Stuart Fox

Sighted: A Secret US Aircraft in Afghanistan


You're A Handsome Devil, What's Your Name? :  via The DEW Line
Since April, a steady string of reports have detailed sightings of a mysterious, unidentified UAV prowling the skies above Kandahar. Grainy, Loch-Ness-Monster-like photos revealed a flying-wing-type aircraft with stealth features.

Now, the French blog Secret Defense has published the clearest photos yet of the secret plane, and the mystery has only deepened.

[ Read Full Story ]

Study Finds Ozone Hole Repair Contributes To Global Warming, Sea Ice Melt

The 20th century's biggest environmental success may exacerbate the 21st century's biggest environmental crisis

In 1985, scientists from the British Antarctic Survey found a giant hole in the ozone layer of Earth's atmosphere over the South Pole. This discovery prompted a largely successful international effort to ban CFCs, the chemicals largely responsible for man-made thinning of the ozone layer.

[ Read Full Story ]

New Way of Detecting Exomoons Broadens Search for Extraterrestrial Life


So far, the search for extraterrestrial life beyond our solar system has focused on finding Earth-like planets. And sure, planets are great, since we know at least one of them harbors life. But David Kipping of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics thinks that search might be a tad too narrow. In a new paper, Kipping described how current technology can be re-tasked to search for another life-bearing body: moons.

[ Read Full Story ]

Optical Sensors in Robots' Skin Give Them A Softer Touch


Whether they are assisting the elderly, or simply popping human skulls like ripe fruit, robots aren't usually known for their light touch. And while this may be fine as long as they stay relegated to cleaning floors and assembling cars, as robots perform more tasks that put them in contact with human flesh, be it surgery or helping the blind, their touch sensitivity becomes increasingly important.

[ Read Full Story ]

Find Your Twitter Friends In Real Life With an Augmented Reality iPhone App


Like most Internet applications, Twitter connects you with people who seem to exist in a vast, abstract, cyberspace. Now, a new iPhone app from the French company Presselite uses augmented reality to show you exactly where your friends are tweeting from.

[ Read Full Story ]

New Virtual-Reality Forensic Technique Maps Out 3-D Crime Scene From a Single Photo


It's a scene familiar from a plethora of TV shows and movies: the crime scene photographer, carefully stalking around a taped-off area, meticulously documenting each piece of evidence as they lie beneath neon markers, noting the precise placement of each item as he snaps away. Well, thanks to a new procedure developed by Spanish scientists, that crime scene photographer is going to have a lot less work on his hands.

[ Read Full Story ]



Download Our iPhone App

Stay up to date on the latest news of the future of science and technology from your iPhone with full articles, images and offline viewing



Follow Us On Twitter

Featuring every article from the magazine and website, plus links from around the Web. Also see our PopSci DIY feed



Become a Fan On Facebook

Share links with friends, comment on stories and more


December 2009: Best of What's New

In our December issue, Popular Science names the 100 best innovations of the year: bombproof wallpaper, self-parking cars, the fastest helicopter, and 97 more. Plus inventor profiles and videos.

Check out the best of what's new here.

Popular Science Photo Pool


Share your photos in the Pop Sci pool at www.flickr.com!
tags_sprite.png
POP_embeddedForm_cover_May09.jpg