superheroes

The Physics of Batman

Our resident Hollywood physicist takes on The Dark Knight and comes up victorious

With The Dark Knight, the action-infused sequel to Batman Begins, dominating the box office in recent weeks, it’s clear that the revitalization of the new Batman franchise is no fantasy. In my opinion, The Dark Knight doesn’t quite come up to the level of its predecessor—its relentless action sequences left me a bit numb after a while, and the constant quick cutting in these scenes gives the audience too much to absorb all at once.

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PopSci Readers Want to Know: How Can We Get Superpowers?

In this installment of our regular reader-on-reader action, let's figure out how to create a race of super-readers

How can we get our own superpowers? Is exposure to radioactivity a reliable way to go, or cosmic rays, or toxic waste? Perhaps gadget-assisted powers are more within reach.

Discuss your theories, successes, and near-successes in the comments. Also: what power do you most want, and what do you plan to use it for?

Submit your science and technology questions to [email protected].

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The Science of Superheroes

Our resident Hollywood physicist examines how even the most righteous crime fighters still manage to break the most important laws of all

Spiderman, Batman, the Fantastic Four, Ironman—seems like every time we go to the movies, there's some guy in a unitard saving the world with acts of unnatural physics. We realize that these are works of fantasy, so we don't get too upset when the science portrayed in them comes from some alternative universe.

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