Defusing Airline Terrorism
A variety of high-tech bomb detectors are under study, but certification, cost, and privacy dilemmas could keep them from your local airport.
Features
Creating The People's Computer
One of the nation's foremost computer scientists, exasperated by the unfriendliness of today's computer systems, suggests what designers can do to make machines serve human needs--rather than the other way around.
Paint the Town White--and Green
Urban heat islands are not inevitable, but the product of dark roofs, black pavement, and loss of vegetation. A "cool communities" approach would lower air-conditioning use and make the air healthier.
Unlocking the Legacies of the Edison Archives
150 years after Thomas Edison's birth, his record of 1,093 diverse patents is still unrivaled. A massive effort to catalogue his voluminous collection of papers and artifacts is yielding clues to account for his phenomenal success.
Flying the Multinational Skies
Turbulent Skies: The History of Commerical Aviation
Reasons For Loving Nature
The Value of Life: Biological Diversity and Human Society
It's a Small, Small, Small, Small World
With the tools of the nanotechnology trade becoming better defined, the ability to create new materials and devices by placing every atom and molecule in the right place is moving closer to reality.
The National Ignition Facility: Buyer Beware
The federal government's planned laser fusion center is being sold as an essential tool for preserving the aging U.S. nuclear arsenal. But that's not what the taxpayer is getting.
Scientist For a Day
Elbow Grease and Discovery in the New Science Museum
Oral Ecology
Dental researchers are making significant strides in identifying the microorganisms that colonize the mouth. To head off serious decay and disease, scientists are developing tools that prevent these microbes from gaining a foothold.
