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Evan Ackerman

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Evan Ackerman is a native Oregonian who now lives, somewhat unwillingly, in San Francisco. He has a background in creative writing and astrogeology, neither of which are necessarily appropriate for someone who is now a full-time blogger. Evan also writes for IEEE Spectrum's robotics blog, and when he's not parked at his computer with his eyes glazed over, you can find him getting injured on a soccer field or playing bagpipes excellently.

The 20 best satellite images of 2012

Evan Ackerman
Wednesday, December 26, 2012 - 3:21pm
 
DigitalGlobe owns three satellites with big cameras on them, which together have imaged nearly 2.8 billion square kilometers of Earth's surface. You probably don't care about 2.7999 billion of those square kilometers, but that's cool, because DigitalGlobe has picked out the 20 very best little patches of our planet for 2012.

Study: we should all be eating insects, not animals

Evan Ackerman
Friday, December 21, 2012 - 4:59pm
 
I am not a fan of bugs. I am also not a fan of global warming. The day may be approaching where I have to choose between the lesser of two weevils, thanks to the results of a recently published study, which "clearly shows that mealworm should be considered as a more sustainable alternative to milk, chicken, pork and beef." Um, ew?

Liquid metal guts make wires and cables stretchable

Evan Ackerman
Thursday, December 20, 2012 - 2:47pm
 
There is some sort of fundamental physical law that prevents cables from ever being just exactly the length you need them to be. Cables are always, always, just barely too short, or much much too long. Obviously, this annoys scientists just as much as it does the rest of us, so they've come up with a solution: stretchable cables full of liquid metal.

Disney princess backpack includes bulletproof nanotube armor

Evan Ackerman
Wednesday, December 19, 2012 - 6:02pm
 
Knowing how to keep kids safe is never easy. Ideally, you'd want to provide as much realistic safety as possible without being disruptive or invasive, but that can be a hard compromise. This backpack may not be a compromise at all: it comes with princesses or Avengers on it and will also stop rounds from a .44 Magnum.

New LED lights to combat fatigue, rampant drug use on ISS

Evan Ackerman
Wednesday, December 19, 2012 - 5:11pm
 
It's tough to sleep in space. You're stuck in a noisy machine all the time, the sun comes up every 90 minutes, and everything is lit with a garish sci-fi fluorescence. About half of all astronauts have to resort to drugging themselves at some point to fall asleep, and NASA wants to make things easier with the help of color-changing LED lights.

Large Hadron Collider's heir likely destined for Japan

Evan Ackerman
Wednesday, December 19, 2012 - 3:04pm
 
It feels like the Large Hadron Collider has just barely started doing science (and it's not even at full strength yet), but already plans are underway for its successor: the International Linear Collider, or ILC. The ILC will likely cost between $10 and $20 billion, and it's now looking like the host country will probably be Japan.

Nikon patents digital backs for 35mm SLRs

Evan Ackerman
Tuesday, December 18, 2012 - 7:52pm
 
I don't know about all you young whippersnappers, but I learned how to take pictures with a Nikkormat EL SLR, shooting black and white film that I developed myself. Get off that brooding contrasty picture of my lawn. Yes, those days are over, but for those of us who miss them, Nikon has patented a digital back that can give your SLR a second chance.

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