Transportation

Choosing your seatmates through social media? Facial recognition technology to match you and your luggage? The airline industry has the ideas... but will it adopt them?

By Patrick J. Kiger

Using low-tech solutions for high-tech problems, falconry may prove beneficial in combating all the wayward drones flying where they ought not to fly.

By Christopher Hassiotis

This hybrid airship isn't exactly your great-grandfather's zeppelin.

By Patrick J. Kiger

There are so many tweaks we wish airlines would implement, especially if future seat configurations mean stacking passengers with butts suspended above heads.

By Julie Douglas

We're not quite at floating cruise ship phase, but modern dirigibles could be rising stars for carting cargo.

By Julia Layton

Sure, flight-simulation video games and drone piloting both involve computer screens and handheld controllers, but do these similarities make gaming a useful training platform for real-life, high-stakes military operations?

By Kate Kershner

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's an unmanned aerial vehicle traveling faster than the speed of sound!

By Chris Opfer

They're the stuff of headlines, often characterized as evil in the sky. But how do unmanned aerial vehicles actually get off the ground and flying?

By Nathan Chandler

Going through airport security is the worst part of flying for most people. Now you may be asked to turn your cell phone on in the security line. Why do you have to do that? And does it really keep us safe?

By Beth Brindle

Imagine whipping through the sky at thousands of miles per hour. This special type of jet engine can do exactly that.

By Nicholas Gerbis

Writing a legible message on paper requires a steady hand; writing one in the sky requires a steady everything.

By Julia Layton

Why do we still lock away critical data on a box that can go down with the plane? It may be time to think differently about the black box and its contents.

By Nicholas Gerbis

Since 1948, more than 100 aircraft have gone missing while aloft and never been found. How is this possible? We'll look at some of these unsolved mysteries, as well as other bizarre airline mishaps.

By Patrick J. Kiger

It happens. And when it does, the consequences can include not only red-faced pilots, but also inconvenienced passengers, endangered planes, damaged airfields and maybe some free peanuts for everyone involved.

By Nicholas Gerbis

Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a ... drone? Turns out, drones are doing all kinds of harmless -- and even heroic -- things all the time. Find out how drones are changing the way we farm, fight fires and make movies.

By Nathan Chandler

Ready for a fifth mode of transportation? Elon Musk is. He's sketched out a proposal for a nearly supersonic transportation system that could shoot you from San Francisco to Los Angeles faster than you can watch an episode of "Game of Thrones."

By John Perritano

In the world of flight, it's a fine line between flying high and falling fast. Can you name 10 of the innovations that keep planes and their passengers airborne?

By William Harris

Would you risk the mother of all jet lag if you could cross the U.S. in less time than it takes to pass through airport security? After all, your time is precious, and haven't supersonic and hypersonic technologies been around for decades now?

By Nicholas Gerbis

One of the key pieces of infrastructure that we could really use in the U.S. is a high speed, efficient, and effective train system.

By Derek Markham, Planet Green

The airline industry is one of the largest contributors to global carbon emissions, but it's possible to fly and do minimal damage to the environment.

By Alexander Davies

In January 2004, the citizens of Milan, Italy, were preparing for a strike that would shut down all public transportation. Since an estimated 28 percent of greater Milan’s 3 million populace relied heavily on public transit, the strike meant gridlock for most of the city.

By Jonathan Atteberry

Steampunk enthusiasts imagine an alternate version of history, where the dress code demands petticoats and suit vests and airships are the most romantic forms of all transportation.

By Alexander Davies

What is the future of supersonic flight? Learn more about the future of supersonic flight in this article.

By Alexander Davies

Discovery Channel deliberately crash-landed a Boeing 727 passenger jet in a remote and uninhabited Mexican desert as part of a scientific experiment for a new documentary. Plane crashes terrify people -- but what do the statistics show?

Few are unfamiliar with the mixer trucks that transport concrete from the factory to the construction site. How do they keep that stuff from hardening while they move?

By Eric Baxter