Science

The plotline is classic Marvel Comics fare: An electrician grabs a high-tension wire carrying 7,000 volts of electricity, loses both arms at the shoulder, undergoes an experimental surgery, and emerges bionic. Sci-fi as it sounds, this is the story of Jesse Sullivan, 58, a real-life retired linesman from Dayton, Tennessee.

The Frankfurt Auto Show is one of the automotive worldâ€s biggest and most exciting events. Every year, manufacturers unveil their hottest new products and concepts in a dozen exhibit halls in eight different buildings. The media preview took place on September 12 and 13, and there was plenty to see.

Citron C-SportLounge Concept

When Hurricane Katrina roared through the U.S. Gulf Coast on August 29, devastating New Orleans, it shut down a major NASA facility, bringing the space agency's seemingly endless struggle to resume shuttle flights to a swift halt. The Michoud Assembly Facility, located about 15 miles east of the French Quarter, manufactures and repairs the space shuttle's giant external fuel tank-the same tank whose shedding insulation led to the destruction of Columbia in February 2003 and grounded the shuttle fleet last July.

Many of PopSci's Brilliant 10-scientists who are pushing the limits of their disciplines-labor in abstract realms, generating calculations, analyses and other intangibles. But a couple of them work very much in the here and now, even risking their own safety when necessary.

Maydianne Andrade, 35, a biologist at the University of Toronto, studies the mating habits of Australian redback spiders, and keeps hundreds of these poisonous critters in her lab. She and her colleagues made the following video, which shows a pair of redbacks in flagrante.

Lance Corporal Ted "JOEY" Boudreaux Jr. was bored. It was the summer of 2003 in Iraq, the pause between the heavy lifting of the U.S. invasion and the turmoil of the insurgency, and you can joyride around the desert in a dusty Humvee only so often. Loitering at the back gate of his base, mingling with locals, Boudreaux says he scribbled "Welcome Marines" on a piece of cardboard and gave it to some kids, who then posed with him, smiling, for a snapshot. He e-mailed the picture to his mom, a cousin and a few friends, and he didn´t think about it again. Boredom moved on.

Brain chips that enable us to control machines with our thoughts. Kidneys and lungs built to order in the lab. Pills to make you smarter and more creative. An implant that gives you a tan and protects against skin cancer. All these innovations are in development; some are already being tested on human subjects.

The next technological frontier will be our own bodies. Genetics, materials science, tissue engineering and nanotechnology are already yielding products to help the sick and injured, including a Band-Aid-like heart patch and the C-leg prosthesis for amputees.

The ability to spoon down ice cream or chug a milkshake might not seem like an evolutionary advantage in our weight-conscious society. But scientists say that 5,000 to 10,000 years ago, around the time dairy farming began in Northern Europe, natural selection encouraged the spread of a genetic mutation that enabled adults to digest the sugars in milk. Those with the new gene-lactase-had a nutritional advantage over those who lacked it, so they proliferated, along with the mutation.

Every branch of science has at some point been confronted by a daunting question that stumps progress for years, even decades. How did the continents form? What causes fever? Is there intelligent life beyond Earth? Solutions may accrue incrementally or arrive in a flash of inspiration. Sometimes it seems they are destined never to come at all. Here are four disciplines in need of a modern-day Einstein.

COSMOLOGY

Ginkgo biloba

The Brain Claims:
Extract of the ginkgo tree has been used in Asia to treat all manner of physical and mental ailments for at least 1,000 years. The foul-smelling ginkgo—at 200 million years old, its the oldest living species of tree on Earth—is also purported to improve circulation in the brain, supposedly improving cognitive functioning and helping prevent neuron decay.

If, late this month, you should happen to hear news reports of a man plunging toward Earth engulfed in flame, be assured that thousands of amateur-radio enthusiasts across the world are monitoring the situation closely. The “man” is actually SuitSat, a project conceived by the group Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) to get schoolchildren excited about space.

Astronauts on board the ISS will soon be disposing of surplus Russian Ormal space suits by releasing them into space.

Animals have developed some fascinating tactics to ensure that their genes survive to the next generation: impressive color displays, the best pheromone smell, sperm that induces the female to ovulate right after mating. And humans apparently aren’t above such biochemical shenanigans.

21st Century Warfighter
September 8 on the Military Channel

attention armchair generals. You can check out the latest combat
gear and tactics being developed by

Survivorman
Starts September 16 on the Science Channel

Those guys who eat rotten food to win a million bucks on Fear Factor or Survivor?

We charged one worrywart writer, Michael Rosenwald, with getting as many different DNA tests as he could to find out what his future—or, more specifically, his genes—had in store for him. In a search for everything from cancer to narcolepsy, Rosenwald sent blood samples or cheek swabs to genetic-testing labs across the country. The DNA in the harvested cells was then extracted from the cells’ nuclei to undergo PCR amplification, essentially molecular photocopying.