Gearfuse Technology, Science, Culture & More

Whatever advantages fully modern humans enjoyed over their Neanderthal neighbors, lifespan was not among them, according to a new study of the longevity of our Pleistocene predecessors.

"App" isn't just a shortened word and a new slang term; it's a word for a shortened, slang application, says game designer and critic Ian Bogost. It's breaking the dominance of applications suites of old�and perhaps shattering the aesthetics of computing along the way.

Julian Dibbell says that while Second Life seems to have failed to live up to its early promise, it has helped further the baked in gamification of life online and off.

A justly celebrated viral video celebrates Carl Sagan's hopes for the future of humankind�a good bet, but by no means a sure one. Video after the jump.

The head of the Philip K. Dick android, which went missing in 2006, has been rebuilt by Hanson Robotics. Who will help it come to grips with its strange and chequered past? Video after the jump.

Opera on the radio, Paul Feyerabend's scientific relativism, and Soviet mistrust of scientists and intellectuals: today's hits in the history of science and technology

This space-saving bicycle parking system proves that the future is not only unevenly distributed, but elsewhere.

Researchers have developed a prototype for coiled nanowires that could one day serve as stretchable circuitry. But can they make them walk down nano-stairways on their own?

Neue Films' video for the Queens-based baroque rockers catches life's uncanny, elemental evanescence. Video after the jump.

Breaking new ground in the age-old technology of thumb drives by adding a bouquet of handy, fold-out tools.