This Week in the Future, April 30-May 4, 2012
Herb is a pretty good name for a robot butler. Let’s all spend the rest of the weekend thinking of...

Herb is a pretty good name for a robot butler. Let’s all spend the rest of the weekend thinking of a backronym for Jeeves that would work if Jeeves was a robot. Jet-fueled Evolved Electronic…that’s enough, we’re leaving, you guys finish it. Have a good weekend!
Want to win this Baarbarian illustration on a T-shirt? It’s easy! The rules: Follow us on Twitter (we’re @PopSci) and retweet our This Week in the Future tweet. One of those lucky retweeters will be chosen to receive a custom T-shirt with this week’s Baarbarian illustration on it, thus making the winner the envy of their friends, coworkers and everyone else with eyes. (Those who would rather not leave things to chance and just pony up some cash for the t-shirt can do that here.) The stories pictured herein:
- Amid Controversy, Scientists Publish Recipe For Making More Potent Bird Flu
- Bandages Made of Edible Starch Could Dissolve On Your Skin Once You’re Healed
- Using Big Data and Genomics to Create the Ultimate Dairy Cow
- Video: Herb the Robot Butler Microwaves Your Dinner For You
And don’t forget to check out our other favorite stories of the week:
- The Most Amazing Science Images of the Week, April 30-May 4, 2012
- Testing the Long-Awaited Fisker Karma Plug-In Hybrid
- Archive Gallery: Popular Science Plays Pranks
- Video: How to Fold the Longest-Flying Paper Airplanes
- Classic FYI: Is It Ever OK To Drink Your Own Urine?
- What Part of Our Brain Makes Us Human?
- Airplane-Mounted Laser Weapon Project May Be Resurrected to Defend Against North Korea
- The Jets of the Future
- Jawbone Big Jambox Review: Triple the Size, Triple the Sound
- Inside The First Production-Ready Electric Airplane