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3-man Space Crew Returns Safely to Earth

May 14, 2013 9:43 am | by Vladimir Isachenkov, Associated Press | News | Comments

A Soyuz space capsule with a three-man crew returning from a five-month mission to the International Space Station landed safely Tuesday on the steppes of Kazakhstan. Rescue teams moved quickly to help the crew in their bulky spacesuits exit out of the capsule, charred by the fiery re-entry through the atmosphere. They were then put into reclining chairs to start adjusting to the Earth's gravity after 146 days in space.

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Photos of the Day: Spacecrew Returns to Earth

May 14, 2013 9:42 am | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

In this image provided by NASA the Soyuz spacecraft is seen as it lands in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, on Tuesday, May 14, 2013. Hadfield, Marshburn and Romanenko returned from five months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 34 and 35 crews.

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Microsoft Embraces a Google Service for a Change

May 14, 2013 9:27 am | by Michael Liedtke, AP Technology Writer | News | Comments

Microsoft's disdain for Google doesn't extend to all of its rival's products. In a rare bit of cooperation, Microsoft's Outlook.com is giving users of its free email service the option of logging into Google Chat to exchange instant messages and engage in audio or video conversations.

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Feds Probe 3 Chrysler Models for Engine Stalling

May 14, 2013 9:16 am | by Tom Krisher, AP Auto Writer | News | Comments

U.S. auto safety regulators are investigating complaints that the engines in three Chrysler models can stall without warning. The probe covers more than 192,000 Chrysler 300C luxury cars, Dodge Charger muscle cars and Dodge Magnum wagons from the 2006 model year.

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Wind Farms Get Pass on Eagle Deaths

May 14, 2013 3:22 am | by Dina Cappiello - Associated Press | News | Comments

 It happens about once a month here, on the barren foothills of one of America's green-energy boomtowns: A soaring golden eagle slams into a wind farm's spinning turbine and falls, mangled and lifeless, to the ground. Killing these iconic birds is not just an...

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Corporations Kill Eagles

May 13, 2013 4:18 pm | by Mike Rainone, co-founder of PCDworks | Blogs | Comments

Entrepreneurship is undergoing a renaissance all over the world, according to the media. It is the next “new” thing. From American to European corporations, everyone is touting the importance of being an entrepreneur, except for the French who, according to a former president, don’t have a word for entrepreneur.

GM Says Supercomputers to Keep Recalls in Check

May 13, 2013 3:31 pm | by Tom Krisher, AP Auto Writer | News | Comments

General Motors says a new supercomputer data storage center and efforts to write its own software are paying off. The company formally opened a giant data center on Monday in the Detroit suburb of Warren, Michigan. The Detroit automaker says the changes are examples of how it's moving faster to cut costs and serve customers better.

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Engineering Answers: The Bionic Dragonfly

May 13, 2013 2:39 pm | by Melissa Fassbender, Associate Editor, PD&D | Festo Corporation | Articles | Comments

The Bionic Learning Network takes its design inspiration from nature. A partnership between Festo, various colleges and universities, and development companies, the network has produced a variety of intriguing products throughout the years. After successfully mimicking bird flight with the SmartBird, the developers at the Bionic Learning Network took on their next big challenge, modeling the dragonfly at a technical level.

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Kickstarter of the Week: 128 Miles Per Gallon

May 13, 2013 2:23 pm | by Eric Sorensen, Coordinator of Multimedia Development | Videos | Comments

Today on PD&D's Kickstarter of the Week, we're exploring the northern reaches of Wisconsin on a gas-powered, DC Lowrider bicycle from Sunny Hill Cycles.                                          

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Team Observes Real-Time Charging of a Lithium-Air Battery

May 13, 2013 1:41 pm | by David L. Chandler, MIT | News | Comments

One of the most promising new kinds of battery to power electric cars is called a lithium-air battery, which could store up to four times as much energy per pound as today’s best lithium-ion batteries. But progress has been slow: The nature of the electrochemical reactions as these batteries are charged remains poorly understood.

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Sun Unleashes Strongest Solar Flare of 2013

May 13, 2013 1:37 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

The sun has fired off a massive flare, the strongest solar eruption this year. The powerful flare occurred Sunday and erupted on the side of the sun that was not facing Earth. While the planet was not hit with radiation, space weather forecasters say the solar blast briefly disrupted high-frequency radio signals.

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Astronaut Exits Space Station with Music Video

May 13, 2013 1:34 pm | by Marcia Dunn, AP Aerospace Writer | News | Comments

In a high-flying, perfectly pitched first, an astronaut on the International Space Station is bowing out of orbit with a musical video: his own custom version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity." It's believed to be the first music video made in space, according to NASA.

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Photos of the Day: Yemeni Military Plane Crash

May 13, 2013 1:07 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

A Yemeni military plane on a training exercise crashed Monday in the country's capital, slamming into a residential neighborhood and setting at least four houses ablaze, according to a military official and an Associated Press reporter at the scene.   

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Military Plane Crashes in Yemen's Capital

May 13, 2013 1:00 pm | by Ahmed Al-Haj, Associated Press | News | Comments

A Yemeni military plane on a training exercise exploded in midair over the country's capital on Monday, killing the pilot and slamming into a residential neighborhood, according to an army official. Fragments of the plane hit buildings on the ground in Sanaa and set small fires in four houses. Three people were slightly injured, according to the official.

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Nuclear Authority Not to Allow Restart of Monju Reactor

May 13, 2013 12:56 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority is considering not allowing the operator of the prototype fast-breeder nuclear reactor Monju to resume operations before its sloppy safety management is improved, sources close to the matter said Monday.

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