Stories

This week's Question of the Week concerns the battle between digital volumes and their printed counterparts. From Amazon's Kindle and Apple's iPad to Sony's e-Reader and Barnes & Noble's Nook, digital reading is obviously here to stay. This is especially true when...

This week's question concerns the recent story about the nearly 92,000 classified U.S. Military documents leaked by the Web site WikiLeaks.org. The organization's Web site claims, "We believe that transparency in government activities leads to reduced corruption, better government, and stronger...

This week's question concerns brain scans and the legal system. In 2008 a judge in India convicted a woman of murdering her fiancee based partly on brain scan evidence that gauged her ability to remember details of the crime. And in the US, fMRI scans have already found their way into courtrooms...

This week's question concerns the recent discovery of Russian spies still operating in the US. In June, authorities uncovered a Russian spy ring of 10 individuals operating in New York and Cambridge. Last week, the US and Russian governments completed a "spy swap" in Vienna. ...

This week's question concerns the world-renowned Australian scientist Professor Frank Fenner - who helped to wipe out smallpox - and his prediction that humans will probably be extinct within 100 years. His reasoning includes overpopulation, environmental destruction, and climate change. Fenner stated that homo...

This week's question concerns our online "personas". While social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook encourage members to use their real identities, a recent study on the usage habits on these sites has shown there's little correlation between how people act on...

This week’s question concerns the EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. Last Thursday, the US Senate failed to pass legislation that would have prevented the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating CO2 emissions from large factories, electric power companies, and automobiles. What do...

This week's question concerns a recent news item about how a Utah woman injured by a motorist while following a Google Maps route has filed a lawsuit claiming Google supplied unsafe directions (the motorist is also named in the lawsuit). The woman used her phone to download...

DOE recently announced two solid-state lighting (SSL) funding opportunities. DOE will select projects to receive up to $25 million to advance research, development, and market adoption of SSL technology. Up to $15 million is available for core technology research, and up to $10 million for product...

This week's question concerns synthetic biology research. A study published online by the journal "Science" details how scientists at the J. Craig Venter Institute recently developed the first viable cell controlled by a synthetic genome. According to the researchers, the cell is called synthetic...

“It doesn’t matter where you are, it doesn’t matter where you go, If it’s a million miles away, or just a mile up the road. Take it in. Take it with you when you go. Who says you can’t go home?” So says New Jersey-born rocker Jon Bon Jovi in a hit song he penned several years ago. I don’t know if...