An at-a-glance summary of the year's 25 most important scientific events.
By Colleen Park, illustration and design by Headcase Design
Posted 12.26.2012 at 9:00 am
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Well, it's mid-December, so it's time to get all misty about the past year. Which means it's time to watch "Gangnam Style" again.
Felix Baumgartner skydived to a picture-perfect landing from 24 miles above the Earth on Sunday morning, tentatively setting three world records—but not before a hairy two-hour ascent. Here’s what happened with his helmet.
By Jennifer Bogo
Posted 10.15.2012 at 11:22 am
3:02pm MDT - And that's a wrap on press conference. Tune in tomorrow for a story featuring more of what the team had to say.
Posted 10.14.2012 at 5:35 am
Yesterday's 23-mile skydive was delayed by gusty wind, but that's just one variable that can shut down a high-altitude ballooning mission. Many people have tried, and failed, to break Joe Kittinger’s record for the highest skydive in the past. Here’s why it’s so hard to pull off—and why Felix Baumgartner just might do it yet.
By Jennifer Bogo
Posted 10.10.2012 at 9:00 am
A 15-mile free fall, a tennis match at 3,000 feet, and more daredeviling from the archives
The predawn hours are dark and still at the Roswell International Air Center, where today Felix Baumgartner and the Red Bull Stratos team are preparing for his 23-mile-high skydive. There's currently a weather hold due to high winds at 800 feet. Once that hold lifts, here’s the play-by-play of how the morning should unfold from the project’s technical director Art Thompson.
By Jennifer Bogo
Posted 10.09.2012 at 5:19 am
Roswell, New Mexico, was the drop zone for some of the first high-altitude skydives, precursors to Baumgartner's record-setting dive scheduled for Tuesday. Here, from the archives of the UFO Museum, is a look at those early government efforts--and how they created a public panic.
By Jennifer Bogo
Posted 10.08.2012 at 1:00 pm
On Monday, Baumgartner will attempt a record-breaking skydive from 23 miles up. Can he pull it off? And is it just a stunt, or does it stand to benefit science?
The life-saving technology behind the daredevil's attempt to accomplish the longest free fall in history
By Steven Kotler
Posted 04.25.2012 at 9:01 am
Sometime before the end of this year, skydiver Felix Baumgartner intends to climb into a capsule suspended beneath a helium balloon, rise 23 miles above Roswell, New Mexico, open the capsule door, and jump out. On the 120,000-foot free fall—the longest ever attempted—he will face temperatures as low as –70°F and speeds of more than 700 miles an hour, becoming the first person to accelerate through the sound barrier without a craft.
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Felix Baumgartner would be the first human to go supersonic outside of a vehicle
Man has never crossed the sound barrier outside of an aircraft, and Austrian extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner--holder of several records for jumping off of very tall things--has wanted to be the first for several years now. And he finally might get his chance in 2012.
For oenophiles and chocoholics, it was a very good year. For clean air: not so much.
By Laurie Goldman
Posted 12.30.2003 at 5:19 pm
The weak-willed
Are we dreaming? Pinch us: Daily 3.5-ounce doses of dark chocolate lower blood pressure, according to researchers at the University of Cologne, and a team led by molecular biologist David Sinclair of Harvard Medical School reported that an ingredient in red wine extends life span up to 70 percent -- the life span of yeast, that is (future research will test the effect in mice). The beneficial ingredients: natural plant chemicals called polyphenols.
Faithful spouses
