| March 2010 |
| Can robots be trusted? |
| Humans have feared a robotic uprising since the machines first appeared in science fiction. Today, experts caution against a more insidious threat: we might like living with them too much. |
Being hacked by a robot requires much less hardware than I expected. There’s no need for virtual-reality goggles or 3D holograms. There are no skullcaps studded with electrodes, no bulky cables or... |more| |
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| February 2010 |
| View from the brink |
| James Cameron is a moviemaker with a passion for cutting-edge technology and risky projects. Before the opening of his new sci-fi movie, Avatar, pundits spoke of make-or-break scenarios for his unique brand of digital magic. ‘Break’ is no longer part of their vocabulary... |
The 26 000 square-metre studio in Playa Vista, California, has a curious history as a launching pad for big, risky ideas. In the 1940s, Howard Hughes used the huge wooden aircraft hangar to construct... |more| |
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| January 2010 |
| Anatomy of a plane crash |
| The aviation industry’s safety record has never been better, but the mysterious loss of an airliner is challenging efforts to prevent tragedies before they happen. |
Eleven kilometres above the empty expanse of the South Atlantic Ocean, on 31 May 2009, an Air France A330 passenger jet cut through the midnight darkness. The plane had taken off three hours... |more| |
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| Run silent, run sleek |
| Humans have long explored the ocean at a dirigible’s pace. Graham Hawkes plans to change that with a sub that flies. |
Ten in the morning is a late start for the Super Falcon. For the past two days I’ve strolled down to the pier at dawn, just as the fog begins to roll off Monterey Bay, to watch as... |more| |
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Thinking ahead
The new age machine |
| Futurists say the singularity – when computers overtake humans – is coming. What happens next? |
For some time now, futurists have been talking about a concept called the Singularity, a technological jump so big that society will be transformed. If they’re right, the Industrial... |more| |
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| The new wildcatters |
| Texans’ oil-boom attitude could put the state in a surprising position – leading the charge to alternative energy. |
Driving along Broadway in Sweetwater, Texas, one could justifiably assume the city is on its way down, not its way up. Cobwebs crowd the windows of abandoned storefronts, and peeling signs... |more| |
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| December 2009 |
| Brains on wheels |
| We foresee trouble. South African start-up Robonica has pioneered and launched a robotic gaming system for children. It’s clever, it’s quirky and it’s highly addictive. Our question: once their parents have tried it, will the kids get a look-in? |
Targeted at children aged 13 and up, and equipped with all of 16 sensors, Roboni-i is a fully programmable wheeled robot (video: "|more| |
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| PM’s 2009 Breakthrough Awards |
| Meet the year's best inventions... |
We need innovators. Sure, we need their inventions: the medical tools, the batteries for storing wind power, the efficient engines and agile robots. But we also need their spirit of inquiry to... |more| |
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| November 2009 |
| X–Machines |
| They gnash, they crush, they haul. They fly, they swim, they crawl. These are Discovery Channel’s incredible and colossal X-Machines… |
The world’s most amazing machines, including a group of remarkable South African workhorses, will take centre stage on Discovery Channel on 17 November 2009 at 22:00 when the channel’s new... |more| |
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| Self-reliance 101 |
| Americans are rediscovering the virtues of independence. Surviving, and thriving, in an uncertain world means having the right tools – and the confidence to use them. Could this offer some useful lessons for South Africans? |
Turn on a light, drive a car, visit a shop, and you are instantly connected to thousands of people you’ve never met: coal miners, car workers, engineers, farmers, truck drivers – all the people who... |more| |
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