THE MAGAZINE OF TECHNOLOGY INSIDERS 09.08 CAN TECHNOLOGY DEFEAT IEDs? volume 45 number 9 north american 09.08 UPDATE 11 SUBMERSIBLE ROBOT GLIDERS Defense contractors are snapping up the technology to build propellerless underwater robots. By Erico Guizzo 13 THE World’S MOST POWERFUL MAGNET 14 VIRTUAL REALITY FOR INJURED ATHLETES 15 QUANTUM CRYPTOGRAPHY BY SATELLITE 16 A NEW SEARCH FOR E.T. BEGINS 18 THE BIG PICTURE A solar-powered wonder wheel. 26 OPINION 9 SPECTRAL LINES Synthetic biology and new software- programming approaches take a turn at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech meeting. 10 FORUM More reader reactions to our special issue on the singularity. 20 REFLECTIONS Engineers, of all people, should be good at prediction. We’re not. 36 48 By Robert W. Lucky DEPARTMENTS TREAD LIGHTLY COVER STORY 4 BACK STORY A soldier watches his step in Iraq 6 CONTRIBUTORS [top left]; Jon 26 COUNTERING IEDS CAREERS Rubinstein starts The U. S. military has spent billions in search of technological a new life, post- 21 Grad school may cost you more countermeasures to improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. The fact iPod, as executive than you think. By Prachi Patel-Predd that successes have been few doesn’t mean it’s time to quit. chairman of THE ENGINEERING LIFE Palm [right]; and By Glenn Zorpette 22 Why are so many jihadis spores evolve into engineers? Two academics think they space invaders in know. By Susan Karlin the year’s hottest computer game 36 ENGINEERING SPORE 23 BOOKS [bottom left]. A wild menagerie of beasts is put to the evolutionary test in this eagerly How the Internet makes unorganized awaited—and sophisticated—new game. By David Kushner organizations possible. By Bruce Schneier 24 Danica McKellar—actress, COVER: 42 BEYOND SILICON’S ELEMENTAL LOGIC mathematician, and author—strikes PHOTOGRAPHER UNKNOWN. THE SPLIT-SECOND TIMING again with a new book. By Susan Karlin OF THIS IMAGE OF A HUGE Key parts of microprocessors and other digital ICs may soon be made of IED BLAST SUGGESTS THAT AN INSURGENT TOOK THE gallium arsenide or other III-V semiconductors. By Peide D. Ye 25 TOOLS & TOYS PHOTO. WE ADDED THE SCAN LINES FOR EFFECT. A tale of two kids, a 27-inch monitor, THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM and a mysterious electrical current. TOP LEFT: MICHAEL KAMBER/ By Sherry Sontag THE NEW YORK TIMES/ 48 FROM PODFATHER TO Palm’S PILOT REDUX; MARK RICHARDS; ELECTRONIC ARTS As Steve Jobs’s loyal hardware chief, Jon Rubinstein launched the iPod. 72 THE DATA Now, as executive chairman of Palm, he’s working on a new handset, Sure, most hacking is done by hackers, but the devils are in the and he’s got his sights set on Apple. By Tekla S. Perry details. By Prachi Patel-Predd WWW.SPECTRUM.IEEE.ORG SEPTEMBER 2008 • IEEE SPECTRUM • NA volume 45 number 9 north american 09.08 WWW.IEEE.ORG/ THEINSTITUTE AVAILABLE 5 SEPTEMBER ON THE INSTITUTE ONLINE KAM AND RAY HAVE THEIR SAY Find out what Moshe Kam and Pedro Ray—the candidates for 2009 IEEE President-Elect— have to say about the IEEE issues that matter to members. LEFT: EMIRATES; RIGHT: PHOTO-ILLUSTRATION, ANNA DEMIAN; ORIGINAL WWW.SPECTRUM.IEEE.ORG PHOTO, SIEGFRIED LAYDA/ GETTY IMAGES AVAILABLE 1 SEPTEMBER ON SPECTRUM ONLINE FIRST-CLASS UPGRADES For you to re-create at home the same entertainment experience many airlines are starting to offer, your computer, personal electronic devices, cable or satellite system, cellphone, and TiVo would all have to be connected through a touch screen and remote that would be integrated BOOSTING IEEE’S into your fully reclining easy chair. Contributing Editor Robert N. VISIBILITY AND Charette flies the posh skies and talks with in-flight entertainment- PRESTIGE system experts about the latest approaches and plans for keeping IEEE has embarked on a five-year passengers happy. He also discusses some little-known facts about how communications program that seeks these systems are created, as well as how they are used to provide both to raise the organization’s global physiological and psychological comfort to stressed-out jet-setters. visibility and improve the image of the engineering profession. ONLINE FEATURES: ALSO ONLINE: IEEE.TV SERIES CAN TERAHERTZ WAVES be used to • Webcasts detect IEDs? Executive Editor Glenn • Podcasts FOCUSES ON THE Zorpette investigates. • News ENVIRONMENT • Blogs REGISTER NOW for the 25 September A new IEEE.tv series focuses on the • Jobs webcast on how emerging display 73-nation Global Earth Observation • Career Accelerator Forum technologies will affect consumer System of Systems. The three videos • IEEE Xplore® digital library electronics and automobiles. give an overview of GEOSS, explore • White papers its applications, and feature experts ENGINEERING JOBS follow the • Opinions weighing in on the latest Earth- money, but can engineers follow the • More! observation technologies. jobs? Professor Malcolm Getz explains. IEEE SPECTRUM (ISSN 008-9235) is published monthly by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2008 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., 3 Park Avenue, New York, NY 006-5997, U.S.A. The editorial content of IEEE Spectrum magazine does not represent official positions of the IEEE or its organizational units. Canadian Post International Publications Mail (Canadian Distribution) Sales Agreement No. 4003087. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Circulation Department, IEEE Spectrum, Box 05, Fort Erie, ON L2A 6C7. Cable address: ITRIPLEE. Fax: + 22 49 7570. INTERNET: [email protected]. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS-IEEE Members: $2.40 included in dues. Libraries/institutions: $205. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to IEEE Spectrum, c/o Coding Department, IEEE Service Center, 445 Hoes Lane, Box 33, Piscataway, NJ 08855. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Canadian GST #2563488. Printed at W224-N3322 Duplainville Rd., Pewaukee, WI 53072-495, U.S.A. IEEE Spectrum circulation is audited by BPA Worldwide. IEEE Spectrum is a member of American Business Media, the Magazine Publishers of America, and the Society of National Association Publications. WWW.SPECTRUM.IEEE.ORG SEPTEMBER 2008 • IEEE SPECTRUM • NA 3 back story EDITORIAL EDITOR IN CHIEF Susan Hassler, [email protected] EXECUTIVE EDITOR Glenn Zorpette, [email protected] MANAGING EDITOR Elizabeth A. Bretz, [email protected] SENIOR EDITORS Harry Goldstein (Online), [email protected]; Jean Kumagai, [email protected]; Samuel K. Moore (News), [email protected]; Tekla S. Perry, [email protected]; Philip E. Ross, [email protected]; David Schneider, [email protected]; William Sweet, [email protected] SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR Steven Cherry (Resources), [email protected] ASSOCIATE EDITORS Sally Adee, [email protected]; Erico Guizzo, [email protected]; Joshua J. Romero (Online), [email protected]; Sandra Upson, [email protected] ASSISTANT EDITOR Willie D. Jones, [email protected] SENIOR COPY EDITOR Joseph N. Levine, [email protected] COPY EDITOR Michele Kogon, [email protected] EDITORIAL RESEARCHER Alan Gardner, [email protected] EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, SPECTRUM RADIO Sharon Basco ASSISTANT PRODUCER, SPECTRUM RADIO Francesco Ferorelli, [email protected] ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTS Ramona Gordon, [email protected]; A Computer Game’s Nancy T. Hantman, [email protected] INTERN Monica Heger, [email protected] CONTRIBUTING EDITORS John Blau, Robert N. Charette, Intelligent Design Peter Fairley, Alexander Hellemans, David Kushner, Robert W. Lucky, Paul McFedries, Kieron B. Murphy, Carl Selinger, Seema Singh, John Voelcker t was one of those ‘Oh, wow’ we were building our relationship.” ART & PRODUCTION moments,” says IEEE Spectrum They battled bad plumbing and SENIOR ART DIRECTOR Mark Montgomery Contributing Editor David broken roads, which served as I ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR Brandon Palacio Kushner [right], recalling his good practice for life in Brooklyn, PHOTO EDITOR Randi Silberman first encounter with the new N.Y. Eventually, their virtual city’s DIRECTOR, PERIODICALS PRODUCTION SERVICES Peter Tuohy computer game Spore. Due to be inhabitants got to live in a big space EDITORIAL & WEB PRODUCTION MANAGER Roy Carubia released this month and featured tower, so the two won’t complain if SENIOR ELECTRONIC LAYOUT SPECIALIST Bonnie Nani in Kushner’s article in this issue, life continues to mimic art. WEB PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Jacqueline L. Parker Spore is the brainchild of legendary When Kushner visited Wright’s WEB PRODUCTION SPECIALIST Michael Spector game designer Will Wright [left]. studio earlier this year, he got a EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Kushner has been a devoted fan of sneak peek at Spore’s Creature Susan Hassler, Chair; Marc T. Apter, Francine D. Berman, Jan Brown, Raffaello D’Andrea, Stephen L. Diamond, Hiromichi Wright’s ever since 1993, when he Creator, the game’s built-in Fujisawa, Kenneth Y. Goldberg, Susan Hackwood, Erik Heijne, began playing SimCity 2000. editing tool, which lets you sculpt Charles H. House, David H. Jacobson, Christopher J. James, Ronald G. Jensen, Mary Y. Lanzerotti, Ruby B. Lee, Tak Ming What sets Wright’s work a fanciful new life-form out of a Mak, David A. Mindell, C. Mohan, Fritz Morgan, Andrew M. apart, Kushner says, is his ability featureless, bean-shaped blob. Odlyzko, Leslie D. Owens, Barry L. Shoop, Larry L. Smarr, to conjure up those “Oh, wow” Kushner was instantly hooked. Harry L. “Nick” Tredennick III, William Weihl, Bas¸ak Yüksel moments—lots of them. In SimCity, “Wright’s riffing on some basic EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE players explore the dynamics themes of play, going back to Silly IEEE Spectrum, 3 Park Ave., 17th Floor, New York, NY 10016-5997 Attn: Editorial Dept. Tel: +1 212 419 7555 Fax: +1 212 419 7570 of what makes a city thrive, Putty and Play-Doh and Mr. Potato Bureau: Palo Alto, Calif.; Tekla S.