Scientific American - Technology

For Healthy Cities, Government and Business Need to Reverse Roles

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:00:00 EST

Okay, I have to be honest with you. I love a city, and a downtown with walkways and tunnels and bus stops that tell me where my buses are via GPS and everything else, but sometimes you can just have more connectivity than you need. Remember the internet-connected toaster, that singed the weather forecast into your morning toast?

Well, meet the Big Belly Solar Trash Compactor, a precocious trash can that lives in Raleigh, NC.

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A Modest Proposal: Contact Lenses for Virtual Reality on Smartphones

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:59:00 EST

In the series “A Modest Proposal,” my colleagues and I will propose inventions and projects that I think are eminently doable and would love made real.

The Innovega contact lens. Credit: Innovega.

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Is It Ethical to Own an iPhone?

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:30:00 EST

Recent media reports and ongoing protests over the reportedly abhorrent working conditions at factories where Apple's iPhones are produced have left socially conscious Americans with a dilemma: Is it ethical to own an iPhone?

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#SciAmBlogs Thursday - tsunami debris, groundhogs, apes in suits, kakapos, butterfly drones and more

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:56:00 EST

- Harold Johnson – Tsunami Debris & North America: Is the Tail Wagging the Dog?

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Virtual Reality Contact Lenses Could Be Available by 2014

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:00:00 EST

Contact lenses that help enhance normal vision with megapixel 3D panoramic images are being designed by scientists using military funding.

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Quantum Cryptography Comes to Smart Phones

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:01:08 EST

A smart phone can do pretty much anything a PC can. But, aside from password protection, phones have very little security--a real problem with more and more people using phones for online banking and shopping.

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For Military Researchers, the Butterfly is the Ultimate Drone [Video]

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:36:00 EST

Butterflies are not merely beautiful. They use a complex pattern of rapid wing flapping and body deformation to execute impressive aerial acrobatics. This ability has not escaped the U.S. military, which is turning to these insects for ideas on how to create ever-smaller drone aircraft to execute reconnaissance, search-and-rescue and environmental monitoring missions. [View a slide show featuring different drones used by the U.S. military.]

The Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio is testing drones less than 60 centimeters long roughly the wingspan of an Atlantic Puffin with the hope they will be able to operate below rooftop levels in city streets.

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Earthquake-Proof Engineering for Skyscrapers

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:00:00 EST

Key concepts [More]

Tsunami Debris and North America: Is the Tail Wagging the Dog?

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:55:00 EST

Recent weeks have seen a spate of news articles (three examples here , here , and here ) claiming that wreckage from the March 2011 Japanese tsunami has started arriving on the west coast of North America.

Is that likely?

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Apes in the Suites and the Streets: Participatory Organizing from #Scio12 to #OccupyWallStreet

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:00:00 EST

"@BoraChimp" by Nathaniel Gold

Conferences are social grooming events for relatively hairless apes. A few will stand before the multitude, beaming with pride or shaking with nervousness (as the case may be), and present the latest research in contemporary ape thought. As their vocalizations reach a crescendo, those sitting demurely below will produce flesh-slapping noises that indicate they were paying attention (even if they weren t). Another ape will then rise and this process will continue repeatedly and at length. It looks a lot like the modern political stump speech.

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#SciAmBlogs Wednesday - #scio12 art and video, pigmy hippos, spider webs, sunfish, synchronized eating and more.

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:34:00 EST

Wednesday, the new Video of the Week day – have fun!

LOTS of good reading today:

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Scorpion Armor Inspires Sand-Resistant Surfaces

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:20:08 EST

It’s tough to be a machine in the desert: particles of dirt and sand work their way into moving parts, where they abrade turbines, motors, pipes and other equipment. To avoid this costly wear and tear, researchers are taking lessons from a desert native: the yellow fat-tail scorpion.

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On My Shelf: Autophobia (A Review)

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:22:00 EST

Autophobia: Love and Hate in the Automotive Age | Brian Ladd | University of Chicago Press | 236 pages | $15.00 (Softcover)

It’s an experience not at all unfamiliar to many of us: the flush of a first meeting, a growing attraction, a desire to spend every waking moment together, to visit new places and explore a world previously unknown, to create new memories together. In this blissful period of initial attraction, when the bloom is still on the rose, there are no shortcomings; everything is perfect. Enamourment drives us to passionate defenses and the abrupt dismissal of those who would impugn the virtue of the object of our affections.

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ScienceOnline2012: The Music Video

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:39:00 EST

Video of the Week #28 February 1st, 2012

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Conflicts and Cooperation in Conservation: Adventures in Researching the Pygmy Hippopotamus on Tiwai Island, Sierra Leone

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:53:00 EST

CamTrapTeam (Left to right): Bockary, Kenewa, April and Alusine at a camera trap on Tiwai Island

Our vehicle pulled into the village late one rainy night. Dozens of my new neighbors, Sierra Leone s Mende people, emerged from their thatch-roof houses, looking cross at being woken up and not exactly welcoming. We unloaded some of my gear underneath the dripping eaves, and as I tried to find something dry to wear, I realized that all my equipment: books, electronics, and gear, were soaking wet in the back of the truck. I had spent the entire day with a driver whose accent was so thick that several minutes into a conversation about cheese, I realized we were discussing chiefs, not cheddar. I had eaten entrails soup for lunch, been bounced over dirt roads for over 10 hours, and knew not a single person around me. I was suddenly glad it was dark so that nobody could see the silent tears streaming down my face.

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Penetrating Piscine Patterns: X-Rays Reveal What's Beneath Fishes' Scales [Slide Show]

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:30:00 EST

X-rays of fish skeletons that scientists use to study evolutionary development are now displayed as art. A new exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History will feature 40 x-rays of sea creatures laid out in evolutionary sequence. X-Ray Vision: Fish Inside-Out showcases the work of the museum’s scientists. X-rays allow researchers to study fish structures without dissections. The exhibition opens to the public on February 4 and runs until August 5.

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#SciAmBlogs Tuesday - Cotard's syndrome, pigeon parasite, Haeckel, clumped bacteria, aurorae, `polite' sexism, and more.

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:19:00 EST

You may have noticed a little improvement installed today – now you can see each blog post in a print-friendly form and then print it that way. Just click on the “Print” button, like this:

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Life after Tevatron: Fermilab Still Kicking Even Though It Is No Longer Top Gun

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:02:00 EST

MINOS detector, courtesy Fermilab

Fermilab is dead. Long live Fermilab!

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Material Marvels in Video

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:00:00 EST

It’s always a pleasure to come across a series of videos that deal with a subset of science that is told well, produced well and have a continuity that viewers can expect.

Dr. Ainissa Ramirez

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Can Cleaner Cooking and Solar Power Help Solve Energy Poverty in Africa? [Slide Show]

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:01:00 EST

KWADUKUZA, South Africa--A Zulu crowd's ululations welcomed Jacob Zuma, president of the Republic of South Africa, back to KwaZulu–Natal, his home province. He had come to tell them of his commitment to bring them, and the rest of the nation, better access to energy--as well as to announce the distribution of solar-powered hot water heaters and LED lighting systems as well as clean-burning cookstoves.

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