popular science

Even though we’re still waiting for flying cars, we’re already living in the future predicted by science fiction. Here are a few tech prophecies from sci-fi films, books, and TV shows that became reality.

In the future, even the trees will be keeping tabs on us. Seven years of government-funded research to develop alternate avenues of national defense have finally borne fruit in the form of "plant sentinels," color-changing, chemical-sniffing shrubbery created by Colorado State University biologist June Medford and her crack team of chemical researchers. According to a recent article in the Denver Post, the CSU team has modified common plants to change color in the presence of potentially hazardous chemicals like drugs, pollutants or even explosives.

Tracking the objects in orbit around the Earth is an important task, whether you're calculating and preventing collisions, or safely launching shuttles and other objects into space.

As a generation raised on the Simpsons comes of age, the computers of the future will need to be able to deal with people who are cynical and sarcastic all the time.

Get off your seat. Scientists believe that the act of sitting for hours at a time is dangerous.

University of Utah psychologists have labeled those few – just 2.5% of the population – who can drive safely while yapping on a hands-free cellphone as "supertaskers."

No beans about it: An automobile dubbed the "Car-puccino" has been designed to run only on leftover coffee grinds. The heavily-modified 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco was created for British TV show Bang Goes The Theory, a program that's all about "putting science to the test." To prove that just about anything can be turned into car fuel these days, Bang Goes The Theory will drive the Car-puccino 210 miles from London to Manchester using only residual coffee grounds as fuel.

Researchers descend on a retirement home to study couples who have spent decades together and are still very happy.

No longer a subject of science fiction, a car that can fly like a regular airplane, but then land, fold up its wings and drive away debuted in Boston Wednesday.

If you ever wish you could just glide along because walking is too much effort, then Toyota's latest invention is just what you need. The Japanese auto-maker showcased a personal mobility product called the "Winglet", which allows users to move around while in a standing position, and I found out it's a lot of fun to ride.