Month: March 2016

Meet the Giulia—Alfa Romeo's credible return to the US small luxury sedan segment. Video shot and edited by Jennifer Hahn. (video link)

Was it Top Gear that issued an edict saying one could only be a real car enthusiast if they'd owned an Alfa Romeo? That would have disqualified most Americans from earning that title for many years; Alfa Romeo pulled out of the US market in the mid-'90s. But this summer, the brand returns to these shores with the arrival of the Giulia sedan.

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MICHOUD, La.—Look at NASA's high-profile Orion spacecraft, and you may get a funny feeling of familiarity. While the modern crew vehicle recently made its big screen debut in the Oscar-nominated The Martian, any lingering deja vu more likely comes from a different place. With the Orion module, there's more than a passing resemblance to its predecessor—the one from the Apollo program.

"To the untrained eye, it looks very much the same," says Jim Bray, Lockheed Martin's Director of the Orion Crew Module. Bray's been working and thinking about Orion since helping Lockheed win the contract in 2006, and even he can admit it looks "very similar" to Apollo.

"This registry has been a goal of mine for years and will further equip citizens to protect themselves from financial fraud by making information much more accessible in this digital age," Utah Attorney general Sean D. Reyes said. "A simple search cold curtail a fraudulent investment and save an entire nest egg."

The database, complete with mug shots, previewed weeks ago and includes around 100 listings. When you first visit the site, a "Registry Disclaimer" pops up with a message that the state "does not guarantee the website's accuracy or completeness." The disclaimer also says "members of the public are not allowed to use the information to harass or threaten offenders or members of their families."

Take a closer look at the new Audi R8 with us at the New York International Auto Show. Video shot and edited by Jennifer Hanh. (video link)

Audi had quite a few new R8s on display at this year's New York International Auto Show. The big reveal was the world premiere of the R8 Spyder—a roofless version of the V10 supercar that looked rather good under the lights in its bright yellow paint. The Spyder was joined by three other R8s: a couple of the souped-up R8 V10 Plus models (identifiable via the naked carbon fiber rear wing and other carbon fiber addenda) and a "regular" R8 V10—if any car with 540 hp (397kW) capable of 199mph (320km/h) can be said to be regular. And the R8 took home some honors, winning the title of 2016's World Performance Car .

A virus in the same family as Dengue. (credit: Oak Ridge National Lab)

The Dengue virus comes in four distinct but related varieties called serotypes, and they're all bad. Rather than inducing tolerance for each other, infection with one Dengue serotype actually makes people more sensitive to the other three. Victims infected by a second serotype can develop hemorrhagic fevers, which can be fatal. Somewhere around 400 million people are infected with Dengue annually—more than any other mosquito-borne ailment. There is no cure.

Dengue is also in the same family as Zika and is spread by the same mosquitos, so learning more about one could have broad applications for the other. This week, researchers published a paper in Nature describing how the Dengue virus avoids one arm of our immune system.

There are two arms to our immune system. Adaptive immunity generates antibodies and T cell receptors to combat unique aspects of a specific pathogen. After the fight is over, these antibodies and receptors stick around to remember and attack that pathogen should we encounter it again. Antibodies and T cell receptors form the molecular premise upon which vaccines are based.

Video shot/edited by Jennifer Hahn. (video link)

At the end of last year, both Garmin and Polar introduced new fitness trackers that incorporate a few smartwatch features. Garmin's is the formidable Vívosmart HR and Polar's is the A360. Both combine heart rate monitors with daily activity tracking and smartphone notifications to make all-purpose devices that are meant to live on your wrist. Polar's $199 A360 is a little more customizable than the Garmin device, and it borrows features from Polar's other trackers that are ideal for anyone doing regular, serious training sessions.

Design: A little bulky, but it could be worse

The A360 is the slightly chunkier cousin of Polar's Loop 2, with its thumb-sized module and stretchy silicone band. Its 160×80-pixel color LCD touchscreen is bold and easy to use, while the button on the bottom left corner is awkward at first, particularly if you wear the A360 on your left wrist like I did. But you get used to it after a day or so. Like many other wristbands, the A360's display lights up to show the time when you flick your wrist.