Modern Day Alchemists Turn Toxic Runoff Into Valuable Pigments
Artists have long used odd things in their work – Marcel Duchamp’s urinal on a pedestal comes to mind – but even when unusual ingredients are less obvious, they can be present...
"technology"
Tar Sands Pipeline Vetoed, Climate Threat Marches On
Pres. Barack Obama vetoed a bill to approve construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline on February 24— not because of climate change, not because of low oil prices and not because of the risks from leaking diluted bitumen from the tar sands...
Build a World-Class Insect Imaging System for under $6,000
Compound Eye has been quiet of late. My silence is for a good cause, though! The past few months have been hectic as I transitioned from freelance photography in Illinois to a new job: Curator of Entomology at the University of Texas in Austin...
Not Your Grandma's Science Competition - Part 3
This post is the third in a three-part series highlighting youth science competitions that task young people with the real challenges and rewards of a life in research.
Tricksy Mars may be Obscuring Signs of Organic Matter
Picture a hot volcanic spring. Mineral-laden acidic water flows through sulfur-rich rocks. A foul odor hangs in the air. For us it’s a nasty environment, best enjoyed through the lens of a tourist’s camera...
Airborne Scouts, 1915
Reported in Scientific American, This Week in World War I: February 20, 1915 The usefulness of scouting from the air had been demonstrated in the early days of the Great War.
With Cuban Détente, What Future for Its Classic Cars?
I can't seem to go a day without hearing someone say, "Get to Cuba before all the Americans get there." What exactly is it that Americans will change once they get to Cuba?
Throwback Thursday: The First U.S. Energy Storage Plant
In July 1930, the magazine Popular Science ran an article announcing start of operations at the first U.S. "ten-mile storage battery"—or pumped-hydro energy storage plant—near New Milford, Connecticut...
Is there joy in missing out?
Researchers talk about our attachment to social media in terms of the fear of missing out (FOMO). We can’t look away from our mobile devices because we might miss the possibility to make or enhance a connection...
Not Your Grandma’s Science Competition – Part 2
This post is the second in a three-part series highlighting youth science competitions that task young people with the real challenges and rewards of a life in research.
Titan Loses its Speckles
Some of the most stunning images of Saturn’s moon Titan are made using a synthetic aperture radar to penetrate the thick atmosphere to see the frigid surface.
The Ethics of our Brave New Drone Photography World
It’s a marvelous time to be a photographer. The blossoming tech industry has made us all kids in a candy shop, suddenly realizing the whole street is candy shops, on a street with peppermint cobblestones and licorice fountains...
Is AI Dangerous? That Depends…
Somewhere in the long list of topics that are relevant to astrobiology is the question of ‘intelligence’. Is human-like, technological intelligence likely to be common across the universe?...
You Asked - They Answered: Q&A with Smart Wires
I have received many interesting questions from readers in response to last Sunday's article "Controlling the Path of Least Resistance with Smart Wires." This week, I consolidated these questions and took them back to Smart Wires – the start-up company behind the power flow control technology that was featured in the previous discussion - to [...]..
Flexible and recyclable solar wallpaper
Researchers in Finland have developed a flexible and recyclable organic solar panel in the form of a leaf. At the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland pilot plant, these solar panels were printed directly onto a thin sheet of film to create a solar wallpaper that can be used to produce electricity from interior lighting or sunlight. According to [...]..
New Mobility Startups Give Uber a Run for its Money
While terms like "smart grid" and "smart economy" are hard to peg down, we can at least say that for "smart mobility" we're starting to see some of the bluster turning into reality.
Geoengineering Holds Promise, but the Technology Needs Work
Modified jets spewing sulfuric acid could haze the skies over the Arctic in a few years “for the price of a Hollywood blockbuster,” as physicist David Keith of Harvard University likes to say...
Not Your Grandma’s Science Competition: Part 1
This post is the first in a three-part series highlighting youth science competitions that task young people with the real challenges and rewards of a life in research.
As Psychedelics Revival Rolls On, Don't Downplay Bad Trips
I’m no psychedelic prude. I reported on, and applauded, the resurgence of research into psychedelics in my 2003 book Rational Mysticism.
The U.S. Power Grid is in Need of a Technology Upgrade
Innovators gather in DC this week to discuss how to modernize the U.S. electric grid in the face of a changing electricity sector. The ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit kicks off today in Washington DC and will highlight technologies that could fundamentally alter how the nation generates, uses, and stores electricity...
