the digest (Page 174)

Latest in the digest

Researchers have developed a new Turing Test to determine when machines are able to not only think like humans, but act like us as well.

Artificial Intelligence

Advanced Robotics Forced Scientists to Invent a New Turing Test

By Kristin Houser

For the last nine years, the U.S. government has been working on a top-secret military artificial intelligence "brain" platform called "Sentient."

Artificial Intelligence

The Military Secretly Built An “Artificial Brain” Called Sentient

By Dan Robitzski

The Pentagon is working on a laser that can beam human speech directly into people's brains, tech that could warn intruders as they approach military bases.

Robots and Machines

Pentagon: New Laser Tech Can Make People Hear Voice Commands

By Dan Robitzski

Astronomers from Cornell University claim they've found the first potentially habitable "super-earth," an Earth-like planet outside the Solar System.

Science & Energy

Satellite Spots “First Nearby Super-Earth” That Could Harbor Life

By Victor Tangermann

When police departments partner with Amazon's smart doorbell company, Ring, the company gets control over all statements to the press or public.

Amazon Is Feeding Talking Points About Its Spy Doorbell to Police

By Dan Robitzski

Chinese vlogger "Your Highness Qiao Biluo" was ousted to be a 58-year-old woman with a different appearance when her face filtering software glitched.

Youthful Vlogger’s Face Filter Fails, Exposing Her as 58-Year-Old

By Victor Tangermann

A team of Chinese engineers are working on developing an electric helicopter, according to local news.

Advanced Transport

Chinese Researchers Are Working on an Electric Helicopter

By Victor Tangermann

A Bulgarian hacker took control of the country's tax agency and also hijacked the sprinkler system outside of Parliament.

Hackers Seize Control of Bulgarian Tax Agency, Sprinkler System

By Dan Robitzski

Police Investigate Death of Employee at Tesla’s Gigafactory

Police Investigate Death of Employee at Tesla’s Gigafactory

By Kristin Houser

New evidence suggests that Mars may have had a liquid ocean on its surface, and that meteor impacts caused a planet-sized tsunamis.

Science & Energy

Ancient Meteor Strike Deluged Mars With Planet-Scale Tsunami

By Dan Robitzski

A Japanese scientist from the University of Tokyo just got permission from the government to create animal embryos that contain human cells, Nature reports.

Health & Medicine

Japanese Scientist Wants to Grow Human Organs In Animal Embryos

By Victor Tangermann

More and more funeral homes are livestreaming services, giving people a chance to tune in if they couldn't travel or revisit moments they couldn't process.

People Are Livestreaming Funerals

By Dan Robitzski

Astronomers believe a newly discovered trio of exoplanets just 73 light-years from Earth could serve as the ideal "lab" for future exoplanet research.

Science & Energy

Nearby Star System Looks to Be Ideal “Lab” for Exoplanet Studies

By Kristin Houser

Startup Sierra Energy has found a way to vaporize trash, turning it into gases that can be used to create everything from fuel to fertilizer.

Science & Energy

Startup’s Tech Vaporizes Trash From Overflowing Landfills

By Kristin Houser

A rare, brain-swelling deadly virus spread via mosquitoes was just spotted in Orange County, Florida, prompting public advisories warning to avoid bites.

Mosquitoes in Florida Are Spreading a Deadly Brain Virus

By Dan Robitzski

There's no short supply of aspirational, bold claims about how we'll colonize Mars. Unfortunately, none of them are realistic.

Reality Check: It Would Take Thousands Of Years To Colonize Mars

By Dan Robitzski

By hacking cars and forcing them to stall, bad actors could grind a city's traffic to a halt — and the easiest entry point may be the vehicle's radios.

Advanced Transport

Hackers Could Gridlock a City by Stalling Just 20 Percent of Cars

By Kristin Houser

Right now, money is pouring into the drinkable weed industry, despite ever-changing regulations and a seemingly-nonexistant consumer base for weed drinks.

Alcohol Companies Want to Make Disgusting Weed Drinks

By Dan Robitzski

A new bill seeks to ban addictive website and social media features like autoplaying videos, endlessly-scrolling timelines, and other deceptive designs.

Congress May Ban “Addictive” Website Features Like Autoplay Videos

By Dan Robitzski

A new study suggests that extraterrestrial life might be possible after all on distant icy planets that conventionally are thought to be too cold.

Science & Energy

Study: Icy Planets Could Be Warm Enough to Harbor Life

By Victor Tangermann

The source of a major Capital One data breach is now in federal custody after authorities were able to track the hacker down via her own social media posts.

Capital One Hacker Arrested After Bragging About Theft on Twitter

By Kristin Houser

The massive radiation leak that plumed over Eastern Europe in 2017 was just definitively traced back to a Russian nuclear facility.

Did Russia Cover Up a Radiation Leak 100x Worse Than Fukushima?

By Dan Robitzski

Up to 18 people will be part of the first ever human study in the U.S. that uses gene editing technique CRISPR inside the body to treat blindness.

This Human Gene Editing Trial Will Use CRISPR to Treat Blindness

By Victor Tangermann

Scientists found out that tiny flaws in circuitry that disrupt the flow of electricity can act as a digital fingerprint for electronic devices.

Science & Energy

New Research: Every Transistor Has a “Unique Quantum Fingerprint”

By Dan Robitzski

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir hopes she's the next Moonwalker — but she isn't thrilled with NASA's emphasis on putting a woman on the Moon.

Retired Astronaut: Sending a Woman to the Moon “Sounds Like a Stunt”

By Kristin Houser

A new deep-sea robot called Aquanaut can "transform" between being an autonomous submarine and a mermaid-like humanoid robot.

A New Deep-Sea Robot Can Shape-Shift Into an Autonomous Submarine

By Dan Robitzski

By killing the WannaCry ransomware, British cybersecurity expert Marcus Hutchins may have saved himself from a decade in jail and a $500,000 fine.

Hacker Who Killed WannaCry Sentenced to Time Served

By Kristin Houser

Watch footage of Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2 return to the site of where it bombed asteroid Ruyugu in order to scoop up rock samples.

Watch a Japanese Spacecraft Grab Rock Samples From Tiny Asteroid

By Victor Tangermann

China recently published a white paper outlining its nuclear strategy, which describes how it will never strike first or nuke non-nuclear powers.

China Promises to Never Use Nukes — Unless Another Country Does First

By Dan Robitzski

Scientists are closer than ever to a cure for baldness, thanks to cloned stem cells and 3D-printed scaffolding that could let new hairs take root.

Health & Medicine

Baldness Could Soon Be Cured for Real — if You’re Rich

By Dan Robitzski

The Iranian government just gave its approval to crypto mining, but only if people get the right clearance and stay on top of their taxes.

Iran Says You Can Mine — but Not Spend — Crypto

By Dan Robitzski

A team of researchers from Harvard and MIT's IBM Watson Lab have created an AI system that can detect if text or fake news was generated by another AI.

Artificial Intelligence

This AI Can Help Humans Spot AI-Generated Fake News

By Victor Tangermann

Physicists just built a new plasma-powered thruster that could vastly improve the capabilities of a small satellite conducting research in space.

Science & Energy

Princeton Unveils Plasma-Powered Satellite

By Dan Robitzski

The Tesla Semi truck could serve as the basis for a beautiful motorhome, as detailed in a new concept design created by Vanlifer.

Startup Transforms Tesla Semi into Beautiful Motorhome Concept

By Kristin Houser

A team of scientists from the University of California San Diego created a robotic contact lens that can zoom in and out when you blink.

This Robotic Contact Lens Can Zoom in or out Just by Blinking

By Victor Tangermann

Sony claims its new wearable air conditioner, the Reon Pocket, can drop your body's surface temperature by 23 degrees Fahrenheit.

Robots and Machines

Sony Unveils Wearable Air Conditioner That Sits in a Shirt Pocket

By Kristin Houser

The IRS announced that it's sending out 10,000 letters to warn taxpayers that they may owe back taxes for their cryptocurrency holdings.

The IRS Is Sending Warning Letters Over Cryptocurrency Back Taxes

By Dan Robitzski

Some galaxies called blue nuggets are unusually tiny but house gargantuan black holes. Astronomers finally think they know why.

Science & Energy

Scientists Unraveled Why Some Tiny Galaxies Have Huge Black Holes

By Dan Robitzski

Tim Hortons has agreed to add JUST Eggs, a plant-based egg alternative, to its menu, making it the first major fast food company to do so.

“Eggless” Eggs Made From Plants Land First Fast Food Deal

By Kristin Houser

Chris Hughes, one of the guys responsible for turning Facebook into an all-powerful monopoly, met with federal regulators to say Facebook is a too big.

Facebook Cofounder: Please Break up Facebook

By Dan Robitzski

France's defense minister has announced plans to develop anti-satellite laser weapons to help the nation prepare for potential future attacks.

France to Develop Anti-Satellite Laser Weapons for Space Warfare

By Kristin Houser

Amazon cut a confidential deal with a police force to push its doorbell camera, Ring, onto the local community in exchange for surveillance tech.

Florida Police Cut a Secret Deal to Promote Amazon’s Ring Cameras

By Dan Robitzski

Scientists found evidence that decade-long "megadroughts" devastated native societies in the Southwest. And another megadrought is on the way.

Research: Decade-Long “Megadrought” Could Roast American Southwest

By Dan Robitzski

A massive space rock called Asteroid 2019 OK just flew right past Earth reaching a distance of only 73,000 kilometers away from our planet's surface.

Science & Energy

“City Killer” Asteroid Whizzes Past Earth Almost Undetected

By Victor Tangermann

SpaceX's Starhopper — a test rocket for its upcoming Starship rocket — just completed its first untethered test flight late last night.

SpaceX Just Flew Its Starship Prototype Without a Tether

By Victor Tangermann

According to new research, global warming in the 20th century happened more quickly and pervasively than at any other time in the past 2,000 years.

New Research: Global Temp Rising at Fastest Rate in 2,000 Years

By Kristin Houser

Scientists claim to have linked smartphone geotagging data with personality traits in a bid to create better targeted advertisements.

Robots and Machines

Researchers Can Predict Your Personality by Tracking Your Phone

By Dan Robitzski

A new "artificial throat" attaches to the neck like a temporary tattoo, then translates noiseless throat movements into audible speech.

Health & Medicine

This “Artificial Throat” Is Like a Neck Tattoo That Creates Sound

By Kristin Houser

Neural nets tasked with interpreting then recreating a "Star Wars" duel churned out a nightmarish scene where Luke Skywalker holds a baseball bat and surfs.

Artificial Intelligence

According to a Neural Network, Luke Skywalker Is a Surfing Baseball Player

By Dan Robitzski

Beyond Meat is Now Coming After Your Bacon

Beyond Meat is Now Coming After Your Bacon

By Victor Tangermann

Facebook's former head of security wants to build an "internet observatory" to monitor harassment. The idea is to build out the tool for academics to use.

Stanford Built an “Internet Observatory” to Monitor Abuse

By Dan Robitzski

Ex-beverage firm Long Island Iced Tea — now a blockchain company — is being investigated by the FBI for insider trading and securities fraud.

The FBI is Investigating Long Island Iced Tea’s Blockchain Pivot

By Victor Tangermann

The Air Force successfully launched the largest satellite into space yet. It will spend the next year learning about dangerous cosmic radiation.

Science & Energy

The US Air Force Launched the Largest Uncrewed Structure in Space

By Dan Robitzski

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk bragged that his company could reach the Moon within two years. But NASA CFO Jeff DeWit isn't buying it.

NASA Official: SpaceX’s Moon Chances Are “Slim”

By Dan Robitzski

Inventor Franky Zapata's attempt to cross the English Channel on his flying hoverboard ended in failure on Thursday when he fell into the water.

Advanced Transport

Flying Hoverboard Inventor Fails to Fly Across English Channel

By Kristin Houser

Tesla lost $408 million this fiscal quarter, bringing their year-to-date losses up to $1 billion. It's not a good sign for the scrappy automaker.

Tesla Has Already Lost $1 Billion This Year

By Dan Robitzski

A flame shot out from the top of SpaceX's Starhopper during what was supposed to be its first flight test on Wednesday, leading SpaceX to abort the test.

SpaceX Aborts Starhopper’s First Flight Test After Fiery Start

By Kristin Houser

Stanford researchers have developed a "quantum microphone" that is so sensitive, it can measure individual particles of sound, otherwise known as "phonons."

Quantum Physics

This “Quantum Microphone” Can Listen to a Single Sound Particle

By Victor Tangermann

A Tesla executive revealed that the number one reason Tesla customers visit service centers is to learn how to use Autopilot.

People Are Going to Tesla Service Centers Just to Learn About Autopilot

By Victor Tangermann

Pelaton's Automated Following system lets a human-driven "lead" truck serves as the guide for an autonomous "follow" truck.

Advanced Transport

New “Automated Following” Tech Lets One Driver Control Two Trucks

By Kristin Houser

For the first time, scientists created a liquid magnet. But they're still figuring out how the magnet, created by accident, works.

Science & Energy

Scientists Accidentally Created a Liquid Magnet

By Dan Robitzski

A new study suggests that C. auris evolved the ability to infect and kill humans thanks to climate change, specifically rising global temperatures.

Climate Change May Have Prepared This Superbug to Kill Humans

By Kristin Houser

An HIV implant that delivers preventative medications proved effective and well-tolerated in an initial trial, according to its developer.

Health & Medicine

This Tiny Implant Could Prevent HIV for an Entire Year

By Kristin Houser

A letter signed by 24 prominent scientists called on the U.N. to declare wartime destruction of the environment a war crime.

Scientists: Harming the Environment Should Be a War Crime

By Dan Robitzski