See the interactive Flash verion here or purchase a hard copy.

Sometimes the best things in life are just a big mistake. My writing PopSci's chemistry column the past few years? All based on a complete misunderstanding.

There’s a reason you’re such a klutz when lopping off the head of a virtual ogre: You can’t feel what you’re doing. But game players will soon be able to get their hands on virtual-touch technology initially developed by Sandia National Laboratories and once reserved for such costly equipment as surgical simulators used to train medical residents. Novint Technologies’s desktop Falcon controller (novint.com), which will cost about $100, is the first interactive 3-D touch device for the home PC.