SAN FRANCISCO — Last summer, Ken Mankoff shimmied through zero degree water and mud into a small cavern underneath Rieperbreen Glacier in Svalbard, Norway, holding a Microsoft Kinect wrapped inside a waterproof bag.

Using the little toy, originally meant as a motion-sensing device for the Xbox 360 video game console, Mankoff scanned the cave floor in 3D. During the summer, water from lakes on the glacier’s surface had gushed through the channel he was sitting in. The Kinect was going to provide a better understanding of its size and roughness, which could help researchers predict how the ice a...

WordPress has released version 3.3. Dubbed “Sonny” after jazz saxophonist Sonny Stitt, WordPress 3.3 packs in a number of worthwhile upgrades, including a new responsive design that adapts the WordPress admin to smaller screens.

To get the latest version head over to the WordPress downloads page. If you’re already using WordPress you can update from the WordPress dashboard (naturally we suggest backing up your files and database before you upgrade).

Among the changes that make WordPress 3.3 well worth the upgrade is the new responsive admin design. While there are mobile apps from managing your...