Wired.co.uk's piece last week about Nasa's test of a new type of space drive triggered a tsunami of responses online. Many were understandably sceptical, others were unsure how it would advance space travel. In fact, the paper produced on the day gave much more detail than the advance abstract we linked to then. The actual paper reveals details of tests in early 2014 as well as those in summer 2013 -- and the results are even more astounding.

James Bond used an electric razor as an eavesdropping device. Lucy Ricardo (and many others) used a glass of water. But now MIT researchers say they can photograph a bag of potato chips to listen in on other’s conversations.

The original silicon revolution was of course, glass. Man first began to explore its properties a million and a half years ago - that's when our ancient ancestors discovered that obsidian, the almost jet black glass which is sometimes formed when lava cools rapidly, was useful. Obsidian breaks leaving a very keen edge, so was good for weapons and tools including, in some ancient cultures, knives used for ritual circumcisions.

Floating cities are nothing new. In the early 1960s, Buckminster Fuller designed a city – Triton – that was intended to float off the coast of Tokyo Bay...

Engineer Charles Marohn worked his whole life trying to make his community better—until the day he realized he was ruining it

When we stepped out onto the roof, the wind whipped me sideways, and it took me a second to get my bearings. I was nine stories above Times Square, staring at the back of its biggest LED sign, and it was thrilling.

When it comes to flight, nature just has the edge on engineers.

The usual cost for a prosthetic arm: $40,000 VIDEO

Its guts—the wires, shifters, brake cables—are housed in a 3-D printed titanium frame.

For decades, Europe and the United States have led the way when it comes to high-energy particle colliders. But a proposal by China that is quietly gathering momentum has raised the possibility that the country could soon position itself at the forefront of particle physics.

Colin Furze's huge valveless jet engine will be housed in a specially constructed pair of buttocks and aimed in the general direction of France

Following last week's successful launch of six ORBCOMM satellites, the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage reentered Earth’s atmosphere and soft landed in the Atlantic Ocean. This test confirms that the Falcon 9 booster is able consistently to reenter from space at hypersonic velocity, restart main engines twice, deploy landing legs and touch down at near zero velocity.

Scientists have developed a material that can switch between hard and soft states, which they say could enable the creation of low-cost, morphing robots. Developed as part of a research project with Boston Dynamics, the Google-owned robotics company, the material was built with wax and foam by researchers from MIT, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization and Stony Brook University.

More than two decades in the making, the new generation Angara rockets are key to President Vladimir Putin's effort to reform a once-pioneering space industry

For the new issue of Forbes Magazine I wrote an article about David Crane, the visionary CEO of NRG Energy. When I met Crane for lunch a couple weeks ago, no sooner had we sat down than he began singing the praises of this new contraption he had in his basement. The machine — which can generate 10 kilowatts of continuous power, fed by Crane’s natural gas line — is a new iteration of an old creation, the Stirling engine.

If you saw Formula 1’s Kimi Raikkonen hit a wall at 150 mph during the British Grand Prix on Sunday, you appreciate how remarkably well designed modern racing cars really are.

Range-extending gas engines have a big problem: they're engineered to rotate wheels, not provide electricity. The Free Piston Engine Linear Generator cuts out the middleman for a huge efficiency boost.

This age is characterized by just astonishing technological progress. By the appearance every day of examples of science fiction become reality - driverless cars. It's important to keep in mind George Jetson actually drove his vehicle to work every day. So in this case we're actually outstripping some examples of science fiction. We've got smart phones that talk back to us.

Those childhood dreams of doing the commute on a Star Wars Speeder Bike might be possible if a revolutionary hoverbike design takes off.

Imagine this scene in your neighborhood: A group of kids plays a pickup soccer game. They kick around the ball in the street or maybe in someone's backyard. The ball bounces from child to child, off of feet, knees, heads. Now, imagine that same scene in a war zone.