Guest Thinkers — October 9, 2010

Electric Car Mysteries

“The powers that be have yet to agree on how to compare electric cars with conventional ones, making it difficult for consumers to work out how much money, if any, they will save.”

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“People thinking about buying an electric car or a plug-in hybrid are being left in the dark. ‘There’s a lot of obfuscation,’ says Dan Edmunds, director of vehicle testing at (no relation) Edmunds.com, an independent car-pricing and evaluation group based in Santa Monica, California. ‘Because of charging losses, you don’t know how much electricity you are actually putting into the battery,’ he notes. Nor do you really know how much of the battery’s rated capacity (24 kilowatt-hours for the Leaf) is useable. ‘That’s a trade secret,’ says a frustrated Mr Edmunds.”

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Technology & Innovation

Battery Life

Connecting electric cars to a wider energy grid in places like San Diego could even out electricity production levels and earn consumers money by sharing power with the grid.

A detailed, colorful brain visualization with intricate patterns of green, blue, and yellow on a dark background.

Neuropsych

The most detailed brain map ever

Scientists have created a magnificent portrait of every connection among neurons in a fruit fly’s brain.

Animated characters observe a family walking in a snowy scene through a viewing screen, inside a control room.

Thinking

Everyday Philosophy: Is there such a thing as a “negative emotion”?

There’s little more infuriating in the world than being told to “calm down” when you’re in the midst of a simmering grump.

Starts With A Bang

Ask Ethan: Is antigravity even possible?

Humans, when we consider space travel, recognize the need for gravity. Without our planet, is artificial or antigravity even possible?

World map highlighting the Brandt Line, dividing the Global North and Global South across continents.

Strange Maps

The Brandt Line gave us the Global North and South. It needs an update.

In 1980, Willy Brandt drew a line across the map that still influences how we think about the world.

Up Next

Surprising Science

Unborn Babies Are Social

“The impulse to be social is so deep-seated in human consciousness that it’s even evident in the womb, suggests a new study on the interaction of unborn twins.”