By Matthew Knight, CNN
London (CNN) - A tiny nano-sized car which can propel itself forward in response to electrical pulses has been created by scientists in the Netherlands.
The electric-powered vehicle, which is the size of a single molecule, has a chassis and four paddle-shaped wheels and is roughly one-billionth the size of a traditional hatchback car.
Its maiden journey wasn't exactly epic - six nanometers - and its fuel-efficiency wasn't world-beating either, needing a jolt of 500 millivolts every half revolution of its wheels.
By John D. Sutter, CNN
Check out this recent story on a CNN Heroes candidate, Derreck Kayongo.
Kayongo's non-profit, the Global Soap Project, recycles half-used soap from hotels and makes it into new soap that can be used in the developing world, where, he says, the high costs of soap prohibit healthy sanitation.
In essence, Kayongo's thesis is this: Soap can save lives. FULL POST
By Lara Farrar, CNN
No doubt, it is difficult to design operating systems for computers that simultaneously run numerous applications, while managing interactions between multiple types of hardware and responding to a multitude of commands from users.
Now imagine trying to design a similar operating system not for a laptop, a PC or even a smartphone, but rather for something much, much tinier - a living biological cell.
This is exactly what a group of scientists at the University of Nottingham, in England, will attempt to do as part of a five-year, $1.58 million research project that has been aptly named AudACiOus - which, according to researchers is derived from "towArds a Universal BiologicAl-Cell Operating System" with an extraneous "D" and "U" thrown in.
With NASA's "Curiosity" rover due to launch on November 25, Mars exploration is once again on the space agenda.
The rover will search for signs that Mars is, or ever was, able to support microbial life. But even as the Science Laboratory is being prepared for launch, more missions to the Red Planet are being planned and new technologies are being researched that will allow ever more information about Mars to be collected.
Take this quiz and find out how much you know about the future of Mars exploration.
By John D. Sutter, CNN
Obvious statement: Lots of middle schoolers have been outside.
But I'm going to go out on a limb and say that almost none of them look up at the trees, see the Fibonacci Sequence in the branches, and use that insight to develop new and more-efficient methods of arranging solar panels.
Stuff like that only happens to Aidan Dwyer. FULL POST
From Christopher Brosius' point of view, far too many people grew up living by this smelly mantra:
"A woman is never fully dressed unless she's wearing perfume."
That edict from Chanel, he said, has created a lot of people "who wind up smelling the worst in public," said Brosius, one of the world's most famous perfume makers and the subject of this week's episode of "The Next List," which airs on CNN this Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. FULL POST
Each week, CNN's "The Next List" profiles innovators, visionaries and agents of change. They’re not household names just yet, but they’re movers and shakers in their own worlds. We’re introducing them to you because these individuals are steadily mapping the course to the future with their new ideas.
WHO: Host Dr. Sanjay Gupta
WHEN: Saturdays at 2:30 p.m. ET - All new time!
WHERE: Only on CNN
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