Posts

May 24, 2013

+

10:00 PM | The Week In Numbers: The World's Largest Lego Model, Viagra For Women, And More

Lego's life-size X-wing fighter Dan Bracaglia 5.3 million: the number of Lego bricks used to build the world's largest Lego model, a life-size X-wing fighter complete with Lego Luke Skywalker 40,000: the planned population for Masdar City, a solar-powered eco-metropolis in the middle of the Arabian desert and the world's most ambitious eco-city 15 days: the time it took the journal Cell to accept and publish last week's study on the first cloned human embryo. An anonymous online […]

May 22, 2013

+

7:32 PM | These Self-Assembling Nanoflowers Are As Beautiful As They Are Tiny

Nanoflower 4 Wim L. Noorduin Harvard researchers grew these lovely microscopic gardens using delicate chemical reactions. Click here to enter the gallery A nanorose may not smell as sweet as an organic one, but the red petals on this micron-scale flower are unquestionably just as beautiful. At Harvard University, materials scientists have perfected an underwater chemical reaction that results in these gorgeous, self-assembling nanoflowers. The microscopic structures are crystals that build […]

May 20, 2013

+

10:30 PM | Huge Tornado Flattens Towns Near Oklahoma City [Updated]

Oklahoma City tornado on May 20, 2013 KOCO via CNN Preliminary reports from the National Weather Service classify the mile-wide tornado as an EF-4, with winds greater than 200 mph. A massive tornado devastated suburbs south of Oklahoma City Monday afternoon, and rescue workers continue to search for people trapped by debris. Local TV stations are reporting multiple fatalities throughout the area. Preliminary reports from the National Weather Service classify the mile-wide tornado as an EF-4 […]

May 17, 2013

+

10:00 PM | The Week In Numbers: Fire In Space, The First Cloned Human Embryo, And More

Grains of interstellar dust stretching across a segment of the Orion Nebula ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2 1,350 light-years: the distance to a "fiery ribbon" stretching across the Orion Nebula, captured recently by a submillimeter-wavelength camera inside Chile's Atacama Pathfinder Experiment telescope. The ribbon is actually a glow given off by cold interstellar dust at wavelengths too long for human eyes to see. 4: the number of toes you need on each foot 8 weeks: the time it took a team of […]

May 10, 2013

+

9:30 PM | The Week In Numbers: The Brightest Explosion Ever, A Ticket To The Moon, And More

Gamma-ray Burst (Artist's Conception) Wikimedia Commons 3.6 billion light-years: the distance from Earth of a recently observed gamma-ray burst, the brightest explosion NASA scientists have ever seen $25,000: the fine internet providers face per day if they refuse to spy for the FBI 200 horsepower: the oomph in the turbodiesel engine of this four-passenger, homebuilt aircraft, one of the greatest inventions of the year 1,042: the total number of space rocks humanity has witnessed falling […]

+

5:00 PM | Watching Your Brain Freak Out On A Scanner Calms You Down

Inside A Musician's Brain Sivu via YouTube People who observed their own brain activity using real-time fMRI feedback were better able to control and reduce their anxiety, a new study says. In a quirky new experiment, researchers at Yale University found that simply showing people what their anxious brains look like was enough to help those subjects lessen their anxiety. The participants in the study even learned how to control activity in a certain brain region after just two sessions of […]

May 09, 2013

+

2:00 PM | Happy 50th Birthday, Lamborghini!

Lamborghini LP 500, 1971 Popular Science archives Our favorite Lambos through the decades, from the Popular Science archive. Fifty years ago this week, Italian mechanic and tractor maker Ferruccio Lamborghini founded a car company in Sant'Agata Bolognese, Italy. In the decades since, Lamborghinis have appeared often in the pages of Popular Science-we've geeked out over their innovative designs, eye-watering speeds, and safety innovations. Above is the Lamborghini LP 500, from the June 1971 […]

May 08, 2013

+

3:00 PM | 7 Amazing Images Of The Future, From 1947

Dreams of the future, from 1947 Popular Science archives From the Popular Science archive: Weather control, looped cities, moon microwaves, and more! Click here to enter the gallery When Popular Science published these dazzling visions of the future in May 1947, science seemed to be propelling humanity faster and faster into a strange new world: engineers and pilots were making the first flights to graze the edges of space; physicists had already unleashed the horrifying power of the atom […]

May 06, 2013

+

9:00 PM | Sandy-Devastated Town Will Ditch Landlines Forever

Telephone lines in Cambridgeshire, UK Keith Edkins via Wikimedia CommonsIt's now wireless-or-bust for residents of Mantoloking, N.J. Verizon will not rebuild its copper-line telephone network in Mantoloking, N.J., a community of about 300 that was devastated by Hurricane Sandy, Asbury Park Press reports. Instead, the company is offering residents a new service called Verizon Voice Link, which connects wired and cordless phones to the Verizon Wireless network. Verizon Voice Link won't be […]

May 03, 2013

+

10:00 PM | The Week In Numbers: Size Of Saturn's Hurricane, Cost Of A Touchscreen-Enabled Home, And More

Hurricane on Saturn This spectacular, vertigo-inducing, false-color image from NASA's Cassini mission highlights the storms at Saturn's north pole. The angry eye of a hurricane-like storm appears dark red while the fast-moving hexagonal jet stream framing it is a yellowish green. The rings of Saturn appear in vivid blue at the top right. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI 1,250 miles: the diameter of a monstrous hurricane on Saturn, captured in spectacular detail by NASA's Cassini spacecraft 75 percent: the […]

+

7:00 PM | Me, Me, Me: People Who Overuse The First-Person Singular Are More Depressed

"Me, Myself, and I" words linked to depression DreamstimeA new study links first-person singular pronouns to relationship problems and higher rates of depression. Researchers in Germany have found that people who frequently use first-person singular words like "I," "me," and "myself," are more likely to be depressed and have more interpersonal problems than people who often say "we" and "us." In the study, 103 women and 15 men completed 60- to 90-minute psychotherapeutic interviews about their […]

May 02, 2013

+

8:00 PM | NASA Wants To Send Your Haiku To Mars

Mount Sharp NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSSubmit your three-line ode to the red planet by July 1! When NASA launches the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft in November, it wants to pack onboard a DVD containing three poetic messages to everyone's second-favorite planet. Any Earthling can submit a haiku about Mars by July 1-the DVD will include the name of each person who sends a poem, but only the three most popular haikus will eventually orbit the red planet. The University of […]

April 26, 2013

+

5:36 PM | Does Summer Always Get You Down? You Might Be A Rat

Rats get SAD in the summer Peter Boylan via Wikimedia Commons For nocturnal rodents, long days prompt long faces. During the short, dark winter days, many humans suffer from seasonal affective disorder, in which they experience symptoms of depression that subside come springtime (and recent research suggests all mental illnesses, not just depression, might get worse in winter.) A new study has found that rats get SAD, too-but during the long, sunny summer days, instead. Researchers at the […]

April 25, 2013

+

9:30 PM | How 4 Nerds Discovered The DNA Helix 60 Years Ago Today

Letter Francis Crick wrote to his son in 1953 Christie's via io9From the Popular Science archive, the story of how Watson, Crick, Wilkins, and Franklin worked out the structure of life. "DNA: It Calls the Signals of Life," by Wallace Cloud and excerpted below, originally appeared in the May 1963 issue of Popular Science magazine. Francis Crick and James Watson first described the double helix structure of DNA on April 25, 1953.--Ed Last December an American biologist and two English physicists […]

April 22, 2013

+

7:00 PM | Apply Now For A One-Way Trip To Mars

Mars colony Mars OneMars One has begun accepting video applications for a mission to colonize the red planet in 2023. Want to live and die on Mars? Mars One has officially begun its worldwide search for astronauts who will fly to Mars in 2023-and never come back. The first humans on Mars may be reality TV stars.The ultimate goal is to select 24 to 40 candidates who will travel to Mars in groups of four. Mars One wants to land the first group (two men and two women, ideally from four different […]

+

2:04 PM | 3-D Print Your Doodles With This New Kickstarter Project

Plastic cat made with Doodle3D Doodle3DSoftware turns simple line drawings into 3-D objects. A new project on Kickstarter allows amateur artists to 3-D print their simple 2-D doodles. The Doodle3D Wifi Box is designed to connect any wireless drawing device (i.e. any tablet, smartphone, or computer) to a 3-D printer. The software runs on the WiFi box, and users access it through their browser. How it works: Connect the Doodle3D WiFi Box to a compatible 3-D printer via USB, sketch an image into […]

April 19, 2013

+

10:24 PM | The Week In Numbers: Homes For Boston Marathoners, Kilt-Wearers Without Underpants, And More

Second explosion at the Boston Marathon From a photo by Dan Lampariello 5,037: the number of Massachusetts residents who offered their homes to people stranded after the Boston Marathon bombing 5 microns: the width of the pixels used by a tiny new camera from DARPA 1938: the year Albert Hofmann synthesized LSD for the first time 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit : the temperature needed to ignite anhydrous ammonia, the chemical at the site of the factory explosion in West, Texas 93 percent: the […]

April 18, 2013

+

4:00 PM | In 1884, A Popular Science Writer Got Way Too Stoned

Actress Dorthy Short as Mary Lane in the film "Reefer Madness," 1936 Louis J. GasnierFrom our archive, a dramatic first-hand account of marijuana overdose. "An Overdose of Hasheesh," by Mary C. Hungerford, originally appeared in the February 1884 issue of Popular Science magazine. Being one of the grand army of sufferers from headache, I took, last summer, by order of my physician, three small daily doses of Indian hemp (hasheesh), in the hope of holding my intimate enemy in check. Not […]

April 17, 2013

+

7:02 PM | Magnetic Brain Stimulation Removes Craving For Cigarettes

Smoking Kills Challiyil Eswaramangalath Vipin via WikimediaDon't worry, it doesn't hurt! Scientists at Medical University of South Carolina temporarily blunted cigarette cravings among smokers by magnetically stimulating nerve cells in their brains. The procedure, called transcranial magnetic stimulation, is already approved by the FDA to treat depression, though its efficacy is controversial (it's also been prescribed to stop people from lying and treat adult ADHD.) In the experiment, […]

April 16, 2013

+

8:00 PM | How To Make Beer [Infographic]

How 1933 brewed beer Popular Science archivesCheck out this beautiful 1933 brewing guide from the pages of Popular Science. When the United States ratified the Twenty-First Amendment in 1933, Popular Science celebrated the end of Prohibition by getting completely wasted (probably) and publishing this lovely infographic on how to make beer. "With the removal of national restrictions against the manufacture and sale of beer, American brewers are again in action," said our June 1933 issue. "Their […]

+

1:00 PM | The First App-Controlled Bionic Hand

i-Limb Ultra Revolution with Biosim app Touch BionicsWearers can push one button for complex movements like right-clicking a mouse and picking up a pen. A new bionic hand is the first to come with app control, allowing users to access complicated motion patterns-like the grip needed to play pool or right-click a mouse-with a single touchscreen tap. The i-Limb Ultra Revolution, which has four individually powered fingers and a fully rotating thumb, can also be controlled directly by muscle […]

April 15, 2013

+

8:30 PM | The First Tax-Prep Computer Programs Blew 1983's Mind

"Computer programs do your income taxes the easy way," 1983 Popular Science archivesGee whiz, an electronic accountant! When Popular Science tested the first computer programs to prepare tax returns in February 1983, we wanted to know two things: Would it be faster than doing it by hand? Would it save us money? (We also enjoyed the idea of a personified computer punching greedy Uncle Sam in the nose.) Writer Gordon McComb tried out three scenarios. First, McComb asked the computer to […]

April 12, 2013

+

10:00 PM | The Week In Numbers: Our Time Left On Earth, The Distance A Nipple Travels, And More

Crowdfunding Pays Off Jesse Lenz $50 billion: the amount Russia will invest in an ambitious space program to put a person on Mars, build a moon base, and shoot down foreign threats 9%: the portion of Americans who would have sex with a robot 7 millimeters: the average distance that nipples traveled toward the shoulders each year among women who didn't wear bras 60,000 tons: the estimated weight of a mysterious ancient stone artifact discovered under the Sea of Galilee 30 days: the time it […]

+

4:00 PM | Edible Electronics Will Spy On Your Intestines

Robo-Nurse Tavis CoburnDevices inside pills could monitor health issues or deliver targeted cancer drugs. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are developing edible electronic devices that could monitor health, deliver drugs, or stimulate damaged tissue in the gastrointestinal tract or small intestine. Patients would swallow a pill containing the device. According to Christopher Bettinger, an assistant professor at CMU, the power sources for the devices would be made of flexible polymer […]

+

1:00 PM | Renault's New Electric Concept Car Looks Like A Firefly On Acid

Twin'Z concept car, 11 RenaultWelsh design star Ross Lovegrove helped create the nature-inspired Twin'Z city car. Click here to enter the gallery French carmaker Renault and Welsh industrial designer Ross Lovegrove teamed up to create this LED-covered, lightning-bug-looking electric city car, called the Twin'Z. They unveiled the concept this week in Milan. Lovegrove envisions the Twin'Z as an "endearing, almost living object," and, indeed, the car has a sort of organic, squishy look to it. […]

April 11, 2013

+

8:30 PM | A Harvard Neuroscience Scheme To Change Decisions In Your Brain

Brain Power Medi-MationA researcher wants to reverse your choices before you even know you've made them. This week at the British Neuroscience Association, Harvard scientist Gabriel Kreiman described a rather diabolical-sounding experiment: He wants to reverse someone's decision to push a button before the person is even aware they were going to press it. Kreiman has already demonstrated he can predict decisions before volunteers become conscious of making them. Back in 2011, he used brain […]

April 10, 2013

+

10:15 PM | What Were Offices Like Before Computers And The Internet?

The 32B Secretary Treasurer's office in 1937 Wikimedia CommonsOld-timer Reddit users explain what work was like before the information age. Sometimes while browsing Reddit (the land of aww-inspiring animal photos, sarcastic image macros, and the occasional "Ask Me Anything" with a current U.S. president) we find a discussion thread that perfectly illustrates the amazing ways in which science and technology have morphed our world. Case in point: Yesterday, Reddit user FLHCv2 asked the more than […]

+

8:00 PM | Holy Crap, Saturn's Rings Are Raining Water

Saturn's Ring Rain This artist's concept illustrates how charged water particles flow into the Saturnian atmosphere from the planet's rings, causing a reduction in atmospheric brightness. Wow! NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/University of LeicesterAstronomers discover rainwater falling all over the planet! Exciting news from space: Astronomers have discovered that charged water particles fall from Saturn's rings over large areas of the planet, and the rainwater has a major impact on […]

April 09, 2013

+

5:00 PM | Google Searches For Mental Illnesses Increase During The Winter

Verschneite Landschaft Wikimedia Commons, TheNoOneA new study suggests seasonal changes have a much bigger impact on mental health than previously thought. Psychiatrists have known about seasonal affective disorder--a mood disorder in which otherwise healthy people experience depression during the winter or heightened anxiety during the summer--since the early 1980s. Treatment for the winter blues often involves light therapy, with the idea being that short, dark days are kind of depressing. […]

April 08, 2013

+

9:30 PM | Dinosaurs Could Doggy Paddle Long Distances, Study Finds

A swimming theropod Nathan E. RogersNew evidence suggests some two-legged dinos were strong swimmers. Most people still have a very last-century idea of what dinosaurs were like. No, T. rex didn't stand upright; lots of dinos were actually feathered, not leathery; and they may have been killed by a comet, not an asteroid. Now there's some new research to further muddle your mental image: Some of those clumsy-looking land dinosaurs, like the early tyrannosaur, may have actually been strong […]