Even more clips...
Can There Really Be A Planet In Our Solar System That We Don't Know About?
How skeptical should we be, and how will we find out if this mystery planet is really out there?
Popular Science, 22 January 2016
Study Confirms That Something's Weird About The 'Alien Megastructure' Star
The mystery around KIC 8462852 probably isn't aliens, but might not be comets either
Popular Science, 19 January 2016
Official Report Pokes More Holes In NASA's Plan To Get To Mars
Or the lack of a plan, rather
Popular Science, 15 January 2016
NASA May Be Cutting Corners On Safety Of Mars Rocket And Capsule, Report Finds
Budget and scheduling constraints could put astronauts at risk
Popular Science, 14 January 2016
How Will We Eat On Mars?
NASA's Vickie Kloeris explains the challenges of designing food for deep space missions
Popular Science, 11 January 2016
China's New Spaceship Looks Like SpaceX's — Here's Why
There's a good reason why all of today's manned spacecraft look pretty much the same
Popular Science, 4 January 2016
Companies Can Now Officially Own Resources They Mine From Asteroids
President Obama signed the Space Act of 2015 over Thanksgiving
Popular Science, 30 November 2015
How Did The Halloween Asteroid Sneak Up On Us?
Fortunately it's not headed for Earth
Popular Science, 22 October 2015
Are Those Really Alien Megastructures? How Astronomers Plan To Investigate
There's something weird happening around a faraway star.
Popular Science, 16 October 2015
Should Mars Be Independent, Or Just A Colony Of Earth?
Astrobiologist wants to make sure the red planet is independent from the start
Popular Science, 25 August 2015
Pluto Has An Atmosphere, Moons, And Maybe Geological Activity. Can We Call It A Planet Now?
Short answer: It depends who you ask
Popular Science, 29 July 2015
Colonizing The Moon May Be 90 Percent Cheaper Than We Thought
And that in turn could help us get to Mars, says NASA-commissioned study
Popular Science, 20 July 2015
Vote For Zoltan If You Want To Live Forever
The founder of the Transhumanist party plans to upgrade humanity, and he’s running for president in 2016
Popular Science, 15 May 2015
Why Testicles Are The Perfect Hiding Spot For Ebola
The virus knows how to hit us where it hurts
Popular Science, 5 May 2015
Why Are There No Close-Ups Of Ceres Yet?
Blame it on the dark side
Popular Science, 20 March 2015
No, Human Head Transplants Will Not Be Possible By 2017
Cancel your cryogenic head-freezing appointment
Popular Science, 27 February 2015
Solar Power Towers Are 'Vaporizing' Birds
But they aren't the deadliest energy source for our feathered friends
Popular Science, 20 February 2015
We’re About To Visit A Tiny Planet In The Asteroid Belt For The First Time
The Dawn spacecraft arrives at Ceres this March, and it could be the most surprising space mission in decades
Popular Science, 23 January 2015
Genetically Modified Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire
A project to save the chestnut tree is gaining momentum—and opponents
Popular Science, 24 December 2014
The 11 Most Important Cats Of Science
I can haz scienz?
Popular Science, 28 November 2014
Why Scientists Want To Throw Lawn Darts At Mars
Experts from NASA say it’s time to stop beating around the bush when it comes to looking for life on Mars—and they’ve started an Indiegogo campaign to do something about it.
Popular Science, 18 August 2014
Four Predictions About The Ebola Outbreak
One epidemiologist's outlook on what the Ebola epidemic has in store for West Africa—and the rest of the world.
Popular Science, 14 August 2014
Survival Tech
Natural disasters are becoming more frequent, more intense, and less predictable—but new technology is helping us fight back.
Popular Mechanics, May 2014 cover story
Step Inside The Inflatable Space Station
Ten minutes from the Las Vegas Strip, at the fenced-off headquarters of Bigelow Aerospace, Popular Mechanics got permission to walk through a full-scale mock-up of the inflatable space hotel.
Popular Mechanics, May 2014
How Many People Does It Take to Colonize Another Star System?
A multigenerational journey between stars would require a lot more passengers than scientists previously thought.
Popular Mechanics, 2 April 2014
What Can We Do About Junk Science?
As skewed or phony studies about vaccines, GMOs, radiation, and other hot-button topics show up in journals that masquerade as legitimate science publications, junk science becomes harder to distinguish from real research.
Popular Mechanics, April 2014
How Your Internal Organs Could Power Implanted Devices
A stamp-size patch generates electricity from the beating of a heart or the expansion and contraction of the lungs.
Popular Mechanics, 21 January 2014
Could Some Alien Worlds Be More Habitable Than Earth?
Extraterrestrial life may hide on planets quite different from Earth.
National Geographic, 17 January 2014
Six Reasons NASA Should Build a Research Base on the Moon
A planetary scientist suggests we should "boldly stay" where no one has stayed before.
National Geographic, 20 December 2013
Forecasting The Growth Of Cities
A new study looks for patterns in the way urban areas grow and suggests that cities have a “memory.”
Next City, 05 December 2013
Little bugs on the prairie: the key to happy grassland
To fix a damaged ecosystem you need to start from the ground up – with the microbes that live in the soil. The first step in that direction has been taken for the tallgrass prairies of the US Midwest – a once fertile landscape now described as a near-extinct biome.
New Scientist, 01 November 2013
A Brief History of Life on Mars
David Bowie is far from the only person to wonder about life on Mars. From microbes to Martians, we examine the topic with all due gravity.
Popular Mechanics, November 2013
Kepler Discovers Earth-Sized Mystery Planet
Kepler-78b has a size and density very close to that of Earth. Unfortunately, is surface is about 2000 degrees hotter.
Popular Mechanics, 30 October 2013
All About TESS, NASA's Next Planet Finder
Harvard-Smithsonian astronomer David Latham won a 2009 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award for his work with the Kepler space telescope, which revealed that the Milky Way is jam-packed with planets. Now Latham is focusing his energies on TESS, a next-generation planet finder scheduled for launch in 2017. We talk with Latham about the new frontiers in exoplanet hunting.
Popular Mechanics, 30 October 2013
The Case for Alien Life
Only one planet has been proven to support life: our own. But with at least 11 billion Earth-sized words in our galaxy orbiting in their stars' habitable zones, plus new evidence of strange kinds of life that thrive in extreme environments, the odds that we are not alone are improving.
Popular Mechanics, 2013 July/August issue
Singapore Bus Study Reveals Hidden Social Networks
Understanding how "familiar strangers" interact could help scientists stem the spread of disease and learn how a sense of community evolves in a neighborhood
Scientific American, 23 July 2013
The Audacious Science Happening Under the Sea
Around the world, scientific and industrial infrastructure is spreading beneath the waves. Here's a preview of some of the boldest upcoming projects.
Popular Mechanics, June 2013
Fire Ants Could Inspire the Next Rescue Robots
Most search-and-rescue robots are miniaturized tanks: They're big, clunky, and travel in straight lines. By studying how ants move through confined spaces, researchers think they can build better bots that can search for disaster victims buried in rubble.
Popular Mechanics, 21 May 2013
How Gators Will Teach Us to Regrow Teeth
The stem cells that allow alligators to regenerate their teeth may one day help humans to replace broken and lost teeth.
Popular Mechanics, 13 May 2013
Coming Soon to the Arctic Circle: High-Speed Internet
A company says it’ll bring fiber optics to the isolated communities in the Canadian Arctic by late 2014. Can it also help protect Inuit culture?
The Connectivist, 18 April 2013
Monsanto v. Monarch butterflies
Monarch butterflies have been on a downward spiral for decades, and the most recent news stories report that monarch numbers have reached an all-time low this year. Searching for someone or something to blame, a few environmentally-minded publications are claiming that “GMO Crops Are Killing Butterflies”. The GLP investigates the science behind the sensational headlines.
Genetic Literacy Project, 25 March 2013
Antarctica's "New Life": Expected, or Extraordinary?
Russian scientists are defending their claim to have discovered new life in an Antarctic lake buried beneath a glacier. If confirmed, the bacteria will join a menagerie of bizarre microbes that are redefining what it means for an environment to be habitable.
Popular Mechanics, 13 March 2013
Science Can Now Create Telepathic Rats
Rats with electrodes implanted in their heads can send information directly from brain to brain, even from different continents. Could this discovery herald the beginning of mind reading and an Internet of brains?
Popular Mechanics, 28 February 2013
The Science of a Better Burger
By tweaking ingredients at the molecular level, researchers around the world are building a better hamburger one ingredient at a time.
Popular Mechanics magazine, March 2013
Celltex v. the FDA: Do Patients have a Right to Use Their Own Stem Cells for Unproven Treatments?
By classifying stem cells as drugs, regulations from the FDA have prompted Celltex, a Texas-based company that stores and multiplies stem cells, to move to Mexico. Is this FDA being appropriately cautious or strangling a potential U.S.-based industry before it even gets off the ground?
Genetic Literacy Project, 18 February 2013
Should we ban genetically engineered babies?
In a recent debate hosted by Intelligence Squared, an intellectual forum whose periodic events are broadcast on the web, scientists and bioethicists battled over a hypothetical question: Should we ban technologies that would allow us to create genetically engineered babies?
Genetic Literacy Project, 14 February 2013
Behold the 900-MPH Supersonic Ping-Pong Bazooka
Purdue University professor Mark French tweaks his ping-pong-ball cannon to let the projectiles exceed the speed of sound.
Popular Mechanics, 13 February 2013
Crash-Testing Helmets to Make Super Bowls Safer
At Virginia Tech, engineers are crushing football helmets with powerful pistons to simulate the force of 250-pound linebacker—and, hopefully, to show how helmets could be made a little safer.
Popular Mechanics magazine, February 2013
How Surgeons Performed a Double Arm Transplant
Six weeks ago, Iraqi veteran and quadruple amputee Brendan Marrocco underwent surgery to get a new pair of arms. The 13-hour operation, during which surgeons transplanted the arms of an organ donor onto Marrocco's limbs, was the most complicated double hand transplant ever performed in the U.S. On Tuesday, after several weeks of recovery, the surgeons officially declared the operation successful. PM talked to Jaime Shores, one of the head surgeons at Johns Hopkins.
Popular Mechanics, 4 February 2013
The “GM genocide”: A case of misplaced blame
Approximately 16,000 farmers in India have committed suicide every year since 1995. A theory that blamed GM crops for the suicides was debunked in 2008, but the myth still circulates among anti-GMO factions and major news outlets
Genetic Literacy Project, 4 February 2013
Nano-Sponge Cleans Up Water Runoff
We’ve all seen the oily rainbow sheen in parking lot puddles after a storm. But it’s easy to forget what happens next: That oil finds its way to a storm drainage system, where it’s likely to be flushed untreated into local waterways, and could carry with it pesticides, household chemicals, PCBs, and nutrients that cause algae blooms.
Popular Mechanics blog, 24 January 2013
Storing Shakespeare and "I Have a Dream" in DNA
Hard drives wear out. Libraries burn down. Insects chew up the delicate paper or papyrus upon which priceless documents are written. So what’s the best way to store information for 5000 years? According to a new study in Nature, it might be the same way our genetic code has survived for so long: DNA.
Popular Mechanics, 23 January 2013
Can biotechnology be open-source?
On January 16, the agricultural biotechnology giant Monsanto filed an appellate brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold its patent rights on its genetically modified soybean seeds. The case, Bowman v. Monsanto, will be heard in February and will decide whether Indiana farmer Vernon Hugh Bowman violated Monsanto’s patents by planting its seeds without paying royalties to the company...
Genetic Literacy Project, 21 January 2013
Healing Knees With Light-Activated Gel
When the knee’s vital cartilage erodes or tears, there isn’t much that doctors can do to save it. Researchers are exploring a new kind of hydrogel that may lead to more optimistic odds of recovery.
Popular Mechanics, 9 January 2013
Genetic testing of Newtown shooter will provide few answers
It’s difficult to contemplate what could drive a young man to kill 20 schoolchildren, six teachers, his own mother, and himself. Adam Lanza, the Newtown killer, left few clues as to why he committed these unspeakable acts. Perhaps out of desperation to find an answer—any answer—scientists at the University of Connecticut will search for clues within Lanza’s genome. New York Times reporter Gina Kolata points out that this is the first time researchers will attempt a detailed study of a mass killer’s DNA, and it’s likely to ignite a storm of scientific and ethical controversy.
Genetic Literacy Project, 31 December 2012
6 Ways to Expand Your Mind at the Math Museum
Please don't touch the exhibit! Just kidding. The Museum of Mathematics, which opens Dec. 15 in New York City, encourages kids and adults to experiment with the installations on display. PM got an early look inside. Here are some of our favorites.
Popular Mechanics, 14 December 2012
Urban Legend: Can City Planning Shed Its Pseudoscientific Stigma?
Without a strong scientific foundation, urban design theory may find itself extinct within the coming decades
Scientific American, 07 November 2012
Feedback System Lets Amputees "Feel" Prosthetic Leg
A sensorized shoe insole translates pressure into tactile feedback, helping amputees learn to walk on a prosthetic limb with a normal, healthy gait.
Popular Mechanics, 05 November 2012
Gattaca Alert? Or Should We Welcome the New Age of Eugenics?
Dramatic developments in genetics, including the ability to tinker with our inheritance, has thrust the issue of eugenics back into the headlines.
Forbes, 26 November 2012 -- Coauthored with Jon Entine
Meet the Bacteria That Call Your Body Home
Tens of thousands of species of bacteria colonize your body. Some thrive in armpits, while others enjoy drier places such as the hands. Here's a visitor's guide to the human microbiome.
Popular Mechanics magazine, November 2012
New eugenics and the question of personal choice
Dramatic developments in medical genetics, including the ability to tinker with our genetic inheritance, has thrust the issue of eugenics back into the headlines again. The latest person to take up the cause of this once-discredited movement is Nathaniel Comfort, professor at the Institute of the History of Medicine at The Johns Hopkins University, who has just published The Science of Human Perfection: How Genes Became the Heart of American Medicine.
Genetic Literacy Project, 21 November 2012
How to Cook a Turducken
Thinking about trying something new for Thanksgiving? Here's how you can spice up the holiday with a Frankenstein of fowl.
Popular Mechanics, 20 November 2012
3D-Printed Biobots Will Crawl Through Your Body, Targeting Toxins
Engineers use living cells to drive mini machines
Popular Mechanics Blog, 15 November 2012
5 Invasive Pests Lurking in Your Firewood
Tree-killing bugs and pathogens could be hitching a ride inside your firewood. In a recent study, scientists bought firewood from convenience shops and grocery stores and watched as dozens of species emerged from nearly half of the bundles—some appearing as late as 18 months after the date of purchase. Much of the wood had traveled across state lines, meaning retail firewood could be spreading these pests. Buy local, burn local, and maybe you'll avoid these pests.
Popular Mechanics, 9 November 2012
How Hurricane Forecasting Got So Good
Predictions for Sandy's pathway and intensity were pretty much spot-on, even from five days out. How did meteorologists do it?
Popular Mechanics, 7 November 2012
What Sandy Says (And Doesn't Say) About Climate Change
The East Coast has been getting slammed with unusually big storms in the past few years. Could climate change be to blame?
Popular Mechanics, 5 November 2012
Robo-Gloves to Aid Stroke Victims
A glove that lets stroke patients play Guitar Hero could improve their physical therapy and speed recovery.
Popular Mechanics Blog, 1 November 2012
Should the Northeast Bury its Power Lines to Prevent Outages?
Underground power cables are largely protected from storms like Hurricane Sandy. So why not bury them all and skip the blackouts?
Popular Mechanics, 31 October 2012
Supervision? New Retinal Implants Could Push Human Sight Further
Electrode prostheses that can partially restore sight to the blind are already sold on the market in Europe. But a new kind of retinal implant, revealed at the 2012 Biomedical Engineering Society meeting in Atlanta, could eventually take those devices to another level. "Theoretically we can do better than the human eye in terms of resolution," says bioengineer Massoud Khraiche of UC-San Diego. "With this device you can see infrared energy, and you can see at night."
Popular Mechanics Blog, 29 October, 2012
Copying Mosquitoes to Aid Human Hearing
As I spoke with Micah Frerck at this week’s Biomedical Engineering Society meeting, I had to focus to block out the cacophony around us and tune in to his voice. But for people who are hard-of-hearing or deaf, these kinds of environments can be difficult—a hearing prosthesis would amplify all the sounds equally, making it nearly impossible to carry on a conversation. Fortunately, Frerck, a bioengineering student at the University of Utah, is building a device that might be able to help.
Popular Mechanics Blog, 26 October 2012
Smart Bandages Could Staunch Blood Flow From Wounds
Treated textiles could save lives on the battlefield
Popular Mechanics Blog, 25 October 2012
Print-At-Home Vaccines Vs. the Next Pandemic
The 2009 swine flu epidemic killed thousands of people, many of whom would have lived if a vaccine had reached them in time. For biologist J. Craig Venter, that frustration led to inspiration. He’s now developing a 3D printer that would let consumers download and print out vaccines from their own homes.
Popular Mechanics Blog, 19 October 2012
Seeing a City’s CO2 Emissions, Block by Block
Counting carbon dioxide emissions block-by-block could enable locally tailored solutions to global warming.
Popular Mechanics, 18 October 2012
Breakthrough Artificial Retina Nears FDA Approval
It’s been three years since Barbara Campbell first had an electrode array implanted on the back of her eye. She wears it every time she leaves the house, using it to navigate around New York City. After being blind for more than a decade, the artificial retina has partially restored Barbara’s sight. Soon it may become available on U.S. markets.
Popular Mechanics blog, 16 October 2012
4 Gruesome New CSI Tactics
Forensic investigators use any information they can to solve crimes, including the clues generated by birds, plants, and insects interacting with human corpses.
Popular Mechanics Magazine, October 2012
A Visitor's Guide to the Moon
"The moon is a way of recording what has happened since the formation of the solar system," says John Keller, deputy project scientist for NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission. It's time to get to know our natural satellite a little more closely.
Popular Mechanics Magazine, October 2012
Beak Heat: Evolutionary Theory of Bird Bills Need May Need Revision
New research on song sparrows offers a new take on bird-beak evolution that is more nuanced than earlier ideas based on finch studies
Scientific American, 08/01/2012
A Visitor's Guide to the 2012 London Olympics
The Olympic Committee has spent more than $3 billion staging this summer’s London games for an estimated 11 million visitors, including making these key upgrades the casual spectator may not be aware of.
Popular Mechanics magazine, August 2012
Where Does the Internet Actually Live?
An internet outage, caused by a hungry squirrel, inspired journalist Andrew Blum to write Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet. In the book he explores the physical reality of the Internet—its sights, sounds, and smells. We tagged along as Blum recently took a small group on a walking tour of New York City's Internet, which uses many hubs that date back to the early days of the telephone industry.
Popular Mechanics, 24 July 2012
From Living Room to Lily Pad: Is the Fatal Amphibian Chytrid Fungus Spread via Pet Frogs?
Your store-bought frog might be carrying a deadly secret
Scientific American, 20 July 2012
The Reason You Can Walk on Water (and Cornstarch)
A new explanation of the classic cornstarch experiment may help researchers to enhance bulletproof vests, design safer helmets and build better roads.
Popular Mechanics, 11 July 2012
Tiny Electric Signals Could Predict Earthquakes or Bridge Failures
In the final seconds before a powdery material forms an avalanche or cracks, it emits an electrical signal. New studies of this strange effect could help scientists predict real-life avalanches and earthquakes.
Popular Mechanics, 11 June 2012
Womb with a View
Labor inside an MRI Scanner Reveals the Mechanics of Childbirth
Scientific American Image Gallery, 08 June 2012
Lady Liaisons: Does Cheating Give Females an Evolutionary Advantage?
A 17-year-long study upends the most common evolutionary explanation of female infidelity
Scientific American, 06 June 2012
Visitor's Guide to the Milky Way
Sure, you live there, but how much do you really know about our home galaxy? You might be surprised what lurks a few light years away.
Popular Mechanics Magazine, June 2012
Baby Boom: Did Retained Juvenile Traits Help Birds Outlive Dinosaurs?
Differences in developmental timing may have given birds their big eyes, big brains and smaller size
Scientific American, 31 May 2012
Off the Clock: Disrupted Daily Rhythms Hinder Fertility in Mice
The findings may have implications for women trying to conceive
Scientific American, 23 May 2012
Relics With Much to Tell About Bird Diets May Be Lost to Time
Thousands of jars had preserved the contents of bird stomachs for a food habits study. Now there are 15.
New York Times, 21 May 2012
Track Record: Do Major Urban Subway Networks Evolve along Similar Patterns?
New research digs up the underlying rules governing the shape of subway systems across the world
Scientific American, 15 May 2012
Hive and Seek: Domestic Honeybees Keep Disappearing, but Are Their Wild Cousins in Trouble, Too?
Is colony collapse disorder just the visible part of a "global pollinator crisis"? The answer is surprisingly murky. To help answer the question, scientists have created an inexpensive, nationwide wild bee monitoring program
Scientific American, 8 May 2012
Native Bee Slide Show
Scientific American, 8 May 2012
Shuttle Unplugged: Endeavour Powered-Up for Last Time
Scientific American Image Gallery, 5 May 2012
Accident-Zone: Poorer Neighborhoods Have Less-Safe Road Designs
Traffic injuries are four to six times higher in low-income areas of Montreal, compared with wealthy neighborhoods. Researchers find that better road designs could reduce those disparities
Scientific American, 3 May 2012
Is Mad Cow Testing Good Enough?
Out of the 90 million cattle in the U.S., just 40,000 cows are tested for mad cow disease each year. Should the USDA do more to protect consumers?
Popular Mechanics, 26 April 2012
XNA: Synthetic DNA That Can Evolve
By swapping sugars in the DNA helix, scientists have created a new kind of genetic code that can function and evolve like regular DNA.
Popular Mechanics, 19 April 2012
Grid Unlocked: How Street Networks Evolve as Cities Grow
Before urban planning, street patterns emerged organically. Understanding the fundamental and man-made forces behind the growth of streetscapes could help guide the development of today's cities
Scientific American, 6 April 2012
Gigantic Feathered Dinosaur Fossils Found in China
Scientific American Observations blog, 4 April 2012
8 Ways Magnetic Levitation Could Shape the Future
Magnetic levitation (maglev) can create frictionless, efficient, far-out-sounding technologies. Here are some of the craziest uses that engineers and designers have dreamed up.
Popular Mechanics, March 2012
Something to Chew On: Healthier Hot Dogs Substitute Cellulose for Saturated Fats
The structural integrity of the foods we eat is often based on unhealthy saturated fats. New research may allow food scientists to remove the bad fats without destroying texture
Scientific American, 19 March 2012
No Animals Were Harmed in the Making of This Fossil
Twisted dinosaur fossils are often found with sharply curved necks, but that doesn't mean that they died in agony.
New York Times, 6 March 2012
1 Year Later: A Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Timeline
A look back at Japan's nuclear crisis, initiated by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake on March 11, 2011
Scientific American, March 2012
5 High-Tech Space Junk Solutions
It's a mess up there. Earth orbit is crowded with not only working satellites but also defunct orbiters, pieces of old rockets, and other miscellany. How will we clean up the refuse of the Space Age?
Popular Mechanics, March 2012
Sawfish: They're Electric!
Mission Blue blog, March 2012
The myth of the exploding “fish lizards”
Mission Blue blog, February 2012
Co-oppulation: Sometimes It Takes More Than 2 to Tango [Slide Show]
How insect sperm team up to navigate complicated female reproductive tracts
Scientific American, February 2012
Coming Soon to NYC: Futuristic Trash Tubes?
America’s garbage-collection system is polluting, outdated, and becoming more expensive. Can underground trash tubes solve the problem?
Popular Mechanics, February 2012
Next Up in Nuclear: Small Modular Reactors
The Obama administration’s next move in boosting energy techonlogy will be nearly $500 million in support of small modular reactors. Individually, these nuclear reactors would produce less energy than traditional reactors, but could be used more flexibly and operate more efficiently. Here’s what to know about the next thing in nuclear.
Popular Mechanics, January 2012
Birds of a Feather: Genetic Classification Reveals Pigeons' Exceptional Diversity [Slide Show]
City dwellers may regard pigeons as pests, but they are among the most beautiful and divergent of all bird species
Scientific American, January 2012
Test Tube Yeast Evolve Multicellularity
By watching evolution in progress, scientists reveal key developments in the evolution of complex life and put evolutionary theories to the test
Scientific American, January 2012
Costa Concordia: What Went Wrong
Over the last week, more and more details about the wreck of the cruise ship Costa Concordia—some alarming, and some downright confounding—have continued to come forth. And undoubtedly, more will yet emerge. PM asked maritime safety experts how this disaster could have happened (based on what we know now) and why the ship’s crew wasn’t more prepared for the panic that followed.
Popular Mechanics, January 2012
6 Spider-Silk Superpowers
For years, scientists have been trying to tap into the power of spider silk, one of nature’s most amazing materials, but they’ve struggled to produce mass quantities. Now, a research team may have invented a way to produce the stuff in large amounts. Here’s what they want to do with it.
Popular Mechanics, January 2012
FDA to Approve New Generics, But Health Care Savings Will Be Minimal
New biological drugs are too complex to be regulated the old way
Scientific American, December 2011
Translating Calorie Counts into Exercise Equivalents Leads to Healthier Choices
Scientific American, December 2011
Why Pioneers Breed Like Rabbits
Families that colonized the Canadian frontier contributed more genetic material to the modern population than folks who stayed home, says a new study
Scientific American, November 2011
Cell-Connected Security Devices Let You Keep an Eye on Your Home From Anywhere
Popular Science, November 2011
Chock-Full Church Made Choral Clarity
A doctoral student performed acoustic archaeology to determine how music could have been properly appreciated in a cavernous 16th-century church.
Scientific American, November 2011
Brilliant 10: The Butterfly Pharmacist
Watching how insects use plants shows that self-medication isn’t just for complex animals
Popular Science, October 2011
How Different Genes Work Together in a Worm
Popular Science, October 2011
U.K. Geoengineering Tests Delayed until Spring
Scientific American, October 2011
FYI: Why Do We Get Goosebumps and Chills When We're Scared?
Popular Science, October 2011
Longevity Shown for First Time to Be Inherited via a Non-DNA Mechanism
Experiments with worms show that altering an enzyme can not only lengthen their life spans, but that the longevity effect can be carried across several generations
Scientific American, October 2011
D.C. Power Play: Students Vie to Build Affordable, Energy Self-Sufficient Homes in U.S. Solar Decathlon [Video]
Scientific American, October 2011
Nuclear Physicist: This Is My Job
James Dunlop is a collision connoisseur, smashing together gold nuclei at nearly the speed of light to simulate the Big Bang. Not a bad way to make a living.
Popular Mechanics, September 2011
U.K. Researchers to Test "Artificial Volcano" for Geoengineering the Climate
An experiment starting next month in the U.K. will pump water one kilometer into the air to test a new climate-cooling method that eventually could deliver sunlight-reflective sulfate particles into the stratosphere
Scientific American, September 2011
The Hedonic Nose: Pleasure May Organize Your Sense of Smell
The nose really might "know" good from bad, even before the brain does
Scientific American, September 2011
FYI: Can Anything Move Faster Than Light?
Popular Science, September 2011
Urban Geology: Artists Investigate Where Cities and Natural Cycles Intersect [Slide Show]
Excerpts from a new book reveal the "geo-architecture" of New York City
Scientific American, September 2011
Could Martian Life Have Seeded the Earth? Endeavour Mission Will Help Find Out
Thousands of microorganisms hitched a ride on the final flight of the Endeavour space shuttle, but this trip to the International Space Station and back is just the beginning for these bugs. Later this year, the Planetary Society will send samples of microorganisms to Mars and back to test whether life can survive the long trip through space and whether microbes from Mars could have seeded our planet billions of years ago.
Popular Mechanics, May 2011
FIRST Global Innovation Award: Student Engineers Design Remarkable Biomedical Devices
The more famous FIRST Robotics competition challenges high school students to build driveable, competitive robots, but don't forget FIRST's other divisions. The FIRST Lego League, this year focused on biomedical systems, has inspired younger students to build blood glucose monitors, clot-busters and clever prosthetics—the last of which won a team from Iowa $20,000 this year.
Popular Mechanics, April 2011
Q&A With Graham Hawkes, the Man Who Built the Deep Flight Challenger Submersible
Earlier this week, billionaire entrepreneur and adventurer Richard Branson announced his plans to go to the deepest parts of the ocean—37,000 feet down—in the one-man submersible Deep Flight Challenger. But the man behind the Deep Flight Challenger is Graham Hawkes, who initially designed the craft for Steve Fossett before Fossett passed away in 2007. Hawkes tells PM why flying though the water is just like flying through the air, why "Earth" is a stupid name for the planet and what is the next frontier once you've visited the bottom of the sea.
Popular Mechanics, April 2011
Solar Sails Fly From Science Fiction Into Reality
Propelled through space using sunlight as fuel, solar sails have been a dream of space buffs for decades. Thanks to advances in materials science and electronics, two paper-thin craft have now left Earth, and a third will be on its way by the end of the year.
Popular Mechanics, April 2011
They came from Mars
Scientists begin the search for DNA on Mars
Scienceline, March 2011
So Long, Stardust: NASA's Comet Chaser Finally Retires
Stardust made history in 2006, when it returned samples from the comet Wild 2 to Earth. This year, in a bonus mission, it passed by a second comet called Tempel-1, and showed how that cosmic snowball had changed in the years since a different NASA mission flew by it. This week, after 12 years and billions of miles traveled in space—and several scientific surprises—Stardust shut off for good. We look back on the achievements of one of NASA's most successful explorers.
Popular Mechanics, March 2011
Anatomy of a Pothole: Why Are There So Many?
As spring begins, so does pothole season: March is among the worst months of the year for the appearance of these craters in the road. We give you the skinny on how these asphalt abysses form, how many of them road crews must fill each day and how a tiny bit of water can ruin a perfectly good pothole repair job.
Popular Mechanics, March 2011
Science Guy Bill Nye Explains Why Evolution Belongs in Science Education
A recent poll found that a majority of teachers in the U.S. are avoiding teaching evolution as a fundamental tenet of biology in the science classroom. We talked to science proponent and television star Bill Nye (the science guy) about what this means for U.S. education.
Popular Mechanics, February 2011
Lake Mead Water Tunnel Projects Hits Snag
A $700 million water tunnel project for Lake Mead hits another big snag. Will Nevadans make it through the ongoing 11-year drought?
Popular Mechanics, January 2011
Techno-Sponge "Sham-Wows" Oil Spills
At the National Science Foundation, Paul Edmiston is handed a refreshment—a bright orange bottle of motor oil. Undaunted, the chemical engineer from the College of Wooster proceeds to make himself a drink. Here's how Edmiston cheats death—and what it could mean for oil-spill cleanup technology.
Popular Mechanics, January 2011
Fabric That Doubles as a Battery
Clothing that doubles as a lithium-ion battery could not only power the MP3 players of the fashion-conscious, but also store electricity for when soldiers and firefighters need it most.
Popular Mechanics, January 2011
Forecast for New York City computing: cloudy
Adoption of cloud computing could have unforeseen consequences
Scienceline, January 2011
Gliese 581g: now you see it, now you don’t
How the “Goldilocks” planet disappeared—or did it?
Scienceline, December 2010
What’s in Your Weed?
What you don’t know might hurt you
Scienceline, November, 2010
The Art of Spider Seduction
Experimental artist Eleanor Morgan has a thing for arachnids
Scienceline, November 2010
NASA Weaves Special Fibers for Webb Telescope
Engineers design a novel material to withstand frigid space temperatures
Scienceline, October 2010
