the digest (Page 155)

Latest in the digest

Russia's intelligence agency reportedly sent agents to insepct undersea internet cables around Dublin, a major tech hub, causing fears over wiretapping.

Science & Energy

Russian Intelligence Is Snooping Around Undersea Internet Cables

By Dan Robitzski

Australia Wants to Help NASA Build Space Station Using Robots

By Victor Tangermann

Human composting is becoming more popular, and according to the BBC, it may be a better choice for the environment as well.

Human Composting is Better for the Environment

When Bill Gates announced that he had bought Porsche's Taycan electric car, Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to disparage his fellow billionaire.

Elon Musk Disses Bill Gates

By Jon Christian

Nikkei Asian Review recently did a teardown of a Tesla Model 3. Engineers were shocked at how advanced the company's onboard computer technology was.

Tesla Computer Hardware Stuns Competitors: “We Cannot Do It”

By Victor Tangermann

If investors and business leaders, especially those in the energy sector, continue to ignore climate change, they might tank the economy.

Research: Extreme Weather Could Crash the Economy

By Dan Robitzski

Elon Musk went on Twitter on Monday night and argued in favor of regulating artificial intelligence (AI) for all companies — including Tesla.

Elon Musk: Everyone, “Including Tesla,” Needs AI Regulation

By Foster Kamer

Private space tourism company Space Adventures has announced a new partnership with SpaceX to start flying those who can afford a ticket to space.

SpaceX Says It Will Launch Space Tourists as Soon as Next Year

By Victor Tangermann

German scientists say that for the first time ever, they've created a lab-grown artificial genome that can reproduce itself like a living organism.

Scientists Create Artificial Genome That Can Reproduce

By Jon Christian

Social media has made it easier than ever to effortlessly connect with friends, share photos, and rapidly propagate misinformation.

Health & Medicine

Study: Social Media Users More Likely to Be Misinformed About Vaccines

Chess is one of the fastest-growing games on the video game streaming platform Twitch as hundreds of thousands tune in to watch masters strategize.

Yasssss Queen: Chess Is Finally Becoming the Next Big eSport

By Dan Robitzski

This German a way to hack his prosthetic arm so that it could control electronic musical instruments.

Prosthetics and Devices

This Guy Hacked His Prosthetic Arm to Control Musical Instruments

By Jon Christian

The director of the US National Radio Astronomy Observatory told the BBC that alien hunting for extra terrestrials should be taken more seriously.

Science & Energy

SETI Scientist: Nobody Takes Alien Hunting Seriously

By Victor Tangermann

Researchers and ethicists are once again pushing back against AI-enabled sex robots marketed as a replacement for human relationships.

Researcher Warns That Sex Robots May Cause Psychological Damage

By Dan Robitzski

Scientists have plans to battle cocaine addictions with a promising new tool: Using gene therapy to make cocaine less addictive.

Prosthetics and Devices

Scientists Propose Gene Hack to Make Cocaine Less Fun

By Foster Kamer

These Unsettling Medical Masks Look Like Human Faces

These Unsettling Medical Masks Look Like Human Faces

By Victor Tangermann

A team of computer science professors have invented a special bracelet that jams any nearby microphones, including the ones in smart assistants.

Robots and Machines

This Cyberpunk Bracelet Jams Any Spying Microphones Nearby

By Victor Tangermann

Scientists found a way to turn locusts into explosives-sniffing cyborgs according to a study funded by the U.S. Navy. Yes, bomb-sniffing cyborg locusts.

Robots and Machines

Bomb-Sniffing Cyborg Locusts? Bomb-Sniffing Cyborg Locusts.

By Victor Tangermann

It turns out that a thin coating of powdered rust could serve as a killer, lightweight shield against deadly cosmic radiation.

It Turns Out Rust Is… a Great Shield for Deadly Space Radiation

By Dan Robitzski

A newly published Amazon patent that dates back to 2017 lays out plans for a ship-based launch system that whips paylods into space using a miles-long whip.

Amazon Patented a System That Literally Whips Stuff Into Orbit

By Victor Tangermann

Delta just threw down a carbon-neutral pledge at a first-class price: $1 billion over ten years. Is it a realistic ambition, or a pie-in-the-sky dream?

Renewable Energy

Uh, Delta Just Threw Down a $1 Billion Carbon-Neutral Pledge

By Foster Kamer

Swiss startup Energy Vault wants to overcome the limitations of lithium-ion batteries by storing wind and solar energy by stacking massive brick towers.

Here’s How to Store Wind and Solar Energy Using Just Gravity

By Victor Tangermann

A team of scientists has nearly dug deep enough inside Earth to tap into a reservoir of supercritical fluid, which could serve as a limitless power supply.

This Team Wants to Capture Unlimited Energy From Inside the Earth

By Dan Robitzski

Russian director and producer Timur Bekmambetov is producing the first "vertical blockbuster movie," called "V2. Escape From Hell."

This “Blockbuster” Movie Will Be Shot Entirely in Vertical Video

By Victor Tangermann

Tesla decided to reinstate $8,000 worth of Autopilot features to a used 2017 Model S after the owner found the company had removed them after he bought it.

Tesla Returns Autopilot Features to Used Car After Outrage

By Victor Tangermann

NASA is building a huge dish in California that it hopes will allow Mars astronauts to communicate with Earth — using high-powered lasers.

NASA: Mars Astronauts Will Use Lasers to Communicate With Earth

By Jon Christian

The European Space Agency releaed a troubling time-lapse video showing a gigantic iceberg splitting off of Antarctica and drifting away.

Watch a Las Vegas-Sized Iceberg Break Off Antarctica

By Dan Robitzski

The 2020 Democratic primaries are well underway and the campaign for Bloomberg is getting down and dirty with top-notch Instagram memes.

Bloomberg Hires Fyre Fest Promoters to Make Memes

The asteroid belt will get turned into dust when, as the Sun is finally dying, it will get incredibly bright, and destroy ithe entire asteroid belt. Fun!

Science & Energy

In Its Dying Gasp, Our Sun Will Obliterate the Asteroid Belt

By Jon Christian

"Mythbusters" legend Adam Savage has built a one-person rickshaw carriage so that his Boston Dynamics Spot robot can lug him around.

Watch a Robodog Drag Adam Savage Around in a Goth Rickshaw

By Victor Tangermann

Monkeys zapped with electrodes woke up from being put under, and while it's a ways off from human use, this dream could be a waking reality soon.

Electrode Brain Implant Could Potentially Zap People Out of Comas

By Foster Kamer

According to a study published earlier this month in journal Genome Biology and Evolution, woolly mammoth genes had many bad mutations from inbreeding.

Science & Energy

So, Uh, the Last Woolly Mammoths Were Inbred, Mutated Wretches

By Foster Kamer

Lexus president Koji Sato says the company will unveil it's Autopilot-like assisted driving technology, Highway Teammate, which enables hands-free driving.

Advanced Transport

Lexus: New Autopilot-Like Feature Will Allow Hands-Free Driving

By Dan Robitzski

The Mars Society, a space advocacy group, is holding a contest for the best designs of a Martian city state that can accommodate one million inhabitants.

This Group is Collecting Designs For a Martian City

By Victor Tangermann

Newly released documents suggest that there are serious safety flaws in the Tesla Autopilot system, which was activated during a fatal crash.

Tesla Driver’s Autopilot Often Swerved Toward the Same Barrier. One Day, It Killed Him.

By Dan Robitzski

Apply now! NASA is officially accepting astronaut applications for its next generation of astronauts that could one day travel to the Moon and Mars.

Here’s Where You Can Apply to Be a NASA Moon Astronaut

By Victor Tangermann

William Gerstenmaier, who served as the chief of NASA’s human spaceflight program for 14 years, has found himself new gig: working at SpaceX.

SpaceX Hires Former NASA Chief of Human Spaceflight

By Kristin Houser

NASA will need $35 billion over the next four years to successfully complete the Artemis Moon mission, according to Human Spaceflight Chief Doug Loverro.

NASA: Next Moon Landing Will Cost About $35 Billion

By Kristin Houser

The Iran Minister of Information and Communications Technology uploaded an image to Twitter last week of a space suit. It was likely a children's costume.

Iran Tries to Pass Off $20 Walmart Costume as Space Suit

By Victor Tangermann

Boston Dynamics' popular robot dog Spot is going to work on an offshore oil rig managed by Norwegian oil company Aker BP.

Boston Dynamics

Boston Dynamics’ Robot Dog Is Going to Work on an Oil Rig

By Kristin Houser

In October 2019, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter managed to snap a photo of a massive active dust devil — and you can now see it for yourself.

Science & Energy

NASA Snaps Photo of Epic Dust Devil on the Surface of Mars

By Kristin Houser

Rather than euthanize lab animals after testing, the Food and Drug Administration is now allowing sanctuaries and shelters to adopt the critters.

Science & Energy

You Can Now Adopt Lab Animals That the FDA Experimented On

By Kristin Houser

Two mysterious Russian satellites are coming eerily close to a US spy satellite in Earth's orbit, something that has US generals on edge.

Space Force General: Russian Satellite Is “Unusual and Disturbing”

By Victor Tangermann

A team of engineers built a kind of generator that gives off a powerful burst of energy whenever it's hit by falling rain.

Scientists Invent Device to Generate Electricity From Rain

By Dan Robitzski

In an image uploaded to Twitter on Sunday, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk gave us a rare glimpse at the inside of his space company's Starship factory in Texas.

Elon Musk Provides Peek Inside Starship Factory

By Victor Tangermann

NASA equipped the 2020 Mars rover with a powerful laser, capable of vaporizing rocks. It's an extreme way of learning what they're made of.

Science & Energy

Next NASA Mars Rover Will Sport a Rock-Vaporizing Laser

By Dan Robitzski

On Friday, OurMine's hackers took over the Instagram and Twitter accounts of social media giant Facebook in an apparent effort to drum up business.

Hackers Hijack Facebook’s Twitter, Instagram Accounts

By Kristin Houser

Dutch company Sinot denies reports that Bill Gates is buying Aqua, a $644 million hydrogen-powered yacht concept it designed.

Advanced Transport

That Story About Bill Gates Buying a $644 Million Yacht Is Fake

By Kristin Houser

Artificial intelligence researchers are studying the brain waves and eye movements of gamers to train an AI that can control fleets of military robots.

DARPA Is Using Gamers’ Brain Waves to Train Robot Swarms

By Kristin Houser

US business man and certified genius Rick Pescovitz was seen wearing a personal, transparent tent in a window seat on a flight to avoid the coronavirus.

Man Wears Personal Plastic Tent on Flight to Avoid Deadly Virus

By Victor Tangermann

A team of Cornell University researchers have spotted a fast radio signal source that pulses on an astonishingly regular 16-day cycle.

Science & Energy

Powerful Radio Signal From Distant Galaxy Seems to Have a Pattern

By Victor Tangermann

A new bill in the House of Representatives would lay the groundwork for a national grid of electric vehicle charging stations.

Advanced Transport

Congress Proposes Nationwide Network of Electric Car Chargers

By Dan Robitzski

According to a NASA safety review panel, Boeing's first uncrewed flight test of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft almost ended in a "catastrophic failure."

NASA: Boeing Starliner Test Nearly Ended in “Catastrophic Failure”

By Victor Tangermann

After a man livestreamed his suicide on TikTok, the company spent three hours crafting its PR response before contacting the police.

TikTok Waited Three Hours to Tell Cops About Livestreamed Suicide

By Kristin Houser

To stop a constant barrage of car honking noise, the Mumbai police installed horn noise detectors at traffic lights. The more noise, the longer the red.

Advanced Transport

India’s Devious New Traffic Lights Stay Red When Drivers Honk

By Victor Tangermann

Monica Grady, a professor at Liverpool Hope University, claims that there is "almost a racing certainty" there's alien life on Jupiter's moon Europa.

University Chancellor Predicts “Higher Forms of Life” on Europa

By Victor Tangermann

A man bought a 2017 Tesla Model S in December last year from a third-party dealer — but in the end, he didn't quite get what he paid for.

Tesla Is Remotely Removing Autopilot Features From Used Cars

By Victor Tangermann

YouTuber Elon McFly has uploaded a perfect rendition of what would happen if the iconic DeLorean in "Back to the Future" was replaced by a Tesla Cybertruck.

Advanced Transport

Watch a Cybertruck Replace the DeLorean in “Back to the Future”

By Victor Tangermann

Ford has created a jacket for bicyclists that allows them to communicate with drivers using emoji displayed in LEDs on the rider's back.

Advanced Transport

This Awesome Jacket Uses an LED Array to Display Huge Emoji

By Kristin Houser

Axiom Space, the company that's developing a privately-owned "space hotel" module for the ISS, shared more details on when it plans to launch.

Plans Are Moving Ahead to Open a Space Hotel Attached to the ISS

By Dan Robitzski

On the Third Row Tesla podcast last month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed that at first, he had his doubts about the company's recently announced Cybertruck.

Elon Musk Admits He Worried “Nobody Would Buy” Tesla’s Cybertruck

By Victor Tangermann

NASA is asking potential industry partners, including electric car companies, to send them ideas for lunar terrain vehicle (LTV) designs.

Advanced Transport

NASA Is Asking Electric Car Companies for Lunar Rover Ideas

By Victor Tangermann

A scientist and a fashion designer on working a "Martian death project" that would include a system to compost dead Mars colonists' corpses.

Scientist: Mars Colonists Will Need to Compost Dead Human Bodies

By Kristin Houser

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres shared a dire warning that the planet is descending into conflcit and instability, but a better future is possible.

UN Secretary-General: “A Wind of Madness Is Sweeping the Globe”

By Dan Robitzski