Environment
Can fresh air help companies cool computers more cheaply?
High-tech giants like Google and Microsoft are getting socked with high electric bills to cool ever-expanding data centers (computers don't like heat or humidity).
Stories by Larry Greenemeier
Environment
GM, Segway roll out an electric scooter built for two
Cash-strapped General Motors Corp., which is still mulling what to do with its failing gas-guzzling Hummer Division, today showed its greener side when it unveiled Project PUMA (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility), a compact, battery-operated two-wheeler for two that it's developing with Segway, Inc., maker of the upright electric lawn mower–like vehicle that debuted in 2002...
Technology
Will Google buy Twitter?
Web search giant Google may be planning to buy microblogging site Twitter, according to TechCrunch . The tech news Web site, citing unnamed "people close to the negotiations," says that if Twitter bites, it would get cash and/or publicly valued stock from Google...
Space & Physics
Slide Show: Students Gear Up for NASA's Annual Moon Buggy Race
More than 500 students from around the world are expected to converge on The Marshall Space Flight Center to take their homemade buggies for a spin on NASA's simulated lunar course
Environment
Feds drill for more data to craft energy policy
The Obama administration needs more research before it can tailor a strategy for harvesting available energy resources in the U.S., according to a report released today by the Interior Department...
Biology
Meet Adam and Eve: AI Lab-Bots That Can Take On Reams of Data
Scientists build autonomous labs that use computers, robotics and lab equipment to experiment and analyze results
Environment
Conficker 3.0: April Fool's joke or serious security threat?
It could be just another April Fool's joke, but just in case, security experts are warning Microsoft Windows users that the creators of the Conficker computer worm may launch a new campaign tomorrow to infect as many PCs as possible with their malicious software...
Environment
FBI: Cyber crime escalates in 2008
Cyber crimes hit record numbers last year, according to a new report (pdf) released today by Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). IC3, a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (a Glen Allen, Va., congressionally funded nonprofit that trains law enforcement on how to investigate financial and cyber crimes), says that in 2008 it received 275,284 complaints (up 33 percent from 2007's total of 206,884) of cyber fraud, computer hacks, spam, child pornography and other online offenses—and that cyber scams costs consumers an estimated $265 million, 10 percent more than the $239.09 million reported lost in 2007...
Environment
Leaving PCs on overnight wastes billions in energy costs, study says
The computer you're reading this on may not seem like a huge energy waster, but the power consumption adds up when joined by the other PCs worldwide (Stamford, Conn., research firm Gartner estimates there are more than one billion)...
Health
What are video games good for? Possibly improving eyesight
People who have difficulty seeing traffic lights or cars at night, facial gestures, or when a flame is burning on a stove often suffer from poor contrast sensitivity, a condition thought to be correctable, if at all, only by eyeglasses, contact lenses or surgery...
Environment
Simply symbolic or smart environmentalism: Earth Hour approaches
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is urging people to vote against global warming tomorrow during its annual Earth Hour campaign. Participants are encouraged to show their support by turning off all non-essential electronics (lights in particular) in their homes and businesses for an hour between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m...
Technology
Anatomy of a Twitter hoax: What did we learn?
What's the lesson behind the recent Internet hoax that had a blog reporting ( Onion -style) that a nonexistent Harvard economist was blaming Twitter for the poor economy?
Biology
The next not-so-big thing: Nanogenerators
Just as a machine won't run without a source of power, a device built at the nano-scale is of little use if it doesn't have the energy to work as a sensor or drug delivery particle. Since there isn't a battery in existence yet that's small enough to couple with a nanodevice, researchers have sought to power such microscopic creations with energy drawn from their surroundings...
Environment
Cruel irony: Do renewable power plants threaten their surrounding environment?
Do the potential benefits of plants that use renewable sources such as wind and solar to generate energy outweigh the environmental damage that could be caused to make way for them?
Environment
Who will manage the smart energy grid when it finally arrives?
The new economic stimulus package set aside $11 billion in federal funding for creation of a so-called "smart grid." But it's not clear what this national electricity delivery system will look like, how it will function or who will manage the information required to make the grid intelligent...
Technology
Analyzing What Robots Tell Us About Human Nature: A Q&A with Will Wright
You don't truly appreciate the complexity of life until you try to reverse engineer and recreate it, he says
Biology
Flex Appeal: Researchers Create Carbon Nanotube Muscles
Researchers test a new buff and tough material that expands or contracts when an electrical charge is applied and is able to withstand blazing heat and freezing cold
The Sciences
Statistics, probability and NCAA's "March Madness"
The NCAA men's basketball "March Madness" tournament may have just tipped off, but one academic is already thinking about the later rounds.
Environment
Twitter this: Will juror tweeting lead to new trial?
Avid tweeter Jonhathan Powell of Fayetteville, Ark., will have his name in the The New York Times tomorrow. How do we know this? From his Twitter feed, of course.
Environment
Facebook app promises "greener" PCs
Peruse Facebook and you'll find dozens of applications to add to your profile that encourage environmental and energy conservation. Many offer obvious advice ("use LED bulbs"), but a new app offers to green up the PCs Facebook members rely on to access the social networking site...
