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Science

Today's Flu News

By Stuart Fox Posted on 4.28.2009 5 Comments

It's been three days since swine flu made it to the front page of most newspapers, and I'd like to thank all the readers who have chosen to follow PopSci's coverage, instead of retreating to their basements with ammo and clean water. Here are some highlights from the ongoing media frenzy.

Science

This Machine Might* Save the World

By Paul Adams Posted on 12.23.2008 38 Comments

The source of endless energy for all humankind resides just off Government Street in Burnaby, British Columbia, up the little spit of blacktop on Bonneville Place and across the parking lot from Shade-O-Matic blind manufacturers and wholesalers. The future is there, in that mostly empty office with the vomit-green walls -- and inside the brain of Michel Laberge, 47, bearded and French-Canadian.

Entertainment & Gaming

Rise of the Game-Playing Machines

By Paul Adams Posted on 8.8.2008 6 Comments

The game of Go has long been a bastion of human brilliance. While computers have gotten steadily better at playing chess and poker, they've had a harder time wrapping their silicon minds around the elegant Japanese strategy game. That's why it's a big deal that a computer Go player known as MoGo beat a top-ranked human, Myungwan Kim, yesterday.

The Environment

Endangered Animals 100 Times Worse Off than Previously Believed

By Abby Seiff Posted on 7.3.2008 10 Comments

Adding insult to injury, many species that are already solidly facing extinction might actually be 100 times more endangered than previously thought, scientists say. A new mathematical model, developed by ecologists at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of California, produces extinction risks that are orders of magnitude higher than conservation biologists estimated in compilations like the IUCN red-list.

Cars

Why Can't Our Cars Get Better Mileage?

By Dawn Stover Posted on 7.3.2008 27 Comments

In April, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation proposed new CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) standards that would increase the average efficiency of passenger cars and light trucks by 4.5 percent per year from 2011 to 2015. A lot of people wondered why the federal government wasn't aiming higher.