Popular Science | New Technology, Science News, The Future Now

11.22.09

CERN Successfully Brings Large Hadron Collider Back Online

By Paul Adams Posted 11.20.2009 at 4:54 pm 8 Comments

Hooray!: courtesy CERN

Much beset by magnet quenches, birds, bread, black holes, evil time travelers, and fools, the Large Hadron Collider successfully came online and orbited a proton beam today!

Photographs of the triumphant moment are within.

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READ MORE ABOUT > cern, colliders, large hadron collider, lhc, supercolliders

Yikes: Peruvian Jungle Gang Arrested for Selling Fat of Its Murder Victims

Is there any medical use for black market human fat? Scientists are skeptical

By Jeremy Hsu Posted 11.20.2009 at 4:50 pm 4 Comments

Plentiful fat seems more reviled than revered in today's society, even when it has uses for the medical and cosmetic industries. But today police announced the arrest of a Peruvian gang accused of murdering people and selling their fat to the cosmetics industry, according to The Associated Press.

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READ MORE ABOUT > black market, body parts, cosmetics, fat, harvesting, human fat, peruvian gang, pishtacos, stem cells

This Week in the Future, November 16-20, 2009

Intel Wants Brain Implants in Its Customers' Heads by 2020

Researchers expect brain waves to operate computers, TVs and cell phones

By Jeremy Hsu Posted 11.20.2009 at 2:00 pm 17 Comments

If the idea of turning consumers into true cyborgs sounds creepy, don't tell Intel researchers. Intel's Pittsburgh lab aims to develop brain implants that can control all sorts of gadgets directly via brain waves by 2020.

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READ MORE ABOUT > brain implants, brain scans, brain waves, cybernetic, cyborgs, fmri, intel, interface, matrix, multi-touch, virtual reality, wireless

Mourning the Death of the Meta Media Experience

Face it: On-demand is the future of TV. But is passive channel surfing and collective viewing something we won't know the value of until it's gone?

By Tom Conlon Posted 11.20.2009 at 1:15 pm 6 Comments

I tend to think of my cable bill kind of like my health insurance premium. Every month, I begrudgingly pony up the funds necessary to continue this so-called “service” wondering the what the heck it is I’m actually paying for--especially since most of what I regularly watch can be found online in some form--all the while deathly afraid of the consequences should I ever stop wiring in my money.

Every month, I consider amputating cable from my bottom line once and for all. But what’s holding me back is that I think I might actually miss it.

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READ MORE ABOUT > apple, boxee, cable, cable tv, dvrs, media, on demand, television, TV, TVs

New Space Telescope Could Search for Both Exoplanets and Dark Energy

Europe's proposed Euclid mission would use a microlensing technique to hunt both ET and dark energy

By Jeremy Hsu Posted 11.20.2009 at 12:42 pm 5 Comments

Dark Energy Hunter: Europe's Euclid space telescope could pick up on distorted light from distant galaxies, and pick up clues on the existence of dark energy. S. Colombi (IAP), CFHT Team

Dark energy may not have much in common with aliens, unless there's a flotilla of freaky monoliths out there with really weird physical properties. But astrophysicists hope to build a two-in-one space telescope that can search for signs of dark energy along with exoplanets.

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High-Tech Space Gloves Win NASA's Astronaut Glove Challenge

Two teams claimed $250,000 and $100,000 prizes for besting NASA's current top glove design

By Jeremy Hsu Posted 11.20.2009 at 11:59 am 0 Comments

Glove designers walked away with a total of $400,000 in prize money at NASA's second Astronaut Glove Challenge yesterday. The U.S. space agency awarded the money because the private glove designs beat the in-house version, and NASA may incorporate the designs into the Constellation spacesuit intended for next-gen astronauts returning to the moon.

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READ MORE ABOUT > astronauts, centennial challenges, gloves, lunar, moon, moonwalkers, nasa, space, spacesuits, vacuum

The (Slightly) Poorer Man's Tesla: ECOS Harbinger

Italian looks, German engineering and American electrics. Zero to 60 in five seconds, scissor doors, and you'll even get some change back from a $100,000 bill

By Mike Spinelli Posted 11.20.2009 at 10:09 am 6 Comments

For around 13 grand, Electric Cars of Springfield (ECOS) will turn your old beater into an all-electric commuter car. But for a few bucks (around $77,000) more, they'll build you an entire, turn-key sports car. It's called the Harbinger. It hits an electronically limited 117 miles per hour, gets to 60 mph in five seconds and undercuts the Tesla roadster on price. Did I mention it comes with Lamborghini-style scissor doors?

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READ MORE ABOUT > concept cars, electric cars, sports cars

Decoded Corn Genome Promises Higher Yields, Better Biofuels, New Plastics

By Stuart Fox Posted 11.19.2009 at 5:16 pm 2 Comments

Corn, Illinois: Randy Wick/Flickr

With its annual output of over 330 million tons a year feeding animals, running cars, and decorating South Dakota tourist attractions, maize is clearly Americas most important crop. That's why the newly published complete corn genome could drastically change the food, automotive and plastic industries.

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READ MORE ABOUT > biofuels, bioplastics, corn, crops, farming, farms, food, Genetic Engineering, genomes, maize, plants, science news, vegetables

Everything You Need To Know About Chrome OS

By Gizmodo/John Herrman Posted 11.19.2009 at 3:59 pm 6 Comments

Until today, Google's Chrome OS has been little more than a wordy concept. Now, finally, we truly know what it is, what it looks like, and how it works. Here's the breakdown.

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READ MORE ABOUT > chrome, chrome os, computers, google, google chrome, google chrome os, operating systems, software