Ethanol vehicles may have worse effects on human health than conventional petrol, scientists have warned. A computer model set up to simulate air quality in 2020 found that in some areas ozone levels would increase if all cars were run on bioethanol. Deaths from respiratory problems and asthma attacks would increase with such levels. Read [...]
Less than two months after floating the idea to strip copy protection schemes from digital songs sold online, Apple’s Steve Jobs has persuaded EMI to go along. EMI said it will make its entire digital catalog available for purchase on Apple’s iTunes Store without Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection, beginning in May. Rather than MP3, [...]
A survey found that 29 percent of U.S. households, or 31 million homes, do not have Internet access and do not intend to subscribe to an Internet service over the next 12 months. The second annual National Technology Scan found the main reason potential customers say they do not subscribe to the Internet is because [...]
Home-buyers of tomorrow could find themselves walking across floors made from manure. Fiber from processed and sterilized cow manure could take the place of sawdust in fiberboard, which is used to make everything from furniture to flooring to store shelves. Researchers hope it could be part of the solution to disposing of the 1.5 trillion [...]
Coal companies want to fuel your car and lately, they’re getting a lot of political support for the idea. Turning coal into gasoline-like fuel has several advantages. It would use America’s vast coal reserves. It would reduce the nation’s thirst for foreign oil and help dampen spikes in energy prices. There’s just one problem: It [...]
A prosthetic arm that moves and feels like the real thing is now a step closer thanks to a new surgical technique which allows the owner to intuitively control her limb and regain her sense of touch. Surgeons working on an amputee in Chicago have re-routed the ends of the motor nerves – which once [...]
The FCC has acted to drop the Morse code requirement for all Amateur Radio license classes. The Commission adopted, but hasn’t yet released, the long-awaited Report and Order (R&O) in WT Docket 05-235, the “Morse code” proceeding. The FCC’s action appears to put all Technician licensees on an equal footing: Once the Report and Order [...]
Inside a stronghold that commands a stretch of land between the river and the desert, the Hobbits work wonders in a windowless chamber. In the ongoing fight against insurgents in Iraq’s Anbar province, the Hobbits — six Marines with computers and self-designed databases who compile information about the enemy, its strength and its position — [...]
Satellites, cell phones and spectrometers: Probably not the first things you think of when you picture sheep and goat herders in Afghanistan. But those modern tools may soon make the lives of nomadic families a little more stable. Afghanistan is the latest location for projects coordinated by the University of California-Davis and Texas A&M University, [...]
Less than two decades after the world first got a look at the F-117 stealth fighter, the first aircraft built specifically to elude radar, is scheduled for retirement by the Air Force, and some wonder whether the planes mothballing is a bit premature. The reasons for shelving the plane that played a key role in [...]
Holsteins on a Vermont farm step gingerly around a mechanical shovel that scoops their waste and shoots it into a “cow-powered” electric generator. Besides pumping out 8,000 gallons of milk a day, these 2,000 dairy cows also light up 400 homes. The fuel is methane gas that bubbles from manure treated with bovine bacteria in [...]
Engineers at Cornell have developed robots that can sense and respond to damage without human instruction. Pluck off part of a leg, and they adjust their gait to compensate. Eventually, robots like these could crawl into high-risk areas on search-and-rescue missions, or explore distant planets where no humans are around to repair robotic injuries. Read [...]
After its stalemate in Lebanon last summer, Israel needs new way to fight terrorists. The government has announced a new push into nanotechnology to develop tiny flying robots — but what would keep guerrilla fighters from using them? The “bionic hornet,” could chase, photograph and kill, say, a terrorist hiding with a rocket launcher in [...]
The 800-number, which has been around since 1967 is doomed. Its fate will be the same as pay phones and milkmen. This would be very bad news for phone companies, which rake in $12 billion a year from toll-free numbers. Why? Just about everyone who has a cellphone has a flat rate package for local [...]
A network of high-tech sensors installed on some U.S. passenger planes are part of an experiment to more quickly predict weather conditions that endanger flights. Read (AP via Wired)
The radio wars are escalating. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and National Public Radio (NPR) want the Federal Communications Commission to investigate alleged misdeeds by XM and Sirius. NPR CEO Ken Stern wrote to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin alleging that the satellite broadcasters’ devices interfere with NPR broadcasts. The president the NAB fired off [...]
A new breed of mechanics has begun hacking into car computers, and grease monkeys have morphed into automotive geeks. To tune up the first generation of computer-controlled cars, drivers bought chips with new engine maps from a handful of tuning companies. But because the chips were hard-wired, car owners were limited as to the changes [...]
Palm and pumpkin seed oil could soon be generating electricity to help power cell phone networks across Africa under a plan to replace fossil fuels with sustainable biofuels made from crops grown by local farmers. Read (Wired)
Supplies of ultra-clean diesel fuel should be readily available at pumps when rules take effect on Sunday, U.S. officials said Tuesday. That will mean less pollution, fewer health issues and possibly the start of a renaissance for diesel cars. “Cleaner diesel fuel will immediately cut soot emissions from any diesel vehicle by 10 percent,” the [...]
Thanks to technological breakthroughs, at least six automakers – starting with Mercedes on Oct. 16, Jeep in early 2007, and eventually even Honda – will be launching a fleet of New Age diesels. They promise to boost fuel economy by 25% to 40%, with huge torque and turbochargers to deliver the power American drivers crave. [...]