A year behind schedule, a team of French engineering students is finally preparing to send Nephelios, the solar-powered manned airship they've developed, on its maiden voyage across the English channel.
The ambitious project had aimed to accomplish
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Apple, through powers of both good and evil, always finds a way to captivate like no other with their new product launches. But in unveiling the iPhone 4 today, they had an unfamiliar challenge to deal with: a world that has already seen in great detail the new product
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In late 2008, NASA's Phoenix lander dropped into deep hibernation at the onset of Martian winter, concluding a successful and long-running mission. But there was some hope that, despite not being built for such hostile temperatures, the craft would emerge
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It's been an excellent World's Fair. Here are some closing thoughts.
At the beginning of the week, I wondered what wild future we'd see here in one of the most rapidly growing, future-obsessed cities in the world. Well, it's very similar to the
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Many of the pavilions at the 2010 Expo in Shanghai are phenomenal, both inside and out. The USA pavilion, however, is neither. But far worse than being visually unimpressive (which it is), the essence of our representation at the largest World's Fair carries an even sadder message.
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Every time a bus, police car or mini sightseeing cart go by, you hear it: the soft buzz of an electric motor pushing wheels on pavement. Almost every official vehicle for the Expo is electric, whether it's powered by fuel cells, batteries or supercapacitors.
Shanghai already
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The UK's Seed Cathedral is the best pavilion at the 2010 Expo, hands down. After getting a chance to go inside, I've decided I want to not only worship but live amongst its 60,000 fiber-optic-lit seeds. Wouldn't you?
I've been inside many of the pavilions here (a look at
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It may have been an unglamorous 15 hours from JFK to Shanghai in coach, but once on the ground, my transportation prospects improved significantly: I floated into the city levitating on a magnetic field at 260km/h.
The train that connects Shanghai's Pudong International
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Remember World's Fairs? Those dazzling displays of self-cleaning kitchens, rocket cars and robotic servants--the futures we'd all be living in around, well, now? Whose effervescence and ability to captivate seemed to have fizzled into nothingness long ago?
Well, they're back--having never
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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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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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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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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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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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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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Conventional wind turbines have an Achilles
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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