Posts

May 14, 2013

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5:30 PM | 2013 Invention Awards: Suborbital Safeguard

Fit For Space The metal neck ring of the second-generation (2G) space suit proved uncomfortable for a wearer while lying down, so Southern [right] and Moiseev [left] plan to integrate a helmet with a flip-up visor into the 3G suit. Sam Kaplan A sleek, comfortable space suit designed to protect high-flying tourists. During NASA's 2007 Astronaut Glove Challenge, costume fabricator Ted Southern met fellow competitor Nikolay Moiseev, a Russian space-suit builder. Although each walked away from the […]

May 08, 2013

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9:07 PM | Found: Proof That Seafloor Bacteria Ate Radioactive Supernova Dust

Ka-boom! The supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, a star that blew up about 300 years ago. NASA Microbes on the ocean bottom ate iron forged in the heart of a dying star The late Carl Sagan said it best on his TV show Cosmos: "We're made of star-stuff." He meant that atoms which make up our bodies-and everything around us-formed when giant stars blew up billions of years ago. That material shot across space, clumped into the solar system, and led to life on Earth. Now a group of German scientists […]

May 07, 2013

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8:15 PM | Dear Schools: Stop Treating Science-Curious Kids Like Criminals

Crime Scene? Dreamstime We shouldn't punish students who are trying to understand how their world works. On April 22, Kiera Wilmot, a 16-year-old public school student in Bartow, Florida did what any kid with an ounce of curiosity does: She performed an experiment. Like many acts of science, however, it didn't go as planned. Wilmot allegedly mixed a few household chemicals in an eight-ounce water bottle, capped the lid, set it down, and stood back to watch, according to local news reports. She […]

April 09, 2013

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3:00 PM | Join the Popular Science #CrowdGrant Challenge And Do Something Amazing

The Popular Science #CrowdGrant Challenge Submit your project before June 15 for a shot at crowdfunding with the help of Popular Science and RocketHub. Popular Science has celebrated the world-changing work of scientists, thinkers, and makers for more than 140 years. We're always tickled to learn how many of these great minds read the magazine, yet are bummed to hear how often sparse funding impedes their progress. So starting today, we're trying something different: We're going to help […]

March 15, 2013

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4:30 PM | Autodesk CEO Carl Bass On The Future Of 3-D Printing At Home

The future of 3-D printing Dave Mosher"In five to 10 years... you're going to be able to print DNA and tissue." This much is certain: The fabricate-at-home future has arrived, and it's here to stay. But just how far affordable 3-D printers and other personal manufacturing devices will take us, and what other devices we should expect to soon change our lives, remain unclear. If anyone has a better sense than most, however, it's Carl Bass, the CEO of Autodesk. The $9 billion company made its mark […]

March 04, 2013

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8:00 PM | Watch This Pen Draw Objects In Midair [Video]

Toymaker Maxwell Bogue of 3Doodler David MosherWe catch up with the brains behind the 3Doodler, a plastic-melting pen that lets you draw 3-D objects in midair. Even the best consumer 3-D printers require a whole lot of brains to create the simplest plastic tchotchke. Toymaker Maxwell Bogue doesn't think creative expression in three dimensions should be so hard, so he created the 3Doodler: a plastic-melting pen that lets you draw objects in midair. We've covered the pen before. But we still […]

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3:00 PM | How This Tiny Plastic Box Could Help Humans Inhabit Other Planets [Video]

ArduLab Dave Mosher Launching even small experiments into space can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Most of the money goes toward a spaceship or rocket ride to beat Earth's gravity, but another big chunk is the experimental equipment. Just one 10-centimeter cube in which to cram experiments, for example, can set a researcher back $10,000. A new company called Infinity Aerospace is trying to undercut competitors by offering the same space in a plastic box, called ArduLab, for $2,000. The […]

March 01, 2013

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10:00 PM | A Police-Grade Booze Breathalyzer That Plugs Into Your Phone [Video]

Alcohoot Dave MosherBlow into the device, and it displays your blood alcohol content on your iPhone. To get drinkers to play it safe after a night out, three young entrepreneurs are banking on a police-grade breathalyzer that they call Alcohoot. The $99 device plugs into an iPhone and communicates with an app. After a gusty blow it logs and displays your blood alcohol content to within a hundredth of a percent. If you're above the legal limit, it helps you search for the nearest greasy spoon -- […]

February 15, 2013

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8:34 AM | Videos: Space Rock Explodes Over Russia, Slams Into Building

Incoming! A fireball streaks across the sky on February 15, 2013, as seen from the vantage of a Russian driver's dash-mounted video camera. NEproskochil/YouTubeA space rock detonated into flames and smoke over western Russia Friday during the region's morning commute, ultimately smashing into a factory. The same day that a stadium-sized asteroid will narrowly miss Earth, a different space rock exploded over three cities in western Russia. The fireball went down during the region's morning […]

December 28, 2012

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8:30 PM | Enter the 2013 Popular Science Invention Awards

The Popular Science Invention Awards Garage inventors, we want to hear about your world-changing devices. Submit your entry by January 14, 2013. World-changing devices don't need to come from big labs funded with big money. Sometimes radical technological innovations roll, whir, or fly out of basements and garages. Do you know you've invented something that's poised to disrupt a market, or have you toiled building prototype after prototype in your home workshop to prove your idea works? Whether […]

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2:00 PM | The Most Egregious Science Mistakes In Movies This Year

Total Recall movie Columbia PicturesSci-fi movies should bend the rules to impress audiences, but they can't play people for complete fools. Review the most science-distorting movies of 2012 in this gallery. Nerds have a love-hate relationship with big-budget sci-fi movies. We admire how they take us on mind-bending journeys that'd otherwise prove impossible (or kill us). But we loathe them for torturing science to paint a sloppy portrait of how the universe works, instantly crushing our […]

December 13, 2012

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3:00 PM | 5 Science Toys For Dogs (And Their Nerdy Owners)

Fetch Machine Show your show an ideal ball toss (over and over and over) to teach it classical mechanics. Courtesy ActiveDogToys.comNearly as many dogs live in U.S. homes as kids, and they're smarter than you think (the dogs, that is). Give them the STEM education they deserve with this holiday gift guide. Popular Science teems with nerds who loves dogs. I'm certainly in that category, and you probably are, too -- hey, I didn't click the link with "science" and "dogs" in it. So here are some […]

November 13, 2012

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7:06 PM | Watch Today's Total Solar Eclipse Live From The Middle Of Nowhere, Right Here

Australian Total Solar Eclipse The total solar eclipse as seen from Australia on December 3, 2002, combined with an ultraviolet view (green) of the sun's surface. NASA/ESAToday's total solar eclipse will graze northern Australia before casting its shadow across the Pacific Ocean. But you don't have to miss the show. Watch the event live from island-based video streams. The skies across northeastern Australia will go dark around 2:44pm EST today. That's when the moon will slide in front of the […]

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6:30 PM | How James Bond's Aston Martin Survived A Huge Explosion In 'Skyfall'

Skyfall's James Bond and the Aston Martin DB5 Eon ProductionsThe Aston Martin DB5 that made its first James Bond cameo in 1964's Goldfinger gets bullet-ridden and blown up in the new movie Skyfall. Except not really. In the new James Bond movie Skyfall, the Aston Martin DB5--a rare but staple race car in the spy fiction series since 1964--explodes into smithereens. We'll spare you the cinematic details, but take heart, auto aficionados. The real DB5 is safe. A Bavarian 3-D printing company […]

November 08, 2012

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8:04 PM | How The Evil Tech In James Bond Films Evolved Alongside Real-World Fears

Skyfall United Artists CorporationFive 007 threats adapted from history, from nuclear-powered missile jammers to anonymous computer hackers When Skyfall hits theaters on Friday November 9, it will be the cinematic franchise's 50th year in production. That's a lot of cultural history right there. Sure, Bond's world is fictional, but it provides a curious lens into history -- especially the colossal threats posed by supervillains whom Bond is, of course, licensed to kill. Here are five James Bond […]