Stories by W. Wayt Gibbs

The quality of 3-D computer graphics is poised for a quantum jump forward, thanks to speedier ways to simulate the flight of light

The quest to build autonomous vehicles for the battlefield continues

Atomic clocks are shrinking to microchip size, heading for space--and approaching the limits of useful precision

This year's Grand Challenge competition spurred advances in laser sensing, computer vision and autonomous navigation-not to mention a thrilling race for the $2-million prize

Technology supplies new protections against threats of a fortress society

As the glass cools on his latest giant mirror, Roger Angel keeps pushing telescope design. His next one might even find Earth-like planets around other stars

The world faces no shortage of problems--or of good ideas to solve them. Which should we tackle next? Even as leaders converge on some answers, new markets are being set up to preempt politics

Observing the early universe--with 10,000 TV antennas

Antibodies, often described as magic bullets, are actually more like tanks: big, complicated and expensive. Tinier "nanobodies," derived from camels and llamas, may be able to infiltrate a wider range of diseases at lower cost. That is the hope, at least, of one small start-up in Belgium

Biologists applauded the Golden State's $3bn wager on stem cell science. But as W. Wayt Gibbs reports, the stakes may be higher than they realise

A growing number of dissenting researchers accuse government and medical authorities—as well as the media—of misleading the public about the health consequences of rising body weights

Digital gadgets demand ever more of our attention with their rude and thoughtless interruptions. Engineers are now testing computers, phones and cars that sense when you're busy and spare you from distraction

Emerging ways to make photonic connections to electronic microchips may dramatically change the shape of computers in the decade ahead

Physics is forcing the microchip industry to redesign its most lucrative products. That is bad news for software companies

How do you test that a human Ebola vaccine works? You don't

A new generation of technologies aims to put Einstein's theories to work in computers, hospitals--even submarines

Was the Grand Challenge robot race in March the fiasco it appeared to be? Hardly, argues William "Red" Whittaker. The annual event is pushing mobile robotics to get real

Recent evidence challenges long-held theories of how cells turn malignant--and suggests new ways to stop tumors before they spread

Visiting petroglyphs, pristine marshes and the deep past in the vast wild of Australia's Kakadu National Park

Personal robots may soon be as cheap and customizable as personal computers