Emerging Tech

A standard thumb drive with a Rubik's Cube theme suggests a puzzling approach to hardware interfaces.

With the successful recovery of the SpaceX Dragon capsule, private space exploration takes a great leap forward. But it's also a reminder of the history of private business in manned spaceflight, both real and imagined.

Solitary bees with a talent for producing durable polymers may point the way to a petroleum-free future.

At Berkeley, a Kinect hack takes flight.

Perhaps the secret to extraterrestrial life resides here on Earth.

In Google Earth, seeing the forest for the trees.

A Microsoft patent filed in May (and published yesterday) describes a �topography-changing� display in which shape-memory polymers would react to light signals to change the texture of a display surface, a technology that may be used to develop tactile touchscreens or other controls.

Day by day, the hacks are getting more interesting.

German robotics company Festo offers a postfuturist menagerie: autonomous kites, silver air-jellyfish and flying robo-penguins.

NASA's latest nanosatellites seek answers to questions about the place of life in the universe�at a very small scale.