elevator

I admit it, I love Twitter. I'm not a Facebook guy, but Twitter is great for so many things. Including minute by minute descriptions of what it's like to be trapped in the elevator of a large office building. 'Today's' Ann Curry and other journalists were trapped in an elevator at the New York Times building yesterday, and not only did they tweet about it, they made a video (and another one)!

There's something odd and funny about a bunch of people stuck in an elevator, frantically pecking away on their Blackberries.

Remember the scene in 'You've Got Mail' when Tom Hanks and Parker Posey are trapped in the elevator and the only way they can contact someone is via the phone in the elevator that goes to the maintenance department? Scenes like that would have to be written a whole different way in this age of video phones and Twitter.

[via Romenesko]

Tonight at 8pm on PBS, NOVA scienceNow will look at a competition to build an "elevator to space." Participants will compete to see whose prototype can go the highest, and the winner takes home a $150,000 prize. The episode will also focus on scientific research surrounding the carbon nanotube, a stronger-than-steel material that just might be used to create the cable for a real "space elevator" in the future. It would be awesome if such a thing were constructed in my lifetime, though with my luck I'd be stuck on this lengthy elevator ride with some guy who just polished off a beef and bean burrito.

Other segments from the episode will include research into "longevity genes" and how they may hold the secret to living longer; using satellites to uncover Mayan ruins; and studies in "Quorum Sensing," the way bacteria communicates.