Some of the world's biggest drug companies are finding that their genetic research is worth more to them if they give it away.
Second Life, the popular online virtual world, has announced its plans to open-source access to its backend as a way of meeting increasing demand.
As the tools of biotechnology become accessible (and affordable) to a wider public for the first time, hobbyists are recapturing the collaborative ethos of the microcomputer era and applying it to tinkering with the building blocks of life.
"Individuals are getting more and more powerful," says author Glenn Reynolds in his insightful new book, An Army of Davids. "With the current rate of progress we're seeing in biotechnology, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, and other technologies, it seems likely that individuals will one day -- and one day relatively soon -- possess powers once thought available only to nation-states, superheroes, or gods.
The U.S. has put thousands of untranslated documents, captured from the former Iraqi government, online in an experiment to see if volunteer researchers can find evidence of weapons of mass destruction or ties to al-Qaeda that the official intelligence agencies could not.
Google has struck a partnership with scientists building a huge sky-scanning telescope, with hopes of helping the public access digital footage of asteroids, supernovas and distant galaxies.
The author, chairman of the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, suggests that the U.S. should declassify the bulk of documents seized in Iraq and allow the 'open source' community to assist the government in translating them.
An ambitious program called CubeSat, developed at Stanford University and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, is giving students and companies the opportunity to build and launch functional satellites into low Earth orbit, or about 240 to 360 miles above the planet.
Feature article on the growing power and promise of collaborative software projects for business and science.
Experts say the big news in spacecraft building involves ultra-small CubeSats. These petite but powerful satellites are spearheading a hands-on revolution around the world. And what fist-sized CubeSats bring to space could mimic innovations sparked by the personal computer here on Earth.