• Science

    Invisibility Cloak Swirls Closer to Reality

    By Posted on 8.14.2008 11 Comments

    Ever wished you could have Harry Potter's invisibility cloak? Science, not magic, could make that a reality. Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley have created materials that have the potential to bend light and even redirect it around themselves, cloaking any object behind them. They are metamaterials, materials that gain unusual properties via their structures. While all materials found in nature have a positive refractive index, these man-made metamaterials have a negative one.

    8.9.2009 at 08:42pm - Comment by mendyo

    Metamaterials will open all kinds of applications most of which we can't yet imagine. Even if it were to work perfectly today, you'd still have to wait for the manufacturing costs to come down to fulfill the material's full potential. www.trezora.com

  • Gadgets

    Charging Ahead

    By Brett Zarda Posted on 2.20.2009 12 Comments

    We've all got the drawer. It has an indiscriminate collection of electronic connections, cords, and chargers for devices we haven't used in a decade and couldn't give away on eBay for free. But we guard that drawer with Obamian hope that the next purchase might actually require a serial port connection or that dot-matrix printers might hold the key to cold fusion. We wait for just one occasion to justify our persistence and silence throughout decades of shrieks from our significant others. It's likely that within that drawer are somewhere between six and ten cell phone chargers, one perhaps still connected through its one-of-a-kind connection to that swanky new flip phone you bought in 1999. We understand. We too have such a drawer, or cabinet or garage. But together, today, it's time to let go, just a little bit.

    8.9.2009 at 08:34pm - Comment by mendyo

    Different connector for power or communications cables is a gold mine for the manufacturers. Standardization drives prices down. We'll see if everyone complies in 2012 ... www.trezora.com

  • Science

    A Fashion Geek Release Party

    By Stuart Fox Posted on 3.27.2009 4 Comments

    The blaring techno, waifish models and $10 cocktails all seemed appropriate for a book release party/fashion show, but one thing was truly different from your usual runway moment: the clothes. Designer Diana Eng has become famous for her blend of style and science, mixing technology into her accessories and clothes whenever possible. PopSci.com attended her recent release party, and brought back some photos of the fierce fashion geekery.

    8.9.2009 at 08:30pm - Comment by mendyo

    Doesn't seem that fashion forward. who can forget the "Electric Horseman" with Robert Redford. Sonny Steele, used to be a rodeo star, but his next appearance is to be on a Las Vegas stage, wearing a suit covered in lights, advertising a breakfast cereal. from www.imdb.com www.trezora.com

  • Events and Promotions

    PopSci Photo Contest

    By PopSci Staff Posted on 9.26.2008 4 Comments

    Another awesome set of entries to the PopSci photo contest. Thanks to everyone who entered and congrats to this week's winner for the theme "Need for Speed": Chad Lehmann (via our Flickr pool). For all of you photogs, another contest is in the works. After the jump, get the low down. And as always, happy shooting!

    6.20.2009 at 09:09pm - Comment by mendyo

    Nice to see a fellow electrical engineer excercising the artisitc side of their brains! I like mixing the technical and artisitc aspects of fused glass jewelry. www.trezora.com

  • Science

    High Tech Security Glass

    By Joel Barnard Posted on 3.23.2009 6 Comments

    Professional thieves beware! In addition to motion sensors, security cameras, flood lights, rent-a-cops and Doberman pinchers, there’s a new piece of technology designed specifically to ruin your day. And to make matters worse, it’s invisible. Well, not exactly invisible, but stare right at it and you won’t realize it’s there. Worried? Thanks to a novel new motion sensor developed by the Fraunhofer Institutes for Applied Polymer Research IAP in Potsdam-Golm, Germany, you should be.

    6.20.2009 at 08:54pm - Comment by mendyo

    I assume that there can be no shrubs or trees nearby. If this is a straight coating, hard to see how you can do much signal processing to differentiate between a moving human being (intruder) versus a tree in a breeze. www.trezora.com

  • DIY

    Shattering the Strongest Glass

    By Posted on 6.20.2008 4 Comments

    If you want a scientific display of the dangers of pent-up stress, Prince Rupert’s drops are it. After the trauma of being dropped molten-hot into a bucket of cold water, these glass balls, named for a 17th-century amateur scientist, turn into bundles of high tension. They’re impervious to even the strongest blows, until you find their hot button: Flick the tail, and they explode.

    6.20.2009 at 08:50pm - Comment by mendyo

    Can't wait to try this at home with our glass kiln. www.trezora.com

  • DIY

    Making Glass in a Grill [With Video!]

    By Theodore Gray Posted on 4.9.2009 10 Comments

    All the components of glass can be found in two places: the beach and the laundry room. It’s possible to melt pure white-silica beach sand into glass, but only at temperatures of 3,000 to 3,500°F. Washing soda, lime or borax (a traditional laundry aid) added to the sand disrupts the quartz-crystal structure of silica and reduces the required temperature to a more practical, though still dangerous, 2,000°F, which I achieved with a backyard grill and a vacuum cleaner.

    6.20.2009 at 08:47pm - Comment by mendyo

    Very interesting but very difficult to do. We use a kiln with a digital controller to make sure that the glass anneals properly at ~960 degrees C. I'd like to know if the glass ended up cracking a few days later. glass pendant at www.trezora.com



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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.

Check out the best of what's new here.

Popular Science Photo Pool


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