the digest (Page 176)

Latest in the digest

The ESA confirmed that asteroid 2006 QV89 will not collide with Earth later this year. Scientists don't know where it is, but it isn't on its way here.

Science & Energy

Good News: That Nearby Asteroid Won’t Obliterate Us This Year

By Dan Robitzski

A company called Throwflame is about to start selling a $1,500 fully-functional flamethrower attachment for drones on Thursday.

Get Ready: “Flamethrower Drones” Are About to Go on Sale

By Dan Robitzski

NASA has announced the first fruit to be grown in space before the end of this year: the humble Espanola chile pepper (capsicum annuum).

NASA Planning to Grow Chili Peppers on Space Station

By Victor Tangermann

Elon Musk's Neuralink hopes to one day use laser beams, and not a mechanical dril, to bore brain implant holes in the skull.

Elon Musk’s Neuralink Will Use Lasers to Drill Holes In Your Skull

By Kristin Houser

NASA's TESS satellite analyzed its first supernova, inadvertently revealing that astronomers made some wrong assumptions about the explosions.

Science & Energy

NASA’s Exoplanet-Hunting Satellite Discovers Mysterious Supernova

By Dan Robitzski

Hundreds of protesters in Hawaii blocked the start of construction on the Thirty Meter Telescope observatory, which would be built over cultural landmarks.

Native Hawaiians Protest at New Observatory’s Construction Site

By Dan Robitzski

A new "flying saucer" drone design uses half the propellers of a typical quadrotor drone, letting it fly for twice as long.

A “Flying Saucer” Design Lets Drones Fly Twice as Long

By Dan Robitzski

A team of astronomers just saw for the first time a gas giant planet actively forming new moons out of a cloud of gas and dust.

Science & Energy

Scientists Spot Distant Gas Giant Still Forming New Moons

By Dan Robitzski

In a post uploaded to her Instagram account, Grimes elaborated on her extremely unusual training regiment that's straight out of a bad sci-fi novel.

Health & Medicine

Grimes Uses Deprivation Tank to “Astro-Glide to Other Dimensions”

By Victor Tangermann

A Germany man just set a new Tesla record for highest mileage, racking up 559,350 miles (900,000 kilometers) in his Model S P85.

Tesla Owner Breaks Record, Drives Car 900,000 Kilometers

By Kristin Houser

Congress wants to know if the US miltary experimented with creating bioweapons out of ticks and other insects — and then released them into the wild.

Health & Medicine

Congress to DoD: Are Disease-Carrying Insects Escaped Bioweapons?

By Kristin Houser

According to a new survey, American and British kids would much rather become YouTubers than astronauts, while the opposite is true in China.

Astronauts Are Out. American Kids Would Rather Be YouTubers.

By Dan Robitzski

SpaceX has preliminary results to share about what it suspects caused its Crew Dragon capsule to fail during an engine test in April.

We Finally Know What Caused the SpaceX Crew Dragon Explosion

By Victor Tangermann

We're one step closer to invisibility cloaks thanks to a new artificial intelligence that designs metamaterials with specific optical properties.

Artificial Intelligence

This AI Is Helping Scientists Develop Invisibility Cloaks

By Kristin Houser

Australian futurist Richard Hames told news.com.au that he believes we're overdue for a drone assassination and that one will take place within three years.

Sketchy Futurist Says We’re Overdue for a Drone Assassination

By Kristin Houser

Englands Department for Transport announced that every new home needs to have an electric car charging port as part of a push to make EVs more accessible.

Advanced Transport

UK Releases Plan to Put Electric Car Chargers in All New Homes

By Dan Robitzski

Air Force “Stands Ready” to Defend Area 51 From Facebook Event

Air Force “Stands Ready” to Defend Area 51 From Facebook Event

By Victor Tangermann

An AI-developed flu vaccine is now undergoing clinical trials, meaning we could be headed toward an era of fewer flus and more AI-developed drugs.

Artificial Intelligence

First Human Drug Developed Solely by AI Is a Vaccine

By Kristin Houser

India officially called off the launch of its first mission to the Moon on Sunday a mere hour before launch due to a "technical snag."

India Calls Off Moon Mission One Hour Before Launch

By Victor Tangermann

For the first time, scientists managed to capture photographic evidence that two photons were linked by quantum entanglement.

Scientists Capture First-Ever Image of Quantum Entanglement

By Dan Robitzski

Scientists who work on extraterrestrial-seeking projects like SETI report a stigma within science that gets their work dismissed and funding killed.

Science & Energy

Scientists Are Terrified of SETI Research

By Dan Robitzski

During a speech at the National Conservatism conference, Peter Thiel called for the CIA and FBI to investigate Google's "seemingly treasonous" ties with China.

Peter Thiel: Investigate Google For “Treasonous” Ties With China

By Dan Robitzski

NASA just awarded Made In Space a $73.3 million contract to demonstrate 3D-printing spacecraft parts while in orbit using a small spacecraft.

NASA Approves Plan to 3D Print Giant Spaceship Parts in Orbit

By Victor Tangermann

To demonstrate the potential military benefits of the Flyboard Air, the inventor of the flying hoverboard rode it above a parade while wielding a rifle.

Advanced Transport

Someone Carrying a Rifle Just Flew Over Paris on a Hoverboard

By Kristin Houser

Juul Labs CEO Kevin Burns just issued a sort of apology for how many vaping teens have become addicted to nicotine by using his company's product.

Health & Medicine

Juul CEO: “I’m Sorry” for Teen Vaping Epidemic

By Dan Robitzski

Carbon capture will be key to addressing climate change, and now, scientists have found a gene that could make plants better at capturing and storing CO2.

Renewable Energy

Scientists Gene Edit Plants to be Better at Carbon Capture

By Kristin Houser

A leaked IRS training document reveals how the agency may begin subpoenaing tech companies to find people's undisclosed cryptocurrency wallets.

The IRS Is Coming for Your Secret Crypto Stash

By Dan Robitzski

225 mayors from across the United States signed a resolution to stop paying ransomware hackers who target their cities' digital infrastructure.

225 US Mayors Agree to Stop Paying Ransomware Hackers

By Dan Robitzski

Johnson & Johnson, one of the world's biggest pharmaceuticals, is set to begin human trials of an HIV vaccine in the U.S. and Europe.

This Pharma Company Is Set to Begin HIV Vaccine Trials

By Victor Tangermann

Neuralink, a company Elon Musk founded to link the human brain to computers, is finally ready to update the world on what it's been doing for two years.

Elon Musk’s Brain-Computer Startup Neuralink Breaks Silence

By Kristin Houser

Dairy-free products company Perfect Day Foods just created a creamy ice cream using genetically modified yeast — and without relying on cows.

Scientists Created Dairy-Free Ice Cream From GM Yeast

By Victor Tangermann

MIT's Baxter robot uses its ability to mimic human motions to tackle the viral #bottlecapchallenge in a decidely different way.

Watch an MIT Robot Attempt the Bottle Cap Challenge — Sort Of

By Kristin Houser

A new therapy targeting the Cngb1 gene restored eyesight and regular neural connections between the eye and brain of experimental mice.

Health & Medicine

Gene Therapy Restores Vision in Blind Mice

By Dan Robitzski

On Wednesday, Hayabusa-2, the Japanese space probe that landed on then bombed and asteroid, once more touched down to collect samples and take pictures.

Japanese Probe Returns to Site of Asteroid Bombing, Takes Pics

By Dan Robitzski

Donald Trump tweeted his distaste for cryptocurrency on Thursday, calling the digital assets "not money" and "based on thin air."

Trump: Cryptocurrencies Are “Not Money,” “Based on Thin Air”

By Kristin Houser

A team of scientists figured out a simple way to create muscles that can lift 1,000 times their own weight: tightly coiled-up bamboo or silk fibers.

Robots and Machines

This “Artificial Muscle” is 60 Times Stronger Than a Human One

By Victor Tangermann

Former employee Guangzhi Cao admits to copying Tesla's Autopilot code — but denies accessing or making any use of the files after quitting.

Former Employee Admits to Copying Tesla’s Autopilot Code

By Kristin Houser

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Artificial Intelligence

Facebook’s “Superhuman” Poker AI Out-Bluffs World’s Top Players

By Victor Tangermann

Nickelodeon is sending a batch of its iconic slime to the astronauts aboard the ISS to be used for experiments, which will be filmed and later broadcast.

International Space Station

Astronauts on the ISS Are About to Get Slimed — for Science

By Kristin Houser

A distant black hole is surrounded by a much larger disk of spacestuff than scientists expected, giving them a rare glimpse of special relativity in action.

This Might Be the Strangest Black Hole Yet

By Dan Robitzski

News recently broke about worms that had allegedly been frozen in Arctic permafrost for 40,000 years. It turns out they're probably a lot younger.

That Story About the Ancient Frozen Worms Might Be Bologna

By Dan Robitzski

Startup Luminar has announceda production-ready lidar system for autonomous cars that costs just $500 — a huge decrease in price over existing systems.

This $500 Lidar System Could Prove Elon Musk Wrong

By Kristin Houser

As the world continues to heat up from climate change, tens of thousands of important archaeological sites throughout the Arctic will be destroyed.

Climate Change Is Destroying Greenland’s Historic Viking Towns

By Dan Robitzski

The diagnostic tools on experimental fusion reactors are too fragile for industrial-scale facilities. A new technique may be able to replace them.

New Tool Helps Contain Molten Plasma in Fusion Reactors

By Dan Robitzski

Robot umpires are making their way into professional baseball, calling strikes and balls at the Atlantic League's all-star game Wednesday night.

Robot Umpires Make Professional Baseball Debut

By Kristin Houser

A tongue-in-cheek Facebook event called "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us" recently amassed an army of over 200,000 conspirators and meme lovers.

Almost 300,000 People Say They’re Gonna Storm Area 51

By Victor Tangermann

NASA just dropped an astonishing elaborate map of the over 4,003 exoplanets that we know to exist outside our Solar System.

NASA Just Released an Incredible Map of All Known Exoplanets

By Victor Tangermann

Israeli startup REE has unveiled a modular car design that puts everything typically found under the hood of an electric vehicle into its wheels.

Advanced Transport

Startup Thinks Its Modular Car Design Is the Future of EVs

By Kristin Houser

Robots might one day steal the right to raise children away from humans, according to author and AI ethics expert John C. Havens.

Artificial Intelligence

Expert: Future Robots Could Steal Your Children

By Kristin Houser

Clergy within the Russian Orthodox Church want to end the practice of blessing Russia's nuclear weapons, but others are happy to frame nukes as holy.

The Russian Orthodox Church May Stop Blessing Nuclear Weapons

By Dan Robitzski

Virgin Orbit just dropped a rocket that was strapped beneath a modified Boeing 747 jumbo jet. The system could greatly reduce satellite launch costs.

Virgin Just Dropped a Massive Rocket from a Gutted Jumbo Jet

By Victor Tangermann

Impossible Foods, the fake meat company behind the plant-based Impossible Burger, is now working on a recipe for plant-based fish meat.

Science & Energy

Impossible Foods Is Trying to Make Fake Fish Now

By Dan Robitzski

A woman in Cleveland is now the second in the world and first in the U.S. to give birth using a uterus harvested from a deceased donor.

Health & Medicine

New Mom First in US to Give Birth Using Deceased Donor’s Uterus

By Kristin Houser

A new breathalyzer called the Keyto can help people on the keto diet track how well they're doing at cutting carbs out of their diets.

Health & Medicine

A $100 Breathalyzer Can Tell if You’re Sneaking Carbs

By Dan Robitzski

Researchers have found radiation levels up to 800,000 times higher than expected in the sea water around a sunken nuclear sub.

This Sunken Nuclear Sub Is Leaking Radiation Into the Ocean

By Kristin Houser

India is getting ready to launch its first-ever lunar lander mission called Chandrayaan 2 on Sunday, including an orbiter, lander, and rover.

India Is Launching a Moon Mission This Weekend

By Victor Tangermann

Russia space agency Roscosmos confirmed that it's planning to 3D print structures on the moon to protect astronauts from the harsh environment by 2040.

Russia is Planning to 3D Print a Moon Base

By Victor Tangermann

To train more handy robots, scientists built "adversarial objects" — small, die-like figures that are as difficult to grasp as possible.

Engineers Build “Adversarial Objects” to Confuse Grabby Robots

By Dan Robitzski

Thirteen paralyzed patients can now use their hands again thanks to Australian Natasha van Zyl's pioneering nerve transfer surgery.

Health & Medicine

Surgeon Transfers Nerves to Let Paralyzed Patients Use Hands

By Kristin Houser

Scientists 3D printed skin and bone samples upside down to see if astronauts on Mars could use the technology in low-gravity environments.

3D-Printed Human Skin and Bone Could Save Astronauts on Mars

By Victor Tangermann

A haptic feedback vest could help working dogs perform their jobs better than before by issuing specific commands through controlled vibrations.

A Vibrating Haptic Feedback Vest Could “Steer” Rescue Dogs

By Dan Robitzski

Researchers have created a two-in-one device that purifies salty or contaminated water while simultaneously producing solar power.

New Device Purifies Water While Generating Solar Power

By Kristin Houser

Amazon and Microsoft are bidding for a $10 billion Pentagon contract for a wartime cloud computing system, but lawsuits over favoritism slowed the process.

Amazon and Microsoft Want to Build A “War Cloud” for the Military

By Dan Robitzski

German researchers have created a new sytem that enables a fully autonomous landing on any airplane runway, not just ones at larger airports.

Self-Driving Vehicles

Watch This Tiny Plane Nail a Fully Autonomous Landing

By Kristin Houser