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Science

Hello, Ardi: New Oldest Humanoid Fossil A Million Years Older Than Lucy

By Susannah F. Locke Posted on 10.1.2009 24 Comments
This morning, scientists revealed an analysis of a female skeleton that seems to be the best example of early hominids around, about a million years older than the famous Lucy specimen that has been a prime example of early humanoids for about 40 years. New species Ardipithecus ramidus, which scientists nicknamed "Ardi," lived in the woodlands of present-day Ethiopia and had a blend of human and chimplike features.

10.1.2009 at 02:47pm - Comment by jisom@usa.com

Would one of you journalists please do your job? Stop letting these anthropologists play you like an old set of drums. No one has EVER found a 4 million year old skeleton. They find what they believe to be are bone fragments. How do they know how old they are? For evolution to have occurred the would have to be that old based on the geological strata where they were discovered. You can not prove scientifically that anything they say is true, nor can you prove that it is false. It is all Voodoo. If you want to believe in primitive superstitions, that is your business. Just don't delude yourself that it is science.
Science

Battle of the Self-Mutilating Amphibians

By Susannah F. Locke Posted on 8.25.2009 10 Comments
In one corner, we have the "hairy" frog, Trichobatrachus robustus, hailing from Cameroon. In the other corner, meet the Spanish ribbed newt, Pleurodeles waltl, hailing from the Iberian peninsula. Which skin-busting, bone-poking amphibian will win the PopSci deathmatch?

8.31.2009 at 02:41pm - Comment by jisom@usa.com

Blazeagle bigbuckshooter is right Wolverine claws weer natural the adamantium was an add on.
Science

Singularity University Grads Plan to Help a Billion People in 10 Years

By Jeremy Hsu Posted on 8.28.2009 2 Comments
University grads everywhere may feel pressure to succeed, but the stakes ramp up when your school's co-founders include AI visionary Ray Kurzweil and Peter Diamandis of the X Prize Foundation. Now recent grads of Singularity U have announced their strategies for using emerging technologies to help one billion people over the next 10 years.

8.29.2009 at 08:35pm - Comment by jisom@usa.com

English words used to mean things. The 21st century has changed the balance of nature. Has western civilization been given over to barbarism. Aberrant children don't "save the world". Does a culture that can't figure out that gender matters deserve to be saved. The dialectic proved to China and Russia that communism/socialism doesn't work. That makes Americans become fascists? Hows that "hope and change" working for you? Yes we can start WW3????
Cars

Tesla Motors Releases Teaser Shots of Model S Sedan

By Mike Spinelli Posted on 8.21.2009 29 Comments
Tesla's new teaser photos may be the first ones showing the new Model S sedan in mid-flog, but don't expect to catch one along the coast highway just yet. Tesla says the first deliveries of the $57,400 all-electric sedan (with a $7,500 government rebate check in hand, the price will drop just below 50 large) will commence in 2011. The company says they've already taken more than 1,000 pre-orders, along with deposits of $5,000 a pop. Here's to you, early adopters.

8.24.2009 at 02:14pm - Comment by jisom@usa.com

So when all of you inbred aberrant wild donkeys from CA have your little play toys who else in going to by this foolishness from Tesla? An even better question would be where is the Lithium going to come from if everyone in the US buys one of these cars (and that just the USA). Has someone located a supply and perfected the off world mining and transportation required to make this work. Children you just never know what they will put into their mouth.
Cars

GM Claims Chevy Volt Will Get 230 MPG--But How?

By Posted on 8.18.2009 55 Comments
[Update: The EPA issued a statement to the folks at Edmunds stepping back from GM's mileage claim: "The EPA has not tested a Chevy Volt and therefore cannot confirm the fuel economy values claimed by GM. EPA does applaud GM's commitment to designing and building the car of the future - an American-made car that will save families money, significantly reduce our dependence on foreign oil and create good-paying American jobs."] General Motors calls the Chevrolet Volt an extended-range electric vehicle. That's because the only motive force comes from the electric motor; the gas engine only charges the batteries. In a press conference earlier today, GM's CEO Fritz Henderson said the Volt will have a city mileage figure of 230 miles per gallon--almost five times more efficient than a Prius. But considering the uniqueness of the Volt's powertrain, how did the EPA get that figure?

8.12.2009 at 08:36am - Comment by jisom@usa.com

Evolution "science" at work again? What kind of batteries does the Volt use? Are there enough raw materials on the planet to produce enough of those batteries for even US use? When are we starting to develop our off world mining capabilities? Children, you never know what they will put into their mouths!
The Environment

The Future of Farming: Eight Solutions For a Hungry World

By Posted on 8.7.2009 46 Comments
Today’s crops crisscross the globe: Mexico’s tomatoes end up on your plate, our wheat heads to Africa. As a result, the challenge of growing twice as much food by 2050 to feed nine billion people—with less and less land—is everyone’s problem. But scientists are hard at work fomenting a second green revolution. Here’s how nitrogen-spewing microbes, underground soil sensors and fruit-picking robots will help keep food on our tables.

8.12.2009 at 08:27am - Comment by jisom@usa.com

I don't know why liberal art majors and evolution "scientists" think that they are an intelligent life form. They believe in voodoo. The Chinese have had a solution for this "problem" for thousands of years. Their farming methods are 100 times more productive than western methods. Sorry, they don't ask evolution "scientists" how to get it done.
Technology

Laser-Powered Lightcraft "At the Cusp of Commercial Reality"

By Jeremy Hsu Posted on 7.30.2009 22 Comments
Future business travelers may literally ride a laser to work. The U.S. and Brazilian Air Forces are experimenting with Lightcraft technology that could become part of your daily commute, using plain old air to fuel 45-minute transcontinental jaunts. The design uses a ground-based laser to beam the Lightcraft skyward on a series of blast waves. A parabolic mirror on the back of the craft would capture and focus the pulsing laser beam so that it heats air to 5 times the sun's temperature, creating mini-explosions that propel human passengers or cargo to any point on the planet in under an hour, or into orbit.

8.4.2009 at 12:53pm - Comment by jisom@usa.com

Can anyone say "Global Warming"? (Children, you never know what they will put into their mouths).
Science

Leaked Conversation Suggests EEStor's Battery-Killing Ultracapacitor Is Nearly Complete

By Adrian Covert Posted on 7.30.2009 32 Comments
We've been closely following EEStor's potentially game-changing ultracapacitor--a technology that could allow for electric cars that charge almost instantaneously and drive hundreds of miles on a single charge. And if a purportedly "leaked" phone conversation from EEStor CEO Richard Weir currently making the rounds is legit, the long-in-development ultracapacitor has hit a breakthrough, and could be unveiled within months.

8.4.2009 at 09:22am - Comment by jisom@usa.com

Some of you evolution "scientists" help me out here. How much of the elements is used to manufacture these Nb-Bariuim Titonate super capacitors is there on planet Earth? Who is working on our off world mining capabilities. (Children you just can't predict what they will put in their mouths!)
Science

Five Human Achievements That Could Top Walking on the Moon

By Stuart Fox Posted on 7.20.2009 62 Comments
Possibly the single most influential event in the public's interest in science and technology (not to mention one of humankind’s greatest adventures), the Apollo 11 mission touched the collective dreams of millions, while pushing science and technology swiftly forward at an unprecedented pace. But in the decades since man first walked on the moon, science has advanced so rapidly that technology which even a few years ago might have been considered magic has become commonplace. Even so, it would be naïve to assume that Apollo 11 ever represented science and technology’s pinnacle, and that nothing forthcoming will similarly explode the world’s collective dreams and perceptions of what it means to be human. So what’s next? What will be the next worldwide event or discovery that fundamentally changes the way we look at ourselves and the universe we live in?

7.24.2009 at 02:29pm - Comment by jisom@usa.com

Kyleb2112 - can I help you out a little here? Since Bill Clintstone decommissioned the Savanah River K,L & P reactors in 1988 the US nuclear arsenal is reduced by 1/2 every 12.33 years. In 2051 the USA will have no nuclear arsenal. In 7000 years of recorded human history, how many times and for how long have men lived- free? You inbreeds that hope for change, change to what? You are so seriously reality challenged that you deserve to have to eat each other. I am stocking up on barbeque sauce so you don't get tired of the taste.
The Environment

One Man's Mission to Build an Eco-Friendly, Affordable Home

By Posted on 8.17.2009 30 Comments
John B. Carnett, PopSci's staff photographer, is using the latest green technology to build his dream home. Follow his progress in his monthly magazine column (the first of which you're reading now) and on the Green Dream blog. In the past 20 years, I've lived in some pretty weird places —  a leaky loft, a sailboat, an old carriage house that I rehabbed myself. Makeshift bachelor pads were fine until I found myself with a wife and two small boys.

7.20.2009 at 02:06pm - Comment by jisom@usa.com

What keeps the walls from biodegrading in place? My first home was a 236 year old pier and beam in Mystic Conn. No bidegrading goin on round there