Popular Science

I owe a great debt to Mark Jannot, who hired me as his deputy editor for little other reason than my willingness to meet him at a bar midday on a Tuesday. Popular Science has been in continuous publication since 1872, and it's a pleasure to work for a magazine that has done so much for so long to keep the spirit of invention and optimism alive in young and old readers. Crafting profiles of earnest, hardworking people and their brilliant work is a rare opportunity as a magazine editor to feel as if you're part of the solution. At the very least, I never spent a day there when I felt like part of the problem.

I managed pretty much every aspect of every issue, but there are a few features of which I feel particularly proud.

The First Assassination of the 21st Century [1.1mb PDF]
by James Geary, with reporting from Moscow by Victor Akunov
A former spy's excruciating death by radiation poisoning marks the beginning of an era of high-tech hit men who can kill from anywhere.

Taking It to the Street [1.1mb PDF]
by Bob Parks
The DARPA Urban Challenge asks an autonomous vehicle to negotiate city streets, merge with traffic, and generally avoid smashups. The winning team will determine how your car drives in the future.