Philippe Matthews Show Guru Advice, Author Reviews, Tech Reviews, Entertainment News

Food safety goes nano, with a new research grant for a U.K. scientist. Future kitchen surfaces could have his spray-on antimicrobial coating

As the situation at Japan's 40-year-old Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant goes from bad to worse--four of the plant's six boiling water reactors have been damaged by explosions or fire and radiation has begun leaking into the atmosphere--officials there continue to pump the reactors with seawater in an attempt to cool down fuel rods and avoid a complete meltdown that could release radioactive fallout across much of country.

Imagine life without fire. A lot of huddling for warmth

BERKELEY, Calif. –A storm has dropped a big snow on Lake Tahoe resorts, and there’s a flurry of activity at the California Ski Company as hordes of skiers and snowboarders prepare to hit the slopes.

Mexico has begun a program to make its climate actions more transparent, a move it hopes will raise its credibility in the international community. If the plan works, it will prove a useful case for developing countries that know they need bulletproof data to draw respect, and cash, in global climate talks. [More]

Whenever someone finds out I'm an identical twin, one question is always asked. "So, who's older?" [More]

Less than a year ago I was opposed to nuclear energy for reasons that I explained in this post . Nuclear power, I believed, was just too risky. Then I got an e-mail from Rod Adams, a former U.S

If SXSW serves as a barometer of all trends hot in tech, then group messaging and texting apps are one of the hottest trends--even by Austin, Texas, standards. These days, I can't open my email without seeing yet another pitch plaguing my inbox touting some slight variation on the group messaging formula.

Monday night was game time for the aspiring entrepreneurs who have spent the past three days furiously programming and designing start-ups on the road, plus four days perfecting their pitches. Seven teams—at least one from each bus from Chicago, Cleveland, Miami, New York, San Francisco, and Silicon Valley—faced off before a panel of judges that included entrepreneurs and prominent investors such as Dave McClure of 500 Hats, Naval Ravikant of Angel List, and Greg Veen of TypeKit. It came down to a nailbiter, with the panel unable to decide between TripMedi and WalkIN, teams from New York and Silicon Valley.

Monday night was game time for the aspiring entrepreneurs who have spent the past three days furiously programming and designing start-ups on the road, plus four days perfecting their pitches. Seven teams—at least one from each bus from Chicago, Cleveland, Miami, New York, San Francisco, and Silicon Valley—faced off before a panel of judges that included entrepreneurs and prominent investors such as Dave McClure of 500 Hats, Naval Ravikant of Angel List, and Greg Veen of TypeKit. It came down to a nailbiter, with the panel unable to decide between TripMedi and WalkIN, teams from New York and Silicon Valley

How does a nuclear reactor work? Most nuclear reactors, including those at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi generating station, are essentially high-tech kettles that efficiently boil water to produce electricity. They rely on harnessing nuclear fission--the splitting of an atom into two smaller atoms, which also yields heat and sends neutrons flying.

Mr. Jacob Stauffer, a naturalist from Lancaster, PA, sent in this drawing of a five legged frog that was captured in Conestoga, PA (near Lancaster). The extra leg seemed to be a fusion of two hind legs rather than a full-grown independent limb

People preaching their point of view seem awfully sure of themselves. [More]

Much of what happens to you in the hospital in the name of diagnosing and healing is invasive. Depending on what ails you, a doctor may need to ream out an artery to get more blood to your heart, or flood your body with a poison to kill cancerous cells, or saw through the bones of your leg to replace a crumbling hip or a worn-out knee

CHERNOBYL, Ukraine--The face-mask and three radiation monitors I'm wearing here are grim reminders that I'm at the site of the worst nuclear accident in history. On April 26, 1986, 1:23:44 a.m. local time, explosions destroyed reactor No.