C. elegans, a tiny worm about a millimeter long, doesn’t have much of a brain, but it has a nervous system — one that comprises 302 nerve cells, or neurons, to be exact. In the …

Billionaire Sir Richard Branson may already own an airline, a record label, a mobile phone company, several luxury restaurants and a Caribbean island. But today the entrepreneur unveiled his latest toy – an underwater plane. …

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will donate $10 billion over the next decade to research new vaccines and bring them to the world’s poorest countries, the Microsoft co-founder and his wife said. … Read …

Bill Gates has sunk at least $4.5 million of his personal wealth into geoengineering research. While it’s a small chunk of Gates’ vast personal fortune, it’s a sign that the founder of Microsoft thinks we …

Honda began operation of a next generation solar hydrogen station prototype at the Los Angeles Center of Honda R&D Americas, intended for ultimate use as a home refueling appliance capable of an overnight refill of …

More than half of the operators of power plants and other “critical infrastructure” say in a new study that their computer networks have been infiltrated by sophisticated adversaries. In many cases, foreign governments are suspected. …

New research at the A. James Clark School of Engineering could prevent bacterial infections using tiny biochemical machines – nanofactories – that can confuse bacteria and stop them from spreading, without the use of antibiotics. …

Clandestine efforts by some countries to create alternative versions of the Internet for political ends could put the Web at risk, the man responsible for organizing the network told AFP. … Read more

The scientific unit at the heart of the climate change emails scandal broke the law by hiding data from sceptics. Researchers at the University of East Anglia breached the Freedom of Information Act by refusing …

Skin cells from the tails of mice were turned into neurons able to form connections crucial to brain function, a study said. The Stanford University scientists who performed the feat said it should work with …

A collaboration led by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) has developed a microbe that can produce an advanced biofuel directly from biomass. Deploying the tools of synthetic biology, the …

Struggling US newspapers and magazines may seek Internet Age resurrection in a so-called “Jesus tablet” — a computer expected to grab the spotlight at a much anticipated Apple event in San Francisco. … Read more

A new approach in the design of miniature, insectlike robots could lead to “microids” the size of ants that move their tiny legs and mandibles using solid-state “muscles.” … Read more

With a jump-start from a new quick charging system, Norwegian electric carmaker THINK is taking aim at the US market with a new assembly facility set to begin operations later this year. … Read more

A team of scientists from China and the UK has now revealed that the bristles of this 125 million-year-old dinosaur were in fact ginger-coloured feathers. … Read more

Andrew Hessell – “I believe that open biology will continue to make bioengineering more accessible. It will produce new products that people want, can afford, and trust, at a much faster pace. A more open …

New research on young Chinese shows they are modernizing but they are not Westernizing. … Read more

Scientists have identified a gene family that plays a key role in one of the earliest stages of development in which an embryo distinguishes its left side from the right and determines how organs should …

Asteroid impacts with Earth are a near-certainty, scientists say. The question is: What, if anything, should we do to track asteroids and protect Earth from them? … Read more

Forget Jurassic Park. By successfully sequencing the DNA of a long-extinct species, Stephan Schuster and Webb Miller have helped push back the boundaries of molecular biology. … Read more

Are we in danger of running out of water? California’s population is growing by 600,000 people a year, but much of the state receives as much annual rainfall as Morocco. With fish populations crashing, global …

A movement is growing quietly, steadily, and with great speed. In basements, attics, garages, and living rooms, amateurs and professionals alike are moving steadily towards disparate though unified goals. They come home from work or …

With extraordinary access, and using the same techniques behind John Naisbitt’s international bestseller Megatrends, the Naisbitts have traveled the country, interviewing journalists, entrepreneurs, academics, politicians, artists, dissidents, and expatriates. With the help of twenty-eight staff …

Until now, management wisdom would have you believe that the single most important thing leaders have to get right is alignment. To accomplish anything, employees must agree about the mission, strategy, and goals of an …

Continuing global economic growth “is not possible” if nations are to tackle climate change, a report by an environmental think-thank has warned. … Read more

Evidence of surgery carried out nearly 7,000 year ago has emerged – suggesting our Stone Age ancestors were more medically advanced than first thought. … Read more

A sophisticated X-ray machine co-developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists began providing its inaugural batch of high-resolution images of nuclear weapons’ innards this month. … Read more

The Facebook obsession of amassing ‘friends’ creates the impression that some users are wildly more sociable than others. But while we may be able to count 5,000 friends on the online social networking site, …

Jaron Lanier, a Silicon Valley visionary since the 1980s, was among the first to predict the revolutionary changes the World Wide Web would bring to commerce and culture. Now, in his first book, written more …

Can engineering approaches tame the complexity of living systems? Roberta Kwok explores five challenges for the field and how they might be resolved. … Read more

Author Al Lewis is offering a $1 million reward for the first idea published on his website, www.thinkOOB.com, to get adopted into national policy, and $500 for any idea used in the next edition of …

Anthony Atala’s state-of-the-art lab grows human organs — from muscles to blood vessels to bladders, and more. At TEDMED, he shows footage of his bio-engineers working with some of its sci-fi gizmos, including an oven-like …

From the UC student protests over fee hikes, to community colleges holding midnight classes due to increased demand, to repeated warnings from business and policy leaders that we are not graduating enough competitive workers, America …

New views of the economic bust consider finance as a dynamic ecosystem. … Read more

MP3… With the bursting of the economic bubble in Iceland at the end of 2008, many people have been thrown out of work. Lines now form every week at a soup kitchen that hands out …

MP3… Dr.Moira Gunn catches up with internet pioneer and author, Jaron Lanier to discuss his new book, You Are Not a Gadget…a Manifesto, where he discusses the technical and cultural problems that can grow out …

In the dark, in the silence, in a blink, the age of the autonomous killer robot has arrived. At their current rate of acceleration they will become the dominant method of war for rich countries …

Households will pay hundreds of dollars extra for water as state governments splash $9 billion of taxpayer funds on energy-guzzling desalination plants that will produce nearly a third of capital-city supplies within two years. … …

While the U.S. economy struggles, one form of employment is on the rise: Temporary jobs. In December, the country lost 85,000 jobs overall, but added 47,000 temp positions, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. …

For the first time, French researchers at CNRS and CEA have developed a transistor that can mimic the main functionalities of a synapse. … Read more

With the rapid emergence of the BRIC countries, it has become imperative for U.S. policymakers to reshape relations with the world’s largest emerging economies — particularly India and China. According to Martin Sieff, The Globalist’s …

Temperatures in the decade that ended in 2009 were the warmest since record-keeping began in 1880, NASA said, backing up data from the U.K. Met Office and the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization. … …

Apple is in talks with the McGraw-Hill Companies and Hachette Book Group to include educational and trade titles on its planned tablet computer, according to people familiar with the negotiations. … Read more

To help the hundreds of millions of rural poor like Singh, India turned to billionaire Infosys Technologies Ltd. founder Nandan Nilekani to devise a fraud-proof identity number. A year from now he’ll begin rolling out …

Egypt, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are the first countries to win preliminary approval for Internet addresses written entirely in their native scripts. … Read more

There is now a danger that the biggest fallout from the credit crisis is the creation of a lost generation of young people who never make the transition from school to work. … Read …

Global warming has melted so much Arctic ice that a telecommunication group is moving forward with a project that was unthinkable just a few years ago: laying underwater fiber optic cable between Tokyo and London …

What if a jury could decide a man’s guilt through mind reading? What if reading a defendant’s memory could betray their guilt? And what constitutes ‘intent’ to commit murder? These are just some of the …

Could powering an iPod or cell phone become as easy as plugging it into your tee shirt or jeans, and then recharging the clothing overnight? Scientists in California are reporting an advance in that direction …

Scientists have already identified several schizophrenia biomarkers in the blood and are working with a company that plans to launch a blood test for diagnosing schizophrenia in 2010. … Read more

New York Times Co. will begin charging users for some content on its namesake Web site in 2011, its second attempt in four years to make online readers pay amid slumping circulation and advertising sales. …

Installing wind turbines and solar panels in people’s homes is “eco-bling” that will not help meet Britain’s targets on cutting carbon emissions, engineers warned. … Read more

It’s not your typical clock. Rather than a quartz movement and sweeping second hand, the heart of this device is a colony of genetically engineered bacteria. … Read more

The future of the EU’s Low Carbon Revolution hangs in the balance as it becomes likely its emissions targets will be delayed again. … Read more

A study by the University of Exeter and the Peninsula Medical School for the first time links thyroid disease with human exposure to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). PFOA is a persistent organic chemical used in industrial …

Hundreds of tech volunteers spurred to action by Haiti’s killer quake are adding a new dimension to disaster relief, developing new tools and services for first responders and the public in an unprecedented effort. … …

Entrepreneur Marc Benioff is afraid of him. Venture king Mike Moritz wants to invest in him. You have never heard of Sridhar Vembu, founder and CEO of AdventNet, the company behind newly launched productivity suite …

To date, most of the ‘online fighting’ has focused on attempts to vandalize and immobilize leading websites to impose a virtual presence and damage morale. The next stage is the attempt to cause damage to …

People who inherit a specific form of a gene that puts them on a road to schizophrenia may be protected against some forms of cancer. … Read more

Transplanted neurons grown from embryonic stem cells can fully integrate into the brains of young animals, according to new research in The Journal of Neuroscience. Healthy brains have stable and precise connections between cells that …

The vice-chairman of the UN’s climate science panel has admitted it made a mistake in asserting that Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035. … Read more

The visitors are Internet refugees from China’s western Xinjiang region, whose 20 million people been without links to the outside world since the government blocked virtually online access, text messages and international phone calls after …

A University of Delaware technology that could change the energy world is now on a roll. … Read more

Google has delayed the launch of its new mobile phone in China amid a diplomatic row with Beijing over censorship laws. The decision is a result of Google’s threat to pull out of China if …

South Korean scientists have developed a walking robot maid which can clean a home, dump clothes in a washing machine and even heat food in a microwave. … Read more

Will the Tata Nano lose its superlative price tag once it hits American shores? … Read more

MP3… Dr. J. (James Hughes) chats with Gowri Ramachandran, a professor of Law at the Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles California, and author of Against the Right to Bodily Integrity: Of Cyborgs and Human …

MP3… Rapid technological change and media saturation have been constants for people born in the 1990s and this decade. [Future Tense] (3m 53s)

Venessa Miemis – “If you’re a businessperson or someone interested in understanding how to facilitate innovation, you’ve probably heard of ‘design thinking’ by now. Coined by IDEO’s David Kelley, the term refers to a set …

How mobile devices are revolutionizing business. … Read more

Action is needed at the global level to ensure that cyberspace doesn’t slip into a new dark age. … Read more

Rising sea levels and more storms could mean that parts of at-risk cities will need to be surrendered to protect homes and businesses, a report warns. … Read more

Call it pork in a petri dish – a technique to turn pig stem cells into strips of meat that scientists say could one day offer a green alternative to raising livestock, help alleviate world …

A new intelligent system has been developed to help identify terrorists carrying explosives. Sensitive electronic noses capture the smell of the explosives; the system processes the acquired data, correlates it with individuals’ movements… and ultimately …

The Y chromosome is the fastest-changing part of the human genome and undergoes rapid evolution through constant renewal, new research suggests. The first comparison of the male chromosomes of humans and chimpanzees have revealed vast …

Two new cemeteries, approved for the southeast and the north of the city, will have sections for green burials, where there won’t be any grave markers, said Archie Lang, the city’s manager of cemeteries. A …

France’s culture minister unveiled a plan for adapting the country’s literary patrimony to the digital age by developing what he hopes will prove a uniquely Gallic competitor to Google Books. … Read more

France agreed to work with Google to digitally scan French library books but insisted it would not surrender legal control of its cultural heritage to the US Internet giant. … Read more

Buried super-cooled electrical cables may replace towering transmission lines and carry solar and wind energy efficiently over long distances. … Read more

In order to stimulate its economy, Beijing re-pegged its currency to the dollar. Doing so, however, has not only increased global economic imbalances — it could ultimately harm China itself. … Read more

Windows Media | Real Audio … Young people looking for jobs today can’t help feeling their timing stinks. Nearly one in five people age 16 to 24 is unemployed. Kojo Nnamdi and guests look at …

Researchers have demonstrated a simple, cheap way to create self-assembling electronic devices using a property crucial to salad dressings. … Read more

MP3… John Naisbitt, a long-time China observer, and Doris Naisbitt, director of the Naisbitt China Institute in Tianjin and a professor at Yunnan University, talk about the transformation of China′s economic, social, and political systems. …

Jon Arnold – “Just when you thought Nexus One was the biggest thing coming out of Google this week, we now get word about Google Energy. Well, Nexus One is a big deal, but I …

The nation’s vehicle sales rose to 13.6 million units, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. In the U.S., sales slumped 21 percent to 10.4 million vehicles, the fewest since 1982, according to Autodata …

Last month China unveiled what it billed as the fastest rail link in the world — a train connecting the modern cities of Guangzhou and Wuhan at an average speed of 350 kilometres (217 miles) …

MP3… Part 1 of our interview with Michael Belfiore, author of The Department of Mad Scientists: How DARPA is Remaking Our World, from the Internet to Artificial Limbs [Future Tense] (3m 56s)

The pressures of human evolution could explain the apparent rise of disorders such as autoimmune diseases and autism, researchers say. Some adaptations may even help such ailments persist. … Read more

To meet our immediate energy needs without exacerbating climate change, most experts agree, we’ll need to find a way to store the carbon dioxide given off by the combustion of coal, oil and natural gas. …

It would connect turbines off the wind-lashed north coast of Scotland with Germany’s vast arrays of solar panels and join the power of waves crashing on to the Belgian and Danish coasts to the hydroelectric …

A new study has found that five times as many high school and college students are dealing with anxiety and other mental health issues than youth of the same age who were studied in the …

The @Google program welcomed Bre Pettis and Zack Hoeken to Google’s New York office to talk about makerbots, making things, and being awesome. (51m 27s)

Rocketboom Tech correspondent Ellie Rountree talks to Bre Pettis, and Zach Hoeken about their new company, MakerBot Industries (2m 39s)

Those entering the workforce now will likely make less and save more—not just in the short term but for the rest of their lives. … Read more

The decade ahead could be a brutal one for America’s unemployed — and for people with jobs hoping for pay raises. At best, it could take until the middle of the decade for the nation …

The future of the electric car pretty much depends on batteries — their weight, power, lifespan, safety and, above all, cost. … Read more

The complete asexuality of a widespread fungus-gardening ant, the only ant species in the world known to have dispensed with males entirely, has been confirmed by a team of Texas and Brazilian researchers. … …

With the hit movie “Avatar” creating a buzz around 3-D entertainment, a California company is touting what it believes are the first 3-D glasses which can also double as sunglasses. … Read more

With the Lisbon Treaty, signed, sealed and waiting to be delivered upon, the European Union has entered a new phase of its existence. But where will it go from here on the ever topical issue …

Andy Cram – Will Google Make Us Stupid? Will we live in the cloud or the desktop? … Read more

If you’re bullish about Brazil, Russia, India, and China, then don’t forget there is an entire second tier of less-appreciated-but-giant economic growth stories — the MAVINS, according to a report from Business Insider. … …

Pay is falling, benefits are vanishing, and no one’s job is secure. How companies are making the era of the temp more than temporary. … Read more

The food industry has been criticised for being secretive about its use of nanotechnology by the UK’s House of Lords Science and Technology Committee. … Read more

A group of scientists in Japan have invented a lithium polymer battery that can be manufactured using only printing technologies. … Read more

The battle for the shrinking American budget is moving online this year with a vengeance. … Read more

Britain is on the brink of a massive expansion in foods containing controversial ‘grey goo’ nanoparticles, according to the former head of the Food Standards Agency. … Read more

Dr. Hugo de Garis, the father of evolvable hardware and a redoubtable AI researcher, moved to China several years ago, and is now leading the Artificial Brain Lab at Xiamen University. … Read more

At the current growth rate the global population is predicted to reach 10 billion by 2050. To feed this many people, food production worldwide will need to double during a period when climate change will …

The flat, familiar, two-dimensional television image at the center of your home theater is about to take on the lifelike illusion of depth. At least that’s the way the future looks through the spectacles of …

Think, an electric car maker based in Norway, will assemble its vehicles in the United States next year and hopes to roll out more than 20,000 units a year. … Read more

Plans to boost food production in Britain and reduce its impact on the environment have been unveiled. … Read more

It may still seem to be in the realm of science fiction, but nearly half of Americans believe cloning organs will be routine by 2020, according to a new poll. … Read more

By selling the Nexus One and other phones directly, Google uncovers another path to profits: consumers … Read more

Japanese researchers said they hoped to enlist bacteria in the fight against global warming to transform carbon dioxide buried under the seabed into natural gas. … Read more

The world is facing a growing threat from new diseases that are jumping the human-animal species barrier as a result of environmental disruption, global warming and the progressive urbanisation of the planet, scientists have warned. …

The decline of the auto industry and the nation’s economic slide have left many residents here trapped, without work, in houses they can’t sell, in neighborhoods where they fear for their safety, in schools that …

U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said his government will meet its pledge to halve the country’s budget deficit within four years by raising taxes on the wealthy. … Read more

Desktop “printers” that can create computers? Automobiles powered by algae? Cars “talking” to each other over the Internet? These are just some of the thoughts about technology that may be in place by 2020, according …

His words staggered the erudite audience gathered at a technology conference in Oxford last summer. Professor Henry Markram, a doctor-turned-computer engineer, announced that his team would create the world’s first artificial conscious and intelligent mind …

MP3… Dr. Moira Gunn sits down to talk science with writer James Schwartz about his new book, In Pursuit of the Gene: From Darwin to DNA, digging into the world of science and the personalities …

MP3… Just as wars over oil played a major role in 20th-century history, a new book makes a convincing case that many 21st-century conflicts will be fought over water. In Water: The Epic Struggle for …

Warren Buffett’s recent purchase of Burlington Northern Santa Fe shows the renewed importance of railroads in the global supply chain. … Read more

Tests will start next year on cars that ”drive themselves” in an initiative which could become a reality within 10 years. … Read more

Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize-winning economist and Columbia University professor, said economists are among those at fault for the financial crisis, which exposed “major flaws” in prevailing ideas. The now-flawed premises include the ideas that …

The noughties saw the discovery of key characters in the story of our own evolution, the full catalogue of the human genome and an enhanced understanding of mysterious dark matter. The biggest physics experiment in …

Invetech has delivered what it calls the “world’s first production model 3D bio-printer” to Organovo, developers of the proprietary NovoGen bioprinting technology. Organovo will in turn supply the devices to institutions investigating human tissue repair …

Until now, innovation studies have focused either on radical innovation pushed by technology or incremental innovation pulled by the market. In Design-Driven Innovation, respected innovation expert Roberto Verganti upends conventional thinking by unveiling a third …

Silicon Valley, a driving engine of California’s economy, started the last decade with the dot-com bust. It starts a new one looking remarkably resilient. … Read more

Faster sequencing of DNA holds enormous potential for biology and medicine, particularly for personalized diagnosis and customized treatment based on each individual’s genomic makeup. At present however, sequencing technology remains cumbersome and cost prohibitive for …

Scientists have shown for the first time that “lifeless” prion proteins, devoid of all genetic material, can evolve just like higher forms of life. … Read more