Emerging Tech

With a fabbed flute, we see emergence at its natal stage; the imperfect copy of the old instrument is a promising harbinger of the novel sounds to come.

The Norwegian firm Elliptic Labs’ booth at CES next week will feature several implementations of a touchless, gesture-based interface for tablets and mobile devices, according to the company. Unlike the Kinect, Elliptic’s interface, called Ultrasonic Touchless Input, graphs hand movements using echolocation. Bathing the user in a silent ultrasonic torrent, it measures the return time of rebounding sonic impulses to ...

2010 is the year fabrication technology and 3D printing came to the masses�or at least to Brooklyn. But is this a good thing?

The eyes of Xenos peckii, a miniscule parasitic fly, inspire optical engineers with their ability to stitch small images into a composite picture.

An Australian company's vivid new motion-capture technique not only enlivens cut scenes, but opens up a whole new range of challenges in the gameplay itself.

Animaloscope, cinnomonograph, katoptiikum, lobsterscope, mutoscope, phenakistoscope, vivrescope, xograph�just a few of the turn-of-the-last-century's names for a strange new medium.

A standard thumb drive with a Rubik's Cube theme suggests a puzzling approach to hardware interfaces.

With the successful recovery of the SpaceX Dragon capsule, private space exploration takes a great leap forward. But it's also a reminder of the history of private business in manned spaceflight, both real and imagined.

Solitary bees with a talent for producing durable polymers may point the way to a petroleum-free future.

At Berkeley, a Kinect hack takes flight.