• Science

    Genetic Testing: Cheaper, Easier

    By Matt Ransford Posted on 4.24.2008 6 Comments

    Just as CD players, personal computers, and HDTVs were prohibitively expensive when they were first released, so too was the cost of sequencing the entire genome of an individual. In 2003 that feat was accomplished for the staggering amount of $437,000,000 after 13 years of work. Today, CD players are ubiquitous and cheap; HDTVs are steadily entering the realm of affordability; and so, too, has the cost of sequencing a genome fallen precipitously. It will still set you back $1,000,000 and two months of time, but that is a tremendous savings over just five years ago.

  • Science

    The Physics of Beer Pong

    By Abby Seiff Posted on 5.7.2008 8 Comments

    These guys are pretty amazing. And the nonchalance with which they accomplish each trick shot adds a certain understated humor to this entertaining video. But though the guys seem to be developing a seemingly useless (if highly impressive) skill in their spare time, there's quite a bit of complex science at play. In addition to being a highlight at any party, these are excellent demonstrations of two- and three-dimensional projectile motion, and with just a little bit of quantitative analysis the entire video would make a formidable project for an introductory level college physics class. For example lets look at the segment where the guy tosses the ball in the cup off of a moving skateboard.

  • Cars

    The Parajet Skycar: From London to Timbuktu on Biofuel

    By Michael Spinelli Posted on 11.12.2008 Comments

    If you were wondering, Timbuktu isn't some mythical city with a skyline of emerald buildings housing a race of unicorn-men. It's a real place, situated in the west African country of Mali, a city historians cite as an intellectual and spiritual center of the 15th and 16th centuries. It's also some 6,000 kilometres from London. Keep that in mind when you consider a scheme to cover those miles in a car that looks like an Everglades airboat designed by Luigi Colani.



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December 2009: Best of What's New

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