It’s a huge undertaking when humans build a dam to hold back a river.

Both from an engineering standpoint, as well as from an environmental one.

A dam can cause incalculable, permanent effects on wildlife, ecosystems and topology.

But, every once in awhile, humans change their [more...]

Two young guys.

One a techie.

The other a marketing whiz.

Working out of a garage.

Building and selling illegal equipment to phone phreaks. [more...]

What is a strandbeest?

Well, imagine that you’re an artist.

And an engineer.

And you have lots and lots of plastic pipes.

And lots of cloth. [more...]

I was too old to watch it when it first premiered on TV.

But some of the kids that I babysat for were avid fans.

Learning their ABCs.

And how to count to 10 or 20.

And how to get [more...]

A technology company has announced that it is going to build a brand new, 20-square-mile town in New Mexico, “to test everything from renewable energy innovations to intelligent traffic systems, next-generation wireless networks and smart-grid cyber security systems.”

“Pegasus Global Holdings CEO Bob Brumley says the $200 million project, known as The Center, will be a first of its kind in the U.S., creating a place for scientists at the [more...]

Do you remember the IBM 5150?

If you do, then you’ve been using personal computers for at least a few decades, because the 5150 was the very first IBM PC.

Those of us who used the 5150 back then, may remember that it came with a 4.77 MHz, 8-bit processor, 16KB of RAM, two 5.25-inch floppy drives, no hard drive, and a monochrome, text-only display screen. [more...]

If you’re like me, you’ve read about 3D printers.

How they can “print” solid objects.

And you were really impressed with the concept.

But maybe you wondered how they could not only print three-dimensional objects, but print them with [more...]

When I was in grade school, a couple of generations ago, my school taught me the Imperial system of weights and measures — pounds, pints, quarts, gallons, inches, feet, miles, etc.

But, somewhere around junior high school, they taught me the metric system.

They said that I had to know the metric system because [more...]