future of travel

Commercial Flight: 2020

The long, skinny tube has to go. Tasked with improving the nation's air transportation, NASA wants airplanes to burn 40 percent less fuel than a 777 by 2020 and 70 percent less by 2030. Not only that, it wants those same planes to be whisper-quiet. The best -- and perhaps the only -- way to reach these ambitious benchmarks is to design commercial planes more like stealth bombers and less like pencils.

I am not normal. Not even close, I am told. Apparently, my height, which at 6'4" has always seemed to me to be just this side of freakish, puts me in the 99th percentile of American adults. That is, statistically too tall to fly comfortably in coach.

For the truly curious traveler, we've collected eight one-of-a-kind research facilities guaranteed to impress and entertain like no ordinary tourist attraction can. On this list you'll find labs where you can ride a miner's cage half a mile underground to see a 6,000-ton neutrino detector, watch artificial earthquakes topple bridges, and converse with the world's smartest apes. It's a good idea to call ahead and ask permission for a tour at many of these facilities, but some are just plain open to the public. Even better, all eight destinations are in the U.S., making it convenient and affordable to visit the one nearest you for a day or pack up the Prius and road-trip to a few. Skip the tourist traps, and start exploring!