A new drone prototype has the ability to not only take off and land vertically, but it can also land against a wall, similar to a bird. The Multimodal Autonomous Drone (S-MAD) was created by researchers at Canada's University of Sherbrooke, utilizing microspineso to allow it to attach itself to these kinds of surfaces. "Microspines are used to cling to rough walls, while strictly onboard sensing is used for control," a paper on the drone reads. "The effect of thrust on the suspension's landing envelope is analyzed and a simple vertical velocity controller is proposed to create smooth and robust descents towards a wall." The prototype was first spotted by the tech website TechCrunch.

Top U.S. retailers Amazon and Walmart have taken steps to revolutionize the current logistics set-up for retail deliveries, especially in creating an infrastructure that will facilitate faster delivery using unmanned aerial vehicles like drones. While Amazon's Prime Air model was showcased last year, Walmart has applied for a similar floating warehouse, from where drones can pick up items and drop them at customers' doors. The patent titled "Gas-filled carrier aircrafts and methods of dispersing unmanned aircraft systems in delivering products" explains the mechanism, which seems similar to a hot air balloon or blimp-style airship. "One or more propulsion systems are secured with the gas chamber and/or the carrier compartment. When activated, the propulsion system causes the transport aircraft to move through the air. The propulsion systems may be configured to advance the transport aircraft upward, downward, in forward and/or reverse directions," the patent states.

New drone footage has revealed the latest look of Tesla's Gigafactory located on Electric Avenue in Sparks, Nevada. Once completed in 2020, the factory is set to become one of the biggest buildings in the world, with a final size of 10 million square feet. With production underway at the Gigafactory, the company is churning out lithium ion battery cells by the masses in hopes to ultimately reduce the cost of sustainable energy. Tesla says the factory will be producing 35 gigawatt hours of batteries by 2018, which is crucial for the company in reaching its production target of 10,000 units per week in 2018 for its new Model 3 car. According to electrek, Tesla's goal is on target as Tesla co-founder Elon Musk said this month that the factory is already the biggest battery producing factory in the world.

Hey, Amazon: you aren't the only one who pictures blimps full of delivery drones. Walmart has applied for a patent on "gas-filled carrier aircrafts" that would serve as airborne bases, helping courier drones fly to homes they couldn't reach if they flew from a fixed location. The concept isn't completely new, of course (Amazon filed for a similar patent in 2016) but Walmart goes into exacting detail. Blimps would fly at altitudes up to 1,000 feet and talk to a remote scheduling system that indicates when drones should fetch packages from inside the blimp and head to their destinations. The thought of ever-present Walmart blimps is more than a little odd, and there's no guarantee that it'll happen (this is just a patent), but it's more plausible than you might think.

Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast has been scorched by fighting between the state and members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's Hezbollah used drones to strike Islamic State in Syria close to the border with Lebanon, a military media unit it runs said on Monday, their first public declaration that they had used such a weapon.

A group of Palestinian activists in the UK could be imprisoned after a protest outside a factory owned by a subsidiary of Israeli drone manufacturer, Elbit Systems. Five protesters were arrested in July after the demonstration in the West Midlands town of Shenstone and later charged with a breach of the Trade Union and Labour Relations. Operations at the UAV Engines Ltd plant were shutdown for two days starting July 6 with protesters laying out mock coffins outside the factory and laying on the ground outside its gates. The specific offence the activists are accused of carries a sentence of up to six months in prison and a fine of up to 5,000 British pounds ($6,410). A court hearing on Friday was adjourned pending a review of the charge by prosecutors with the possibility that the current charge may be dropped and a new one added.

The buzz of a motor overhead at nearly 11:30 p.m. was the tip-off. A remote control-operated drone flew over the border fence from Mexico, heading for San Ysidro while a Border Patrol agent listened and watched. He radioed ahead to other agents to be on the lookout for the small aircraft. Ten minutes later, federal authorities had what they say is their first confirmed San Diego case of drug smuggling by drone. Late on the night of Aug. 8, agents arrested a man carrying a bag full of heroin -- more than 13 pounds valued at an estimated $46,000.

SAN DIEGO – A 25-year-old U.S. citizen has been charged with using a drone to smuggle more than 13 pounds of methamphetamine from Mexico, an unusually large seizure for what is still a novel technique for bringing illegal drugs into the United States, authorities said Friday. Jorge Edwin Rivera told authorities that he used drones to smuggle drugs five or six times since March, typically delivering them to an accomplice at a nearby gas station in San Diego, according to a statement of probable cause. He said he was to be paid $1,000 for the attempt that ended in his arrest. Border Patrol agents in San Diego allegedly saw the drone in flight on Aug. 8 and tracked it to Rivera about 2,000 yards from the Mexico border. Authorities say agents found Rivera with the methamphetamine in a lunch box and a 2-foot drone hidden in a nearby bush.

SAN DIEGO – A 25-year-old U.S. citizen has been charged with using a drone to smuggle more than 13 pounds (6.1 kilograms) of methamphetamine from Mexico by drone, an unusually large seizure for what is still a novel technique to bring illegal drugs into the United States, authorities said Friday. Jorge Edwin Rivera told authorities that he used drones to smuggle drugs five or six times since March, typically delivering them to an accomplice at a nearby gas station in San Diego, according to a statement of probable cause. He said he was to be paid $1,000 for the attempt that ended in his arrest. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said in a recent annual report that drones are not often used to smuggle drugs from Mexico because they can only carry small loads, though it said they may become more common. In 2015, two people pleaded guilty to dropping 28 pounds (62 kilograms) of heroin from a drone in the border town of Calexico, California.