Plants are extremely efficient converters of light into energy, more or less setting the bar for researchers creating photovoltaic cells that convert sunlight into electricity. As such, researchers are constantly trying to mimic the tricks that millions of years of
Read more...
Let's ask Betsy Dresser, the senior vice president of research at the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species in New Orleans, who has raised several litters of small African wildcat clones. "Oh yes, the clones are very much wild animals with wild instincts,"
Read more...
A University of Michigan researcher thinks we can triple the fuel economies in our petroleum-powered vehicles in the next 25 years. All we need to do is replace horsepower with brainpower.
John
Read more...
For those who can't afford to have their ashes sent to space or who may not like the notion of being screwed into the ground post-mortem, here's another solution: have
Read more...
For the first time, a human-designed chemical enzyme -- a chemzyme -- has been used to break down a toxin found inside fruits and vegetables.
Chemzymes are designed to emulate the body's naturally
Read more...
Quantum cryptography is one of the most secure known means of transmitting data, due to the fact that even if a third party does intercept a quantum signal, that interference changes the encryption key, making the tampering apparent to parties at both ends. But a handful
Read more...
It's been eight months since Boeing's 787 Dreamliner first took to the skies. Back then, Japan's ANA was expecting to have their first 787 roll into the hanger by the close of 2010. Now, thanks to a delay in production of the plane's Rolls-Royce engines,
Read more...
Plenty of human-gadget interfaces can let you control a robot or a computer with your mind. But these communications are command-based -- your PR2 still can't tell whether you're asking it for a beer to celebrate, or to drink away your sorrows. An EEG-based affective computing
Read more...
A sharp-looking tabletop touchscreen can be used to command robots and combine data from various sources, potentially improving military planning,
Read more...
Nano-thin sheets of metal can be used to build a tiny high-definition display, according to University of Michigan researchers. They built
Read more...
Also: The Sky is Blue, Water is Wet?
An overseas study into the differences between the
Read more...
As particle physicists gather this week for a conference in Paris, they're reporting progress toward finding the elusive Higgs boson, with two groups suggesting a Higgs discovery may not be far off.
Physicists from Fermilab in Illinois announced they combined the results of two experiments
Read more...
I've always thought it would be funny to build scale-size exploding grain silos for a model train
Read more...
Looking to build a time machine but nervous about the classic grandfather paradox, aka the Marty McFly conundrum, aka the idea that you might unwittingly do something that causes you to never exist in the first place? An MIT professor and a few of his quantum quoting
Read more...
Shoes change the human foot strike and may lead to more running injuries...
All
Read more...
Per Segerbäck lives in a modest cottage in a nature reserve some 120km northeast of Stockholm. Wolves, moose and brown bears roam freely past his front door. He keeps limited human company, because human technology makes him physically ill. How ill? On a walk last summer, he ran into one of
Read more...
Taking cues from slime molds, ants, and living biological cells, a team of University of Pittsburgh researchers has designed a system of artificial cells that can communicate with one another and cooperate to carry out tasks. The computer models they've devised could
Read more...
In a potential breakthrough in the prevention of AIDS, researchers are reporting today that a vaginal gel containing an existing AIDS drug can cut in half a woman's chances of getting HIV from an infected partner.
The women involved in the study used it only
Read more...
Of all the aviation tech emerging from the Farnborough International Airshow, Airbus' futurist visions are among the coolest.
The aviation firm unveiled its
Read more...
A new underwater kite being developed in Sweden could be a low-cost, low-impact method for harnessing ocean energy. Swedish start-up Minesto has obtained US$2.5 million to start testing the kite in Northern Ireland next year.
The kite, called Deep Green, is able to capture tidal energy at
Read more...
Dr Peer Bork, a bioinformatician from
Read more...
I've always thought it would be funny to build scale-size exploding grain silos for a model train
Read more...
The closer we get to the year 2015, the louder people lament that our world hardly resembles the one depicted in Back to the Future II. Although it will be awhile before any of us coast around in a flying Delorean, we've piped down our complaints, as a young
Read more...
Over five years ago, scientists succeeded in teleporting information. Unfortunately,
Read more...
According to both common sense and the US Academy of Pediatrics, there are two truths about hot dogs which neither science nor industry can afford to ignore: kids love hot dogs, and hot dogs are the perfect size and shape for a child to choke
Read more...
Imagine a gesture-based mobile device with no screen, no keyboard, and no other peripheral inputs or outputs, a mobile device that's not really a device at all. Can you see it in your mind's eye? If so, you're probably picturing something akin to a new
Read more...
A $136 million Earth-based telescope using brand new adaptive optics just trumped Hubble's deep space image clarity three-fold, but such high tech optics aren't just reserved for high-dollar observatories. A breakthrough in deformable liquid mirror technology
Read more...
As particle physicists gather this week for a conference in Paris, they're reporting progress toward finding the elusive Higgs boson, with two groups suggesting a Higgs discovery may not be far off.
Physicists from Fermilab in Illinois announced they combined the results of two experiments
Read more...
It?s amazing no one thought of it before: nuclear fusion from a levitating tire-sized magnet
Read more...
Looking for new energy solutions, scientists are increasingly embracing the idea of cold fusion, once considered a junk science along the lines of alchemy. "Cold fusion" describes the nuclear fusion of atoms at close to room temperatures, as opposed to the epic temperatures
Read more...
Popular Science has been a leading source of science, technology and gadget news since 1872. With up-to-the minute latest space news, insightful commentary on the new innovations and concept cars ...if it's new or future technology you'll find it at popsci.com.au.
WW Media - Popular Science © 2010
Cameras - Home Entertainment - Mobile Phones
Popular Science: breaking news, articles and media for Tech Savvy readers - science, animals, energy, environmental science, health, social science and much more.
The team at Popular Science has been the leading source of science, technology and gadget news since 1872. Launched in 2008 this Australian edition brings you in-depth articles, breaking news, media and videos from all around the world. Discover new technology, test drive the latest health and energy articles, keep up to date with the latest environmental news on climate change and global warming and explore the universe with our latest social science news.
Popular Science - Best New Earth Science, Popular Science Projects, Articles and News in Australia and New Zealand and from around the world, subscribe today!
