Nov 15 Robot Butlers and Jet Packs: How Close Are We Really? A man with a jetpack makes a spectacular landing before Super Bowl I in 1967 at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles. Photo by Vic Stein/NFL I will confess right up front that I wasted a lot of time… Continue reading
Nov 15 Just 30 Years Old, Youngest Nearby Black Hole Discovered A team of Harvard astrophysicists has discovered what they believe is an infant black hole, the youngest ever found in our cosmic backyard. The data indicate that it is just 30 years old (for some historical context, that's… Continue reading
Nov 15 What We’re Reading: Deaf Dolphins, Shuttle Trouble, Cat Fluid Mechanics Beached Dolphins Often Deaf, Study Finds "In a world where hearing is as valuable as sight," deafness may be a major factor in what's stranding dolphins on seashores, The Washington Post reports. Researchers studied dolphins and other marine… Continue reading
Nov 12 Diplomacy and 21st Century Statecraft While the title of Senior Adviser for Innovation at the State Department may sound vague, the problems Alec Ross and his colleagues tackle are very real; from poverty to pandemics, from disaster to diplomacy. Continue reading
Nov 09 Obama Visits Indonesia; Hearings on Oil Spill Resume; Afghans Back Taliban Talks President Obama is in Indonesia Tuesday for a brief visit that will include meetings with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and a major speech to the Muslim world, his second after his address in Cairo last year. The… Continue reading
Nov 08 Who (Still) Doesn’t Have Broadband? This interactive requires your browser to have Java installed. Click here to check if you need Java. High-speed Internet went mainstream in the last decade -- home access grew from 9 percent of American households in 2001 to… Continue reading
Nov 08 Watch Live: BP Oil Spill Commission Hearing By News Desk The National Oil Spill Commission is holding two days of public hearings this week into the cause of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion that triggered the disaster. Officials from BP, Transocean, and Halliburton will be called to answer… Continue reading
Nov 08 Obama in India; BP Oil Spill Hearings Begin; Myanmar’s Junta Holds Election President Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pose after a joint press conference at Hyderabad House on Nov. 8, 2010, in New Delhi, India. President Obama is spending a second day in New Delhi, where he is addressing… Continue reading
Nov 08 Watch At Oil Spill Commission Hearing, ‘Rough Day’ for BP, Halliburton, Transocean The lead investigator of the national oil spill commission said there's no evidence of BP trading dollars for safety, but a long list of errors by the companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon rig's operation were aired at a new… Continue watching
Nov 05 Fuel Leak Delays Final Discovery Shuttle Launch, Again Photo credit: NASA The final launch of space shuttle Discovery was scrubbed for the fourth time in as many days Friday, raising questions among some space watchers on when old becomes too old. Two hours into fueling… Continue reading