Riding in planes like cowboys may be our travelling destiny
It wasn’t so long ago that I was questioning the rather questionable logic surrounding the concept commercial aircraft that has a transparent hull. As debatable as my stance
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05.03.11
The mind: no longer a terrible thing to waste
It is said that life imitates art and vice versa. So it should come as no surprise that various fictional quotes (or even entire texts) are so commonly used to define us. This is, in itself, not problematic from my side of the fence as there is no need to reinvent the defining quotation wheel:
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There are some things a gadget will never be able to replicate
In an age where there’s a gadget solution for almost everything (even for things that don’t seemingly need a gadget), there’s still not a gadget solution for absolutely everything – and I doubt there ever will be such a time where this changes. You may have
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One step closer to curing the cancer stigma
The greatest thing about having interesting friends who are much older than me is the types of stories that I’m told and simply can’t empathise with/relate to. One such friend relayed to me a lengthy tale once about AIDS in the 1980s and the stigma that surrounded it. Y’see, the lack
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Perspective doesn’t mean a whole lot when it comes to traffic
I don’t know about you, but when I was growing up I was having an understanding of perspective constantly reinforced by my parents. I had to finish everything on my dinner plate because there were children in the world starving; receiving hand-me-down clothes from my older brothers was better
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Kraft proves further that the cure for everything is chocolate
It wasn’t so long ago that Kraft was issuing a challenge to the general populace. They had specially labelled jars of Vegemite that offered everyday folk the chance to help in naming the latest variation of their popular spread. With some 48,000 suggestions, you wouldn’t have been mistaken
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Could we survive without the internet?
There are certain points of social evolution that once crossed, it becomes difficult to imagine how life could ever return to a time before their profound advent. And for every Fight Club-loving anarchist who not-so-secretly wishes the contemporary world could return to a simpler time,
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The dubious importance of memory
Amid the plethora of qualities I am proud to call my own—the most important of which is humility—is my memory. Because life is all about applying a ‘once burned, twice shy’ mentality, in order to be able to rack up a tally of ‘I told you so’s’ that’s longer than anyone else
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Is Google to be trusted?
Maybe it’s the semi-jaded side of me, perhaps it’s the fact that I like to explore the possibilities of a Jason Bourne-esque conspiracy theory or possibly I occasionally have too much time on my hands, but Google seems to be increasingly hitting headlines with (arguably) ‘justifiable’
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The world needs retail service conscription
I recently returned from a rather short-term trip to the US of A and was greeted by this poor flight attendant and his meltdown that has become a rather public affair. Having read the various stories surrounding this incident and even watching the video re-enactment on the
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New Electric Skin Could Bring the Human Touch to Robots, Artificial Limbs
Human skin is primed for touch - even minuscule pressure from a fly is enough to make you flinch. This ability does not yet extend to artificial limbs, however, and robots are a long way from having sensitive tactile abilities.
Now two California research teams have announced
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Samsung's New Notebooks
Samsung has announced three new models to add to its lineup of notebooks - the QX series, the RF series and the SF series. We haven't had a chance to test any of these units yet, but the press release offers the following information:
QX Series: This Core i5-driven notebook is made for professionals
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New this week: Win a Zeppelin, plus meet our new blogger
Meet Tesla Patent Pending.
PopSci.com.au has unleashed a new opinion writer over at our blog. He's outspoken, he's informed, and he can usually be found hiding in dark rooms with a pile of new gadgets around him. Boys and girls, please
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Munich Deploys Custom Bacteria at Oktoberfest to Devour Ubiquitous Stink of Stale Beer
Bavarian beer purveyors concerned about a smelly Oktoberfest are hoping bacteria can make the experience more enjoyable. They plan to pour a solution of live bacteria on the
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MIT's Opera of the Future Features Singing Walls and Dancing Robots
A new opera produced by the lab behind Guitar Hero technology includes robotic singers, interactive instruments and a focus on technology that could change the way we experience live performances.
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General Electric Gives Gearless Wind Turbines a Big Boost
Conventional wind turbines have an Achilles
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File-Sharing Group Mulls a Floating Pirate Ship of Servers in the Sky
Pirate Parties International, the central group that unites all of the disparate political Pirate Parties in other countries, recently had a meeting wherein a particularly bonkers proposal was discussed. The problem: Where can servers that store data frequently seen as unsavory
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Mobile Indoor Positioning is Coming, But Incompatible Standards Stand in the Way
Our GPS-wielding smartphones have made it somewhat difficult to get lost, say, on the way to the museum. But if you're waiting for the day your phone will also help you navigate to a specific painting once you're inside, you might be waiting
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WIN 1 of 3 Pioneer NAC-3 Digital Speaker Systems.
For your chance to WIN 1 of 3 Pioneer NAC-3 Digital Speaker Systems for Ipods valued at $699 each. Email us at [email protected] with the subject line ‘The Buzz Oct Comp’ and in 25 words or less, tell us “How many songs do you have stored on
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Singapore's SkyPark infinity pool lets you swim to the edge of the world
You've got to admire an architect who can take an ordinary hotel pool and turn it into a genuinely terrifying attraction.
The newly built Sands SkyPark in Singapore offers guests a place to cool off on the 55th floor, nearly 200
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Mainstream science fiction needs to step it up a notch so humanity can advance
One of my most favourite pastimes is losing myself in an engaging film. Although I enjoy a mindless Hollywood blockbuster as much as the next 18-35 year old male target demographic member, it’s the films that drag me away to a whole other world that stick with me. And that’s because my
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Über panopticism
In 1975, French philosopher Michel Foucault coined the term ‘panopticism’ in his book, Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison. The term itself is derived from the panopticon, which is a rather ingenious prison design. The panopticon is circular, with prisoners housed on the outer
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iPhone 4: if it’s broke, I’ll still buy it
It wasn’t so long ago that I was querying the logic behind the surge of interest in the newly released iPad. Since then, my desire to purchase Apple’s latest iGadget hasn’t increased in the
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The blind leading those who drive but don’t see
While scouring the PopSci front page for inspiration I came across this story about the impending test-drive of a modified Ford Escape for blind drivers. While
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Your life expectancy: would you like to know more?
Today I’m going to explore the ins and outs of a question that I’m sure many of us have encountered in some form or another, be it through TV shows, movies or morbidly curious minds. The question is simple: if you could know when you were going to die, would you want to know? Personally,
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The Twitter epidemic
As far as self-explanatory blog titles go, this one certainly takes the cake in terms of removing the mystery of my point of view. For those who wish the point hammered home, I’m not a fan of Twitter. For me, Twitter is the bumper sticker of the online realm: a rather hit-or-miss attempt
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The e-book is dead, long live the e-book
It wasn’t so long ago that there was rather serious talk of the end of an era: we were going to see the decline of paperback and hardcover books, and enjoy the rise of the e-book. The only problem was that it didn’t play out like that. E-books arrived in a big way, with a multitude of onscreen
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Form fits into function: from geek to ‘gique’
The term ‘geek’ is in dire need of an upgrade. What used to be a word that described a stereotypical pasty, overweight and agoraphobic middle-aged man no longer refers to the same thing. Nowadays, pastimes and interests that relate to typical geek culture—love of movies, TV show obsession
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Seasons in review: winter bites
As I’m sure many of you are more than well aware, parts of Australia are currently suffering through some of the coldest days we’ve had in years (coldest day since 1949 here in Sydney town). While this can certainly prove difficult to motivate oneself to do much of anything during the day
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Kids are getting smarter, faster
Not so long ago I received an email whose intent was to garner some sort of appreciation for my parent’s generation. It contained a list of various activities that we ‘kids these days’ don’t have an appreciation for: having to post letters by way of snail mail, playing outside due to
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