SAN FRANCISCO — In the late 1950s, American space companies jumped into a headlong race to build an aerospace industry that could launch missiles across the world and rockets above it. In her new book Another Science Fiction, archivist Megan Prelinger delves into the hyperbolic, whimsical world of the advertisements these early aerospace companies created to [...]

digg_url ="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/03/hydro-paraplant/"; Take a huge oceanic catamaran, stick a hydroelectric turbine underneath it, and hitch it to a 6.5 million-square-foot parafoil flying nearly a mile in the air. That’s a Korean research team’s new proposal for generating gigawatts of clean energy. As the parafoil pulls the boat, seawater would be forced through the turbine, which generates electricity. [...]

An empirical test of ideas proposed by Martin Heidegger shows the great German philosopher to be correct: Everyday tools really do become part of ourselves. The findings come from a deceptively simple study of people using a computer mouse rigged to malfunction. The resulting disruption in attention wasn’t superficial. It seemingly extended to the very roots [...]

Republican state Sen. Roy Ashburn said Monday he is gay, ending days of speculation that began after his arrest last week for investigation of driving under the influence.

President Barack Obama says Washington for too long has accepted billions of dollars in health care fraud and abuse as simply the cost of doing business. He says that must end.

Filed under: Quick Link

We've touched on this previously, but Switched has got an up-to-date recap of all the mystery (still!) surrounding the 'iamamiwhoami' viral videos circulating the web. Is it Christina Aguilera? Trent Reznor? Goldfrapp?

Switched has the rundown. Who do you think it is?

 

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President Obama met Wednesday with Haitian President Rene Preval to discuss relief, recovery and reconstruction efforts in Haiti.

New York state's top police official announced Wednesday he was quitting, the second acting superintendent to step down in as many weeks.

Filed under: Humor, Photos, Animals

Did you know that squirrels like coconuts? Jane Roberts of Fareham, Hants, England, does. And she's a genius. Every few days Ms. Roberts cuts holes in a couple of coconuts and hangs them outside from the laundry line in her yard. The sight she's greeted with as squirrels and other local wildlife feast on milky coconut meat is pure astro-island chic. Said Ms. Roberts,

The first time I saw them feeding I nearly died laughing, they looked just like a pair of spacemen...

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The head of the Health and Human Services Department is sketching out a stark choice for the nation's insurers: oppose reform and eventually lose customers, or work with the Obama administration to improve the legislation.

A nearly $140 billion bill to extend unemployment benefits and a host of expiring tax cuts cleared a procedural hurdle Tuesday in the Senate on a vote of 66-34, setting up passage of the bill possibly later in the day.

Democrats opposed to Meg Whitman's gubernatorial campaign are hoping to get an assist from the public in their latest bid to push voters away from the Republican candidate.

Filed under: Cute, Photos, Animals, Last Shot

 

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Global financial reform is expected to top the agenda Tuesday as President Obama huddles with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, whose country is at the center of Europe's debt crisis.