Start with a motorcycle, add 'Star Wars' and give the Segway a run for its futuristic money.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busin...,0,111563.story

An experiment on the Phoenix Mars lander showed the dirt on the planet’s northern arctic plains to be alkaline, though not strongly alkaline, and full of the mineral nutrients that a plant would need.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/s...r=1&oref=slogin

Some scientists believe that at least one meteorite found in Antarctica preserves evidence of ancient life on Mars. Now, work by a team of English scientists reinforces an earlier suggestion that evidence of life on the early Earth might be found in meteorites on the moon.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20080...5_ZhIrvdFCs0NUE

What is the Carl Sagan Center? Astrobiology has become one of the hottest fields of science, and one of the most interesting to the general public. Research in astrobiology has spread widely, with many major universities and other research institutions establishing active programs. Scientists at the SETI Institute have been doing astrobiology research for more that two decades.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20080...NOSbkQLiVis0NUE

The New York City Waterfalls" is a public art project of four man-made waterfalls rising from New York Harbor, some as high as the Statue of Liberty. Organized by the nonprofit Public Art Fund and the city of New York, it is being billed as the city's biggest such project since "The Gates," the $20 million effort by the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude in 2005.
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/20...FALL_index.html

Phoenix Lander Prepares to Taste Martian Dirt
Scientists plan to use the spacecraft's wet chemistry lab, part of Phoenix's suite of tools called the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer, or MECA, to test Mars' dirt for salts, acidity, minerals and conductivity.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20080...g9Sms0NUE<br />

A Japanese firm has produced a 38 cm (15 inch) tall robotic girlfriend that kisses on command, to go on sale in September for around US$175, with a target market of lonely adult men.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/feature/s...jectid=10516992

Scientists have found no indications so far of water in the first soil sample delivered to NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander, they announced on Monday.

After finally successfully delivering the sample to the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA) on June 11, mission scientists carried out their first two analyses of the sample over the weekend. During the first, the sample was heated to 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius), in the hopes of melting out any water ice in the sample. The sample was further heated up to 350 F (175 C) during the second analysis.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20080...vQUToZJJLus0NUE

In bad weather, it can be hard to tell where you are. It turns out that your GPS unit may not be entirely sure, either, if the weather in space is bad

It is now known that space weather -- specifically electrical disturbances in our planet's ionosphere -- can throw off the accuracy of GPS units appreciably. Scientists are working to remedy the situation.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20080...6t63xyMUZ2s0NUE

prospecting geologist stumbled upon a ragtag bunch of bones in the northern part of British Columbia, more than three decades ago. A new study suggests these fossils could represent a new species of dinosaur.

But beyond that, the dinosaur's identity is a mystery - sort of a Dino Doe.

The small collection of bones includes seven shin, arm and toe bones, as well as a possible skull fragment. Based on the shapes and sizes of the bones, paleontologists think they could have belonged to a type of small- to medium-sized dinosaur, possibly a pachycephalosaur or ornithopod.

The specimen is referred to as the Sustut dinosaur, because it was found in the Sustut Basin in north-central British Columbia, Canada.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience...w2QJ2_v178iANEA

Instead of steel, aluminum or even carbon fiber, the GINA Light Visionary Model has a body of seamless fabric stretched over a movable metal frame that allows the driver to change its shape at will. The car -- which actually runs and drives -- is a styling design headed straight for the BMW Museum in Munich and so it will never see production, but building a practical car wasn't the point.




http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/06/bmw-builds-a-ca.html

Scientists are collecting a billion and a half seeds from all the world's crop...s to keep in safe storage deep inside a mountain near the North Pole. Scott Pelley reports.

http://video.aol.com/partner/cbs/sa...eVO_bPEjYZdvVep

They don’t call them flies for nothing. While we try to avoid the relentless aerial acrobatics of flies, some scientists have built them their own flight simulator. As this ScienCentral News video reports, the work could lead to new flying robots.

http://sciencentral.com/articles/vi...le_id=218393116

Galápagos volcano is spewing lava for the second week in a row—changing the geography of the chain's largest island, experts say.
(Video)
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/...n-video-ap.html

The Dynamic Architecture building has been aptly named Rotating Tower as the floors would be capable of rotating around a central axis. It will be continually in motion, changing shape and giving residents the ability to choose a new view at the touch of a button. The form of the building would constantly change as each floor rotates separately giving a new view of the building as it turns. According to Fisher, the building ensures a very high resistance to earthquakes as each floor rotates independently.

The new tower is the first building of its size to produced in a factory. Each floor, made up of 12 individual units, complete with plumbing, electric connections, air conditioning, etc., will be fabricated in a factory. These modular units will be fitted on the concrete core or spine of the building at the central tower.

http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/06/09...ction-in-dubai/

Recent headlines have announced a raging controversy among scientists about whether there is actually water ice in the permanently shadowed craters near the lunar poles. Because these permanently shadowed regions are extremely cold (~100K) water ice is expected to be stable there ? even in the vacuum of space. If water is present, it will dramatically reduce the cost of a lunar base. The Lunar Crater Observing and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission is intended to test for this water by impacting the lunar surface with its empty rocket upper stage, and looking for water in the ejected plume.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20080...9hwGSBHLRas0NUE

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander performed another successful "dig and dump" of Martian soil with its robotic arm and is ready to begin scooping and holding onto samples for closer analysis, mission scientists said on Wednesday.



"We're doing the first interactions between the robotic arm and the surface," said Phoenix principal investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona. "This is getting really interesting, this is what the mission's all about."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20080...oUQEtp0vh2s0NUE

Magnetic fields are invisible, at least usually. But Scientists from NASA's Space Sciences Laboratory have made them visible as "animated photographs," using sound-controlled CGI and 3D compositing. It makes the fields, as explained by the scientists, dance in an absolutely gorgeous movie called Magnetic Movie. You don't want to miss this one, which is the coolest video that you'll see all week, guaranteed. You can't argue with a combo of beautiful effects and amazing science.
http://gizmodo.com/5012347/nasa-sci...sible-beautiful

Now that's a pretty impressive tombstone. New research suggests that Stonehenge was used as a cemetery for more than 500 years, much longer than previously thought. The new findings also show that people used the area as a burial site long before placement of its trademark stones (or sarsen stones) was complete.

http://news.cnet.com/2300-1008_3-62...40627&subj=news