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Have You Driven a Bus or a Train Lately? »

 
THE federal government is giving General Motors, Ford and Chrysler $25 billion in low-interest loans, and the companies are asking for up to $25 billion more. These same companies have spent millions of dollars lobbying against federal fuel-economy standards and are suing to overturn the emissions standards imposed by California and other states. In exchange [...]

If No One Sees It, Is It an Invention? »

IN December, Johnny Chung Lee, then a Ph.D. candidate, posted a five-minute video on YouTube that became an Internet sensation.
The video showed how, in a few easy steps, the Nintendo Wii remote controller — or “Wiimote” — could transform a normal video screen into a virtual reality display, with graphics that seemed to pop through the screen [...]

Paris Motor Show: A Jolt From Venturi »

 
PARIS — Standing in the middle of his company’s display stand here at the Paris Motor Show, Gildo Pastor, chief executive of Venturi Automobiles, ran his hands through his thick black hair and let out a sigh.
His day had been crazy, he explained. Traffic had been crazy. Preparations for the show were crazy. In fact, [...]

Blocking the Sky to Save the Earth »

 
TO the relief of climate scientists around the world, it appears that the polar ice cap hasn’t shrunk as much this summer as it did last summer.
The ice cap usually reaches its smallest extent around now, and although the total area of ice in September fluctuates from year to year, in the last two decades [...]

Uncertain Choices in Batteries »

The rising interest in vehicles powered by electricity — either part-time, as in hybrids like the Toyota Prius, or in battery-only cars like the Tesla Roadster — has increased the pressure to develop more efficient devices to store the power. Progress has been steady, but huge breakthroughs have not emerged from the research labs.
The baby-step [...]