Stories by Larry Greenemeier

Security on the (Eye)Ball: Hands-Free Iris Biometrics to Keep Bad Guys at Bay

Carnegie Mellon University CyLab researchers are developing an iris-scanning system that will capture and compare iris images at up to 12 meters away

Canadian commission: TASERs okay, but inconsistent use is "troubling"

Nearly two years following Robert Dziekanski's death at Vancouver International Airport after being shot by Royal Canadian Police with a TASER, a commission investigating Canadian law enforcement's use of such "conducted energy weapons" supports their continued use, as long as this accompanies an overhaul of how and when these weapons are used...

Michael Phelps continues to pile up medals, but his high-tech swimsuit's days are numbered

With science and technology advancing athletic performance across all sports, swimming's Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) governing body has decided to limit the amount and type of materials that can be used to make the fancy swimsuits worn by elite swimmers such as Michael Phelps...

FDA wants to extinguish electronic cigarettes

Those who like to get their nicotine fix electronically will be disappointed to hear that a U.S. Food and Drug Administration report earlier this week found that electronic cigarettes, or "e-cigarettes," contain carcinogens and toxic chemicals such as diethylene glycol, an ingredient used in antifreeze...

Seedy Solution: China Tries to Keep Nature from Raining on the Asian Games

Seeding clouds with chemical coolants could keep the games dry, but if atmospheric conditions are not favorable the process could also result in a rainout

Voyage to the Pacific Ocean's garbage patch: A dolphin encounter unlike any other

Editor's Note: Scuba instructor and underwater videographer Drew Wheeler is traveling on board the Algalita Marine Research Foundation's 50-foot Ocean Research Vessel, Alguita , on a two-month voyage to sample and study portions of a 10-million-square-mile oval known as the North Subtropical Gyre (aka "Pacific garbage patch")...

Biomass-Fueled Robot to Chow Down On Veggies, Not People, Makers Insist

Two tech companies grapple with this challenge as they develop an autonomous hybrid vehicle that can feed itself

Voyage to the Pacific Ocean's garbage patch: International Date Line--Happy tomorrow today!

Editor's Note: Scuba instructor and underwater videographer Drew Wheeler is traveling on board the Algalita Marine Research Foundation's 50-foot Ocean Research Vessel, Alguita , on a two-month voyage to sample and study portions of a 10-million-square-mile oval known as the North Subtropical Gyre (aka "Pacific garbage patch")...

Watchdogs: Feds buried data proving that handheld tech dangerously distracts drivers

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) put politics above public safety in 2003 when it suppressed research estimating that cell phone use—both phone calls and text messaging—while driving had caused hundreds of thousands of car accidents and hundreds of crash-related deaths the previous year, the New York Times reports...

Where, Exactly, Does Your Garbage Go After You Toss It out?

M.I.T. researchers launch program to tag trash and view its progression through the sanitation system

From a Pre-Teen Mind, a Robot That Solves Rubik's Cube

A self-taught programming prodigy joins the ranks of technology buffs applying digital systems to the ultimate analogue puzzle

Teen's broken heart mends--literally--after grafted heart is removed

Fourteen years after a risky operation to save the life of an infant suffering heart failure, a team of U.K. doctors is claiming success. Hannah Clark (now aged 16)—who as a baby had a donor heart grafted onto her own—has made a full recovery, three years after the transplanted organ was removed, the doctors claim in an article published online today by The Lancet ...

Voyage to the Pacific Ocean's garbage patch: The middle of the Pacific is teeming with life--and trash

Editor's Note: Scuba instructor and underwater videographer Drew Wheeler is traveling on board the Algalita Marine Research Foundation's 50-foot Ocean Research Vessel, Alguita , on a two-month voyage to sample and study portions of a 10-million-square-mile oval known as the North Subtropical Gyre (aka "Pacific garbage patch")...

Auction Offers the Moon--Or at Least NASA Gear That's Been There [Slide Show]

Stargazers will have the opportunity to get their hands on photos, charts, models and other space race relics from NASA missions thanks to an auction to commemorate the Apollo 11 moon mission...

Paperless Books: E-Paper Makes Headway

Beyond the Kindle, future electronic page displays will be more efficient--and in color

Smart marketing or spyware? ISPs shelve plans to use Phorm's targeted-ad services

Voyage to the Pacific Ocean's garbage patch: Tangoing with a ghost net while finding trash (and shallow-water fish) in unexpected places

Editor's Note: Scuba instructor and underwater videographer Drew Wheeler is traveling on board the Algalita Marine Research Foundation's 50-foot (15.2

Students imitate penguins to set people-powered sub records

Green Dam Web filter delayed, but not dropped

Although China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) earlier this week granted PC makers a reprieve from having to include the Green Dam-Youth Escort Internet filtering software with every PC sold in the country, the government today made it clear that it's only a matter of time before the mandate is reinstated...

Happy birthday, Walkman! You don't sound a day over 30

On this day three decades ago, Sony's original blue-and-silver Walkman went on sale in Japan, launching an era of personal, portable music and generations of oblivious subway riders and pedestrians...