Speaking of Salon, they often have very good popular science articles (older ones are free, newer you will have to take advantage of a day pass):

• "The fish are ok" by Katharine Mieszkowski is about the state of the world's fisheries.
  
• "Artificial stupidity part 1" & part 2 by John Sundman is about intelligent bots.
  
• "Is there hope for Java?" By Farhad Manjoo is about the future of Java.
  
• "Data-mining life on earth" by Katharine Mieszkowski is about the online Tree of Life project.