phantom traffic jam n.— «We’ve all been there—stuck in traffic, inching along, running late and getting angry when suddenly everyone starts moving. Just like that, the road clears. No flashing lights, no mangled cars, no clue to suggest...
recycled pulsar n.— «Astronomers have long theorized that these superfast stars share their orbit with a companion star from which they leech extra material. The material settles around the pulsar’s middle in a so-called accretion disk...
astrobioethics n.— «Say hello to astrobioethics, a branch of ethics involving the implications of life science in space.» —“Be the Parent of a Brand-New Word: Astrobioethics” by Brandom Keim Wired Science Aug. 5...
siblog n.—Gloss: a sister, or sibling, blog, one published by the same company. Note: Used almost exclusively by bloggers the New York Times. «So what’s left to drive? Try to find a 1994 Geo Metro XFi, recommended Wired (and so did...
biohol n.— «The ethanol made here is not only clean but also cheap—this is perhaps the first ethanol plant to achieve both. More important, it is an early demon stration of the great potential of biohols—liquid fuels derived from biomass...
gamer regret n.— «The dirty secret of gamers is that we wrestle with this dilemma all the time. We’re often gripped by what I call “gamer regret”—a sudden, horrifying sense of emptiness when we muse on all the other things we...