The latest global arms race has gone hypersonic. Capable of flying faster than 5000km/h without losing manoeuvrability and lower in the atmosphere than traditional ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons will offer clear advantages in penetrating missile defences — once they’ve actually been perfected. Though still in development by nations around the world, once fully operational, the missiles are expected to be capable of destroying targets anywhere on the planet within an hour of getting data and permission to launch. The weapons will also lessen the timelines for a response by a nation under attack.
Life-size sculptures submerged underwater—accessible primarily to divers and snorkelers—are part tourist attraction, part ecological experiment in Jason deCaires Taylor's innovative art installations. "Instead of seeing the world as a hidden, endless resource that we can treat how we want, I tried to change our relationship to it and turn it into a more intimate space," says deCaires Taylor, a British environmentalist and sculptor.
For many, the tour of "Nude Men from 1800 to Today" — an exhibit of 300 paintings, photographs, drawings and sculptures focused on the bare male — was a goose-bump-raising instance of life imitating art. "I can't say I'm sweating," said office worker Herbert Korvas as he stood waiting in the atrium with other young men, wearing only socks, sneakers and a smile. Despite the cold, he said he was drawn to the idea of naked museum viewing "because it was something different."
The Seven Wonders of the Natural World may have been named too quickly. Wonders like The Grand Canyon and Victoria Falls are certainly big, and anyone who sees them will surely be impressed—but sheer size isn’t enough to truly leave a person in awe. There are other places in this world, though, that are far stranger. Places that seem almost alien, as if they could only exist on a planet that evolved separately from our own. These are places that scientists have had to struggle just to understand how they ever could have been formed. Places that will truly make you wonder—not just because they’re beautiful, but because they seem to follow scientific laws that don’t exist anywhere else on earth.
