NASA Creates Anti-Gravity Field, Makes Lab Rats Levitate

NASA scientists have created an anti-gravity field that works at room temperature, which is a big Where's My Back to the Future Skateboard breakthrough. The only problem is that it only works on mice. Mice high as kites, in fact.

Scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, have created a superconducting magnet that generates enough energy to lift small animals off the floor. The magnet pushes the water inside the animals up, making them fly. The amazing fact is that it works at room temperature—not the ultra-cooled down environments typical of these magnets—and it's large enough to make rodents to levitate.

The mice were high in more than one way, though. According to researcher Yuanming Liu, the "first mouse actually kicked around and started to spin, and without friction, it could spin faster and faster, and we think that made it even more disoriented." So they gave a mild sedative to the next mouse, who was happy to float.

Video: Motorola CLIQ gets demoed in detail

CLIQs are pretty hard to come by in the wake of Motorola's big announcement today, but we flagged down an all-too-nice rep who showed off the phone's major talking points. Though it's got the same old Qualcomm MSM7201a beating in its chest that we've found in countless other Android and WinMo phones -- not anything thoroughly modern like Snapdragon -- we're feeling cautiously optimistic that MOTOBLUR is snappier in day-to-day use than HTC's competing Sense. The built-in widgets Motorola is supplying look top-notch with a ton of spit and polish (seemingly without sacrificing speed or usability), so all told, we think Moto's been really cranking this year baking this platform to a golden crisp. Follow the break for the epic demo, and pay special attention to the white model when the rep pulls it out -- the back was supposed to be stylized Morse code that reads "I love Friday nights," but apparently they ran out of space, so it's now just random dots on a cover. At least it still looks cool, though, and that's the important thing.

Video: Steve Jobs returns to the Apple stage

At the start of the event today Steve Jobs received a standing ovation from the assembled crowd, and took a moment to thank everybody for their support and encourage us all to be as generous as the organ donor who saved his life. He's "vertical" now, and claims to be already at work coming up with some "incredible new products" for the future. We're just glad to have you back, Steve! Video is after the break.

Apple slaps video camera into new iPod nano

Apple sure took long enough to get to this, but just as rumored, the iPod nano is seeing a hotly-anticipated refresh today. The big addition? A camera that just so happens to shoot stills and live video. On the lower left of the new nano, you'll find a camera as well as a speaker, but unfortunately you'll have to sync it with your computer before you upload it to YouTube. The camera-laden nanos will be available starting today in a rainbow's worth of hues, with the 8GB model pegged at $149 and the 16GB edition at $179. Oh, and oddly enough, the iPod nano is officially the only dedicated iPod with a camera, leaving the iPod touch -- and every human on the planet -- scratching their head in confusion.

Apple updates iPod touch line, drops prices, adds top-end 64GB model

Couldn't see this one coming, right? Apple just announced an update to the iPod touch line. It's not exactly a major overhaul to the player, but prices have fallen, and it appears that the new models use the same CPU as the iPhone 3GS, since they can run OpenGL 2.0. The big news is actually no news, however: there doesn't appear to be a camera, contrary to all the rumors. You'll just have to make do with 8GB of storage for $199, 32GB for $299, and 64GB for a whopping $399.