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Forget Mars -- there are plenty of more important goals we should be pursuing in space.
America prepares for the next lunar missions
Your first encounter with "better" living through nanotechnology may be your sunscreen
Like some kind of techno-utopian Johnny Appleseed, a start-up called Meraki wants to cover the earth with ad hoc Wi-Fi networks
In a post-9/11 world, where security demands are high, personal privacy does not have to be sacrificed, says computer scientist Latanya Sweeney, who discusses a few ways to save it.
Although sound cannot be heard in space, it can sometimes be seen
Black isn't the new green
Americans pour billions of dollars into supplements every year—an investment in health or money down the drain?
Although you might not want to leave your protective gear at home, just know that if you do, drivers will be a lot more scared of hitting you.
Are medieval windows melting?
Brilliant Displays
A new technology that mimics the way nature gives bright color to butterfly wings can make cell phone displays clearly legible, even in the sun's glare
Big Lab on a Tiny Chip
Squeezing a chemistry lab down to fingernail size could provide instant medical tests at home and on the battlefield
Experimental Drugs on Trial
A controversial lawsuit challenges the FDA's system of controlling access to experimental drugs and, some say, the scientific basis of drug approval
Sowing a Gene Revolution
A new green revolution based on genetically modified crops can help reduce poverty and hungerbut only if formidable institutional challenges are met
A shipping container stuffed with servers could usher in the era of cloud computing
A Simple Mimic
Water droplets encased in fat simulate cell membranes
Repairs without Rivets
Carbon-fiber composites could lead to quick fixes for old bridges
Rotor in Motor
Replacing aluminum with copper in electric motors saves energy
Liquid Zoom
Adaptive lenses change magnification without moving
Can the U.S. improve fuel economy without sacrificing safety?
Personal fabricators aim at letting you manufacture your own products
140 million years of geologic history in a bottle of wine
The political outcomes of biotechnology
Jon Cohen argues that the obstacles may be more human than viral
Computer scientist Latanya Sweeney helps to save confidentiality with "anonymizing" programs, "deidentifiers" and other clever algorithms. Whether they are enough, however, is another question
Drug companies do not see much of a market in treating diseases of developing nations. Michael Kremer hopes to change that--with a plan that taps the profit motive
Mahzarin Banaji can show how we connect "good" and "bad" with biased attitudes we hold, even if we say we don't. Especially when we say we don't
Hiroshi Ishiguro makes perhaps the most humanlike robots around--not particularly to serve as societal helpers but to tell us something about ourselves
Last fall Robert Klein got Californians to vote for embryonic stem cell work. That was a piece of cake compared with getting the resulting research agency off the ground
