MAKING a computer out of bricks sounds an odd idea. But that is one of the latest proposals to come out of IBM’s Almaden Research Centre in San Jose, California. If the centre’s Collective Intelligent Bricks are a success, they could turn building data-storage centres—and ultimately, perhaps, supercomputers—into a game of LEGO.

Collective Intelligent Bricks are […]

If you think the concept of a space elevator sounds crazy, then the people most actively exploring the idea want you.

They want to hear why you think it’s laughable to try to build a 62,000-mile ribbon straight up from the Equator to ferry cargo into space without need of messy (and dangerous) rockets. They want […]

Popular Science has the worst jobs in science. Some are silly, some are sick, some make you angry, and some just flat-out suck.

The brain changes that occur during adolescence may mean teenagers smokers are more likely to become seriously hooked than those who take up the habit as adults, suggests a new rat study.

Previous studies have suggested that the earlier someone starts smoking, the more likely they are to be life-long smokers and the more trouble they […]

The first human cloned embryo could be implanted into a surrogate mother’s womb before the end of the year, US fertility expert Panayiotis Zavos claimed on Monday.

The attempt follows months of “practising” in the lab on hundreds of hybrid embryos made by fusing human cells with empty cow eggs, Zavos told a press conference in […]