2/4/2013 - CNET
The European Space Agency and others are looking into creating an inflatable moon dome that can house four people while protecting them from meteorites, gamma radiation, and more.
1/28/2013 - The New York Times; requires free registration
Last Wednesday, a group of researchers at the European Bioinformatics Institute reported in the journal Nature that they had managed to store digital information in synthetic DNA molecules, then recreated the original digital files without error.
1/2/2013 - Smithsonian.com
The Smithsonian.com blog reports that a startup has created what they think is the first semantic search engine designed specifically for scientific and mathematical equations. The engine returns results based upon their relatedness to theory and semantics rather than visuals.
8/30/2012 - Scientific American
A tiny resonating beam, just 10 millionths of a meter in length, can measure the mass of a molecule or nanoparticle in real time.
8/29/2012 - PopSci
Better hurricane predictions require better data—data that only lives at the center of the storm. NOAA is building the robots that will report back from the very eye of the hurricane.
8/21/2012 - The Washington Post (requires free registration)
Researchers have encoded a full book in DNA, the largest amount of information stored on the biological medium yet.
7/23/2012 - The Boston Globe
The northern Arizona observatory where Pluto was discovered has answered the question of whether it would remain active in research or become a museum. Lowell Observatory and science cable giant Discovery Communications are showing off a $53 million telescope that will help build on the observatory's major astronomical discoveries, including the rings of Uranus and the first evidence that the universe is expanding.
7/10/2012 - BBC News
An American scientist is to unveil details of work on the brain patterns of Prof Stephen Hawking which he says could help safeguard the physicist's ability to communicate.
5/25/2012 - BBC News
South Africa, Australia and New Zealand will host the biggest radio telescope ever built.
4/9/2012 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
The National Science Foundation awarded $10 million to a team of Cal professors and graduate students who take an interdisciplinary approach to advancing Big Data analysis.
4/5/2012 - BBC News
Researchers aim to build a desktop technology that would allow an average person to design and print a machine within 24 hours. The team says that making it easier to create specialized robots could have a "profound impact on society."
3/2/2012 - Reuters
A British ethics group has launched a debate on the ethical dilemmas posed by new technologies that tap into the brain and could bring super-human strength, highly enhanced concentration or thought-controlled weaponry.
1/4/2012 - Reuters
With mounting evidence linking hundreds of small earthquakes from Oklahoma to Ohio to the energy industry's growing use of fracking technology, scientists say there is one way to minimize risks of even minor temblors. Only, it costs about $10 million a pop.
12/19/2011 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
“Principles of Biology,” a digital-only textbook, includes interactive features that take it beyond early e-textbooks that were static reprises of the print versions.
12/6/2011 - The New York Times; requires free registration
Facing the physical limits of conventional design, researchers are working to design a computing architecture that more closely resembles that of the brain.
11/14/2011 - The New York Times (requires free registration)
At Google X, a clandestine lab that many employees do not know exists, engineers and robotics experts are tackling a list of 100 shoot-for-the-stars ideas that eventually might not seem so far-fetched.
11/7/2011 - The Washington Post (requires free registration)
Some observers say humanoid robotics is today where personal computer technology was in the 1970s. It is an exciting time. And here are five robo-scientists to watch.
9/28/2011 - Reuters
A professor at the University of Delaware has patented a vehicle-to-grid technology for parked electric vehicles to return power to the grid and teamed up with NRG Energy to commercialize it. But the idea is not without its critics.
9/8/2011 - Yahoo! News
New Mexico, home to several of the nation's premier scientific, nuclear and military institutions, is planning to take part in an unprecedented science project—a 20-square-mile model of a small U.S. city.
9/6/2011 - MSNBC.com
Large, expensive instruments are helping humans discover whole new worlds.
8/24/2011 - Scientific American
A process called electrowetting could provide 10 watts of juice to smartphones and other gadgets as you walk.
8/17/2011 - Time Magazine
By mining the Internet's massive volume of data, digital epidemiologists hope to identify disease outbreaks in real time—and eliminate deadly epidemics before they start.
8/9/2011 - BBC News
Scientists have proposed a viable solution to the growing problem of space junk. The idea involves launching a satellite to rendezvous with the largest space debris, such as spent rocket bodies.
8/8/2011 - Scientific American
A consortium of more than 30 universities plans to invest in the infrastructure to improve internet speeds 1,000-fold.
6/14/2011 - Scientific American
How will we know when we've built a sentient computer? By making it solve a simple puzzle.