The Rover Sport is a midsized SUV that's a bit smaller than the Discovery and a little larger than the Evoque. In its SVR format, it's also a muscle car inside in a luxury SUV package. This means you are couched in posh surroundings as you scream "OMG" laying rubber down the pavement.

• Muscle Cars
• Range Rover
• Reviews
• SUV

If you would have guessed a few years ago which major German automaker would be first out of the gate to develop a ground-up electric passenger van, the obvious answer would have been Volkswagen. But Mercedes-Benz snuck in earlier this year with the Concept EQV and promised to ready it before year-end. The production EQV debuted this week makes good on that promise, offering zero emissions driving for up to 250 miles (405 km) per charge. It'll be available in two different wheelbase lengths with up to eight seats.

• Electric Vehicles
• Frankfurt Motor Show 2019
• Van
• Volkswagen

Last year, Chinese startup Youcan Robot successfully crowdfunded its BW Space underwater drone. Now the company is back, with the upgraded BW Space Pro model. Among other things, it features a 6X optical zoom lens.

• Underwater drones

Though crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have been used by startups and small businesses to bring their ideas to life, established companies have also been using these platforms more and more. The latest to do so is Philips, which has listed its PicoPix Max compact projector on Indiegogo.

• Indiegogo
• Philips
• Pico projector
• Projectors

Following severe flooding in 1960s Hamburg, Germany, that killed over 300 people, the city upgraded its flood defenses. However, recent simulations revealed that even higher flood barriers were required to protect against extreme high tides and storm surges. An architecture competition was launched to redevelop the site and high-profile firm Zaha Hadid Architects got the nod.

• Building and Construction
• Flooding
• Hamburg
• Zaha Hadid

In the pure white snow of Antarctica, scientists have found rare isotopes that don't occur naturally on Earth. The isotope, known as iron-60, is usually forged in the crucible of supernova explosions, and the researchers believe it fell to Earth as our solar system passed through an interstellar gas cloud.

• Antarctic
• Metals
• Snow
• Supernova
• Technical University Munich

Often imitated but rarely matched, butter is one ingredient that it's important to get right. People are picky about the consistency and creaminess of their butter, and healthier alternatives have trouble getting that right. Now, food scientists from Cornell University have crafted a brand new spread they say mimics butter with only about a quarter of the calories and fat.

• Chemistry
• Cornell University
• Food
• Food technology
• Health

New research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has shown nicotine-free e-cigarette vapor can have an immediate harmful effect on the body's vascular function. The study was published as the CDC begins investigating an increasing number of hospitalizations across the country being linked to e-cigarette use.

• blood vessel
• CDC
• E-cigarettes
• University of Pennsylvania
• Vaping

The universe is generally believed to be expanding at an accelerating rate, thanks to a mysterious force dubbed dark energy. But how exactly does this force work? Researchers in the UK have conducted an experiment to test a hypothesis that this fifth fundamental force works on single atoms – and found no trace of it.

• Atoms
• Cosmology
• Dark Energy
• Imperial College
• Physics
• Universe
• University of Nottingham

Lovinflame, a decorative fireplace company specializing in clean-burning flames, has introduced a portable and versatile grilling machine it says can make for a healthier, tastier mealtime. Its new OvenPlus cooker promises a smoke-free outdoor dining experience, and with a relatively compact form, can be packed up and carted around for grilling on the go.

• BBQ
• Cooking
• Grilling
• Oven

There's a neat little category opening up somewhere between e-bikes and electric motorcycles, and Cake's new Kalk& (Kalk and) is a perfect example. Weighing just 79 kg (174 lb), with a range "over 86 km" (53 mi), it'd be a super fun dual sport commuter if it wasn't for the price tag.

• Electric Motorcycles

A provocative new study is suggesting a blood test tracking 14 different biomarkers can predict a person's risk of dying within the next 10 years better than any conventional models. The research is still a long way off being broadly deployed in clinical environments and the test may be of most use in human drug trials as a surrogate endpoint for mortality.

• Blood
• Deaths
• Lifespan
• Predictions
• Test

If you've been wondering how to track your bats, wonder no longer. A team of researchers led by the University of Helsinki has used new miniaturized GPS tags to keep tabs on desert bats as they fly about in Sibiloi National Park, Northern Kenya. By plotting the movement of the night fliers, the study is designed to provide new insights into how they adapt to drier times of the year.

• Bats
• GPS
• University of Helsinki

While fecal transplants are being cautiously explored by mainstream scientists as novel treatments for everything from autism to inflammatory bowel disease, a new study led by University of Queensland researchers is suggesting the technique may help koalas in Australia adapt to new habitats.

• Animals
• Australian
• fecal transplant
• Koala
• Microbiome
• University of Queensland

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has provided new insights into a rocky exoplanet that may be very similar to the planet Mercury or Earth's Moon. Orbiting an M-type dwarf star 48.6 light years from Earth in the constellation of Indus, LHS 3844b is 1.3 times the mass of our planet, probably airless, and covered with lava plains resembling the lunar maria.

• Exoplanet
• NASA
• Spitzer

When it comes to nifty little bits of outdoor gear, people seem to particularly like multitools and carabiners. San Francisco-based stuff-maker General Purpose California has therefore gone and combined the two, in the form of its aptly-named GPCA Carabiner.

• Kickstarter
• Multi-Tools

India's Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft has successfully made orbit around the Moon. The ambitious mission, which comprises an orbiter, a lander, and a rover, has the goal of shedding new light on the creation and evolution of Earth's closest celestial neighbor.

• Moon
• Orbit
• Rover
• Spacecraft

For continuously gathering information on ocean conditions, one thing that's been proposed is a network of sensors that would transmit data from the sea floor. Changing their batteries, however, could be quite challenging. That's where a new MIT system is designed to come in.

• Acoustics
• MIT
• Piezoelectric
• Sensors
• Underwater

We have a huge plastic waste problem at the moment, but there are efforts to make use of this throw-away resource – including using trash collected from canals to make office furniture, creating portable speakers out of plastic that can't be recycled and forming temporary shelters for use at music festivals. The latest addition to the list uses waste plastic water bottles to make sockets for prosthetic limbs.

• Plastic waste
• Prosthetics

The widespread adoption of 3D-printed construction seems more a case of when rather than if, and so far we've seen houses, a castle, and even a military barracks created using the promising tech. The latest notable development comes from S-Squared 3D Printers (SQ3D), which 3D-printed a basic prototype home in an estimated 12 hours.

• 3D Printing
• Building and Construction
• Home
• House

Music lovers and gamers alike can become rather hot-headed when wearing over-ear headphones for too long. At Gamescom 2019, HP has announced new additions to its gaming portfolio, including a pair of gaming headphones that feature both active and passive cooling.

• Cooling
• Gaming
• Headphones
• Hewlett-Packard

Harley-Davidson needs to get its bikes in the hands of younger riders, that's clear. But this young? The company has announced a pair of electric balance bikes to get American iron into the hands of 3-5- and 5-7-year-olds.

• Electric Motorcycles
• Harley Davidson
• Kids

Compact and humble, the first of Australia's Ace EVs rolled out to meet the media this morning in South Australia. With a range of around 200 km (124 miles) and a carrying capacity of 500 kg (1,100 lb), the Ace Cargo is a simple, practical delivery vehicle its creators hope will hit the sweet spot early.

• Australian
• Cargo
• Electric Vehicles

Cancer is a crafty foe, not least because traces often remain after surgery and can trigger a relapse later on. Now a new technology to fight those dangerous leftovers – a cold atmospheric plasma system – has been approved for human clinical trials by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

• Cancer
• FDA
• Plasma
• Purdue University
• Surgery
• Tumor

Looking to mix a bit of beach cruising culture from a bygone era with some new-age drivetrain technology, Volkswagen debuted its super-cute electrified dune buggy at Geneva earlier in the year. The automaker is again showing off the stylish retro cruiser as part of Monterey Car Week, marking the occasion by setting it free on the sand alongside the inspiration for the design, a Meyers Manx dune buggy in a original 60s-era styling.

• 2019 Monterey Car Week
• Dune Buggy
• Volkswagen