The Lumpen Proletarian

Ned Batchelder: Print this file, your printer will jam

Back to the Garage: How Economic Turmoil Breeds Innovation
Get in-depth tech news coverage from Wired and read about how it is shaping culture, education, entertainment, communications and technology.

Phytocapping To Rehabilitate Landfills, Reduce Greenhouse Emissions : TreeHugger

Image: Former landfill and limestone quarry near Montreal now being mined for its methane (by frigate on Flickr) Though it’s changing, the human species still largely lives in “disposable” societies – with the pinnacle of the life cycle ending up

Basics - In an Age of Robots, One to Clean the House? Still but a Dream - NYTimes.com

Today’s experimental robots bear little physical resemblance to our fantasy androids.

Canada's vast oil sands hide dirty environmental secret

PhysOrg.com: From here in the far north of Canada through a web of transcontinental pipelines down to a network of refineries ringing the Chicago area, a new supply of precious oil has begun flowing into the gas tanks of more Americans, tapped from a source so vast it could one day furnish close to half of U.S. oil needs for 50 years or more.

Michelin Unveils Active Wheel in Affordable Electric Car : TreeHugger

Image: Michelin The Holy Grail of Eco-transportation Could this be the technology that revolutionizes transportation? Will the company that invented the air-pressure tire trump that achievement by making electric cars affordable and practical? Michelin's Active Wheel system is the

Prayer Support Through the Kindness of Strangers Via the Web - NYTimes.com

Prayer has found a home on the Web with sites that allow anyone to request, for free, that strangers pray for them.

Food crunch opens doors to bioengineered crops
PhysOrg.com: (AP) -- Zeng Yawen's outdoor laboratory in the terraced hills of southern China is a trove of genetic potential - rice that thrives in unusually cool temperatures, high altitudes or in dry soil; rice rich in calcium, vitamins or iron.

Acorn Watchers Wonder What Happened to Crop - washingtonpost.com

The idea seemed too crazy to Rod Simmons, a measured, careful field botanist. Naturalists in Arlington County couldn't find any acorns. None. No hickory nuts, either. Then he went out to look for himself. He came up with nothing. Nothing crunched underfoot. Nothing hit him on the head.