This Week In The Future, September 10-14, 2012
In the future, we will all be held aloft, along with our drug-subs, dandelions, and iPhones, by delicate yet strong tentacle 'bots. The future: as weird as ever.

Want to win this tentacle-y 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:
- Apple iPhone 5 Liveblog: Mind-Controlled Cat Ears Edition
- Video: Harvard’s Robotic Tentacle Can Lift a Flower Without Crushing It
- The Next Generation of Cocaine-Smuggling Drug Submarines
- Science Confirms the Obvious: Literature is Good for Your Brain
And don’t forget to check out our other favorite stories of the week:
- How Engineers Can Help Prevent Water Wars
- Video: Big Dog Is Back
- Fearless Dominance: Just One of Many Traits U.S. Presidents Share With Psychopaths
- The Labs That Go Boom: The Shock Compression Laboratory Smashes Planets
- Russia is Building the World’s Largest Nuclear-Powered Icebreaker
- FYI: Why Are Teenagers So Dangerous on the Road?
- Is Homeopathy Really As Implausible As It Sounds?
- New Monkey Discovered, Looks Like Man In Monkey Suit
- Here’s What’s Interesting About the Nintendo Wii U
- 20 Facts About the iPhone 5
- Inside the World’s First Manmade Batcave Built For Wild Bats
- Archive Gallery: Diabolical Death Rays from the Pages of Popular Science
- The Most Amazing Images of the Week, September 10-14, 2012