Stealth aircraft come in two forms: angular evaders like the B-2 bomber, and cruder radar jammers that simply overwhelm the enemy's air defense systems, allowing entire squadrons to penetrate hostile territory. Boeing's E/A-18 fighter jet is the latest entry in the latter group, but it's far from crude. Based on the nimble F-18 platform and outfitted with three jamming pods, it can outwit and outmaneuver the most advanced attack squadrons. The plane recently completed its first test flight; it should go into service by 2008.

OK, so maybe you don't need a camcorder that surfs the Internet, but you can't deny the appeal of the Sony DCR-PC120BT Handycam's other capability: It's the first camcorder that lets you shoot video and send it wirelessly to friends and family -- no computer is necessary. The 1.25-pound device connects via a Bluetooth modem that you plug into any phone jack. Available this month for approximately $2,000.

Nothing says amateur like magic-marker notations on your recorded CDs -- or glued-on labels, for that matter. Now you can print directly onto the discs. You just feed a CD through the 2,880- by 720-dpi EZ/CD Print inkjet printer, which also accepts regular paper and stickers. Price: $400.

It's arguably the most powerful scientific instrument ever created, adept at inspecting exploding stars and glimpsing billions of years back in time. Yet the Hubble Space Telescope is really just a giant orbiting lens, only as good as the camera within. This month, astronauts will deliver an even better internal eye, the Advanced Camera for Surveys. The upgrade will allow Hubble to operate 10 times more quickly. Here is a brief history of the telescope that changed the way we think about the universe.

HUBBLE IN FOCUS




April 1990

In an impressive feat of optical rhinoplasty, Minolta has created a shirt-pocket-size 2-megapixel digital camera, complete with a 3X zoom lens that fits entirely inside the camera's body. With no movable external lens to add weight or depth, the wafer-thin DiMage X measures 3.3 by 2.8 by 0.8 inches and weighs just 4.9 ounces. Price: $500.

Toshiba's Portg 2000 is a notebook computer that takes the designation literally. The supersleek machine is less than three-quarters of an inch thick and weighs 2.8 pounds. But it's more than good looks, packing a 20GB hard drive, a full-size keyboard, and built-in Ethernet and WiFi wireless access. Price not yet set.

A geyser is a natural hot spring that erupts with a gush of steam and water. The most famous of these natural wonders, known for its predictability and beautiful plume, is Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park. The average interval between its spoutings is 78 minutes. Here's what sets Old Faithful and other geysers off.

John D. O'Brien

Sterling, Va.

William H. Grubbs

Chesterfield, Mo.

Among the first respondents to a report of an anthrax threat are hazardous materials units dispatched by local, state, or federal agencies. They work with law enforcement officials to examine buildings and investigate envelopes and packages that are suspected of containing toxic substances. One of their first tasks is to collect the sample that represents the initial threat and send it to a laboratory for testing.

In 1974, chemists F. Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina warned that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), widely used as refrigerants, were destroying the ozone layer.

Using a spectrometer, British researchers discovered the ozone hole in the lower stratosphere over Antarctica in the mid-1980s.




The hole swells and contracts; it grew largest in Sept. 2000, spanning about 17.5 million square miles.