• The Environment

    Spring Science

    By Laura Silver Posted on 4.13.2009 0 Comments

    Evolution in the Fast Lane

    Members of the Zosteropidae family are not birds of a feather. White-eyes, sparrow-like songbirds, are the fastest-evolving bird on record. According to a recent genetic analysis of several dozen subspecies by Chris Filardi, a biologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, 80 species have emerged in the past two million years. Among vertebrates, only the cichlid fish evolves faster, probably due to abrupt changes in its geographically confined habitat, a common catalyst for speciation. But white-eyes populate three continents, so Filardi suspects that sexual selection and social behavior drives the birds' speedy diversification, which includes changing plumage and songs.

  • Technology

    Flying Up to Meet Asteroids

    By Paul Adams Posted on 3.25.2009 7 Comments

    Partly to help explain solar eclipses, the ancient Egyptians had a story about the serpent god Apep, the Uncreator, who tried to swallow the sun god Ra as he crossed the sky. Apep -- the Greeks called him Apophis -- personified death, destruction and chaos. His opponent was the goddess Ma'at, who represented all that was light and truth. Now, a group of NASA scientists is hoping Ma'at will once again help humans ward off the harbinger of destruction.

  • Entertainment & Gaming

    Science in Fashion

    By Paul Adams Posted on 3.6.2009 2 Comments

    Fashion and technology are not usually mentioned in the same breath. However, two different innovators in the world of fashion have blurred the boundaries between performance, art, environment, and technology with their avant-garde endeavors. We're not talking couture lab coats (...yet), but we are talking magically disappearing dresses, skirts that double as furniture, and British models that are naked faster than you can say macromolecule.

  • Science

    Cheer Up!

    By taylorhengen Posted on 1.27.2009 13 Comments

    Overall, how would you say things are these days? Would you say that you are very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy? This is the question participants in the University of Chicago's General Social Survey have been answering since 1972. Recently, University of Pennsylvania economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers took this survey's data from 1972 through 2006 to see if people had gotten happier since the decade of bell bottoms and disco.

  • Cars

    Future Then

    By Abby Seiff Posted on 12.9.2008 1 Comments

  • Cars

    Flying Saucers Come Home

    By Abby Seiff Posted on 11.4.2008 28 Comments

    It’s designed to seat two, take off and land vertically, fly 10 feet above the ground, and reach 75 miles an hour. It’s about the size of a car, but it’s round instead of boxy. Yup, it’s a flying saucer. Next year, California-based Moller International hopes to introduce the M200G personal recreation craft, the first of what the company expects to be a full line of “volanters”—vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft. The design is 300 years in the making.

  • Science

    This Week In Sex

    By Paul Adams Posted on 10.13.2008 7 Comments

    It's been a hot week in the science of sex. First of all, for all of you Intactivists out there (and I know there are a lot of you round these parts), a major finding might bolster your claim that routine circumcision isn't worth the risk.

  • Entertainment & Gaming

    Seeing Red

    By Paul Adams Posted on 10.15.2008 2 Comments

    Last week, we investigated the principle of conservation of angular momentum on a spinning carousel. In this episode we illustrate the linear version of the same principle -- conservation of linear momentum -- as illustrated by the physics-based computer game Red. The goal of the game is to avoid being crushed by a relentless barrage of incoming meteorites, by deflecting them with cannon balls. Understanding a little bit about conservation of momentum is a consolation in the face of the reality that sooner or later you are going to get flattened.



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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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