• Technology

    New Unmanned Chopper Sniffs Out Improvised Explosives While Looking Adorable

    By Jeremy Hsu Posted on 10.30.2009 0 Comments

    Roadside bombs have long represented the greatest killer of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, but there's hope beyond the sturdy little demolition bots that already work with their human handlers. The Pentagon now has two aerial drones on the testing docket as possible countermeasures for improvised explosive devices (IEDs)--one of which we're calling 'Helipanda' for the remainder of this post.

    11.1.2009 at 09:15pm - Comment by 0roburos

    Its funny you seem to have neglected to include one of the other attchments such as the multi role missles.. wonder why this information was left out? A two second web search came back with this -http://www.flightglobal.com/airspace/photos/farnboroughairshow2008/images/17554/schiebel-s100-camcopter.jpg. When Popsci wont give you all the information ... what kinda world are we living in? This is a strange world we are living in, getting stranger all the time.

  • Science

    IBM Scientists Take First Close-Up Image of a Single Molecule

    By Clay Dillow Posted on 8.27.2009 13 Comments

    As part of a greater effort to someday build computing elements at an atomic scale, IBM scientists in Zurich have taken the highest-resolution image ever of an individual molecule using non-contact atomic force microscopy. Performed in an ultrahigh vacuum at 5 degrees Kelvin, scientists were able to "to look through the electron cloud and see the atomic backbone of an individual molecule for the first time," a feat necessary for the further development of atomic scale electronic building blocks.

    9.5.2009 at 06:47pm - Comment by 0roburos

    Next stop quarks..

  • Technology

    Will the First Elevator to Space Be Inflatable?

    By Anna Maria Jakubek Posted on 7.15.2009 13 Comments

    For a few years now, we’ve been excited about the possibility of a cable-based space elevator as an alternative to expensive rocket launchers. To date, though, the various attempts to make it happen–including annual contests and Japan’s recent initiative–have come up short. The problem? Space elevators have one major hang-up: most designs call for braided cords of extremely strong nanotubes, which unfortunately don't exist yet.

    6.8.2009 at 08:16pm - Comment by 0roburos

    This is a strange world we are living in, getting stranger all the time.Old ideas become new and well here we go again.. I think the point is Moot.. we should be shooting stuff into space on a Mag Rail system.. i liked the light powered idea.. but electricity is just as clean.. shoot up cargo containers with entry vehicles inside..

  • Technology

    Invention Awards: Ripsaw Tank Delivers Death at 60MPH

    By Posted on 5.21.2009 21 Comments

    Today's featured Invention Award winner really requires no justification--it's an unmanned, armed tank faster than anything the US Army has. Behold, the Ripsaw. Cue up the Ripsaw’s greatest hits on YouTube, and you can watch the unmanned tank tear across muddy fields at 60 mph, jump 50 feet, and crush birch trees. But right now, as its remote driver inches it back and forth for a photo shoot, it’s like watching Babe Ruth forced to bunt with the bases loaded. The Ripsaw, lurching and belching black puffs of smoke, somehow seems restless.

    5.23.2009 at 10:37am - Comment by 0roburos

    Life imitating Art imitating WAR... anyone see the new Terminator Salvation..? Altho i do agree that unmanned is the way to go, more machines Less People...This is a strange world we are living in, getting stranger all the time.

  • Technology

    The Personal Tilt-Rotor

    By Posted on 10.21.2008 62 Comments

    Imagine a car veering off a lonely mountain road and tumbling down the embankment. Minutes later, a sleek aircraft zooms in quietly at 230 miles an hour, tilts its wings and rotors up, hovers, and sets down just feet from the wreck. The pilot and a medic load the injured driver into the aircraft and zip back to a hospital at twice the speed of a conventional helicopter ambulance.

    Article Rating:
    10.28.2008 at 03:27pm - Comment by 0roburos

    liked the Orig design in GITS 2, think you "Borrowed " heavily from this, i know the wings opened up a bit more & the scale is quite smaller.. but same concept. http://www.rotaryaction.com/pages/ghostshell.html

  • Technology

    Intelligent Design: Unidentified Aircraft Detected

    By Sam Syed Posted on 10.15.2008 8 Comments

    Intelligent Design. The science behind the art. The art behind the science. Come back each Wednesday for upcoming stories that will include product reviews you won't find in PopSci, movies, TV, books and the arts in general, and insider secrets. In this installment, a sneak peek at how you'll be commuting in 2012.

    Article Rating:
    10.28.2008 at 03:24pm - Comment by 0roburos

    Well i like the design, small compact & very foward thinking, mayhap a bit too small (2 seater? ) I think i saw something simular to this in the GITS 2 movie , but we all know that hyper tech goes to the Militay first, Bet is you sold it (the design specs) to the Airforce it would be up and running in a matter of months damn the price of exotic materials..



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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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