the digest (Page 180)

Latest in the digest

During a shareholder meeting, Elon Musk admitted that Tesla has a design for a submarine car — and it's straight out of James Bond movie.

Elon Musk: Tesla Is Working on a James Bond-Style Submarine Car

By Victor Tangermann

A new model reveals that black holes could take in a steady stream of antimatter particles that gradually chip away until the black hole dissipates.

New Research Reveals That Black Holes Can Die

By Dan Robitzski

A male college student used Snapchat's gender-swap filter in the hope of catching someone looking for an underage hook-up online — and it worked.

Gender-Swap Filter Fools Cop Who Tried to Prey on Underage Girl

By Kristin Houser

According to the Department of Energy, geothermal energy could become a major player in the future of American electricity generation.

Energy Dept: Geothermal Power Has “Enormous Untapped Potential”

By Dan Robitzski

The Indian government just announced a new research agency that will develop new space weapons for any future off-world warfare.

India Just Announced That It’s Developing Space Weapons

By Dan Robitzski

UK artists Bill Posters and Daniel Howe, with the help of ad agency Canny, just uploaded a video of a deepfaked Mark Zuckerberg to Instagram.

Watch Deepfaked Mark Zuckerberg Rant About How He Controls You

By Victor Tangermann

A computer virus has completely brought Philadelphia's online court system to its knees since May 21, as The Verge reports.

Malware Shut Down Philadelphia Court System for Weeks

By Victor Tangermann

Artificial Intelligence

New Subreddit Celebrates Bizarre Fake News Written by AI

By Dan Robitzski

Enzymes found in the human gut can efficiently transform blood type A into O, the universal donor kind that is in high demand.

Health & Medicine

Study: Gut Microbes Transform Type A Into Universal Donor Blood

By Kristin Houser

An engineer found a way to turn juiced cactus leaves into a feasible substitute for plastic, and she wants to make biodegradable cutlery.

Health & Medicine

Scientists Make Fake, Biodegradable Plastic From Cactus Juice

By Dan Robitzski

A new law in Alabama will require that inmaes convicted of sexual crimes against a minor seeking parole will need to be chemically castrated.

Health & Medicine

New Law: Alabama Will Chemically Castrate Pedophiles

By Dan Robitzski

A new op-ed in the New York Times says that everyone can embrace a life of high-tech luxury, as long as the world embraces communism.

NYT Calls For “Fully Automated Luxury Communism”

By Dan Robitzski

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has stepped up to clarify what President Donald Trump meant by his confusing Moon tweet.

NASA Head: Trump’s Moon Tweet Doesn’t Change Anything

By Kristin Houser

A hacker allegedly stole an entire MiniDisc archive and demanded a ransom. Radiohead called the bluff and put the archive of demos on sale for charity.

Hackers Stole Old Radiohead Demos — Then Got Owned

By Victor Tangermann

Some 100,000 travelers had their images and license plate numbers stored by U.S. Customs stolen by hackers, The New York Times reports.

Hackers Steal 100,000 Traveler Photos from U.S. Customs

By Victor Tangermann

Researchers have created an AI that can clone a person's voice, including their speech patterns — and it could make audio deepfakes harder to detect.

Artificial Intelligence

Alarming AI Clones Both a Person’s Voice and Their Speech Patterns

By Kristin Houser

New Study: Alien Life is Probably Way Rarer Than We Thought

New Study: Alien Life is Probably Way Rarer Than We Thought

By Victor Tangermann

Russian biologist Denis Rebrikov told Nature that he's planning to use CRISPR to edit more human embryos — and bring them to term — as soon as late 2019.

Prosthetics and Devices

Russian Biologist Pledges to Create More CRISPR-Edited Babies

By Jon Christian

The leader of the world's first formal center for research into magic mushrooms and other psychedlics thinks they could replace traditional antidepressants.

Health & Medicine

Professor: “Magic Mushrooms” Could Replace Antidepressants

By Kristin Houser

NASA is livestreaming a video feed from the JPL clean room where it's currently assembling and testing the Mars 2020 rover.

Watch Live as NASA Builds the Mars 2020 Rover

By Kristin Houser

State-owned media network Russia Today reports that the head of Russian space agency Roscomos Dmitry Rogozin has no interest in hiring SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

Russian Space Chief: We Would Never Hire Elon Musk

By Victor Tangermann

A team of astronomers found a "large excess of mass" under the Moon's largest crater called the Aitken basin near the South Pole.

Astronomers Discover “Deep Structure” Under Moon’s Largest Crater

By Victor Tangermann

U.S. President Donald Trump's puzzling Moon tweet instructing NASA to focus on Mars could have something to do with a Fox anchor's comments.

Trump: “NASA Should NOT be Talking About Going to the Moon”

By Kristin Houser

The Canadian government has announced it will ban single-use plastics by 2021. It will examine scientific evidence first to come up with a list of items.

Canada Announces Ban on Single-Use Plastics

By Victor Tangermann

New Law in India Would Imprison Anyone Who Uses Cryptocurrency

New Law in India Would Imprison Anyone Who Uses Cryptocurrency

By Dan Robitzski

The Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously on Thursday to allow U.S. phone carriers to block robocalls by default.

Robots and Machines

Your Phone Carrier Can Now Automatically Block All Robocalls

By Kristin Houser

An experimental study is exploiting so-called "jumping genes" that selfishly copy and paste themselves throughout the genome to improve CRISPR.

Science & Energy

Experimental CRISPR Study Exploits “Selfish” Genes

By Kristin Houser

Walmart executives have great things to say about their new robot workers, but human employees are less than thrilled about them.

Walmart Employees Hate Their New Robot Coworkers

By Dan Robitzski

Startup New Future Transportation has unveiled the design for its Aska, a futuristic-looking flying car with a 40-foot wingspan.

Advanced Transport

Startup Unveils Freakish-Looking Flying Car With Folding Wings

By Kristin Houser

Maine Governor Janet Mills signed a new law that prohibits internet companies from selling user data without those people's explicit permission.

Science & Energy

Maine Bans Internet Companies From Secretly Selling User Data

By Dan Robitzski

The National Academy of Sciences overwhelmingly approved a new code of conduct that allows its governing council to expel sexual harassers.

The National Academy of Sciences Cracks Down on Sexual Harassment

By Dan Robitzski

NASA will officially allow regular citizens — not just certified astronauts — to visit the International Space Station.

NASA is Officially Opening the Space Station to Tourists

By Victor Tangermann

NASA is planning to send its tiny Mars Helicopter to the surface of Mars next summer. And the Helicopter just passed a couple of important milestones.

NASA Is Testing Its Tiny Mars Helicopter for July 2020 Launch

By Victor Tangermann

A robot sloth is expected to hang out in forest canopies with real slothes for months at a time, clinging to wires and tracking the environment.

Scientists Built a Robot Sloth to Study Other Sloths

By Dan Robitzski

As part of the InHome Delivery service, Amazon employees will be able to enter your abode, donning a camera, and deliver groceries directly to your fridge.

Walmart Will Now Deliver Food Straight to Your Fridge

By Victor Tangermann

With the help from research scientist Janelle Shane, an animal refuge created a neural network that came up with a series of weird and cute cat names.

Artificial Intelligence

This Neural Network Gives Kittens A+ Names Like “Mr Sinister”

By Victor Tangermann

A new algorithm can decipher babies’ cries, telling if they're due to something "normal," such as hunger or sleepiness, or a sign of distress.

Artificial Intelligence

Researchers Built an AI That Translates Babies’ Cries

By Kristin Houser

A massive 164-foot asteroid called 2006 QV89 has a one in 7,000 chance of bashing into the Earth on the morning of September 9, according to the ESA.

It’s Unlikely, but a 164-Foot Asteroid May Hit Earth in September

By Victor Tangermann

Google co-founder Sergey Brin needs engineers to work on his massive $150 million blimp, which could deliver supplies on humanitarian missions.

Google’s Co-Founder Is Building a Gargantuan $150 Million Blimp

By Kristin Houser

New EU legislation requires electric vehicles (EVs) to include Acoustic Vehicle Alert Systems (AVAS) that make noise to alert pedestrians of their approach.

Electric Vehicles

New Law Requires Electric Vehicles to Make Noise at Slow Speeds

By Kristin Houser

Astronomers just got their best look at the swirling layers of gas that orbit the black hole at the center of the Milky Way

Something Is Blocking the View of Our Galaxy’s Giant Black Hole

By Dan Robitzski

Amazon CEO and tech-billionaire Jeff Bezos just demonstrated a pair of massive robotic arms and hands at this year's re:MARS conference in Las Vegas.

Behold: Jeff Bezos Just Showed off a Pair of Huge Mecha-Hands

By Victor Tangermann

Wild Idea: Use Railguns to Extract Resources From the Moon

Wild Idea: Use Railguns to Extract Resources From the Moon

By Victor Tangermann

Swedish artists coded an ASCII penis and uploaded it to the Ethereum blockchain as part of an art project that they're calling digital graffiti.

Why Someone Hid a Giant Dong on the Ethereum Blockchain

By Dan Robitzski

A team of researchers has produced the most detailed black hole simulations ever — and then used them to solve a 40+ year mystery.

Science & Energy

Scientists Produce Most Precise Black Hole Simulations Ever

By Kristin Houser

New models show that scientists could use lasers and powerful magnets to manipulate superconducting materials or build quantum circuits.

Quantum Physics

Scientists Can Enhance Electronics by Shooting Them With Lasers

By Dan Robitzski

Oddly human-looking robot artist Ai-Da is about to launch its first exhibition — and the bot's artworks have already sold for more than $1.2 million.

Artificial Intelligence

Creepy Human-Like Robot’s Art Is Selling for Astronomical Prices

By Kristin Houser

In July, Uber will launch a new helicopter service to shuttle New Yorkers from downtown Manhattan and JFK airport in Queens.

Advanced Transport

Uber Is Launching an On-Demand Helicopter Service

By Dan Robitzski

Training Advanced AIs is Surprisingly Terrible for the Environment

Training Advanced AIs is Surprisingly Terrible for the Environment

By Victor Tangermann

A new study examined heavy internet users and found both structural and physical changes to their brains. Their memories and attention spans both suffered.

Science & Energy

Wait, What? New Research Says Internet Use Is Killing Your Memory

By Dan Robitzski

On Wednesday, The New York Times published a retroactive obituary for Alan Turing, the man credited as kickstarting artificial intelligence research.

Alan Turing Finally Got His New York Times Obituary

By Dan Robitzski

Only a single day after "Aladdin" actor Mena Massoud bought a Tesla Model 3, he crashed into a tree — allegedly due to a faulty suspension.

The Star of “Aladdin” Says a Defect Caused His Tesla to Crash

By Victor Tangermann

Boston Dynamics CEO Marc Raibert told the audience at re:MARS he thinks the company's SpotMini robodogs could one day battle for our entertainment.

Boston Dynamics

Boston Dynamics CEO Wants Its Robodogs to Fight Each Other

By Kristin Houser

Retirees living in Boca Chica, the site of a SpaceX launchpad, shared complaints about the noise and secrecy surrounding rocket tests.

Local Retirees Furious About Elon Musk’s New SpaceX Launch Site

By Dan Robitzski

The European Space Agency is about to test Vega, a new "satellite dispenser" that will cut space launch costs by stacking satellites like Legos.

Europe Is Starting a “Ride-Share” for Small Satellites

By Dan Robitzski

There might be another universe, exactly like our own — except that it's a perfect mirror image. And it could explain dark matter.

Science & Energy

Bizarre Theory: “Mirror-Image Universe” Could Explain Dark Matter

By Jon Christian

China's rocket launch from a barge in the Yellow Sea on Wednesday makes it just the third nation to successfully complete an offshore launch.

Watch China Launch a Rocket From Sea for the First Time

By Kristin Houser

A new biomedical technique lets scientists gene-hack an animal with CRISPR in vivo instead of having to remove and re-inject their cells.

Health & Medicine

Harvard Just Gene-Hacked Stem Cells Inside a Living Organism

By Dan Robitzski

Oakland has followed Denver's lead, becoming just the second city in the U.S. to decriminalize magic mushrooms and other entheogenic plants and fungi.

Health & Medicine

Magic Mushrooms Decriminalized in Second US City

By Kristin Houser

Scientists at the European Space Agency say that a crewed mission to Mars too dangerous to pursue because of high levels of cosmic radiation.

European Space Agency: Radiation Will Make Mars Mission Deadly

By Dan Robitzski

MIT scientists built a new algorithm for self-piloting "roboats" that let them automatically latch together to form robot barges.

Amsterdam Is Paying MIT to Develop Robot Barges For Its Canals

By Dan Robitzski

Private space agency SpaceX and NASA chose the lucky astronauts, who will be the first to ride SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule into space.

NASA Chooses First Astronauts to Ride SpaceX’s Dragon Spacecraft

By Victor Tangermann

Circus Roncalli in Germany did away with its live animal shows. Instead, its using holograms to project virtual horses, elephants, and other animals.

Virtual Reality

A German Circus Is Using Amazing Holograms Instead of Animals

By Dan Robitzski

Robert Downey Jr. Wants to Clean Up Earth With Robots and AI

Robert Downey Jr. Wants to Clean Up Earth With Robots and AI

By Victor Tangermann