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Scientific American - Technology

Science news and technology updates from Scientific American

Croplands May Wither as Global Warming WorsensToday

In summer 2003, more than 52,000 Europeans died from heat-related ills, 30,000 in France alone, during an unrelenting heat wave that featured temperatures 6.5 degrees Fahrenheit (3.6 degrees Celsius) higher than normal. Crops also suffered, with corn production down by 30 percent and wheat by 21 percent, among other foodstuffs. And a similar hot spell in Ukraine in 1972 led to a wheat shortage that prompted that staple's prices to more than triple by 1974. But even without record-breaking heat, recent years have seen food riots from Bangladesh to Haiti as world agriculture was pushed to the breaking point by a combination of greater demand for food, biofuels and poor weather. [More]

Sony's Stringer Hosts Star-Studded CES Keynote [Slide show]Today

LAS VEGAS, NEV. -- Sony Corp. chairman and chief executive Sir Howard Stringer today shared the stage at the Consumer Electronics Show here with a roster of stars, including actor Tom Hanks, Disney and Pixar chief creative officer John Lasseter, TV doctor and Oprah fave Mehmet Oz, former Yankee slugger Reggie Jackson, Dreamworks’s chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg and singer Usher. (What were the chances of them all being in Las Vegas on the same day?)

During a two-hour keynote, Stringer discussed a variety of new Sony technologies, including the networked BRAVIA LCD high-definition television, VAIO P Series Lifestyle PC and a flexible, cardboard-thin Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) video screen. By 2011, he said, 90 percent of Sony’s product categories will connect to the internet and to one another.

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New Tech Makes Classroom Computers a Reality WorldwideToday

LAS VEGAS, NEV.--Kids carry technology with them wherever they go, so why shouldn't this extend to the classroom? That's the idea behind budding programs designed to put low-priced simplified PCs into the hands of kids worldwide, especially in developing countries. Chipmaker Intel on Friday at the Consumer Electronics Show will unveil its new Classmate netbook PC, which is faster than its predecessors and features a touch screen for easier use.

As netbooks pick up steam and tech companies launch their latest and greatest at the Consumer Electronics Association's annual trade show, being held here this week, Intel and its partners are applying Classmate PC technology in schools worldwide. "This is a netbook specifically designed for kids," says Jeff Galinovsky, Intel's regional manager for the Classmate PC.

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Microsoft's Ballmer Headlines CES Keynotes [Slide show]Today

Las Vegas, NEV. -- Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer this week gave his first CES keynote, during which he plugged Windows 7 (Vista’s successor) as well as new partnerships with Dell and popular social network Facebook. [More]

Air Algae: U.S. Biofuel Flight Relies on Weeds and Pond ScumYesterday

Continental jet 516--a two-engine Boeing 737-800--completed a two hour test flight out of Houston today with one engine powered by a 50-50 blend of regular petroleum-based jet fuel and a synthetic alternative made from Jatropha and algae. [More]