james cameron

Will Cameron's deep-sea voyage yield breakthrough drugs?

Blockbuster-moviemaker-turned-aquanaut James Cameron's solo dive in the Pacific to the Mariana Trench's Challenger Deep site last month opens up a vast, under-explored region of the world's oceans to researchers. There, scientists hope to discover, retrieve, and study a host of previously unknown organisms and chemical compounds that may someday help solve decades-old medical mysteries.

"What better place to look for adaptations and unusual compounds that have unusual characteristics than in the most extreme environments we can go to on this planet," says Richard Lutz, a professor of marine ecology and biology of deep-sea hydrothermal vents … Read more

The 404 1,029: Where we're never going on a cruise (podcast)

There are few words to describe people that don't know that the movie "Titanic" was actually based on a real Titanic, and even fewer to describe the bravado in tweeting about that ignorance, but Jeff musters a few adjectives.

On today's episode, we'll cover the $1 billion Instagram buyout and what you can expect to change once Facebook takes over, all four major U.S. wireless carriers joining forces to create a "lost my phone" database, smart touch-screen displays replacing payphones in New York City, and the shaky future of Best Buy and its former CEO.… Read more

Cameron narrates stunning Titanic simulation

Just in case his billion-dollar blockbuster wasn't realistic enough for you, not to mention the new $18 million 3D version, James Cameron has created another film about the Titanic, which presents its final minutes in stunning detail.

"From iceberg to bottom, it's never been animated so precisely and so dramatically," the Canadian ubermensch and premier Titanic obsessive says in the trailer to "Titanic: The Final Word With James Cameron," which premieres on the National Geographic Channel on April 8. … Read more

Cameron and Branson race to bring urgent attention to oceans

Did famed filmmaker James Cameron just do for the oceans what scientific experts have struggled to do for decades?

When "Avatar" and "Titanic" director Cameron piloted his custom submersible, the Deepsea Challenger, to the bottom of the Mariana Trench yesterday and became the first person ever to make a solo dive to the world's deepest spot, he shined a crucial spotlight on the field of ocean exploration.

In recent years, scientists have been shouting from rooftops around the world that unless humanity puts more energy into studying our oceans, we are at real risk of … Read more

The 404 1,018: Where we get all our ducks in a row (podcast)

Apple products are mostly used by younger generations, but the company should still recognize the dangers of "high-tech modern architecture." Such is the plea of 83-year-old Evelyn Paswall, a New Yorker taking Apple to court for $1 million after walking face first into the glass door entrance to the Long Island Apple store.

Does her case hold water, and should Apple continue to use ugly white tape to let people know glass is a real thing? We'll talk about this story and more on today's episode of The 404.… Read more

James Cameron hits the world's floor -- and returns

Give James Cameron this much: He's unafraid to follow his passions where they lead him. Even if that place is seven miles below the surface of the ocean.

Yesterday Cameron became the first person to make a solo dive to the ocean's deepest point -- a portion of the Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench known as "Challenge Deep." Cameron piloted a "vertical torpedo" of a submersible he dubbed "Deepsea Challenger" to the bottom of the trench, 35,756 feet down, then spent three hours filming and taking samples before safely returning to … Read more

What is 4K? Next-generation resolution explained

As if LED and 3D TV weren't confusing enough, in the last few months we have seen a new HDTV technology called 4K, or its official name, Ultra HD. It's being heralded as the next high-def, and judging by the show floor at CES 2013, manufacturers are lining up to bring you a new array of products.

But just as was the case with 3D, it's the hardware chicken before the software egg: there's no consumer 4K content available. Still, if you listen to the industry, it'll tell you it's the last resolution you'll ever need. So what is 4K anyway, and what makes it different from high definition?

Editors' note: This was post was originally published January 23, 2012, and has been updated several times thereafter with expanded information, most recently on January 17, 2013.… Read more

New iTunes-only 'Avatar' offers rich interactive viewing

Starting Tuesday, "Avatar" fans who buy the mega-hit film on iTunes will also get a set of cool behind-the-scenes interactive features.

For the last couple of years, movie buyers have gotten some of the same kinds of "extras" on iTunes that have long been included on DVD and Blu-ray versions of films. But now, with its new digital download of "Avatar," Fox is stepping up the offerings--"scene deconstruction" that lets viewers "move seamlessly from performance capture to template to final scene."

As part of the package, buyers will get … Read more

Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards honor innovation

Popular Mechanics magazine on Monday unveiled its seventh-annual Breakthrough Awards winners, calling out 10 products and 11 innovators its editors feel are tackling longstanding problems in medicine, space exploration, technology, environmental engineering, and automotive design, in all-new ways.

Leading the list of this year's winners is "Avatar" director James Cameron, to whom the magazine gave its 2011 Breakthrough Leadership award.

The products honored by the editors include a hot new smartphone, an all-new kind of seat belt, a genre-shattering video game, highly efficient solar cells, smog-eating roof tiles, a new kind of LED lightbulb, and an automatic … Read more