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Media Platforms Design TeamFor all the chatter lately over whether talking on cellphones increases the risk of brain cancer, what happens when we stop using them may be just as important when it comes to damaging human health. The mountains of phones and other electronic gadgetry we throw out when it’s time to upgrade are more than just an environmental headache: A new study has found a link between electronics recycling and human cell damage, which suggests adverse health effects for those who live and work where e-waste goes to die....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe CEO of MakerBot calls 3D printing the next Industrial Revolution, and judging from the crowds standing in line on Friday to hear his SXSWi keynote address, a lot of people agree with him. And it’s not just the technophiles at the Austin Convention Center. The technology is appearing on magazine covers and network morning shows, and even got mentioned by President Obama in his 2013 State of the Union address....

Remember that possibly-sinister tunnel under Toronto’s Pan Am Games site? Well, about that: It was not terrorists. Or Drake. It was a 22-year-old named Elton McDonald, who built the tunnel with the sinister purpose of seeing if he could build a big damn tunnel.“It was just something I always wanted to do,” McDonald told the Canadian press, the most humbly Canadian thing someone has ever said about a hole in the ground that scared the hell out of police....

Long before the protests in Ferguson, Mo., and the controversial militaristic response by the St. Louis County Police, police departments across the country were taking advantage of government programs to equip with surplus military gear, from laser gun sights to drones.According to a June 2014 article in The New York Times, during the Obama administration’s tenure, “police departments throughout the U.S. received tens of thousands of machine guns; nearly 200,000 ammunition magazines; thousands of pieces of camouflage and night-vision equipment; and hundreds of silencers, armored cars and aircraft....

It’s New Year’s Eve in the city of Terminus, and a mysterious electromagnetic signal has taken over the citizens’ everyday tech–pulsating on TV screens and screeching through phones and radios. The pattern makes its victims violent, but not like unconscious zombies. It plays on its victims’ fears and moves them to violence–and no one is immune.Told in three “transmissions” by three different directors (David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry and Dan Bush), The Signal is a smart new horror flick that exploits society’s increasing dependence on digital technology....

Media Platforms Design TeamAre we in a “meteor swarm?” The short answer is yes. But it’s a bit misleading to put it that way, because “yes” is the normal state of affairs.The pass of the one-half-football-field-size asteroid 2012 DA14 and the explosion of a meteor 20 to 30 miles above Chelyabinsk, Russia—both on Feb. 15—seems to have been a mere coincidence. What made them unusual is that we happened to notice both of them—the asteroid because amateur astronomers looked at just the right place at the right time, the meteorite because it was large enough to do some damage over a populated area....

Media Platforms Design TeamWant to know how you’ll (almost) live forever?Read Redefining The Human: Your Upgrade Is Ready (May 2006 issue) to see why the Census Bureau says life spans will climb nearly 10 years in the next half-century.STEALTH POLYMERS Not all the new nanobots will look like machines. For instance, the University of Michigan’s James Baker developed a dendrimer (a complex polymer) to fight cancer. In rat trials, the dendrimer used folic acid to trick cancer cells into letting it in....

When General Motors unveiled the Chevy Volt in January, plug-in hybrids suddenly seemed to matter again. Sure, the Volt is a concept car, and more of a testbed for various electric-drive systems than a showcase for plug-in charging. And the aftermarket kits that turn a Toyota Prius into a plug-in have been around for years. But with GM planning to build two plug-in vehicles – the Volt, as well as its next Saturn Vue Green Line – this technology is looking like the biggest thing since, well, hybrids....

Media Platforms Design TeamAfter three years of electric drivetrain research, today Audi unveiled the fruits of its “e-performance research project”: The F12, an all-electric sports car prototype. Developed in tandem with Bosch and a slew of research institutes at RWTH Aachen University, the drivable research car is a proof-of-concept for the team’s goal of developing a modular, scalable EV platform that can be implemented in everything from practical city cars to low-slung exotics....

Media Platforms Design TeamIt’s been more than 45 years since AT&T’s “Picturephone” made a splash at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, but consumers are still leery of a phone that requires them to mind their appearance. And while Skype, Google Talk and iChat users now routinely video-call each other, the practice is largely confined to the computer (and, we suppose, the video call-enabled iPhone 4). So is video-calling ready to make the leap to the couch?...

Biofuels have taken a bit of a beating from critics recently, partly because they’re still proving more inefficient in the lab than they are efficient at the pump. And ethanol has been the primary target, with researchers, analysts and Popular Mechanics all breaking down just how much oil it takes to grow, ship and process corn–the crop from which most of the ethanol used as fuel in the United States comes....

Media Platforms Design TeamThe simple life? Not really. The author’s energy system includes new sun-tracking solar panels (left) to replace his older set, a wind turbine (not shown) and solar hot-water collectors (above the door).The Energy Family Series* Ben Hewitt’s Energy Family Blog* PM’s Energy Family, Part One: Off the Grid* Part Two: Harnessing Winter* Part Three: Solar Hot Water HeaterRight now, under the open-sided, high-roofed barns of Earl Audet’s western Vermont dairy farm, 950 black and white Holsteins are doing what cows do best: making milk....

Media Platforms Design TeamI was flipping through myNew Yorker this morning, when a bright yellow, full-page ad caught my attention. Across the top in large font, it asked: “Concerned About Mercury”? Of course, I thought. Then I looked more closely at the can of “genuine whale meat” in the middle of the page. The ad goes on to say, “You shouldn’t be. Unless you eat this.” The gist of the ad, sponsored by the Center for Commercial Freedom, is that fish is good for you, and that “scares” about traces of mercury in fish are just that....

Media Platforms Design TeamSmall-scale wind turbines are a $156 million industry with impressive growth numbers; the 10,500 sold last year constituted a nearly 70 percent increase for the industry. The benefits of such home home wind systems are numerous: instant independence from the grid, payback periods that can be as little as five years (with an existing subsidy), and demonstrating that 20 percent wind power—the government’s stated goal for the country’s energy mix for 2030—can be achieved by any individual in less than a year....

Media Platforms Design TeamIllustration by Headcase DesignQ: A computer-enthusiast friend of mine operates his PC with the case open. He claims that it helps cool the computer. Is he right?A: An open case can make things a lot cooler — if you put a full-size box fan right next to it. Otherwise, your friend’s system is probably sucking in lots of dust, bugs and pet hair in exchange for a marginal or nonexistent cooling increase....

You may have seen those electrical outlets that incorporate USB ports, allowing you to charge your mobile devices without the blocky adapter. The new SnapPower Charger on Kickstarter makes this tech much simpler to install. There’s no need for any wiring experience: it just screws on like any regular outlet faceplate, connecting to the screws on the side of the outlet to power the USB port.The USB charger protrudes out a bit below the bottom of the faceplate and provides about 1 amp of power to its single port....

Media Platforms Design TeamCould you walk us through the creative process for developing a mobile game as opposed to a PC or console game?We operate quickly, and we operate off Kevin’s [Kevin Chou, cofounder and CEO] vision of where the game is going. We take both an artistic and scientific view of how to build a new game, kind of like a television studio. Our consumers are able to interact and provide feedback through pilots like TV....

In 2002, an Israeli jetliner taking off from Kenya narrowly avoided being hit by two shoulder-launched SA-7 missiles. Over the span of a few seconds, a once-remote threat became very real. This past January, Northrop Grumman began flying its Guardian antimissile system for the first time on commercial jets. Media Platforms Design Team (Illustration by Brian Brasher)Mounted on the jet’s fuselage, the system locks on to an incoming missile and fires an infrared laser at it....

Poor John Locke. Not much is different for him in Lost’s new parallel universe: His boss, Randy, is still a jerk. He still carries around a case full of knives. He doesn’t get to go on his walkabout, because he still can’t walk. But there is one big difference, revealed last night in “The Substitute.” When Locke’s fiancée, Helen, asks him to elope, she mentions bringing her parents—and his dad. Hold the phone!...

It takes some planning to prepare a small space for new roommates, especially if the apartment is 220 miles above the planet. NASA engineers have been developing space-ready versions of familiar fixtures to prepare for an expansion of the International Space Station’s crew, which this year will double to six. ISS residents each have individual 3 x 3.5 x 6-ft quarters with laptop connections. “They’re living in a closet,” Edeen says....