Brewing biofuel

The struggle to make fuel from wastes from farm, factory and forest continues. What’s keeping cellulosic biofuel out of the market? More »

3-D printing: Wave of the future

Layer by layer, 3-D printers fuse tiny particles of plastic or metal, building complex parts from computer instructions — forget hold More »

The explosion of data — in meteorology, genetics, spying and physics — requires new storage technology. DNA has been storing data for More »

Spears helped our ancestors eat and defend themselves. Spearmaking required ingenuity, experiments and communication. Symmetrical stone More »

Cheesemaking is older than Homer’s Odyssey, but questions remain. Which bacteria make the best cheese? Must low-fat cheese taste like More »

Soy protein: It may look like meat. Could meat be grown, cell by cell, in lab dishes. Could in vitro meat solve health and More »

Native agriculture could be a sophisticated response to a challenging environment. What were the secrets of permaculture, companion More »

Neutrinos travel through mass with scarcely a trace. A 1-billion ton detector at South Pole “sees” neutrinos from distant galaxies. More »

Ocean technology on the move: 1: a robot sub smart enough to find stuff in the deep ocean 2: a metal fish glides for weeks under the More »

A small constriction in a buried pipe shows that the Maya were using pressurized pipes before year 750. It’s more proof that when it More »

London pioneered video surveillance in public, but it’s catching on fast. Many major cities have systems, and more are coming. More »

As Earth warms, should we try huge geoengineering projects to cool the climate? Would adding iron to fertilize ocean plants withdraw More »

We celebrate eating — and food. Hungry: Is that your “food clock” ringing? Why does a fruitfly need to smell? More »

After World War II, the “green revolution” sparked an explosion in farm output in developing countries. What can we learn? More »

Pilot errors dropped 40% over 20 years, but on-the-ground accidents are up. Can we further boost airline safety? More »