Terrafugia flying car makes maiden flight – “Boston-based Terrafugia has announced that its Transition roadable aircraft proof of concept vehicle has successfully made its first flight, from Plattsburgh Airport in New York on March 5…”

Military Laser Hits Battlefield Strength – “Huge news for real-life ray guns: Electric lasers have hit battlefield strength for the first time — paving the way for energy weapons to go to war…” Here is a battlefield laser in action:

What is narcissistic personality disorder, and why does everyone seem to have it? – “hese days, “narcissist” gets tossed around as an all-purpose insult, a description of self-aggrandizing, obnoxious behavior. Unfortunately, the same word is used to describe a quality that comes in three gradations: a characteristic that in the right amount is a normal component of healthy ego; a troublesome trait when there is too much; and a pathological state when it overwhelms a personality. Narcissism fuels drive and ambition, a desire to be recognized for one’s accomplishments, a sense that one’s life has meaning and importance. The problem occurs when narcissism becomes the primary principle of someone’s personality. Its most extreme form is narcissistic personality disorder, a psychological condition that impairs a person’s ability to form normal relationships and wreaks havoc on those who have close encounters with it…”

Alaska to Kill Over 75% of Wolf Population in New Aerial Hunt – “Alaska abruptly resumed shooting wolves from helicopters this weekend in hopes that shooting the wolves will increase the population of caribou for hunters to kill. The state plans to kill up to 328 wolves, sparing under 100 in the Yukon area…”

Sites That Will Matter in 2009: Readers’ Choice – “Most readers liked our ’10 Sites That Will Matter in 2009′ but they also had quite a few suggestions of their own for sites that will be big this year. We take a look at them, and give you our impressions…”

Space shuttle Discovery blasts off with bat stowaway – “A bat that apparently had trouble flying instead tried to hitch a ride on the space shuttle Discovery, NASA officials said…”

A robot so tiny it can alter DNA code – “After years of research, a team of chemists from NYU and China’s Nanjing University has created a two-armed nanorobot with the ability to alter and exchange pieces of genetic code. The catch? Their device has to be small enough to work on a molecular scale…”

A Machine That Speeds Up Evolution – “A genome-wide approach to genetic engineering greatly speeds the manufacture of bacteria for making drugs and biofuels…”

Diabetes of the Brain – “Is Alzheimer’s disease actually a form of diabetes?”

Scientists create glass harder than stainless steel – “A team of scientists has made a new type of glass from opaque titanium and zirconium, which is harder, tougher and weighs less than stainless steel. The glass has been developed by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, California, US…”

What a Difference 200,000 Years Makes – “Peking Man, a group of Homo erectus discovered in the 1920’s near Beijing (then Peking), China, has been back in the spotlight over the last few days. A new estimate from American and Chinese scientists dates the fossils (and their associated population of Peking men and women) 200,000 years older than earlier measurements. The researchers reported their finding on the cover of last week’s Nature…”

Firing the Fusion Laser – “Scientists have test fired a man-made stellar core, and the awesome conclusion is: All Systems Are GO. The hundred and ninety two laser beams of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) fired in concert, signaling a new stage in fusion research: the stage where we actually blow things up in the name of free power from seawater…”

Why a language called Papiamentu might be the best solution to the world’s language problem – “Many aren’t aware of this, but the world has a language problem: the problem is that there is no universal second language through which everybody can communicate. It’s true that basic English will do fine for most airports and a lot of major cities in the world, but this is communication at its most basic level (“one coffee…and big size please”), and not even communication at this level is guaranteed…”

Scenes from the recession – “The state of our global economy: foreclosures, evictions, bankruptcies, layoffs, abandoned projects, and the people and industries caught in the middle. It can be difficult to capture financial pressures in photographs, but here a few recent glimpses into some of the places and lives affected by what some are calling the “Great Recession”…”

China’s last eunuch spills sex secrets – “China’s last eunuch was tormented and impoverished in youth, punished in revolutionary China for his role as the “Emperor’s slave” but finally feted and valued, largely for outlasting his peers to become a unique relic, a piece of “living history.”"

Uh Oh, rootkit code to exploit major Intel chip flaw to be posted 3/19/09 – “This is the scariest, stealthiest, and most dangerous rootkit I’ve seen come around since the legendary Blue Pill! No, I’m not just trying to sensationalize this or spread fear, uncertainty and doubt. This is serious and represents a massive new security threat for us all…”

Intelligent Mistakes: How to Incorporate Stupidity Into Your AI Code – “Simply reducing the accuracy of the AI is not always the best way to improve gameplay. As I found with the “positional play” in snooker, random outcomes that happen to favor the computer are perceived as being intentional. If the ball ends up in a good place, or the poker AI makes a lucky call and wins on the river, it can be perceived as unfair or even cheating…”

How the largest dinosaurs got so big – “Sauropods’ unprecedented bulk has long posed a thorny problem for biologists. How did they get to be so big? Why have no other land animals reached such massive proportions before or since? There have not been convincing answers to these questions. Until now…”

[Lots more interesting articles!]