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Perception: Rosie. Reality: Roomba
Technology

Perception: Rosie. Reality: Roomba

We’ve come a long way since the Hoover, but an autonomous robot-maid is still a long way off. Don’t throw away the dish gloves just yet.

X-Racers, Start Your Rockets!
Technology

X-Racers, Start Your Rockets!

The creators of the X prize offer a sensational vision of rocket-powered airplanes speeding through the sky. But can their new racing league steal a bit of Nascar's thunder?

5 Bold Ideas For A Hurricane-Proof New Orleans
Technology

5 Bold Ideas For A Hurricane-Proof New Orleans

Why just rebuild the Crescent City when we can reinvent it? Here, the complete plan for riding out a category-5 storm

Tales the Landscape Tells
Science

Is This the Machine That Will Finally Find Life On Mars?

It may not look like much, but this humble 'bot may be our best shot at proving we're not alone in the universe. First, though, the scientists testing it in Chile's Atacama Desert have to figure out how to control the thing

A person wearing white work gloves striking a match on a light brown surface against a blue background.
DIY

Making a perfect match

How do you create a mixture that can easily burst into flames, but only when you want? Just use one of the most unstable mixtures on Earth, plus Elmer's glue.

Robots Go to War
DARPA

Robots Go to War

Within 10 years, infantry soldiers will go into battle with autonomous robots close behind them. One day, they'll be fighting side-by-side

irobot Scooba
Robots

irobot Scooba

The Robotic Vacuum Learns To Mop

The Turbo- and Supercharged Car
Hybrid Cars

The Turbo- and Supercharged Car

Volkswagen's new Twincharger engine offers a fuel-efficient alternative to hybrids

Notes from the 2005 Pop!Tech Conference, Camden, Maine
Technology

Notes from the 2005 Pop!Tech Conference, Camden, Maine

A person purifying silicon in a glass bowl. Top: burning magnesium in a mushroom cloud of white smoke; middle top: burning hydrogen as a flame; middle bottom: burning silane gas as white bursts; bottom: falling silicon particles.
Projects

Making silicon from sand

In a chemical reaction straight out of Harry Potter, you can turn dirt into the building block of every computer.

Live Reports from the 2005 Darpa Grand Challenge
Technology

Live Reports from the 2005 Darpa Grand Challenge

Our reporters deliver the latest on autonomous vehicles.

My Wagon Can Beat Your Porsche!
Vehicles

My Wagon Can Beat Your Porsche!

Zero to 60 in under five seconds: World's fastest grocery-hauler from Mercedes hot-rod division. Also tested: the fantastic new S65 AMG.

Can a Small Start-up Build America’s Next Spaceship?
International Space Station

Can a Small Start-up Build America’s Next Spaceship?

New technology. New methodology. T/Space has a plan for getting to space that's so crazy it just might work

Can Digital Photos Be Trusted?
Technology

Can Digital Photos Be Trusted?

The web is crawling with jokes, hoaxes and more insidious fakes. Digital-image experts aim to develop foolproof detection tools, but until then, seeing is not believing

The Future of the Body – Index
Science

The Future of the Body – Index

The body, Diagnosis, Brain Power, Reproduction, The Medicine Cabinet, Strength, Healing & Evolution . . .

Should Science Make Us Better Than Well?
Health

Should Science Make Us Better Than Well?

One preeminent scientist tackles the moral and ethical issues that come with the business of genetically enhancing our biology.

What is the Future of Diagnostic Medicine?
Health

What is the Future of Diagnostic Medicine?

The author subjects himself to genetic tests, scans and other high-tech diagnostics to report on how the trend toward "personalized medicine" will affect us

Air Force

Film Review: Stealth

Putting Cinematic Science to the Test

A Chat with Indy 500 Winner Dan Wheldon
Technology

A Chat with Indy 500 Winner Dan Wheldon

Racing technology, now and in the future

No Engine Required
Vehicles

No Engine Required

For the modern soapbox derby, all you need is gravity–and $30,000