Media Platforms Design TeamAs futurists, transhumanists, and journalists filed into New York’s Alice Tully Hall on Saturday to hear a talk by android scientist Hiroshi Ishiguro, many were drawn to the stage to take photos of a childlike robot and the man sitting next to it. More than one audience member suspected that the man was Ishiguro himself, staring down at the floor, blinking passively and pretending to be an android....
Media Platforms Design TeamWhat It IsAudi e-Tron ConceptThe SpecsAudi’s e-Tron concept proves that driving an electric car doesn’t have to equate to spending time in something that would look more in place in Lego land than on actual, human streets. With proportions reminiscent of the Audi R8 supercar, the e-Tron concept is nothing short of gorgeous. And the concept isn’t just all-electric–it’s also got quattro all-wheel drive. This time, all four wheels are powered by four separate motors, allowing an entirely new level of electronically controlled torque vectoring, and brilliant handling....
Media Platforms Design TeamIf you’ve ever wondered what the most exclusive coupe in the world is, wonder no more. In early 2008, Bentley will launch the Brooklands for a mere 550 lucky (and very wealthy) Bentley enthusiasts to enjoy. And we’ll get to see it in the metal next week at the New York auto show.The cost? Figure around $350,000. Yes, that’s nauseatingly expensive. But that condo-crushing price tag buys much more than Bentley’s legendary hand craftsmanship: It buys torque—774 lb....
Media Platforms Design TeamThe United States and Iran have engaged in a war of words over their military capabilities in the last few weeks. But if an actual war breaks out, it will not be a war of U.S. bombs versus Iranian bombs, but of U.S. bombs versus Iran’s bunkers.Iran’s network of nuclear facilities, some of which are underground, would be the primary target of an Israeli or U.S. attack intended to destroy Iran’s suspected clandestine weapons program....
Media Platforms Design TeamPrice:$300On Sale Date:NowWhat do you want in a speaker? That question used to have an easy answer, but as the technology inside our gadgets becomes cheaper and more powerful, the answer isn’t so simple. Talk to someone buying a new smartphone and they probably won’t say call quality is their main concern. A smartwatch shopper might not even mention timekeeping. So when it comes to bluetooth speakers, sure, users want something that sounds great....
Yountville, Calif.—The new 2011 CTS Coupe should have been a 2010 model—but it was put on ice—frozen for a full year. Bob Munson, chief designer of the Cadillac CTS, first sketched the rakish coupe in 2006. According to chief engineer Dave Leone, Bob Lutz was so impressed his response was: “Just go do it.” With that blessing, the CTS was fast-tracked through the production process, landing at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show as a concept that looked amazingly production-ready....
Media Platforms Design TeamInnovators: Karen Brewer, Brenda Winkel, Virginia Tech; Roger Dumoulin-White, Theralase TechnologiesTwo Virginia Tech scientists may have invented the future of cancer treatment—a way to eradicate tumors without the harmful side effects of chemotherapy, radiation or a surgeon’s scalpel. They’ve built what chemist Karen Brewer calls a “molecular machine” that seeks out fast-replicating cancer cells and becomes lethal only when exposed to light.Other photodynamic therapies rely on drugs that grab oxygen molecules from nearby tissue, so they are powerless against dense, fast-growing cancers—such as breast, brain, lung and prostate—with hypoxic, or oxygen-free, cores....
The GOP was the big winner on election night. The big loser: Microsoft.Okay, the company didn’t faceplant quite as badly as, say, the Democratic Party. But the tech giant’s attempts at product placement crashed and burned once again after some eagle-eyed viewers noticed something fishy about the Microsoft Surface tablets prominently perched on CNN’s desks during election coverage. Anchors were using the Surfaces as kickstands for their other tablets—presumably Apple iPads....
Step-By-Step, as told to PM by Lee and Yeh:1. Find A Suitable Launch Site"The site should be relatively flat with no obstacles such as trees or light poles that could snag the balloon after launch. Also, be sure not to launch near military installations. Stay at least 100 miles away.“2. Check the Weather “Weather should be completely sunny with minimal wind. If it’s not bright enough, the pictures will be underdeveloped....
Media Platforms Design TeamPaging Dr. Wikipedia: New research suggests the online encyclopedia can help medical experts predict the spread of deadly diseases around the world.Earlier this year we reported on scientists who analyzed searches of various Wikipedia articles to gauge how many people in the United States have the flu. In this new study that appears in the journal PLoS Computational Biology, a national lab finds that scientists can use Wikipedia monitor the rest of the globe and forecast the spread of diseases such as dengue fever and tuberculosis....
Browse expert reviews and compare info on Hyundai Azera Limited at theMedia Platforms Design TeamI was supposed to turn the Azera back in to Hyundai’s PR people. Instead, I dropped it off in the driveway of recently retired auto editor Don Chaikin, because he liked it enough over the past year that he didn’t want to give it up. Don arranged with Hyundai to buy the car for himself.Our stint in the Azera Limited was uneventful, except for one seriously ruined rear tire....
Monday Wrapup ThoughtsAs a 26-year-old living in New York City, there are few things I need less than a pilot’s license.In November 2005, however, we ran a cover story about the Federal Aviation Administration’s new sport pilot initiative, which created a new tier of single-engine aircraft that require minimal training to fly. After passing ground school and the FAA Knowledge Test, sport pilots need only 20 hours of flight instruction–so with a little vacation time and cooperative cloud ceilings, you could knock that out in a week....
What makes Mirasol a unique display technology?In display technology, there is transmissive, emissive and reflective. You and I work with transmissive every day [with] liquid crystal displays [LCDs] that run most cellphones and various versions of that. An emissive technology would be what we saw when we were kids, like a CRT (a cathode-ray tube) television. And now, the [emissive technology] that is being incorporated into televisions and some portable electronic devices is the OLED, active-matrix organic light-emitting diodes....
A screen capture from a Russian news report is making rounds on the Internet. The capture, allegedly from a briefing on an entirely new weapons system, is being widely circulated and discussed among arms control experts. If the information from the briefing true, it’s utterly terrifying. Media Platforms Design TeamAccording to the blog Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces, the screen cap was taken from a news story on Russian President Vladimir Putin “meeting with his generals to discuss the development of Russian strategic forces....
After stringing together photos taken by NASA’s 17-year-old Cassini probe, a team of astrophysicists came across a strange and unexpected discovery: something deep inside Saturn’s moon Mimas is inexplicably causing the moon to wobble. That means there’s a mystery tucked away inside the Death Star moon.“This was a very surprising discovery for us,” says Benoît Noyelles, an astrophysicist with the research team at the University of Namur, Belgium. “When we started, our team was convinced that Mimas was going to prove to be pretty boring....
Welcome to PM/AM, Popular Mechanics’ morning briefing on the top science and tech stories for today. Media Platforms Design TeamIs there a back end to a black hole? Does the stuff that a black hole sucks up go anywhere, or does it only get compressed into a tiny point in space? Some cosmologists now suggest that black holes may spit out the matter that they ingest as they turn into into “white holes....
Media Platforms Design TeamSamsung couldn’t get the Rockettes for the launch of the Samsung S4 tonight, but they did get Radio City Music Hall (and some promo dancers who erupted from a box in Times Square earlier this week). Not to be outdone by the concert hall’s chrome and leather art deco ornamentation, Samsung dolled up its near-behemoth of a plastic phone—now with a 5-inch screen—with “features inspired by the people of the world....
Media Platforms Design TeamIf you want a fight, just challenge Einstein. That’s what a team of Italian physicists found out over the last six months.To recap: Last September, the physicists announced that they had detected neutrinos, fundamental subatomic particles, traveling faster than light. The speed of light is considered to be the speed limit of the universe, and these speedy neutrinos appeared to be breaking the rules—rules that had been shown to be true over and over again by physicists....
Scientists recently demonstrated that a soft robot could crawl like a starfish through fire, over snow, and even after being run over by a car, all without the constraints of a tether. To control the bot, scientists used air pumps that force bursts of air in and out of a series of pneumatic channels running through its limbs. The problem: Air compressors are rather slow, taking on the order of seconds to work....
After his buddy traded a fully trained dog team for the services of an Alaskan bush pilot, photographer Ken Tape found himself following his friend’s progress in the 1000-mile Yukon Quest dog race—from the air. The mushers started out from Whitehorse, Canada, on Feb. 10, and are our now making their way towards Fairbanks, Alaska. Tape will be filing reports here from checkpoints along the course. DAWSON CITY, Yukon Territory, Feb....
