In The News

Keepin' It Cool: How the Air Conditioner Made Modern America

Rebecca J. Rosen July 18, 2011
The world’s wealthiest can easily ignore rising temperatures by turning up their air conditioners. “But the effects of air conditioners reach far beyond atmospherics to the ways we build our houses, where in the country we live, and how we spend our time,” explains Rebecca J. Rosen of the Atlantic. “Air conditioners are the enablers of modern American life.” The 1902 invention transformed...

How Seawater Can Power the World

Stewart C. Prager July 14, 2011
Securing future energy sources will follow the path of past examples – through the long, hard work of scientific discovery that is so often a gamble. “[A]bundant, safe and clean energy source once thought to be the stuff of science fiction is closer than many realize: nuclear fusion,” writes Stewart C. Prager, Princeton physicist, in an opinion essay for the New York Times. But billions of...

Global Race on to Match US Drone Capabilities

William Wan and Peter Finn July 6, 2011
Wars usher in new technology, and “U.S. military successes with drones have changed strategic thinking worldwide and spurred a global rush for unmanned aircraft,” report William Wan and Peter Finn for the Washington Post. China is ramping up drone research and production, preparing for export. The tiny aircraft cost less than 1/10th of a fighter jet, but requires a network of satellites and...

Microsoft Strikes Deal With China's Biggest Search Engine Baidu

Censorship is part of the deal July 5, 2011
Microsoft has entered a deal to provide English-language results for China’s biggest search engine, Baidu, and also comply with the Chinese government’s demands for censorship. The deal opens the huge, growing Chinese market to floundering Bing – but could also alienate users in China and elsewhere who support absolute internet freedoms. Google remains the globe’s dominant search engine, reports...

Could Compost Piles Someday Heat a Home?

Kenneth Sturtz June 28, 2011
Organic waste is part of everyone’s garbage, and a group of high school students in upstate New York have set out to study if compost piles could someday heat homes. In that part of the world average low mid-winter temperatures dip below -10 degrees Celsius. Bacteria and microorganisms break down organic materials and produce heat as a byproduct. The students studied three industrial-sized...

African Jitters Over Blogs and Social Media

Karen Allen June 17, 2011
The Arab spring uprisings let loose a cry over social media and on the streets for better governance. African governments have since turned to any means necessary to censor criticism in blogs or social media, reports the Committee for the Protection of Journalists, working with Google’s South Africa office. Of the Africans with internet access, 80 percent rely on mobile phone, reports BBC’s...

China's Cyberassault on America

Richard Clarke June 15, 2011
China and the US differ over rules for the internet: China supports tight security to counter sites that question one-party rule; the US urges free speech in China and other nations. Freewheeling ways in the US, particularly the lack of concern over security, could result in dangerous disruptions. “Beijing is successfully stealing research and development, software source code, manufacturing know...