Stories by Larry Greenemeier

Sticky Science: Gecko Toes Key to Adhesive That Doesn't Lose Its Tackiness

U.C. Berkeley researchers are testing artificial microfibers that imitate those a gecko uses to cling to wet surfaces

Twice as Nice: Combining a Wind Farm and Solar Energy in Italy

Moncada Energy wants to add solar panels to its wind farms

Liquid Lenses Promise Picture-Perfect Phone Cam Photos

Rensselaer Polytech researchers develop a new autofocus lens

Computer problem hobbles Hubble

A problem with one of the Hubble Space Telescope's computers this weekend disabled the satellite's data relay system and will delay next month's shuttle Atlantis maintenance mission—the final trip to the telescope—until the crew can be trained in how to install a replacement system...

The Tide Is Turning: Turbine Rides Underwater Currents Like a Kite

New technology would enable turbine tethered to the seabed to harvest energy

No indictment for alleged Palin e-mail hacker

A federal grand jury today decided not to indict a University of Tennessee student in connection with the hacking of Republican vice presidential pick Sarah Palin's personal e-mail.

Google and T-Mobile Launch G1 Smart Phone with Android Software

The G1 is expected to compete with the iPhone, but forget free access to the Web and G-mail

McCain and Obama camps latch onto new media (with varying degrees of success)

Barack Obama's campaign has dissed his opponent John McCain for his supposed lack of computer competence. While some have come to McCain's defense, a new study indicates the Obama camp is making better use of technology than McCain's people are...

Seven Years Later: Electrons Unlocked Post-9/11 Anthrax Mail Mystery

A key part of the FBI's early investigation was finding whether the germ that killed five people in late 2001 was weaponized. Although they found the answer, scientists had to keep mum until the agency completed its inquiry...

Palin e-mail hack highlights weak Web security; Democratic lawmaker's son implicated

Details (as well as plenty of rumor and speculation) continue to emerge about how messages and images from Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's Yahoo!

Hackers hit Palin, expose the dangers of using personal e-mail to conduct business

While it's hard to imagine President Bush, Vice President Cheney or Republican presidential candidate John McCain spending much time on (or even having) a personal e-mail account, the newer generation of politicians are as plugged in as the rest of us...

Can carbon nanotubes solve the world's drinking water woes?

Hackers attack Large Hadron Collider computers to prove they're vulnerable

As the first particles began circulating in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) this week, a group of hackers calling themselves the "Greek Security Team" penetrated computer systems inside CERN's Geneva, Switzerland, facility, where the world's biggest particle accelerator is housed, the Telegraph.co.uk reported today...

News Scan Briefs: Eyes on the Tops of Their Heads; Play Dates for Germ Sharing; Another Gene for Alzheimer's

Also: The New Stone Age; Mountain Climbing Trees; Location Influences Voters; and Martian Hit-and-Run

9/11 survivors describe escapes in bid for safer skyscraper construction

As the U.S. marks the seventh anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a group of UK researchers have completed a study designed to lead to improved skyscraper safety...

The Volt: Chevy's worst kept secret

Can you keep a secret? Apparently, the folks at General Motors can't either. Wieck Media, a clearinghouse for automakers' pictures, Wednesday posted photos of the production 2011 Chevrolet Volt on a media information Web site for just 12 minutes before taking them down, long enough for TheCarConnection.com to grab them and keep them live for the rest of the world to see...

Google slashes time it keeps user search links

Tech award winners focus on putting gadgetry to good use worldwide

The Tech Museum of Innovation today named 25 laureates as winners of its 2008 Tech Award for using technology to "benefit humanity and spark global change." The awards are broken down into five categories (education, equality, environment, economic development and health); Tech Awards executive director Lee Wilkerson says that in November one winner in each category will receive a $50,000 cash prize during an awards ceremony in San Jose, Calif...

Spore: Creationism or science? Your world--and welcome to it

The hype machine behind Spore , the highly anticipated Electronic Arts Inc. game developed by Sims City creator Will Wright, was enough to make The Dark Knight seem like a small, art house film...

No Fire in the Hole!: Firefighters Use Flame-Retardant Grenades

New device quells blazes with less risk to firefighters