the digest (Page 153)

Latest in the digest

3D Printing Food in Certain Shapes Tricks People Into Eating Less

3D Printing Food in Certain Shapes Tricks People Into Eating Less

By Dan Robitzski

There's so much misinformation on the coronavirus pandemic swirling around online that even the famous fact-checking organization Snopes is overwhelmed.

Even Snopes Has Been Overwhelmed by Coronavirus Misinformation

By Dan Robitzski

Materials researcher Will Srubar argues that in order to build a sustainable future, scientists need to develop living, self-growing materials.

This Professor Wants to Grow Entire Buildings Out of Bacteria

By Dan Robitzski

Australia is converting a tourist island destination known for housing some of the world's only quokkas into a quarantine zone for cruise ship passengers.

Australia is Turning a Tourist Island Into a Quarantine Zone

By Victor Tangermann

Scientists Say There Could Be Life on Mercury

Scientists Say There Could Be Life on Mercury

By Victor Tangermann

After an Air Force base declared a public health emergency, the SpaceX mission scheduled to launch from there on March 30 is on "indefinite" hold.

SpaceX Delays Launch Because of the Coronavirus

By Dan Robitzski

According to a new paper, electric cars are, in fact, better for the world, despite the environmental cost involved in making them.

Myth, Dusted: No, Electric Cars Don’t Hurt the Environment That Much

By Foster Kamer

Impossible Foods CEO Says he Could Create Brand-New Types of Meat

By Dan Robitzski

Elon Musk sourced some 1,255 ventilators from Chinese manufactures and donated them to hospitals in the Los Angeles area.

“Heroic Effort”: Elon Musk Donates 1,250 Ventilators to Hospitals

By Victor Tangermann

The longfin inshore squid can alter its own genetic code on the fly, and new research shows its the first animal to do so outside of its cells' nuclei.

Science & Energy

Scientists Discover That a Squid Can Edit Its Own Genetic Code

By Dan Robitzski

A team of researchers found a superconducting metal inside metoerite fragments, suggesting the advanced material is forming on its own out in space.

Science & Energy

Scientists Find Superconductor Inside Giant Meteorite

By Dan Robitzski

An urban design researcher predicts that the coronavirus pandemic will lead the rich to hide away in gated communities while public infrastructure suffers.

Professor: Pandemic Will Force the Rich Into Hiding

By Dan Robitzski

According to new research, something happens during a musical performance: the brain activity of listeners synchronizes with that of the musician.

New Research: Listeners Synchronize Brain Activity With Musicians

By Jon Christian

Despite budget overruns — and a pandemic — NASA is determined to get its next Mars rover called "Perseverance" off the ground in July.

Science & Energy

NASA’s New Mars Rover Still Launching in July Despite Coronavirus

By Victor Tangermann

Poland released an app last week that requires people who are in quarantine to send selfies periodically, proving they're safe indoors.

Poland Made an App to Make Sure Patients Stay in Quarantine

By Victor Tangermann

As people are urged to stay in their homes, one man in Cyprus decided to use a remote-controlled drone to walk his dog around town.

Watch a Man Walk a Dog Using a Drone

By Dan Robitzski

The World Health Organization is officially "distancing" itself from the phrase "social distancing" and is recommending "physical distancing" instead.

The WHO Wants You to Ditch the Phrase “Social Distancing”

By Victor Tangermann

Bad news, space fans: NASA just announced they're gonna have reschedule that trip to the Moon they'd been planning in a few years.

NASA: Bad News, Something Came Up, Gotta Rain-Check That Moon Trip :(

By Foster Kamer

A team of engineers have developed technology that allows a drone to dodge obstacles, including basketballs flung at high speeds.

Watch This Drone Expertly Dodge a Careening Soccer Ball

By Victor Tangermann

A group of roughly 300 nuclear fusion researchers put together a massive report of goals and priorities for making fusion power a reality.

Scientists Call for Fusion Power Plant in the United States

By Dan Robitzski

As SpaceX continues to launch more of its Starlink satellites, new research suggests hundreds will be visible from Earth with the naked eye.

Science & Energy

Astronomer: SpaceX Satellite Swarm Will Be Visible With Naked Eye

By Dan Robitzski

To give massively overworked healthcare workers a much-needed break, China tried something new: by staffing an entire field hospital with robots.

China Opened an Entire Hospital Staffed by Robots

By Victor Tangermann

The Coronavirus Pandemic Drastically Reduced Carbon Emissions

The Coronavirus Pandemic Drastically Reduced Carbon Emissions

By Dan Robitzski

With more social gatherings happening over video conferences, we're seeing gnarly snack time close-ups. Thankfully, Microsoft AI can edit out eating sounds.

Artificial Intelligence

Microsoft AI Can Now Edit Your Snacking Sounds out of Your Video Chats

By Dan Robitzski

The US Treasury Department announced today it plans to hand out $500 billion to Americans as a way to stabilize the economy during the coronavirus outbreak.

White House Suggests Giving Americans $500 Billion to Stabilize Economy

By Victor Tangermann

Now that many workplaces and schools are operating remotely, America's terrible broadband access is revealing major societal inequalities.

Science & Energy

America’s Flimsy Broadband Has Workers, Schoolchildren Isolated

By Dan Robitzski

Area cops are telling Elon Musk's electric automaker Tesla that it must shut down operations at its Fremont factory location.

California Cops Say Tesla Factory Must Shut Down

By Jon Christian

In a last-resort move to free up the InSight Mars rover's digging probe, NASA engineers programmed the rover to thwack it with a shovel.

NASA Fixes Mars Lander By Telling It to Hit Itself With a Shovel

By Dan Robitzski

Buzz Aldrin had some choice words of advice for Ars Technica's Eric Berger on how to survive self-isolation during the coronavirus outbreak.

The Second Man to Walk on the Moon Has Some Quarantine Advice

By Victor Tangermann

Even amid a Bay Area lockdown, enigmatic Tesla CEO Elon Musk refuses to shut down the carmaker's Fremont automobile factory.

As Coronavirus Rages, Elon Musk Refuses to Close Tesla Factory

By Jon Christian

Ther are no bones about it: European researchers say they've invented a rubbery nanomaterial that seamlessly integrates with the human body.

Scientists Say New Nanomaterial Could “Replace Human Tissue”

By Jon Christian

All American journalists working for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and the Washington Post have been expelled from China.

China Bans Journalists From Major US Newspapers

By Victor Tangermann

A team of security researchers bought a German armed forces laptop for only 90 euros ($99) on eBay that contained classified military information.

German Military Laptop With Classified Data Sold for $100 on eBay

By Victor Tangermann

A creative group of elementary school graduates decided to have their graduation ceremony inside Minecraft since schools are out until spring.

Isolated by Coronavirus, Schoolkids Hold Graduation In Minecraft

By Victor Tangermann

According to Associated Press White House reporter Zeke Miller, e-commerce giant Amazon is looking to hire 100,000 people to "keep up with crush of orders."

Amazon Seeks to Hire 100,000 Workers to Keep Up During Outbreak

By Victor Tangermann

TikTok told its moderators to suppress videos created by "ugly," poor, or disabled people to be posted on the platform's "For You" section.

TikTok Tried to Suppress Videos by Users It Deemed Ugly, Poor

By Victor Tangermann

According to Uber and Lyft drivers who had their accounts deactivated over drunk driving, passengers filed false accusations to score a refund.

Advanced Transport

Uber Riders Are Accusing Drivers of Drunk Driving for Free Trips

By Dan Robitzski

According to a new study on ancient mollusk fossils, a day on Earth used to be half an hour shorter and a year was a full week longer.

Science & Energy

It’s Not You: Scientists Confirm Days Are Actually Getting Longer

By Dan Robitzski

Astronomers spotted a 13 billion year-old blazar given off by the most ancient supermassive black hole to be discovered yet.

Science & Energy

Astronomers: Here’s This Incredibly Ancient Supermassive Black Hole We Found

By Dan Robitzski

Hackers are creating their own coronavirus maps to infect users with malware, stealing sensitive data including credit card numbers in the process.

Hackers Are Using Coronavirus Maps to Spread Malware

By Victor Tangermann

Even in spite of the coronavirus pandemic, China has remained on track to launch its planned mission to Mars later this year.

Science & Energy

China Powers Through the Coronavirus to Launch a Mars Mission

By Dan Robitzski

Tinder has cancelled the international release of its apocalypse-themed in-app video-slash-hookup-game called "Swipe Night," as TechCrunch reports.

Tinder Cancels Its Apocalypse-Themed Game Due to Coronavirus

By Victor Tangermann

The Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway (MTR) Corportation rolled out a disinfecting robot to clean subway trains using "vaporised hydrogen peroxide."

Hong Kong Is Using Robots to Disinfect Subway Trains

By Victor Tangermann

According to a new internal report, developing the rocket meant to bring crewmembers to the Moon in 2024 has NASA years behind and billions over budget.

NASA’s Own Report Admits Its Non-SpaceX Rocket Is a Disaster

By Dan Robitzski

Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang argued that the coronavirus outbreak proves that we should be supporting people by paying them a basic income.

Universal Basic Income

Andrew Yang: Coronavirus Outbreak Proves We Need Basic Income

By Victor Tangermann

The universe might be one big giant bubble.

Physicist: Our Galaxy May Be Located Inside an Enormous Bubble

By Jon Christian

Depending how they measure it, scientists get vastly different answers for the mass of the North Star. A rare cosmic fusion could be the problem.

Science & Energy

Scientists Still Can’t Tell How Big the North Star Is

By Dan Robitzski

Astronomers discovered an exoplanet called WASP-76b with an extreme atmosphere: iron is vaporized in the day and rains back down at night.

Astronomers Found a Brutal Hell Planet Where It Rains Liquid Iron

By Dan Robitzski

Japanese company Bauhutte has come up with the perfect solution to surviving a 14-day quarantine: a $1,200 gaming bed concept.

You Literally Never Have to Get Out of This $1,200 Gaming Bed

By Victor Tangermann

SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell says SpaceX plans to launch a crewed mission in its Crew Dragon spacecraft sometime in May — just two months away.

Science & Energy

SpaceX President: We Plan to Launch a Crewed Mission in May

By Jon Christian

"Unless we improve our rate of innovation dramatically, then there is no chance of a base on the moon or a city on Mars."

Elon Musk: My Main Goal Is to Get Humanity to Mars Before I Die

By Victor Tangermann

A number of airlines are being forced to operate near empty "ghost flights" after the coronavirus outbreak caused demand for airfare to plummet globally.

Advanced Transport

As the Coronavirus Rages, Airlines Fly Near-Empty “Ghost Flights”

By Victor Tangermann

New York governor Andrew Cuomo has a wild idea to tackle a hand sanitizer shortage: use prison labor to make more of the stuff.

New York Is Using Prison Labor to Make Emergency Hand Sanitizer

By Victor Tangermann

Driverless delivery vehicle startup Neolix is raking in new customers as cities in China are under full lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Self-Driving Vehicles

Adorable Self-Driving Vans Are Disinfecting Roads in China

By Victor Tangermann

Photos emerged this week, on social media, of dolphins loaded into a military transport jet — chilling, like blocks of tofu, in shallow tubs of water.

US Military Loads Explosive-Sniffing Dolphins Into Cargo Plane

By Jon Christian

According to a new report, a Canadian basic income pilot project from 2017 was a huge success, with people living healthier, more productive lives.

Universal Basic Income

Given Basic Income, People Kept Working and Got Healthier

By Victor Tangermann

According to a new study, lettuce grown in space isn't just delicious, it's just as nutritious and safe to eat as boring-old Earth lettuce as well.

Science & Energy

Good News: Space Lettuce Is Safe to Eat, Good for You

By Victor Tangermann

A new site claims to offer a guide to building an entire nuclear power plant, from the reactor vessels to the Homer Simpson-esque control panels.

Here’s How to Build Your Own Nuclear Power Plant

By Jon Christian

"Bubbles of nothing," extra dimensional holes, could cause the universe to consume itself from inside out, according to a group of phycisists.

Science & Energy

Theoretical Holes in Spacetime Could Swallow the Entire Universe

By Victor Tangermann

Goodyear debuted a futuristic tire concept on Tuesday called ReCharge that has the ability to regrow its tread using a special liquid compound capsule.

Advanced Transport

This Futuristic Tire Concept Regrows Its Tread by Popping a Pill

By Victor Tangermann

How can you say goodbye to a loved one who fell victim to a pandemic? The outbreak of COVID-19 is forcing officials to ponder some serious questions.

Coronavirus Could Force Funerals to be Livestreamed

After a nation-wide stdudent contest, NASA has selected "Perseverance" as the name for its next Mars rover, set to launch later this year.

NASA’s New Mars Rover Officially Has a Name

By Dan Robitzski

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is expecting his electric car company Tesla to release more full self driving features later this month.

Self-Driving Vehicles

Elon Musk: New Self-Driving Features Will Come Out This Month

By Victor Tangermann

With a speaker and four microphones, a drone was able to echolocate and map out its surroundings similarly to how bats do it.

Engineers Built a Drone That Echolocates Like a Bat

By Dan Robitzski