Photo: Twitter / Bobak Ferdowsi

On August 6, NASA’s rover Curiosity successfully survived “seven minutes of terror” to land successfully on Mars. But it was Mission Control systems engineer Bobak Ferdowsi who really turned heads–with his star-spangled mohawk.

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Tags: Bobak Ferdowsi, Curiousity, Jet Propulsion Lab, Mars, mohawk, NASA, rover

There’s no Olympic medal for sports engineering. But breakthrough technology is playing a star role at the London games – if you know where to look. The National Science Foundation has teamed up with NBC’s Olympics and education division to create a guide to the split-second timekeepers, wave-reducing pools, high-performance gear, and other feats of technology that let athletes compete at their peak.

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Tags: 2012 Summer Olympics, athletes, bicycling, Design, helmet, London, Olympics, pool, Sports, sports engineering, stadium, swimming, team, Technology

To get a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) platinum certificate, a building must cut energy use to about half that of a typical structure. That’s tough. What’s tougher? The Living Building Challenge (LBC).

According to Time magazine, the LBC was created six years ago, and to win certification a building must use half the energy of a LEED platinum building and have net-zero energy and water systems. So far, only three buildings have managed that feat, and they’re quite small. However, a six-story, 4,600-square-meter office building will open this fall in Seattle that’s aiming to meet the LBC requirements.

The $30 million Bullitt Center will house the Bullitt Foundation, whose president is Denis Hayes, a former staff director who worked with Earth Day founder Former U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson.

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Tags: Architectural, Bullitt Center, Civil, construction, Denis Hayes, Design, Electricity, Energy, Environmental, Green Technology, LDC, LEED, Materials, recycling, solar power, toilet

Searching for the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs? Look around your classroom. Or rather, check out Sydney, Australia, where students – many of them computer science and engineering majors – from every continent competed to solve the world’s toughest problems at Microsoft’s 10th annual Imagine Cup.

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Tags: computer engineering, Computer Science, contests for students, environmental engineering, global challenges, grand challenges, Imagine Cup 2012, Microsoft, STEM education, student competition, Sustainability, Technology, Technology Contest

In Greek mythology, flying too high cost Icarus his life when the sun melted his waxen wings. Today, solar energy factors in another epic flight – an trans-Atlantic attempt by the world’s first solar-powered airplane. And the Internet can put any arm-chair pilot in the cockpit.

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Tags: Aeronautics, Aerospace Engineering, aircraft, Aviation, exploration, Solar, Solar Impuse, solar power