Science

TAOS, N.M.--I really want one of these.

These are earthships, a form of entirely off-the-grid, fully sustainable houses that are made from natural and recycled materials, and which can provide a family with a steady, comfortable interior temperature regardless of how hot or cold it is outside.

I've come to visit the Earthship Biotecture world headquarters near Taos, and have come ready to be impressed. I'm as into green technology and architecture as the next guy, and what I'd read had me expecting an introduction to a form of housing that is self-sufficient, affordable and … Read more

TAOS, N.M.--Wow. That's almost all I had to say after walking across the Rio Grand Gorge Bridge near this popular city.

And why? Well, the bridge is suspended over the river, which is 650 feet below, and what you see from the span is the outrageously beautiful effects of one of America's most powerful waterways having carved its way into walls of the basalt flows from the Taos Plateau volcanic fields over the centuries and millenia.

The rock looks like it was just chipped away, and the view almost trivializes the scale of what you're … Read more

LOS ALAMOS, N.M.--I spent Wednesday night and Thursday here, in the town that gave birth to the atomic bomb. And even though it's been 62 years since the Manhattan Project finished its work, its aura still pervades Los Alamos.

For example, the main drag through the eastern end of town is Trinity Drive. And one can't help but understand, when driving in from Santa Fe, why the government chose to place the Manhattan Project here: among other reasons, that road is a windy, two-lane affair with a sheer cliff on the north side that made it … Read more

ROSWELL, N.M.--After I drove by, and was unable to get into, the Pinal Air Park, north of Tucson, Ariz., I've kind of been jonesing for some good Boeing 747 access.

It turns out that there are commercial airplane storage facilities in many different locations, including Roswell, where at the Roswell International Air Center, there are up to 200 planes just sitting on the ground, waiting to be used by their owners.

I visited this facility on Wednesday, as part of Road Trip 2007, my journey around the Southwest, and I expect to post a full gallery Thursday. … Read more

ROSWELL, N.M.--If you're coming to this town for anything other than UFO madness, you're probably heading to the wrong place.

I came as part of Road Trip 2007, my driving tour of the Southwest in search of the most interesting technology- and science-related stories.

Roswell is the self-proclaimed UFO capital of the world, and it is still reaping the tourist-dollar benefits of an event that happened 60 years ago, when a local may have found the remains of a crashed UFO in a field that's actually quite some distance from here.

The event made world … Read more

CARRIZOZO, N.M.--One of the great things about being on a lengthy road trip is that you tend to have time to pull off the road to check out some of the interesting things along the way.

Well, on Road Trip 2007, my adventure to discover the best science- and technology-related sites in the Southwest, I've been so busy I haven't had much of that kind of time.

But on Monday, as I was driving toward Roswell, N.M.--UFO Capital of the World, as it's known--after visiting the Very Large Array, I saw something I … Read more

DATIL, N.M.--I spent a good part of Monday at what has to be one of the coolest astronomy sites in the world: the Very Large Array.

I plan to post a full story and gallery on Wednesday, but for now, I thought I'd offer up a tease of a couple of pictures of this amazing place. The VLA, as it's known, is a collection of 28 230-ton, 25-meter dish antennae (with 27 in use at any given time, comprising a single, er, very large array) that has been used since 1980 to produce a giant body … Read more

TULAROSA BASIN, N.M.--I'm looking at a field full of old, mainly Cold-War-era missiles, and it's hard not to get a chill, despite the high-'90s temperature.

I'm at the White Sands Missile Range, a giant facility in the Tularosa Basin of New Mexico--visiting as part of Road Trip 2007--where the U.S. military conducts some of its most secret missile experiments.

Much of it is controlled from the Cox Range Control Center, a very highly classified building that my guide wasn't able to let me see.

But she did escort me through the … Read more

ALAMOGORDO, N.M.--Friday was supposed to be a day of celebration and progress for Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson's space exploration company.

It was planning a press conference in Las Cruces, N.M., at the University of New Mexico, to give an update on the current state of the development of its White Knight and Spaceship II aircraft. And the New Mexico Spaceport Authority was set to announce some engineering and architectural plans for the Spaceport facility northeast of Las Cruces.

But, best-laid plans. On Thursday, two people were killed in an explosion at Virgin Galactic's facility in … Read more