology

Tags: Lockheed Martin, Aircraft, US Air Force

Cranking up the air conditioner is one way to keep buildings cool, but it guzzles energy. Passive materials can regulate interior temperatures more efficiently, and now scientists in South Korea have developed a new coating that keeps glass much cooler, while still being transparent.

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Category: Materials, Science

Tags: Heating, Light, Coating, Coatings, Postech, Korea University, Cooling, Silver Ink

If you've ever fancied yourself a spaceship architect that could design a vessel to carry colonists to another star system on a journey that could last for centuries, check out the Project Hyperion Design Contest, which invites teams to lay out their Generation Ship plans.

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Category: Space, Science

Tags: Spacecraft

Meteorology may not seem like an eco-unfriendly field, but its does need to clean up its act in at least one way. A new high-tech glider could help it do so, by allowing single-use weather-balloon-carried devices to be reclaimed and reused.

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Category: Environment, Science

Tags: EPFL, Weather, gliders, Reuse

Various groups are now growing baby corals for transplantation into the world's disappearing reefs, but they need a hand. A new robotic hand has been created to help, by carefully and efficiently transferring the li'l corals between tanks as they grow up.

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Category: Robotics, Technology

Tags: Ecology, CSIRO, Coral, Soft Robotics

Many of us will serve up our favorite tunes using a smartphone, but may be left wanting in the sound quality department. That's where a portable headphone amp/DAC can help, and the latest model from Fiio promises to satisfy with desktop-level power and performance.

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Category: Mobile Technology, Consumer Tech, Technology

Tags: Audiophile, Portable, Hi-fi, Digital music, Earphones, Headphones, Bluetooth

An annual photography competition, celebrating scientific microscopic images, has unveiled this year’s winners. A startling cross-section shot of a flower has been awarded the fifth annual Evident Image of the Year Award, leading a mesmerizing gallery of miniature marvels.

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Category: Photography, Consumer Tech, Technology

Tags: Photographers, Competition, Gallery, Microscopes, Olympus

Though they don't boast some of the bells and whistles of their North American counterparts, in some ways European tiny houses are actually more impressive – since stricter towing laws mean they must be significantly smaller and lighter. Leïla's tiny house is another example of this and squeezes a comfortable and light-filled home for two into a length of just 6 m (20 ft).

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Category: Tiny Houses, Lifestyle

Tags: Baluchon, Building and Construction, Tiny Footprint, Micro-House, House, Home

Small aircraft manufacturer BETA Technologies has rolled the first electric plane off its fully scaled production line in Vermont. You can go along for the ride with this milestone-setting aircraft in a slick new video from the makers.

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Category: Aircraft, Transport

Tags: Beta Technologies, Electric Aircraft, Plane, eVTOL, Flight, FAA

The first of 35 fully automated Metropolis trains from French company Alstom, which is planned for a new Light Green Line metro system, has made its debut in Taiwan. When complete, the entirely automated 22.8-km (14-mile) line will shave 30 minutes off the current commute time end to end, taking just 20 minutes to travel the entire route between New Taipei City and the capital Taipei.

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Category: Transport

Tags: Trains, Autonomous, Automation, urban transport, Taiwan, Railways

Astro Mechanica – founded in 2021 by Ian Brooke and with a tight ship of only eight employees – is an aerospace startup developing what it calls a turboelectric adaptive engine for both subsonic and supersonic flight ... with electric car motor technology.

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Category: Aircraft, Transport

Tags: Supersonic, Subsonic, Electric Aircraft, Hybrid, Jets

Whether you live in Cell Block 9, the UK, or simply work a high-risk job where sharp objects pose a hazard, this lightweight, water- and stab-proof jacket is designed to keep you warm, dry and alive.

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Category: Outdoors, Lifestyle

Tags: Protection, Knife, Armor

Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Sierra Space Corporation have developed a new heat shield based on venerable 1980s Space Shuttle technology to protect the next generation of reusable spacecraft from the deadly heat of reentry.

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Category: Space, Science

Tags: Sierra Nevada Corporation, ORNL, Spacecraft

In one of the most amusing citizen science projects we've ever come across, Australia's leading research agency the CSIRO is asking people across the nation to track their flatulence over three days through the free and purposely funny Chart Your Fart app.

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Category: Diet & Nutrition

Tags: CSIRO, Gas, Diet, Gut Bacteria, Gastrointestinal, Research, Australia, Apps

In a restaurant or at a party, background noise can make it hard to hear people talking, even up close. But soon we could be wearing headphones that use AI to filter out noise that’s more than a few feet away, creating a “sound bubble” that lets you focus on your own conversation.

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Category: Technology

Tags: Wearable, wearable electronics, Noise-Canceling, Headphones, Adaptive Headphones, Sound, Speech, University of Washington

A helicopter putting out a wildfire may not be news, but a robotic Black Hawk helicopter seeking out one and dropping water on it while the crew sits back and watches certainly is. That's what Sikorsky recently demonstrated to an audience of dignitaries.

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Category: Military, Technology

Tags: Sikorsky, Lockheed Martin, Helicopters, Firefighting

Fifty thousand bucks is a lot of money for a motorcycle. Kramer, a boutique maker of race bikes, has tried to cram in as much as it can on two wheels – race-ready components, advanced electronics, and a titanium and carbon-fiber body. It’s got the works.

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Category: Motorcycles, Transport

Tags: Superbike, KTM, EICMA 2024, Naked bike

In the real world, you wouldn't want to carry a handheld controller all the time, or have menus constantly popping up in front of your face – so why put up with those things in VR worlds? With EgoTouch you don't have to, as it puts an interface on the palm of your hand.

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Category: Virtual Reality, Consumer Tech, Technology

Tags: Interface, Carnegie Mellon, Touch

Lithium-ion batteries power everything from our vape pens to electric cars, but they have one glaring issue: they rely on lots of hard-to-harvest lithium. A new reactor from Rice University is set to make the whole process easier and safer.

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Category: Energy, Technology

Tags: Lithium-ion, Battery Technology, Batteries, Geothermal, Rice University