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World's Tallest Waterslide

MidwestInfoGuide via USA Today

French Western Pyrenees

Photo by Nicolas Guionnet, CC BY-SA 3.0

Spanish scientists are checking in on a batch of cells, frozen in liquid nitrogen 14 years ago. The cells belonged to the last bucardo, a Pyrenean sub-species of mountain goat that went extinct in 2000, and researchers have received funding to see if the cells might be all right for a round of cloning, the BBC reports.

1898 Illustration of Bucardo

Illustration by Joseph Wolf, from the book Wild oxen, sheep & goats of all lands, living and extinct

If Celia's (her name was Celia) cells are in good shape, a team of scientists will attempt to make embryo Celia clones and implant them in female goats, to make new bucardos for a world that hasn't seen them in 14 years.

There's no "bucardo recovery plan" yet, one of the scientists involved in the effort told the BBC. Scientists will discuss a plan for growing a bucardo population if the Celia clones prove viable. Clones are often difficult to bring to term: A bucardo clone born in 2003, the world's first extinct animal brought back to life, died minutes after being born.

Should Celia's clones survive, the BBC describes a couple of options scientists have for upping the population beyond just one poor goat's genome.

The idea of bringing extinct species back again garnered a lot of attention this year. Genetic techniques are getting closer to being able to make this reality for several species, not just bucardos, as National Geographicreported in April. Check out the National Geographic link for some arguments for and against so-called "de-extinction."

Passionate inventors in modest workshops around the world, often backed by little more than ambition and a big idea, are minting surprising new technologies that stand to change the world.

Popular Science can't get enough of these audacious makers, so we celebrate the best of them each year in our Invention Awards issue—but to find them we rely on readers like you.

We want to know about any game-changing innovations developed by determined, independent inventors (not big academic or corporate R&D labs). Maybe you're an engineer designing a revolutionary tool in your garage, or an electronics hobbyist who crowdfunded the development of a great new gadget. Or perhaps you're an obsessive teen building a life-saving contraption, or a hackerspace member who's open-sourcing a powerful new technology.

Sound familiar? Enter the eighth annual Popular Science Invention Awards by filling out our entry form at popsci.com/inventionawardsform. Or, if you know people who might want to enter, please share this post with them (popsci.com/inventionawards2014).

Our editors will select 10 finalists that embody the spirit of homegrown ingenuity and solve real-world problems in original ways. Then, in our May 2014 issue, Popular Science's readers will get a first look at the winners before they go online and appear in our tablet edition.

There's neither an entry fee nor any tangible prizes. However, your invention stands to be featured in the world's largest science and technology magazine, reaching our audience of many millions—plus the audiences of TV, radio, web, and other outlets that often highlight our finalists.

Before submitting, please carefully read our rules, guidelines, and tips below, and note that our entry form will close after 11:59pm (eastern time) on January 15, 2014. (The sooner you submit, the better your chances.)

• There is no fee to submit, and there are no prizes.
• An invention should be poised to create a market or disrupt an existing one—not be a solution in search of a problem.
• Inventions must be new, not just minor tweaks to existing objects, products, or processes.
• Inventions on their way to becoming commercial products are welcome, but they can't already be for sale.
• Inventions must be the work of independent inventors or small teams. Outside funding is fine (even from movie stars!), but inventions created in association with universities, large R&D labs, major corporations, etc. won't be considered.
• There must be a working prototype, or something that demonstrates an invention works. If you can't prove your invention works, it won't be considered.
• Pictures of or relating to your invention are worth a thousand words (and videos even more).
• We love inventions that are physical objects or are very visual, not highly abstract processes or concepts (e.g. computer code). This helps us show off the winners in the magazine.
• Popular Science will not publish an entry without notifying the inventor first, but—as part of our rigorous vetting and fact-checking process—we will contact outside experts to verify the technology and significance of the invention prior to publication.
• Intellectual property (IP) protection is the responsibility of the entrant. We do not have the resources to answer questions about IP, help anyone secure IP rights, or make any kind of guarantee that publicizing your invention won't compromise your IP or rights. (Enter at your own risk.)

If you're curious what makes the cut, we encourage you to review winners from previous years:

• 7th Annual Invention Awards (2013)
• 6th Annual Invention Awards (2012)
• 5th Annual Invention Awards (2011)

Eros, a near-Earth asteroid

NASA/JHU/APL

In the November 20 edition of the Minor Planet Circular, 49 minor planets got new names. Many are named after fellow scientists, such as Jeffrich (Jeffrey Rich Jr.) or the discoverer. But then there's some that are named after other Earthlings of import. In this particular Circular, an amateur astronomer from Italy, Ernesto Guido, named the asteroid formerly known as 152319 (2005 UH7) after novelist Thomas Pynchon. His reasoning? "[T]o honor great American novelist Thomas Pynchon known almost exclusively through his writing, dense and complex."

The process for naming minor planets, such as the Pynchon asteroid, is quite long—Pynchon, for example, was discovered in 2005. It starts with confirming the minor planet was indeed discovered, and not an already-identified object. It is then assigned a number name, and the discoverer is invited to propose a new name. Proposed names are then judged by the CSBN, using a pretty straight forward set of guidelines: "16 characters or less in length, preferably one word, pronounceable (in some language), non-offensive, not too similar to an existing name of a Minor Planet or natural Planetary satellite." 

However, if you have discovered a minor planet that falls into a particular group, the naming guidelines get stricter. One example: "Objects crossing or approaching the orbit of Neptune and in stabilizing resonances other than 1:1 (notably the Plutinos at the 2:3 resonance) are given mythological names associated with the underworld."

Once a name is accepted, it becomes official after being announced in the Minor Planet Circular, as Pynchon was on November 20. To peruse a full list of minor planet names, from A'Hearn to ZZ Top, click here. 

Chicken-Free Strips

It took more than two decades to create a vegetable-based meat analogue with a consistency and texture similar to chicken; Whole Foods began selling the packaged Beyond Meat product in spring.

Courtesy Beyond Meat

200 pounds: the amount of meat the average American eats each year (read about scientists' efforts to develop delicious artificial meat)

1,100 hours: the total time astronauts have spent on spacewalks outside the 15-year-old International Space Station

Rendering of the ISS

Popular Science May 1998

1794: the year America established its first international naval force (what does a navy do? A quick 101)

154: the crew needed to operate the U.S. Navy's new highly automated warship, the 610-foot Zumwalt destroyer

Zumwalt In Maine

U.S. Navy

$500: the price of Microsoft's new Xbox One

27 pounds: the weight of a modular bridge-in-a-backpack that extends to 22 feet and can hold 350 pounds

Backpack Bridge

courtesy Utah State University

600,000: the number of bats killed by wind turbines annually

1,250 miles: the range of Iran's new Reaper-sized drone, according to a state-affiliated news agency

Fotros Unveiling Ceremony

Al Alam

75 days: the time it took journalist Nellie Bly to circumnavigate the globe in 1889

Elizabeth Bisland and Nellie Bly

Bisland (left) and Bly (right) in their travel gear, in photos taken to publicize their race

Both photos are from the New York Public Library Archives

300 micrometers: the length of the larvae of schistosomiasis-causing parasitic flatworms

Worms

Courtesy Bo Wang and Phillip Newmark, HHMI/University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Down Memory Lane

The human brain has roughly 100 billion neurons and can store about 2.5 petabytes of information. But where you put your keys last night? The answer is always suspiciously unavailable.

Sam Kaplan

Researchers have known for decades that memories are unreliable. They’re particularly adjustable when actively recalled because at that point they’re pulled out of a stable molecular state. Last spring, scientists published a study performed at the University of Washington in which adult volunteers completed a survey about their eating and drinking habits before age 16. A week later, they were given personalized analyses of their answers that stated—falsely—that they had gotten sick from rum or vodka as a teen. One in five not only didn’t notice the lie, but also recalled false memories about it and rated that beverage as less desirable than they had before. Studies like these point to possible treatments for mental health problems. Both PTSD and addiction disorders hinge on memories that can trigger problematic behaviors, such as crippling fear caused by loud noises or cravings brought about by the sight of drug paraphernalia.

Studies have found chemical compounds that can be used to subdue or even delete memories.Several studies have found chemical compounds that can be used to subdue or even delete memories in mice (and maybe someday in people). In June, a report led by an Emory University researcher showed that SR-8993, a drug that acts on the brain’s opioid receptors, can prevent a fear memory from forming. Researchers strapped mice to a wooden board for two hours—a stressful experience that later gave them a heightened sense of fear similar to PTSD. But mice given SR-8993 before or after the stressful incident were less likely to end up this way. Another study identified a drug, Latrunculin A, that can erase memories days later. The researchers trained rodents to consume methamphetamine in an environment with distinctive visual, tactile, and scent cues such as black walls, gridded floors, and the scent of vanilla or peppermint. Rodents that were injected with Latrunculin A two days later didn’t seek out meth when returned to that environment, but others did. Latrunculin A is known to mess up scaffolding that supports connections between neurons. Considering how broadly these two drugs affect the brain, there’s a possibility of serious side effects.

To make more targeted treatments, researchers will ultimately need to understand how the brain’s neurons encode each memory. Last year, Susumu Tonegawa at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reported that individual memories in mice leave telltale molecular signatures in the brain’s hippocampus region. In July, his group caused mice to falsely associate an old memory with a new context—essentially creating a false memory. First, they genetically engineered a mouse so that when its hippocampal cells were activated, they would be tagged with a protein that the researchers could switch on later. Then, they put the mouse in an unfamiliar cage. The next day, they moved it to a strikingly different cage (smelly with black walls). Then, at precisely the same time, they gave it an uncomfortable shock and switched on the tagging protein to briefly activate cells that had been active in the old cage. When they put the mouse back in the old cage, it froze as if afraid—as if it had a false memory of being shocked there.

The idea of scientists manipulating memory does, naturally, sound a bit creepy. But it also points to some possible good: treatment for millions of people tormented by real memories. And that’s something worth remembering. 

This article originally appeared in the December 2013 issue of Popular Science.

Cubesats are relatively small, cheap, boxy satellites that promote citizen space-science. Secondary function: they look cute and hilarious when being dumped into space. 

NASA just released this image of three such satellites getting released from the International Space Station. They look so small! You can just imagine them, yelling in little Pixar cartoon voices, as they're sent into orbit for science.

Cubesats

NASA

[NASA] 

23andMe

23andMe

According to the letter, the FDA has been seeking information needed to approve the test for a while, "including more than 14 face-to-face and teleconference meetings, hundreds of email exchanges, and dozens of written communications":

23andMe has not yet responded publicly.

[WSJ]

ATLAS--the totally incredible Boston Dynamics robot that strikes love and fear into the hearts of all who witness its humanoid stride--is having a tough time lately. Last month it broke its ankle during its first live demonstration, and now it crumples when trying to walk through some minor debris. This footage, taken by a team from Florida's Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, shows the rescue 'bot flailing and falling over a piece of wood while trying to traverse the rubble. We once thought it was untrippable, too.  

This helicopter-with-antlers is a test vehicle, made by the German company e-volo. It's battery-powered and emissions-free, according to the company. This is the first time it has flown.

The e-volo folks call the craft a volocopter. It works on the same principles as the quadcopter drones we've seen, except it's much, much larger. That cockpit there has seats for two people.

In an indoor test November 17, the company says it flew the volocopter—by remote control, without any passengers—nine times for a total airtime of 20 minutes.

The company plans eventually to produce and sell volocopters. Engineers are aiming for a craft that has a cruising speed of at least 54 knots, is able to fly up to 6,500 feet, can carry up to 992 pounds (450 kilograms), and flies for at least an hour. Those in Germany with a private pilot license should be able to fly it.

[Flying, e-volo]

Last Thursday, NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) captured images of two comets passing through solar wind. At the center is Comet Encke, and emerging later is Comet ISON. 

STEREO consists of two sun-orbiting observatories, one ahead of Earth and the other behind. On Thanksgiving day, Comet ISON will pass the sun's equator.

[NASA]

This summer, we asked readers to submit their best project ideas for a shot at crowdfunding through RocketHub.com. Hundreds vied for the chance to make their dreams a reality, and by the end of the Popular Science #CrowdGrant Challenge, two dozen finalists had raised a total of more than $50,000. Here are a few of our favorite projects.

View from a weather ballon

Courtesy Paul Kaup

Reach for the Stars

Student experiments flown to 100,000 feet
Pilot Paul Kaup enjoyed mentoring fifth-grade students but felt he could do more to stoke their interest in science, technology, engineering, and math. “I realized space balloons were the perfect way to put it all together,” he says. Kaup helped a few schools in Illinois launch kids’ experiments into the upper atmosphere using weather balloons. The kids couldn’t get enough, so he and a fellow pilot turned to #CrowdGrant for help. The money they earned will support 15 to 21 launches—among other projects—next year.

Earned:$6,045
Goal:$5,000
120.9% Funded

Autonomous Tricycle

Courtesy Anaelise Beckman, Alexandra Cohn, and Michael Zaiken

Elcano

Self-driving trikes
A small team of engineers in Washington state has created an autonomous tricycle called Elcano. By year’s end, they hope to make kits for hobbyists to build their own road-worthy self-driving trikes.

Earned:$2,724
Goal:$3,500
77.8% Funded

Biobulb

Courtesy Brandyn Lacourse

Biobulb

A living light source
Students at the University of Wisconsin in Madison are designing a colony of glowing, self-sustaining bacteria. The goal: Make a bioluminescent lighting kit that shows the promise of genetic engineering.

Earned:$3,020
Goal:$15,000
20.1% Funded

This article originally appeared in the December 2013 issue of Popular Science.

Will It Scan?

What does it take to take down a QR code? More than I would have guessed, actually. In a blog post, engineer Nick Berry made a quick response code pointing to his company's website, datagenetics.com, then distorted the code in 31 ways to see which distortions would make the code unreadable to his scanner.

The result is a bit Dr. Seussian. Does it scan with yellow dots? Does it scan with stuff on top? Much more often than I expected, the codes did scan, both for Berry and for me, when I pointed my own phone at them. You can visit Berry's blog to try them yourself. At the top, Berry also gives a nice explanation of what scanners are looking for in a code, which helps explain why certain distortions do or don't work.

[Data Genetics]

Travel Advisories

The magnet wouldn’t fit through tollbooths, so an all-highway route wouldn’t work. And if it fell from a helicopter through power lines, it could cause a blackout. Waterways were the only option. The journey began in June: few hurricanes, no frozen rivers.

Courtesy Brookhaven National Laboratory

Physicists at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois needed a superconducting magnet to study muons, fleeting subatomic particles. Thirty million dollars for a new experimental setup was out of the question, but they found a used one at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island. If Fermi scientists could move it, they could have it. The magnet, however, couldn’t be dismantled. And it had to be shipped with the utmost care because a twist of even a couple of millimeters could irreparably damage its internal wiring. 

Journey of a Magnet

Michelle Mruk

This article originally appeared in the December 2013 issue of Popular Science.

u-CAT swimming in an aquarium at Centre for Biorobotics

mihkell via Flickr, Courtesy of Centre for Biorobotics, Tallinn University of Technology

Sure, there are plenty of UAVs and ROVs and other underwater robots. But these deep divers tend to be large and bulky, and can be something of a bull in a china shop. For that, the ARROWS project has turned to the adorably named (and equally cute-looking) U-CAT. 

ARROWS is an EU-funded project that focuses on creating underwater vehicles and technology to help lower the cost of underwater archeology. When divers explore sites, it's expensive and time consuming. But a robot—as is the case with most of our mechanical friends—can do it cheaper and more efficiently, and can explore more dangerous sites. The small, agile U-CAT specifically has locomotion similar to sea turtles, with four flippers that are independently driven, allowing it to move forward, backward, up, down, and turn on the spot. The robot's camera then transmits images from the site back to humans on the surface. 

"Conventional underwater robots use propellers for locomotion. Fin propulsors of U-CAT can drive the robot in all directions without disturbing water and beating up silt from the bottom, which would decrease visibility inside the shipwreck,” Taavi Salumäe, U-CAT's designer and Centre for Biorobotics, Tallinn University of Technology researcher said in a statement.

You can see the little turtle bot in action here:

The lucky citizens of London can see the U-CAT in person, along with 12 other animal-mimicking robots at the Robot Safari this week at the London Science Museum. 

The problem with liquid explosives, besides being explosive, is that they often look just like non-explosive liquids. Since 2006, to protect against the threat of those explosives, people traveling by air in America have been limited to one quart-sized bag for liquids, each in a container no larger than 3.4 ounces. That size limit has, at best, a questionable impact on safety, but a new device being developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory could eventually make the scanning process less painful. Called the MagRay, it's designed to scan liquids and quietly differentiate between the safe and unsafe. And now Los Alamos has released a video showing off the tech. 

The MagRay essentially combines an X-ray and an MRI to differentiate between, say, a soda, and something more suspicious. Liquids are placed into the scanner, which, according to LANL researcher Larry Schultz, can give of a measure of how "sludgy" a liquid is, an indication of what might be inside the can or bottle. Another measure is X-ray density, or how difficult it is for X-rays to show through the liquid. With that data, the machine paints a fairly distinct portrait of the liquid, and a simple computer interface shows the most important information about the liquids in a giant colored circle: red for unsafe, green for safe, and more details presented alongside. The research is supported by the Department of Homeland Security, and it's easy to see how an airport security checkpoint in the future could employ a liquid-scanning device like the MagRay.

The device has been in development since at least 2007, but it still may be a few years before MagRays can scan Thanksgiving travelers' homemade gravy.

USB Drives

David Arky/Getty Images

Despite claims to the contrary, the storage media in wide use today—CD-ROMs, spinning hard drives, flash memory, etc.—aren’t very durable. “You’re talking years, not decades,” says Howard Besser, a professor and archivist at New York University who was named a pioneer of digital preservation by the Library of Congress. “A CD-ROM was originally supposed to last 100 years, but many fail in 10.” 

Old-fashioned paper has done very well by comparison. Until people made a habit of adding acidic chemicals to their paper in the 19th century, books could last five hundred years or more. And while paper has its vulnerabilities—to fire and water, for example—so do more newfangled technologies. A hard disk, for instance, may suffer from a loss of mobility. “You’ve got to have it spinning regularly or you’re not going to be able to play it,” says Besser. “It’s kind of like the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz.”

At a 1998 conference, Besser and 12 others worked out a plan for the perfect long-term storage device: They would etch images into platinum with a laser and bury the platinum in the desert. “Ideally, we would put a nuclear-waste facility next to it,” Besser adds, “so people will never forget where it is.”

But even the most indestructible data storage won’t be of any use if no one can decode the contents. Archivists also need to preserve the languages or programs used to save information, whether that’s ancient Greek or Word for Windows 95. Besser and his colleagues worry that this decoding issue will be the real bottleneck. “The durability of something is a far smaller problem than the other problems that we have,” he says. 

This article originally appeared in the December 2013 issue of Popular Science.