Transportation

China's Cyclists Take Charge

Electric bicycles are selling by the millions despite efforts to ban them

Easy Ride

Bose Corp. uses speaker technology to give cars adaptive suspension

Take This Car And PLUG IT

Eager hybrid owners can't wait to connect their cars to the power grid

Audio Slide Show: How to Convert a Prius to a Plug-In Hybrid

Adding a plug to a Prius is a $32 000 operation, in 10 not-so-easy steps

ELECTRIC VEHICLES MOVE FORWARD...SLOWLY

A Chevrolet Volt update, two tiny Japanese EVs, and even a Tesla lawsuit

Big and Bendable

Inkjet printers are not just for documents anymore. Today, they are creating custom—and pliable—electronics for cellphone displays and programmable signs. Tomorrow, they could build large, lightweight antennas that stow compactly and unfurl in space

Fly like a Fly

The common housefly executes exquisitely precise and complex aerobatics with less computational might than an electric toaster

An engineer walks into a comedy club...

Electrical engineer Don McMillan has turned his love of comedy into a career

Magnetic Field Sensors Could Help Halt Runway Crashes

European engineers harness Earth's magnetic field to improve airport safety

So you want to be an expert witness

Roger L. Boyell says forensic engineering is a great job—if you can take the pressure

China's Cyclists Take Charge

Electric bicycles are selling by the millions despite efforts to ban them

New York Unearths Paleotech Relic

A subway fire shines light on a system so old that it is amazing it runs at all

Brake-by-Wire Comes To Freight Trains

Electronically controlled pneumatic brakes could help stop accidents and speed cargo

Dream Jobs 2008

Studying penguins in Antarctica, watching shooting stars in the South Pacific, tracking robots through the Amazon—yes, this is engineering

Steven Camilleri: Motor Maniac

Dream Jobs 2008

Total Recall

A Microsoft researcher is determined to record everything about his life. Everything

"Super Bowl" Cancelled?

The big picture

GPS Signals Spot Signs of Typhoons

The COSMIC satellite constellation uses GPS signals for a vertical view of the atmosphere

Plasmonic Imager Could Slim Down Spy Satellites

But even its developers are far from knowing if it will work

Audio Transcript: Interview with Arthur C. Clarke

Loser: No Payoff for Galileo Navigation System

Europe's answer to GPS isn't worth it

Loser: Satellite TV Soccer Moms Will Hate

Sirius's car TV may be great technology, but it will drive parents crazy

Tell Us What You Think

Why Losers?

We don't do this because we're mean spirited. We do it because we care

You Tell Us

Winning ideas are often doomed by poor execution or by nothing more than being ahead of their time. Here are a few products that could go either way. Tell us how you think they'll fare.