You probably wouldn't ask your Prius to tow a 1200-pound trailer uphill, but a similar test awaited 17 college teams in the Challenge X competition. Engineering students were asked to design a high-mileage vehicle that still satisfies the real world's demand for reliability, utility, and comfort. IEEE Spectrum Radio's John Volker reports on this four-year contest tasking students with modifying a standard SUV with the goal of achieving sustainable mobility.

Even if you believe "Real Men don't use emoticons", you may be surprised to learn they were invented by computer scientist and AI researcher Scott Fahlman at Carnegie Mellon University in 1982 to let others on a message board know when he was joking. Despite their explosion in popularity, Fahlman confesses to mixed feelings about his creation. He notes, for example, that he wouldn't want to see them on an e-mail from his stockbroker.

Build an FM station in 3 days? The Malcom X Center in Philadelphia recently did just that, thanks to the help of the Prometheus Radio Project. IEEE Spectrum Radio looks at their setbacks and final triumph as they battled the forces of commercial radio in the name of more diversity, freedom and democracy in broadcasting.

This program was originally broadcast on IEEE Spectrum Radio.