• Science

    Totally Tubular

    By Paul Adams Posted on 2.25.2009 10 Comments

    Ever since the fish's discovery in 1939, scientists have believed that the tube-shaped eyes of Macropinna microstoma, commonly called the "barreleye," were fixed in place, limiting its vision to whatever was directly overhead. Recent research from Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) proves this theory wrong: in reality, this crazy fish can rotate its eyes from an overhead view, which helps it locate prey swimming above, to the front of its face. This helps explain how the fish is able to actually capture the prey with its tiny mouth.

  • Gadgets

    A Touch-Sensitive Rubik's Cube

    By Paul Adams Posted on 2.23.2009 9 Comments

    The Toy Industry Association's annual toy fair had some standout 21st century innovations. Some were creepy, like the Dora the Explorer doll whose hair actually grows when you play an online beauty game. And some were just plain cool. The best thing I got my hands on: A fully electronic version of the classic Rubik's Cube. See below for details on the technology, plus exclusive video of one of the two existing prototypes.

  • Gadgets

    Is Google The Only Tool I Need To Search the Web?

    By Paul Adams Posted on 2.6.2009 2 Comments

    Google's index reached a trillion pages last year, but that doesn't mean it (or other large search engines, like Yahoo) will always understand the exact intent of your search and yield results that have the information you really want.

  • Cars

    Eco Driver's Ed: the 2010 Honda Insight

    By Paul Adams Posted on 2.10.2009 12 Comments

    Aggressive driving -- lead-footed acceleration, speeding, excessive braking -- can slash highway mileage by 33 percent, according to government estimates. Honda's Insight hybrid, arriving in April, softens the effects of wasteful driving and tells you when you're indulging in bad habits.

  • DIY

    Blowing (Up) Hydrogen Bubbles

    By Paul Adams Posted on 2.19.2009 14 Comments

    Living in the Midwest, where heating homes with propane is common, I periodically see reports in the local paper that yet another unoccupied house has exploded. They often note that the roof was found in the basement, while the walls were spread some distance into the neighboring fields.

  • Science

    Ladies and gentlemen, the Reebok Pump is Back on the Scene! Well, Sort Of

    By taylorhengen Posted on 2.20.2009 5 Comments

    The original Pump sneaker (which we all remember well) was intended to optimize the shoe’s fit; the new Reebok SmoothFit SelectRide goes the extra mile, offerering both the stability of a trainer and the cushion of a running shoe; and you don’t even have to untie your laces. Launching next Wednesday, and available for $149.99 only at Champs Sports, the SelectRide is the second attempt by the footwear industry to design an intelligent shoe.

  • Science

    Largest Snake on Earth Uncovered

    By Abby Seiff Posted on 2.4.2009 4 Comments

    Any character in a B-list film would yelp "Snake? Snaaaake!" upon spotting a specimen stretching longer than a school bus – and now scientists have uncovered the remains of such a beast. A research team found the vertebrae of the 43-foot long snake down the Cerrejon Coal Mine in northern Colombia. Their report appears in Nature this week, and gives a conservative estimate that the snake weighed 2,500 pounds when it lived 60 million years ago.

  • Science

    Faster Than a Speeding Songbird

    By taylorhengen Posted on 2.17.2009 1 Comments

    You won’t find geolocator backpacks in the North Face catalog anytime soon, but if you fly south for the winter you may notice one strapped to the back of a migrating songbird. That’s how an inventive group of researchers have been tracking the speed and location of purple martins and wood thrushes flying from Pennsylvania to South America and back. What they’ve have found is truly astonishing.

  • Entertainment & Gaming

    Super Undergarments

    By Stuart Fox Posted on 2.17.2009 2 Comments

    In 2007, Dwight Howard donned a Superman cape before leaping to victory in the slam dunk competition. In an attempt to defend his title this weekend (he came in second), Howard topped his own theatrics by entering a phone booth for his annual costume change. The basketball player-cum-superhero returned to the court to dunk, not in a regulation 10-foot basket, but in a 12-foot-high hoop. While it's natural to attribute such supernatural feats to Howard's freakish physical stature -- or perhaps to the cape around his neck -- it was actually the skintight clothing beneath the cape that produced the boldest and most easily quantifiable performance enhancement. An undergarment described as, not clothing, but equipment, the Adidas Techfit Powerweb contains carefully placed strips of thermoplastic urethane that stores energy like a spring, and lets athletes release it on their villain of choice.

  • Gadgets

    The New Amazon Kindle Doesn’t Suck

    By Sean Captain Posted on 2.9.2009 9 Comments

    Make no mistake about it: The original Kindle ebook reader was an amazing device -- the first ereader to engender feelings of love. Tying a lightweight screen to Amazon's book collection with a free 3G wireless connection was genius, and easily earned our Best of What's New kudos.

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February 2012: The Future of Fun

Science is reinventing play, from extreme sports to gamification to ridiculous roller coasters to the playgrounds of tomorrow, and this issue is chock full of fun. Also, on a less fun note: Did global warming destroy my hometown?


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