David Brin’s penned an interesting exploration of the alternatives to evolution and Intelligent Design, such as panspermia and guided evolution. If ID is, as its practitioners claim, about allowing alternate theories their fair share of student brain space, then why stop there?

Samsung’s new P300 mobile phone is the size of a credit card, with the looks of an old skool calculator. That’s getting to be a little too small — I’m afraid I’d try to jam it in the gas station pump by accident.

Internet access for soldiers in Iraq is a precious resource — at the government sponsored Internet cafes time limits of 10 to 15 minutes are common. Enterprising soldiers have set up their own satellite-based ISPs in places where electricity comes from generators.

Researchers at MIT developed a new material optimized for manipulating liquids at the nano scale by imitating the Namib Desert beetle. The material (and the beetle’s shell) combines a superhydrophobic surface with superhydrophilic bumps laid out in a pattern to collect and direct liquid.

A company in Scotland is installing a system for storing the solar heat captured by roads and parking lots. Only the Scotsman would begin a title with, “Heat-seeking sheep.”