• The Environment

    Safer Nuclear

    By Sean Captain Posted on 7.21.2009 9 Comments

    The Big Picture: It's nearly impossible to imagine making meaningful carbon dioxide reductions without designing safer, cleaner reactors and rolling them out immediately — because no one wants to build more of the reactors we have today.
    Where We Are Now: 372 GW 
What We Need by 2050: 700 GW Tech to Watch: Next-generation Nuclear

    7.4.2009 at 07:20am - Comment by johnbfdma

    Where does Thorium Nuclear fit into the mix. It is my understanding that a thorium reactor can actually "eat" spent uranium fuel, cannot melt down and has a significantly shorter half-life, yet I don't much written about it. I would like to see a future article on the status of this technology

  • The Environment

    Burning the Tide

    By Kalee Thompson Posted on 9.25.2008 11 Comments

    Alan Burns breaks the surface with a huge grin on his face, his baggy black wetsuit hanging off his body like walrus skin. It’s a scorching February afternoon, and we’re floating in the clear blue water of the Indian Ocean. To our left is the Australian resort island of Rottnest. To our right—just beyond Burns’s dazzling white yacht—is several thousand miles of open sea. And beneath us, the kelp forest where we had been diving moments before is swaying to the rhythm of the waves.

    9.26.2008 at 12:42pm - Comment by johnbfdma

    I think wind energy is great. I buy 100% wind sourced energy from my utility, BUT Wave, Tide and Solar Thermal (with heat storage capacity) seem to make so much more sense since they don't shut down when the wind is calm or when the sun goes down. Can't wait to get an electric Chysler mini-van and plug it into a charging port powered by green energy!



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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.

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