Science & Technology

[caption id="attachment_7460" align="alignright" width="300"] Image: Robotex[/caption] A young robotics company has found that keeping people out of harm’s way is great business. The company, Robotex, builds robots designed to (among other things) help emergency responders handle dangerous situations via remote control. Before Robotex robots, law enforcement officers had to search…

In an interview with Popular Mechanics, Martine Rothblatt, founder and CEO of United Therapeutics, discusses the progress her company has made developing genetically enhanced pig lungs for transplantation in humans. Rothblatt, who entered the biotechnology field when her daughter was diagnosed with a life-threatening pulmonary disease, now believes she is…

[caption id="attachment_7449" align="alignright" width="300"] Josh Fox: Linh Do[/caption] Living is risky. In 2011, for example, 123,000 people in the United States died from unintentional injuries, including 35,000 from motor vehicle accidents and 27,000 from falls (figures rounded). But we don’t quit driving because some people die in car accidents, and…

Recently the Mayor of London wrote that within two years, energy scarcity will “force some industries not to operate at peak times” in the city. His solution is to bring hydraulic fracturing to the country; he said, “We should leave no stone unturned, or unfracked, in the cause of keeping…

When Jimmy Rose performed part of his song “Coal Keeps the Lights On” on America’s Got Talent, he struck a chord with both the audience and the judges. Rose’s lyrics depict a coal miner whose hard work shows in his calloused hands and whose rewards shows in the “sundress on…

The June 2013 BP Statistical Review of World Energy reported “that 2012 had the largest single-year increase in US oil production ever recorded.” Of all countries, the United States attained the “highest growth in production of both oil and natural gas,” an achievement made possible by horizontal drilling and hydraulic…

French president François Hollande recently stated, “As long as I am president, there will be no shale gas exploration in France. The debate on shale gas has gone on for too long." The debate is whether France, Europe's second largest energy consumer, will maintain its moratorium on oil and gas…

Today, July 20, is the anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s historic walk on the moon and his famous proclamation, “That’s one small step for a man. One giant leap for mankind.” The success of the Apollo space program required the dedicated effort of thousands of individuals, all of whom are to…

In April, I highlighted the enormous wealth being generated in the Texas Eagle Ford shale. Now that April’s oil production numbers have been made public, there is even more to celebrate. Oil production was 54 percent higher than it was the previous year. This enormous increase in productivity was achieved…

Japanese scientists at the Riken BioResource Center have discovered a way to clone mice from cells drawn from circulating blood, the BBC reports (and as Mikayla Callen mentions here). Scientists took blood cells from the tail of a donor mouse and used them to make viable clones in the lab.…