Stories

You just know somebody’s going to make a movie about this. On October 22, New Mexico’s governor, Bill Richardson, presided over the dedication of what could become the world’s first commercial spaceport. And what is a spaceport, you ask? Think of it as an airport for space travelers, and apparently they’re building one...

To provide an alternative to energy-inefficient, fume-heavy fire cooking, Paul Montgomery, a graduate student at Pennsylvania State University, is helping to design a better, cleaner stove for people in developing countries. Central to the design is a heat-powered fan. Here's how the process is more...

This week's Question of the Week concerns a new law in San Francisco, taking effect on Dec. 1 that bans restaurant toy giveaways unless the meals meet certain healthy standards for calories, sodium, and fat. Supporters say the move will offer better nutrition standards for children, while opponents say the...

Designing a material to cloak objects from visible light has always been a challenge -- Trust me, I've tried it many times during my childhood. Published today, the New Journal of Physics (co-owned by the Institute of Physics and German Physical Society) details how Meta-flex, a new material designed by...

When the Space Shuttle Discovery launches tomorrow, it will carry six human -- and one non-human -- crewmembers to the International Space Station. The non-human is Robonaut 2 (R2), which is set to become the first humanoid robot in space. R2 will be unpacked several months after it arrives, and tested on the station. He...

This week's Question of the Week, a suggestion from INSIDER reader Glenn Barkley, concerns the Right to Repair Act, a bill that would require auto manufacturers to sell to non-dealer repair shops the complete repair information and diagnostic tools, currently only provided to dealer service centers....

Yesterday, after unveiling Creo, PTC's soon-to-arrive design application suite, the company arranged for a panel of analysts to address attendee questions about the product. The roundtable included Marc Halpern, Research VP at Gartner, Sanjeev Pal, Research Manager at IDC, and John MacKrell, a senior consultant at...

There was a bit of a crowd lining up near Boston's Park Plaza this morning, and if it wasn't for all the business-casual attire, you may have thought another Apple Store was opening up down the street. The event was actually PTC's unveiling of its new product suite: Creo. Here's the quick rundown: Creo is a suite...

This week's Question of the Week addresses another technical development from Google. In early October, the search giant announced that it has been testing robotic cars on U.S. city streets. The vehicles, equipped with a complex array of sensors and cameras that allowed them to steer around...

This week's Question of the Week addresses home foreclosures. Several major home lenders, including JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America, have suspended foreclosures in parts or all of the country because of sloppy paperwork and improper oversight of the many loans that went bad. Some say, absent...

This week's Question of the Week addresses Google TV. Engineers are putting the finishing touches on Google TV, a software platform that aims to bring the complete Internet experience to television sets. Expected in stores later this month, the Google TV device has a remote-control keyboard/pointing device...

This week's Question of the Week concerns a recent Gallup poll that revealed that a majority of Americans (57%) say they have little or no trust in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly. Sixty-three percent of respondents perceived bias. What do...

This week's Question of the Week focuses on the redesign of some Internet communication services. Law enforcement officials want Congress to require all services that enable communications — including encrypted e-mail...

This week's Question of the Week focuses on smartphones in the classroom. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty recently suggested students should be allowed to use smartphones in the classroom, saying that the devices have a variety of helpful educational tools -- calendars, planners, and...