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  Everyone loves the Land Rover Defender, and what better way to appreciate one than by converting it to an EV? [credit: Twisted Automotive ]

American automotive anglophilia appears to focus mainly on the Land Rover Defender these days. Used examples of these utilitarian imports command asking prices that rival the similarly agricultural G-wagen but without the veneer of hip-hop video stardom, far outstripping what you'd pay for an old and battered farm vehicle in its country of origin. A new Defender is on the way, one that's much more modern and should even come with some electrification in time, but if you want to drive something boxy off-road without burning any gas, that's mostly meant waiting for a Bollinger. But now there's an alternative, albeit one that's even more expensive: the Twisted NAS-E.

It's the product of Twisted Automotive, a Yorkshire-based company that exists to restomod Defenders and nothing but Defenders. Like Singer and Porsches, Twisted finds old Landies and spiffs them up, adding a modern powertrain and luxurious leather-wrapped interior. That's mostly meant using a GM LT1 or LT4 V8, but now there's also an electric option.

The NAS-E starts off as a sort-wheelbase soft-top Defender 90, but instead of a small-block V8, it's powered by a Remy Borg-Warner electric motor with 160kW (214hp) and 380Nm (280lb-ft). That motor, in turn, is powered by a 60kWh battery pack, which Twisted says will provide 200 miles (321km) of range. I'm not entirely sure where Twisted is getting its batteries from—we've asked the company and will update this post if we find out.

Enlarge / A man walks with an umbrella outside of AT&T corporate headquarters on March 13, 2020, in Dallas, Texas. (credit: Getty Images | Ronald Martinez)

AT&T is sending emails to customers warning them that their phones will stop working soon and that they should buy a new phone to continue getting data and voice service. But the email is misleading because these older phones will continue working on AT&T's network until 2022, or another 18 months. Even worse, the AT&T email is going to some customers whose phones have the modern technology needed to continue working after the 2022 cutoff.

"We will soon be upgrading our network to use the latest technologies," the AT&T email said, as shown in an article posted today by Android Police. "But your device... is not compatible with the new network and you need to continue to replace it to continue receiving service. Our team is here to help you find a compatible device that fits your needs." The email advertises "free same-day delivery" for new phones.

The email links to an AT&T support page titled, "Get ready, 3G is going away in 2022." The support page says AT&T is phasing out its 3G network by February 2022 and that "Once we do, 3G devices and 4G wireless devices that don't support HD Voice will no longer work on our network."

With movies on seemingly indefinite hiatus—pour one out for the oft-delayed Tenet—until we collectively get our act together, streaming platforms are picking up the slack, pumping out original films and new series to keep us entertained while we're all social distancing. Netflix just dropped the trailer for its latest foreign offering: the German sci-fi thriller Biohackers, about an ambitious young medical student seeking revenge on her mentor for the scientific sins of the past.

There isn't much background information available yet on the series (not even on IMDb), other than the identity of the showrunner, Christian Ditter, and the main cast members. The German-born Ditter is best known in the United States for directing the 2016 rom-com How To Be Single and for his work on the 2017 Netflix comedy Girlboss, based on the autobiography of Sophia Amoruso, who founded the company Nasty Gal. (Girlboss received mixed reviews and was cancelled after one season.) Biohackers looks like a significant departure for him and an especially promising one, given the success of the German sci-fi series Dark, which just wrapped a mind-bending third and final season on Netflix.

Jessica Schwarz, best known stateside for her performance in the 2006 thriller Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (based on the 1985 novel by Patrick Susskind), stars as Professor Tanja Lorenz. Swiss actress Luna Wedler plays Mia, a young medical student who gets drawn into the the world of underground biohacking and illegal genetic-engineering experiments. "Stories in which ordinary people have to face exceptional circumstances have always fascinated me," Ditter told Biohackinfo last fall after shooting wrapped. "Working with Netflix has allowed us to tell a gripping story that focuses on multi-layered and believable characters."

Enlarge / SpaceX has rapidly grown its Starship production facilities over the last six months. Here's a view from the east side in late February. (credit: Eric Berger)

A little less than two months have passed since SpaceX unexpectedly destroyed its latest Starship prototype in South Texas. Shortly after a static-fire test of this vehicle in late May, dubbed Serial Number 4 or SN4, an issue with the ground systems prompted a dramatic explosion, destroying the large vehicle and seriously damaging its test stand.

Since that failure, SpaceX has, if anything, accelerated work in South Texas. The company completed development of a second test stand for Starship and began construction of several new prototypes. In addition to finishing SN5—which was moved to the test stand earlier this month—components of the sixth, seventh, and even eighth Starship vehicles are in various states of construction at SpaceX's South Texas rocket factory.

There have also been signs that SpaceX may begin development and testing of the Super Heavy rocket relatively soon in South Texas. This is the gargantuan first-stage rocket that will power the Starship vehicle, which is the upper stage, into low-Earth orbit. NASASpaceflight.com's weekly video update from Boca Chica showcased development of both a high bay in which to stack the Super Heavy rocket, as well as preliminary construction of a launch pad.

Enlarge (credit: Flickr user Normanack)

If you're anything like me, you have a set of kitchen knives so dull that you could swap the handle and the blade with no noticeable effect on your fingers. And yet these knives will still cut—you just have to saw away at that soft tomato with less downward pressure. Surprisingly, although physicists had a general idea of why sawing with a knife helps cut soft material, no one had really looked at the details. Luckily, this oversight has been corrected and you can now optimize your cutting technique using—as certain radio personalities put it—the power of science.

Too squishy to crack, too solid to flow

Gels—a tomato is a gel with a skin—fall into a funny category. A gel is a liquid (usually water), at least if you decide by volume. However, a gel doesn’t really flow, because the liquid is contained within a polymer network. You could say that a gel is a bit like a sponge: if you squeeze a gel hard enough, water will be expelled, and when you relax your grip, water will be sucked back into the network. But not all gels hold their shape if they dry out, while a dry sponge still retains its structure.

Although gels are flexible, they are still breakable. If you stretch a gel, the gel becomes strained. As long as the strain is below a certain limit, it will always return to its original shape when you stop stretching it. The maximum strain for which this is true is called the elastic limit. To cut a gel, the strain has to be above the elastic limit.