Variety is the Spice of Tech

March 16, 2009

This week on Discovery Tech, we have a mix of stories, news, podcasts, blogs, puzzles and other articles. Come back daily to check 'em out.

Monday: Clark Boyd's Technology Podcast. CCTV in the U.K., Corporate Snooping in Germany, U.S. DriveCams, and the EYEborg.
A bit of theme runs through this week's Technology Podcast from PRI's The World. That theme is surveillance. In fact, we take a hard look at all manner of technologies and entities that are, in fact, looking at you.

Tuesday: Puzzle. Biofuels made from sustainable crops are showing promise. And scientists are looking at everything from Algae to Jatropa.

Wednesday: Engineering Works podcast. Gene Charleton looks at how food engineers are using a microwave-like device and irradiation to get rid of unpleasant bacteria like salmonella and E-coli that can make us sick.

Thursday: Slideshow. Math Model Grows Snowflakes

Friday: Top 10 Uses for the Large Hadron Collider

Image: David Griffeath

Weekly Preview for January 26-30

January 26, 2009

Monday, Jan 26: Clark Boyd's Technology Podcast. Clark's podcast covers Obama's Blackberry, an online pro-democracy petition in China, audio technology that diagnoses hidden cardiac conditions and e-waste. Listen in.

Tuesday, Jan 27: Puzzle TV's past and future. This week the puzzle will feature a holographic television image.

Wednesday, Jan 28: Gene Charleton's Engineering Works Podcast.

Thursday, Jan 29: Slide Show: Pollen as nanotech starter kits.

Friday, Jan 30: Top 10 uses for a mobile phone in third world countries.

Weekly Preview for Jan 19 - 23

January 20, 2009

Monday, Jan. 19: Martin Luther King, Jr Day.

Tuesday, Jan. 20: IM Interview with Jason Steffen.

Wednesday, Jan 21: History of TV Puzzle and Gene Charleton's Engineering Works Podcast. This week, Gene will be talking about engineering the Earth to solve planet-sized problems.

Thursday, Jan. 22: IM Interview with Kathryn Logan, a professor at Virginia Tech whose team is engineering "Moon Bricks."

Friday, Jan. 23: Top 10 Engineered Body Parts.

Image: Getty Images

Discovery Tech Weekly Preview

January 12, 2009

Here's what I have in store for you the week of January 12.

Monday, Jan. 12
Podcast: PRI The World's Technology Podcast. A way to turn on city streets using a cell phone, an audio essay from a Gaza City resident, filtering out porn in China. Clark Boyd talks about these and other tech topics on his weekly podcast.

Tuesday, Jan. 13
Puzzle: Puzzled About TV's Digital Future?
So are we. In the mean time, solve this puzzle, which features one of the first cathode ray tubes invented.

Wednesday, Jan. 14
Podcast: Gene Charleton's Engineering Works podcast.

Thursday, Jan. 15
Slideshow: Crystals and Flowers from a Nano Lab. Some of the materials scientists make up in the lab are so visually appealing that you just want to look at the pictures instead of reading the story.

Friday, Jan. 16
IM Interview: Jason Steffen. Jason's developed an algorithm that gets people boarded on planes 80 percent faster than current methods. Where did he come up with such an idea? Why did he do it? What did he have for lunch? Learn the answers to these questions and more in the IM Interview.

Discovery Tech Weekly Update

January 05, 2009

Monday, Jan. 5: Innovation Hits the Road
Dashboards that recognize your face, cameras that count the cars on the road... find out what else Jorge Ribas saw at the World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems. Watch the video.

Tuesday, Jan. 6: Television arose when the pentelegraph was born. See the puzzle.

Wednesday, Jan. 7: Gene Charleton's Engineering Works podcast.

Thursday, Jan. 8: Test your wits with a quiz about wind tunnels.

Friday, Jan. 9: Clark Boyd's Technology podcast.

Discovery Tech Weekly Preview, Dec 29

December 29, 2008

Monday, December 29: Once railroads were the engineering marvels of the world. In France, they still are. Gene Charleton checks out trains on the Engineering Works podcast!

Tuesday, December 30: By arranging particles of different sizes, scientists are able to create aggregates that opalesce. Eventually, these so-called nanojewels could be used to fabricate nanosized laser, light-emitting diodes, circuits that use photons -- not electrons -- to move information and a host of other futuristic things. See the slide show featuring nanojewels. 

Wednesday, December 31: It’s not quite R2D2, but there may be a robot in your doctor’s future. And in yours. Gene Charleton introduces us to robotic surgeons on the Engineering Works podcast!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Photo: Ciccio Pizzettaro

Weekly Preview -- Dec 8

December 08, 2008

Monday, Dec. 8
Magnet Meltdown
Why did the Large Hadron Collider break down and how do scientists and engineers plan to fix it? Clark Boyd sheds light on this and other technology with his weekly podcast. Listen in.

Video: The Skinny On Clean Rooms
Some people wear business suits to work, but scientists who build semiconductors wear "bunny suits.” Tracy Staedter and Kasey-Dee Gardner learn the ins and outs of clean room couture.

Tuesday, Dec. 9
Solve the Biomimetic Robot Puzzle

Guest Spot Invitation blog: Student researcher David Ellis talks about his area of research and what it's like to be a freshly designated PhD researchers who's still a little wet behind the ears.

Wednesday, Dec. 10
Engineering Works! podcast, courtesy Texas A&M University's Gene Charleton.

Thursday, Dec. 11
The Top 10 languages on the Internet. Can you guess what they are?

Friday, Dec. 12
Opalescent nano-sized particles are being developed for use in drug delivery, special coatings, sensors and more. See the slide show featuring different views of these beautiful nanojewels.

On Deck for the Week of Nov. 24

November 24, 2008

Monday, Nov. 24: Podcast from Clark Boyd. Among lots of things, he'll be talking about how experts are trying to reduce internet scams.

Tuesday, Nov. 25: It's Thanksgiving week and everyone is getting on the road. And you know that means traffic accidents and traffic jams. Jorge Ribas has a video for us about "roads of the future" where cars talk to each other, to the roadside and even to other people's mobile phones—all to make driving safer and smoother.

Wednesday, Nov. 26: Our weekly podcast from Gene Charleton. Venice is sinking. Or rather, the sea around it is rising. The Italian government is spending $4 billion on an engineering project to save it. Listen to what it's all about.

Thursday, Nov. 27: We need to dramatically reduce CO2 in the atmosphere. So, how? For starters, we can stop pumping it into the air. But Kurt Zenz House and Julie Shoemaker of Harvard University think we should be burying it in the ground. They give us their take.

Friday, Nov. 28: Guest blog from David Alexander Ellis. Does Social Stimuli Expand Time? Recently graduated PhD student, David Ellis, tells us about his area of study and what it's like to be starting down the path of research. Read his guest blog.

Disco Tech Weekly Preview

November 10, 2008

Find your way with these:
11/10: Clark Boyd's Technology podcast
11/11: Puzzle (Bugs on MEMs) 
11/12: Gene Charleton's Engineering Works! podcast
11/13: Top Tech 10: Uses for Carbon Nanotubes
11/14: IM Interviews, News and Q&As with JFK: Inside the Target Car experts

Discovery Tech Weekly Preview

November 03, 2008

For the week of Nov 3.

Find your way with these:
11/3: Clark Boyd's Technology podcast
11/4: Puzzle (Bugs on MEMs); Video -- "Is It Future Yet?: Voting Machines," Jorge Ribas checks back in to see what tech advancements have been made for voting machines in this election.
11/5: Gene Charleton's Engineering Works! podcast
11/6: My Take
11/7: IM Interview or a Guest Blog with a student researcher