My roommate in university had a quirk that annoyed teachers no end: he had the smallest handwriting of anyone I’ve ever met. While I used big old Bic pens on wide-lined notebook paper, he was using fine-point mechanical drafting pencils on the narrowest-lined paper he could find, and still leaving lots of room for any …
Category: Blog
Wearable computers
Computers have become so ubiquitous they’re in most of our gadgets and on most of our desks. But guess what? They’re on the verge of becoming even more widespread: soon, we may be wearing them. The quick definition of a wearable computer is one that is always with you (and always on), is comfortable and …
Biometrics
Are you fed up with having to carry 2,762 separate plastic cards in your wallet for buying gas, getting Air Miles, withdrawing money, renting videos and collecting frequent-ice-cream-eater points? Then you’ll be glad to hear about biometrics. Biometrics is the measurement of tiny differences among individuals for the purposes of identification. Fingerprinting is probably the …
The Saga of NEAR
Monday, a plucky little spacecraft called NEAR, for “Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous,” is going to attempt to make space exploration history. Back in February of 1996, the 805-kilogram spacecraft, a short, stubby cylinder with four solar panels forming a cross shape at one end, was launched to rendezvous and orbit the asteroid Eros, whose orbit …
Ballooning around the world
Aeronauts call circumnavigating the world in a balloon “the Last Great Adventure.” One attempt ended in the Pacific Ocean on December 26, but other balloonists are raring to go–eight expeditions in all. The most technologically advanced balloon ever to make the attempt, sponsored by Re/Max, may have already been launched by the time you read …
Santa physics
A few years ago I wrote a column about the fledging science of “clausotechnolometry,” the study of the advanced technology of Santa Claus. Well, time marches on, and this year I am pleased to be able to bring you the results of exciting new research into this field. Santa Claus has been the subject of …
Breakthroughs of 1998
New Year’s is traditionally a time of looking back at the previous year’s accomplishments. Every year brings a flood of new scientific discoveries, and 1998 was no exception. Choosing which to mention would is a daunting task; fortunately, the editors of Science magazine already did all the work. Briefly, I want to pass along to …
Why we crave chocolate
It’s the season for sweets, and one of the favorites, this Christmas and every Christmas (not to mention Valentine’s Day, Easter, and assorted other special occasions) is chocolate. Why do we crave this unique food? It’s not just the taste. As new research has shown, a lot of the pleasure we get out of eating …
Space stations, once more with feeling
In his 1984 State of the Union Address, former U.S. President Ronald Reagan announced that the U.S. would build a space station, a permanently inhabited base in orbit. It’s a safe bet that Reagan would have been shocked and disbelieving had you told him that it would be 14 years before the first component …
Dreams
Dreams have fascinated people for millennia. Ancient people sought portents of the future in dreams. Not-so-ancient people, such as Sigmund Freud, sought information about the psyche: he felt that an examination of dreams could help a psychoanalyst guide a person in the resolution of inner conflicts. In the 20th century, the function of dreams has …
Mirror, mirror
Ever since the first caveman saw himself in a pool of water and became the first human in history to complain of a bad hair day, we’ve recognized that being able to see our reflection has its uses–and so we’ve made mirrors. A mirror is any object that reflects light rays in such a …
Extraterrestrials
On the television program The X-Files, FBI agent Fox Mulder is always searching for proof of extraterrestrials, mostly by exploring old warehouses with his trusty flashlight and cell phone. But as an article by Ron Cowen in the November 1 issue of Science News points out, the real search for non-terrestrial life is taking place in university and …
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