Mason Inman - science journalist

30 November 2007, for Nature Network Boston

For most teachers, the ready availability of video games on students’ cell phones and laptops can be a source of frustration in class.

But in an introductory chemistry class at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA, one professor is encouraging his students to play computer games and even giving extra credit to top scorers.

28 November 2007, for New Scientist

Just running an elevator up and down is enough to determine the "structural health" of a building, a new study reveals.

The elevator itself might run smoothly up and down, but the heavy counterweights that rumble along the vertical tracks of cable-suspended elevators produce vibrations as they go.

26 November 2007, for New Scientist

Video games like Dance Dance Revolution could soon require more than just fancy footwork.

Small, cheap sensors for tracking the movement of a person's entire body could lead to "whole-body interfaces" for controlling computers or playing games, researchers say.

23 November 2007, on the cover of Science News

In the middle of rush hour on Aug. 1, at 6:04 p.m., traffic zoomed across the westbound span of the I-35 Mississippi River bridge in Minneapolis.

By 6:05, the 40-year-old structure had buckled and broken, dumping most of the bridge into the river and killing 13 people. Though it came as a shock, this was in retrospect an accident waiting to happen, experts say. The Minneapolis bridge had been poorly maintained, with cracks in its iron arches that had been patched up over the years. And the bridge's design lacked redundancy.

23 November 2007, for New Scientist

Researchers have hit upon an unusual way to spin tiny propellers – set them on top of tiny bouncing bubbles.

Inspired by winged seed pods, they could find use for mixing tiny amounts of liquids, or strength-testing nanostructures, researchers say.

22 November 2007, for New Scientist

A long-sought device able to produce a beam of 'T-rays' that could revolutionise airport security and medical scans has been created by persuading normally independent quantum junctions to work together.

19 November 2007, for Technology Review

Carbon nanotubes spun to form long yarnlike fibers could outperform even the strongest bullet-proof materials on the market, but turning nanotubes into such materials has proved to be a challenge.

Now researchers say that they have improved the method of making the fibers: they can pull them from a hot furnace faster, make the nanotubes line up better, and vastly improve their strength.

14 November 2007, for New Scientist

It takes only a tiny magnetic field to see clear through a person's head, a new study shows.

A method called ultra-low field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has captured its first, blurry shots of a human brain, revealing activity as well as structure.

12 November 2007, for New Scientist

A new microbe-powered device can extract up to 99% of the available hydrogen from biological compounds that have stumped previous attempts to ferment fuel from plant waste.

The secret is to give the bugs a helping hand with a kick of electric charge.

8 November 2007, for National Geographic News

The most energetic particles in the universe shoot from supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies, a new study suggests.

Particles known as cosmic rays are constantly bombarding objects in space. The sun bathes Earth in low-energy cosmic rays, astronomers have found, and exploding stars emit medium-energy particles.