polls

11.22.09

What's Your Favorite Innovation of the Year?

By PopSci Staff Posted 10.16.2009 at 3:37 pm 2 Comments

Best of What's New 2009 :

Our annual year-end list of the most impressive new developments in science and technology is almost upon us. But before you read our take, we'd like to hear what gadgets, discoveries and new developments that have caught your eye, your hard-earned dollars, or your imagination this year.

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Should Electric Cars Make More Noise?

By Dawn Stover Posted 09.25.2009 at 9:51 am 25 Comments

The Sound of Silence: A spokesperson for Fisker says the Karma, its electric sports car due out next year, will warn pedestrians by emitting a noise possibly “akin to a jet fighter.” Courtesy Fisker Automotive

By 2020, one in every five cars sold in the U.S. will be a hybrid electric vehicle. That’s nice for the planet, but bad for pedestrians who can’t hear the quiet vehicles’ approach. Some automakers will equip hybrids with artificial engine sounds, but some drivers say that less noise pollution isn’t such a bad thing. Here, a cheat sheet to the noisemaker debate.

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READ MORE ABOUT > artificial engine sounds, electric cars, headlines, hybrids, October 2009, polls