The team said it used a small drill to penetrate the last metres of ice and immediately withdrew it, allowing the lake water to percolate up and create a frozen plug that the team will collect next year.

BBC: 'New frontier' of Antarctic lake exploration

GM's vice president for research and development, Lawrence Burns, says consumers have to start thinking of their car as a power-supplying appliance as well as a means of transportation. (A hybrid car, for example, might be an alternative to an emergency generator during an ice storm.) Meanwhile, GM is endorsing Huber's thinking with plans to introduce plug-in versions of the Chevrolet Volt and a Saturn vue crossover by 2010.

FORBES: A Light Bulb Goes On

When you plug in the handset, the display turns into an all-in-one PC, with Ice Cream Sandwich as your desktop OS. Since the 1920 x 1200 screen isn't touch-enabled, you'll have to get used to interacting with Android using only a mouse and keyboard.

ENGADGET: ASUS shows off a docking monitor built for the PadFone, we go hands-on (video)