the digest(Page 169)

Latest in the digest

NASA scientists are starting fires in space to learn more about fuel combustion. They hope it can make engines more efficient here on Earth.

Science & Energy

NASA Is Starting Fires in Space Just to Watch Them Burn

By Dan Robitzski

Elon Musk tweeted that the Tesla Model S set the record for the fastest 4 door ever at Laguna Seca in California challenging Porsche's electric sports car.

Elon Musk: Tesla Model S Set a New Track Record in California

By Victor Tangermann

The launch pad for a Japanese rocket inexplicably caught fire, forcing the nation to abort an International Space Station supply mission.

Japanese Rocket’s Launch Pad Inexplicably Bursts Into Flames

By Kristin Houser

A new bill, just passed by California's state senate, makes Uber and Lyft contractors actual employees and eligible for benefits.

New California Law Makes Uber and Lyft Drivers Employees

By Victor Tangermann

Right now, the U.S. government is ill-equipped to defend against and counter high-tech means of warfare like cyberattacks or hypersonic missiles.

NSA: The US Is Vulnerable to Cyberattacks, Hypersonic Missiles

By Dan Robitzski

Apple just unveiled the iPhone 11 Pro, but based on the public's response, it didn't run the design past anyone with trypophobia.

Robots and Machines

The New iPhone Design Is Horrifying People With an Obscure Phobia

By Dan Robitzski

SpaceX filed paperwork with the FCC yesterday, requesting permission to communicate with its first generation Starship up to an altitude of 22.5 km.

SpaceX Files Paperwork for Starship Maiden Voyage

By Victor Tangermann

A Swedish scientist has suggested humans might need to turn to cannibalism to survive food shortages brought about by climate change.

Scientist Suggests New Response to Climate Change: Cannibalism

By Kristin Houser

A new AI tool that can turns selfies into fully-rendered characters in the video game "Justice Online." Apparently it's been used 1 million times.

Artificial Intelligence

Amazing AI Turns Your Selfie Into a 3D Video Game Character

By Dan Robitzski

Alienstock, a free music festival that spun off the popular "Storm Area 51" Facebook event, has been canceled, founder Matty Roberts announced.

Amid Drama, “Storm Area 51” Founder Cancels Tie-In Music Festival

By Kristin Houser

Microsoft President Brad Smith revealed in his new book that Taylor Swift threatened to sue the company over "Tay" the Twitter chatbot-turned-Nazi.

Artificial Intelligence

Taylor Swift Reportedly Threatened Microsoft Over Racist Chatbot

By Dan Robitzski

Facebook has announced a trio of new initiatives designed to prevent suicide and self-harm amongst the platform's many users.

Facebook Announces New Efforts to Prevent Suicide and Self-Harm

By Kristin Houser

As brain-computer interface and neural implant technology improves, the Royal Society argues we may soon be able to communicate telepathically.

Scientists: Brain Implants Could Essentially Make Us Telepathic

By Dan Robitzski

A new video shows a Tesla driver asleep at the wheel while his car, presumably with Autopilot mode enabled, cruises down the Massachusetts Turnpike.

Watch a Tesla Driver Cruise Down the Highway Completely Asleep

By Dan Robitzski

Researchers at MIT invented a chameleon-like "reprogrammable ink" that allows you to "paint" colors onto a surface using a projector and UV light.

New Tech Can Switch Your Car’s Paint Job “Like a Chameleon”

By Victor Tangermann

Virgin Galactic plans to start selling tickets to space next year. By 2023, it will launch a shuttlefull of passengers every 32 hours.

Virgin Galactic’s Plan: Send Tourists to Space Every 32 Hours

By Dan Robitzski

In 2011, Elon Musk and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein both attended an exclusive "Billionaires' Dinner" in Long Beach, Calif.

Elon Musk Got a Posh “Billionaires’ Dinner” With Jeffrey Epstein

By Kristin Houser

A team of scientists on board the International Space Station have successfully mixed cement in the microgravity of space.

For the First Time Ever, Astronauts Mix Cement in Space

By Victor Tangermann

General John Raymnd, head of the newly-formed U.S. Space Command, clarified that he'll seek to first deter space combat but would still be ready to fight.

Head of US Space Command: Space Is “Clearly a Warfighting Domain”

By Dan Robitzski

Google has banned ads hawking unproven or experimental medical treatments and therapies, including many stem cell and gene therapies.

Google Finally Bans Dangerous Miracle Cure Ads

By Kristin Houser

Scientists are suggesting that the methane-filled lakes on the surface of Saturn's largest moon Titan could have been formed by massive explosions.

Science & Energy

Huge Explosions May Have Formed Lakes on Saturn’s Moon Titan

By Victor Tangermann

Shawn Rosenberg, a prominent psychologist at the University of California, Irvine told the crowd at a recent meeting of the International Society of Political Psychologists that "democracy is devouring itself," Politico reports.

Prominent Researcher Predicts That Democracy Is Going to Collapse

By Dan Robitzski

On Friday, state broadcaster CCTV aired footage of traffic police using a drone to tell a scooter rider to put on his helmet, according to a newly published South China Morning Post story.

Police Drone Caught Barking Orders at Chinese Driver

By Kristin Houser

A survey of 14 well-known comets traced them all back to the same point in space and time, suggesting that the comets of our solar system are all related.

Science & Energy

Scientists: Birthplace of All Comets Could Explain Life on Earth

By Dan Robitzski

A state-owned communications watchdog in Russia claims that Google, Facebook, and YouTube interfered with a local election by allowing political ads.

Russia Accuses Facebook of Meddling In Its Election. Seriously.

By Victor Tangermann

Researchers working on a Tesla battery say their new model could last for up to 1 million miles over 6,000 recharging cycles.

Tesla Researcher Says New Battery Could Last One Million Miles

By Dan Robitzski

New research suggests that we haven't found aliens because they're waiting until their solar systems pass closer to ours before making the journey.

New Research: Aliens May Have Already Visited Earth

By Dan Robitzski

An MIT-funded robotic agriculture project that promised anybody the instant ability to successfully grow food is snake oil, according to Business Insider.

Report: MIT’s Much-Hyped Robotic Agriculture Project is a Sham

By Victor Tangermann

India may have lost all communication with its Vikram lunar lander after making its approach last week — but not all may be lost.

India Finds Lost Moon Lander, Tries to Establish Contact

By Victor Tangermann

In areas where access to abortion is limited, Google Maps sometimes directs people looking for clinics to anti-abortion facilities instead.

Science & Energy

Google Is Still Misleading People Trying to Find Abortion Clinics

By Dan Robitzski

China plans to "curb and regulate" the use of facial recognition technology in its schools, according to officials from the Ministry of Education.

Facial recognition

Surprise Move: China to Curb Use of Facial Recognition in Schools

By Kristin Houser

Breaking: India Has Lost Communication With Lunar Lander

Science & Energy

Breaking: India Has Lost Communication With Lunar Lander

By Victor Tangermann

The Boknis Eck Observatory, an underwater research facility that monitored environmental conditions off the coast of Germany, has vanished without a trace.

Science & Energy

An Underwater Research Station Has Vanished Without a Trace

By Dan Robitzski

On Friday afternoon, India's Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft will attempt to land on the Moon. If it works, India will be the fourth country to ever do so.

Science & Energy

India Is About to Attempt a Moon Landing

By Dan Robitzski

The New York City government just sued T-Mobile and its stores over fraudulent and predatory sales practices, including selling used phones as new.

Robots and Machines

T-Mobile Accused of Selling Used Phones and Saying They’re New

By Dan Robitzski

A Chinese man paid $35,000 to have his cat cloned, only to receive a cat that, while biologically identical to the original, doesn't look like it.

Science & Energy

This Guy’s $35,000 Cat Clone Looks Nothing Like the Original

By Kristin Houser

A new Twitter account is collecting (legal, consensual) dick pics to test out a filter that can automatically delete unsolicited nudes.

Artificial Intelligence

This Researcher Is Gathering Dick Pics to Test Penis-Detecting AI

By Dan Robitzski

A team of scientists is preparing to release a world first: video footage of an enormous black hole devouring vast clouds of gas.

Astronomers Say They’ll Soon Release First Video of a Black Hole

By Jon Christian

In a Thursday evening tweet, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed his plans to bring the Model S to one of the world's toughest race car tracks.

Elon Musk Escalates Beef With Porsche’s Electric Car

By Victor Tangermann

Volkswagen has created a kit that converts its classic Beetle to electric power, but owners will need to travel to Germany to have it installed.

Advanced Transport

Volkswagen Will Convert Your Classic Beetle to Electric

By Kristin Houser

Elon Musk Ridicules Porsche for Calling Its Electric Car “Turbo”

Elon Musk Ridicules Porsche for Calling Its Electric Car “Turbo”

By Victor Tangermann

A meeting of MIT Media Lab employees to discuss the school's acceptance of donations from Jeffrey Epstein led to a bizarre series of events.

Bizarre MIT Meeting About Jeffrey Epstein Ends In Tears, Yelling

By Kristin Houser

Companies like Postmates that have launched fleets of delivery robots still depend on human operators to occasionally grab the wheel.

Why a Former Military Drone Pilot Now Steers Burrito Delivery Bots

By Dan Robitzski

A security company's investigation debunks the theory that a mobile phone listens to its user's conversations for ad-targetting purposes.

Robots and Machines

Experts Insist: No, Your Phone Isn’t Secretly Listening to You

By Kristin Houser

GPS trackers intended to help parents keep an eye on their kids are particularly vulnerable to hackers. Over 600,000 devices could be easily compromised.

Robots and Machines

Parents Are Giving Kids GPS Trackers That Can Be Hacked by Creeps

By Dan Robitzski

Tyson Foods announced its investment in New Wave Foods, a Silicon Valley startup that's preparing to the flood the markets with its plant-based shrimp.

Plant-Based Shrimp is Coming to a Stir-Fry Near You

By Victor Tangermann

NASA just attached its new semi-autonomous helicopter drone to the rover it's sending to Mars next year. Pending a few more tests, it should be ready to go.

Self-Driving Vehicles

NASA Installs Autonomous Mini-Helicopter on Its Next Mars Rover

By Dan Robitzski

China claims its Yutu-2 lunar rover has stumbled upon an unsually colored "gel-like" substance on the bottom of an impact crater on the Moon.

Science & Energy

China Claims Its Moon Rover Found a Colorful “Gel-Like” Substance

By Victor Tangermann

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden suggests sending Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to prison for the lies he has told the American people.

Senator Suggests Sending Mark Zuckerberg to Prison

By Kristin Houser

A new attempt to explain the mysterious giant bubbles that sandwich our galaxy fell short; astronomers couldn't reconcile the data with any hypotheses.

Science & Energy

Scientists Baffled by Giant Bubbles Sandwiching Our Galaxy

By Dan Robitzski

A Michigan town is upgrading its high school with features designed to minimize fatalities in the event of a school shooting.

This $48M School Was Designed to Minimize Mass Shooting Deaths

By Kristin Houser

A deepfake video uploaded to YouTube explores what it would have looked like if Will Smith had accepted to take on the role of Neo in "The Matrix."

Watch a Deepfake That Casts Will Smith as Neo In “The Matrix”

By Victor Tangermann

Over 419 million database records on hundreds of millions of Facebook users, including their phone numbers, were stored in an unprotected server.

Phone Numbers of 400M Facebook Users Were Publicly Available

By Victor Tangermann

PayPal has suspended an account used by the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan to collect donations from supporters.

PayPal Suspends Ku Klux Klan’s Donation Account

By Kristin Houser

A non-profit group called Privacy International found that mental health-focused websites in Europe are selling user data to third-party advertisers.

Mental Health Sites Sell Your Psychological Data to Advertisers

By Dan Robitzski

A doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley built tiny flapping-wing and hopping robots that could one day explore distant planets.

Robots and Machines

These Tiny “Fruit Fly Bots” Could Explore Distant Planets

By Victor Tangermann

A software company is making construction robots that learn to excavate and assemble structures by imitating human movements and may someday work in space.

Robots Could Build Martian Settlements by Imitating Humans on Earth

By Dan Robitzski

SpaceX said it didn't do anything to avoid a satellite collision because a software bug prevented it from knowing the risk of a crash had increased.

SpaceX Blames Bug for Decision Not to Avert Satellite Collision

By Kristin Houser

Amazon is working on a system called Orville that would let people pay for things by waving their hands in front of a scanner.

Amazon Wants You to Pay for Things With Your Handprint

By Dan Robitzski

A sociological research survey of AI chatbots' capabilities found that they could empathize with each other and tell jokes among themselves.

Artificial Intelligence

Surprise Research: AIs Can “Sympathize With Each Other”

By Dan Robitzski

Italian sports car maker Lamborghini just revealed the Sián, its first ever hybrid. But this isn't a Prius — far from it.

Advanced Transport

Lamborghini Debuts First Hybrid and It’s an Absolute Beast

By Victor Tangermann

The National Transportation Safety Board found that a Tesla driver who crashed into a fire truck was eating and drinking with Autopilot on before the crash.

A Tesla Driver Was Eating, Drinking During Autopilot Crash

By Victor Tangermann

Authorities in Hong Kong are spraying crowds of protestors with canons full of blue dye to make them easy to identify for later arrest.

Police Are Spraying Protesters With Dye to Round Them up Later

By Kristin Houser

Inventor Richard Browning donned his Iron Man-style jet suit to deliver a letter to the Isle of Wight — and broke a personal flight record in the process.

Advanced Transport

Watch the Iron Man-Style Jet Suit Inventor Fly to an Island

By Kristin Houser