Read the latest articles from Popular Science (Page 1333)

space "mirror" scatters sunlight with a mesh woven of fine metal wires
Global Warming

How Earth-Scale Engineering Can Save the Planet

Maybe we can have our fossil fuels and burn ’em too. These scientists have come up with a plan to end global warming. One idea: A 600,000-square-mile space mirror

Car Crashes . . . Criminals . . . Cancer . . . Black Swans? AAAAAIIIEEEH!
Science

Car Crashes . . . Criminals . . . Cancer . . . Black Swans? AAAAAIIIEEEH!

Sometimes our biggest fear is not knowing what to fear most. Fortunately, the weird science of risk analysis can teach us to judge better and fear smarter

Health

Flabby Coverage

The Issue: Get fat, live longer! That’s the euphoric reaction to the media hyping of a CDC study. But put down that pie

Robots

Vex Robotics Design System’s Inventor’s Guide

The Manual

One Charger to Rule Them All
Gear

One Charger to Rule Them All

A nonvolatile fuel cell promises to soothe your battery woes

I Attended This Hacker Conference and All I Got Was All the Data on Your Hard Drive
Technology

I Attended This Hacker Conference and All I Got Was All the Data on Your Hard Drive

Yesterday's computer hackers are today's "security professionals". But when the world's top geeks descend on vegas for a 34-hour battle of the brains, the black hats come out

Maximum Velocity
Science

Maximum Velocity

A compendium of the fastest things the world has to offer, and a celebration of the technological breakthroughs that feed the rush

In Praise of the Bespoke Bicycle
Science

In Praise of the Bespoke Bicycle

These high-performance machines will run you as much as $15,000. Here's why a custom-built racer is a bargain

Launch Systems Rockets Priced to Move
Technology

Launch Systems Rockets Priced to Move

Dot-com millionaire Elon Musk put his profits into orbit.

Opening Davy Jones’s Locker—Very Carefully
Science

Opening Davy Jones’s Locker—Very Carefully

Scuba-trained investigators are learning protocols for examining watery graves. Rule #1 is not so high-tech: Watch out for 'gators.

Every Step You Take . . . Every Move You Make . . . My GPS Unit Will Be Watching You
Technology

Every Step You Take . . . Every Move You Make . . . My GPS Unit Will Be Watching You

Technology may be ushering in a golden age of stalking, in which predators use GPS, cellphones and other devices to track and terrorize.

The New Right Stuff
Technology

The New Right Stuff

Burt Rutan's test pilots have pushed the envelope all the way into space. Meet America's new astronaut corps--highly skilled, gutsy and ready for takeoff.

Map of Iraq
DIY

Tech Solutions in Far-Out Places

Thuraya Hughes 7101

BMW's Raymond Freymann posing in front of a painting of a traffic system
Technology

Intelligence: Behold the All-Seeing, Self-Parking, Safety-Enforcing, Networked Automobile

Radar, lasers, wireless radio networks and other embedded tech will enable our cars to sense faraway traffic and stop accidents before they happen. But who will be in the driver's seat?

Blue color
DIY

Ask a Geek: Cory Doctorow

What is BitTorrent, and how does it work?

Patent Nonsense
Science

For that Healthy Glow, Drink Radiation!

In the early 1900s, radioactive water was all the rage. Hard to believe smart people could fall for such twaddle--right?

CARE: A Project Inspired by WWW.CARE.ORG
Science

CARE: A Project Inspired by WWW.CARE.ORG

The 2004 Popsci Design Competition

Hollywood, Science and the End of the World a Three-Act Screenplay
Science

Hollywood, Science and the End of the World a Three-Act Screenplay

Could sudden climate change wreak independence day-level havoc? The director of The Day After Tomorrow let us run his new disaster flick by the experts. Uh-oh.

Drug Cartels Raise the Game for the Mule Trackers
Science

Drug Cartels Raise the Game for the Mule Trackers

It's called body packing, it's dangerous and gross, and new technology makes gut-based drug smuggling harder to spot.

DNA and a New Kind of Racial Profiling
Science

DNA and a New Kind of Racial Profiling

Police sketches from eyewitness accounts are notoriously unreliable. The question is, Will "DNA sketches" be any better?