the digest (Page 196)

Latest in the digest

Nerve cells could be rerouted to help prevent phantom limb pain

Rerouting Nerves During Amputation May Reduce Phantom Limb Pain

Burgers full of beef and bacon are facing a new threat from cancer causing chemicals.

Experts: Stop Adding Cancer-Causing Chemicals to our Meats

On Friday, Elon Musk speculated that a sophisticated artificial intelligence might touch down on the Red Planet before the first human Mars settler.

Elon Musk Thinks the First Mars Settler Could Be an AI

By Jon Christian

A mind-bending new theory claims to make sense not just of the expanding universe and extra dimensions, but string theory and dark energy as well.

New Theory: The Universe is a Bubble, Inflated by Dark Energy

By Jon Christian

The majority of U.S. adults would support gene editing embryos to protect babies against disease, according to a new poll.

Poll: Two Thirds of Americans Support Human Gene Editing to Cure Disease

By Jon Christian

A mining corporation says an autonomous rail system it's been developing in Australia is fully operational, making it the "world's largest robot."

Self-Driving Vehicles

Australian Autonomous Train Is The “World’s Largest Robot”

By Jon Christian

Prosthetics and Devices

Chinese Scientists Reportedly Lost Track of Gene-Edited Patients

By Kristin Houser

Robotics manufacturers are scrambling for more than a half billion dollars in Pentagon contracts for battlefield robots that will defuse bombs scout ahead.

The Pentagon Wants to Buy Thousands of Battlefield Robots

By Jon Christian

Netflix’s Bandersnatch Teases the Future of Entertainment

By Kristin Houser

An App That Does Your Homework for You Is Now Worth $3 Billion

An App That Does Your Homework for You Is Now Worth $3 Billion

By Kristin Houser

multi-sensory mask

Virtual Reality

New Multi-Sensory Mask Lets You Smell and Feel the Virtual World

By Kristin Houser

water collection

Science & Energy

Cacti-Inspired Tech Could Keep You Hydrated After the Apocalypse

By Kristin Houser

Astronauts and professional athletes have similar mortality rates, according to a new study, which suggests that space travel doesn't cause premature death.

Space Travel Doesn’t Seem to Shorten Astronauts’ Lives, Says Study

By Kristin Houser

The Chinese government just approved plans for a massive energy storage grid that will help the Gansu Province better rely on renewable electricity.

China Is Building Its First Huge Battery Storage Facility

By Dan Robitzski

Microorganisms That Eat Seaweed Can Create Biodegradable Plastic

By Kristin Houser

Stainless steel starship

Elon Musk Tweets Image of SpaceX’s Stainless Steel Starship

By Kristin Houser

The idea is part of an ironic trend: banks want to leverage a technology that was invented to take power away from financial institutions.

A New Bank of America Patent Describes Blockchain-Powered ATMs

By Dan Robitzski

A researcher stands at an ultrafast electron camera that recorded motion in electrons.

An Ultrafast Camera Filmed Electrons Interacting With Light Energy

large hadron collider lhc standard model of physics

Science & Energy

Get to Know the Large Hadron Collider and Take a Glimpse at Its Future

Walmart plans to create an Intelligent Retail Lab (IRL) in its Levittown location to explore how AI could improve the shopping experience.

Walmart Patents a System for Listening to Every Sound in Stores

Scientists set off a massive explosion in the Nevada desert to test special earthquake-detecting balloons that could one day be deployed over Venus.

NASA Wants to Send Earthquake-Detecting Balloons to Venus

By Victor Tangermann

A lung-like design created by researchers at Stanford University has the potential to increase the efficiency of hydrogen fuel cells.

Lung-Like Device Transforms Water Into a Clean Source of Fuel

By Kristin Houser

Researchers from Caltech demonstrate a new DNA origami technique by playing the world's smallest game of tic-tac-toe on a DNA board.

Science & Energy

Scientists Used DNA to Play the Tiniest Game of Tic-Tac-Toe Ever

By Kristin Houser

New medical research shows how to reprogram a mature blood cell into a new kind of stem cell that cell can grow into a neuron and multiply indefinitely.

RX and Medicine

Neural Stem Cells Grown From Blood Could Revolutionize Medicine

By Dan Robitzski

IBM has created a fingernail sensor that detects tiny nail deformations and then uses AI to analyze them for signs of health issues.

Health & Medicine

IBM’s Fingernail Sensor Could Evaluate New Parkinson’s Medications

By Kristin Houser

The ESA has released several photos of a massive ice-filled crater on Mars that are stunning enough to adorn a Christmas card.

Science & Energy

See Stunning New Images of a Mars Crater Full of Mile-Thick Ice

By Kristin Houser

An AI created by Stanford transformed typical Christmas leftovers into new recipes, which the BBC then cooked up and tasted so you don't have to.

Artificial Intelligence

AIs Whip Christmas Leftovers Into Loathsome New Recipes

By Kristin Houser

A team of Harvard researchers has created a tiny robot for Rolls-Royce that can climb in every direction, including upside down.

Watch a Tiny Gecko-Like Robot Climb Upside Down

By Kristin Houser

Congress has passed a $1.2 billion quantum computing bill designed to accelerate U.S. research into the nascent technology.

Quantum Computing

Congress Passes $1.2 Billion Quantum Computing Bill

By Kristin Houser

When scientists finally build quantum computers, they'll make quick work of current cybersecurity. But using biological systems for security may stump them.

New Encryption Is Based on the Random Movement of Living Cells

By Dan Robitzski

Researchers have modified a common houseplant with a bit of rabbit DNA to improve its ability to remove toxins from the air.

Science & Energy

A Houseplant With Rabbit DNA Could Purify the Air in Your Home

By Kristin Houser

A pilot study designed to see how guide dogs would react to delivery robots revealed the animals aren't bothered by seeing the bots on the streets.

Guide Dogs Respond Better Than Some Humans to Autonomous Robots

By Kristin Houser

Last Friday, 75 coast redwood saplings found their new home in San Francisco's Presidio national park. All of them are clones of ancient redwood stumps.

Scientists Planted Clones of Ancient Super-Tall Redwoods

By Dan Robitzski

A new carbon powder is highly efficient at the process of CO2 capture, which could help us address our greenhouse gas emissions.

Renewable Energy

New Powder Captures CO2 Before It Can Hit the Atmosphere

By Kristin Houser

Someone hacked NASA servers, potentially stealing the personal info of employees in the process, according to an internal memo.

Hackers Accessed NASA Servers Containing Employee Information

By Kristin Houser

Australian astronaut Andy Thomas believes the spaceplane designed by Virgin Galactic is not well-suited to get humans to space.

Former NASA Astronaut: Virgin Galactic’s Space Flights Are “Dangerous”

By Kristin Houser

A dementia reversal treatment is moving from animal testing to human safety trials thanks to $10 million in funding from the Australian government.

Treatment to Reverse Alzheimer’s Symptoms Moving to Human Trials

By Kristin Houser

A new model for backwards time travel debunks one of the main reasons scientists assumed it was possible. But that doesn't make it any easier.

A New Model Debunks a Popular Argument Against Time Travel

By Dan Robitzski

Boyan Slat, the 24-year-old behind the Ocean Cleanup, is confident that his plastic-corralling barrier could still work despite initial issues.

Ocean Cleanup Barrier Isn’t Catching Plastic, but Could Be Soon

By Kristin Houser

New self-assembling molecular networks can take away several challenges from atomic-scale data storage.

Science & Energy

Self-Organizing Molecules Could Store Data in Individual Atoms

By Dan Robitzski

Mutated Animals Show Why Gene Editing Isn’t Ready for Human Trials

Mutated Animals Show Why Gene Editing Isn’t Ready for Human Trials

By Kristin Houser

Police in London will conduct another trial of their highly inaccurate facial recognition technology, the seventh since 2016.

Facial recognition

Denying Facial Recognition Scan Won’t Raise Red Flags, Say Police

By Kristin Houser

A Delivery Robot Burst Into Flames in California

A Delivery Robot Burst Into Flames in California

By Kristin Houser

Tesla's upcoming Megapack energy storage system will be twelve times as powerful at the Powerpack 2, a colossal step up for Tesla's energy ambitions.

New Details About Tesla’s Gargantuan “Megapack” Power Storage Unit

By Jon Christian

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter that launched in 2009 could assist future commercial and international lunar landers.

NASA’s Lunar Orbiter Could Assist Commercial Missions to the Moon

By Victor Tangermann

A new study from scientists at Stony Brook University found that moon dust particles could react with human cells — and potentially lead to cancer.

Breathing in Moon Dust Could be Even More Toxic Than We Thought

By Victor Tangermann

The SEC Is Letting a Company Treat Your Genetic Code as Currency

Health & Medicine

The SEC Is Letting a Company Treat Your Genetic Code as Currency

By Kristin Houser

BMW and Porsche's new 450 kW "FastCharger" can allegedly give your EV a 100 km range boost in just three minutes of charging.

Porsche and BMW’s New EV Chargers Are 3x Faster Than Tesla’s

By Victor Tangermann

Biologists Engineered An Assassin Virus to Kill Bacteria on Command

Biologists Engineered An Assassin Virus to Kill Bacteria on Command

By Kristin Houser

In an interview with CNBC's Making It, billionaire Richard Branson said that three or four day weekends could be a reality for "most people" in the future.

Richard Branson: Future of Work Is “Three and Even Four Day Weekends”

By Victor Tangermann

Israeli startup Aleph Farms has unveiled what appears to be the world's first lab-grown steak, a cut of meat produced from cells taken from a live animal.

For the First Time, a Startup Grew a Steak in a Lab

By Kristin Houser

At a May 2018 concert, pop start Taylor Swift used facial recognition technology to scan the crowd for any signs of her many known stalkers.

Facial recognition

Even Taylor Swift Is Using Facial Recognition Tech Now

By Kristin Houser

Researchers release 20 images of the protoplanetary disks surrounding young stars, providing a glimpse into the process of planet formation.

Science & Energy

Beautiful New Images Show Clouds of Dust Forming Into Planets

By Kristin Houser

CAPTCHAs Are Dead, And Neural Networks Killed Them

Robots and Machines

CAPTCHAs Are Dead, And Neural Networks Killed Them

By Victor Tangermann

The United States Has One Last Chance to Restore Net Neutrality

The United States Has One Last Chance to Restore Net Neutrality

By Dan Robitzski

Virgin Galactic is planning to send its second SpaceShipTwo spaceplane called VSS Unity to "space for the first time." But what does that mean exactly?

Virgin Galactic Is Going to Space. Depending on Your Definition of Space.

By Victor Tangermann

Building telescopes and other things in space, rather than on Earth, would vastly improve our ability to watch and explore the cosmos.

The Search for Aliens May Depend on In-Space Assembly

By Dan Robitzski

Volvo's new electric truck is about to deploy on the streets of Hamburg, Germany. And they could beat Tesla's semi to the punch.

Volvo’s Electric Garbage Truck Is Its Answer to Tesla’s Big Rig

By Victor Tangermann

Researchers have discovered that the Earth's underground ecosystem is massive, roughly twice as big as all the world's oceans combined.

Science & Energy

Massive Underground Ecosystem Could Help Us Find Alien Life

By Kristin Houser

Replacing Nuclear With Renewables Would Save France $44.5 Billion

Replacing Nuclear With Renewables Would Save France $44.5 Billion

By Dan Robitzski

Experts in the 3D bioprinting and regenerative health field got together to come up with ways space agencies could use the technology to treat astronauts.

To Heal Injured Astronauts, Experts Want to 3D Print “Skin, Bone and Body Parts”

By Victor Tangermann

A plant in the Chinese city of Jinan is feeding food waste to cockroaches, which then become food for pigs and other livestock.

How a Billion Cockroaches Are Helping China Process Food Waste

By Kristin Houser

A SpaceX Dragon capsule just brought the ISS Christmas dinner, a feast consisting of turkey and all the fixings, plus cookies to decorate.

How a SpaceX Dragon Capsule Delivered Christmas Dinner to the ISS

By Kristin Houser

California Is Installing Chargers for a Type of Electric Car That Doesn’t Exist Yet

Advanced Transport

California Is Installing Chargers for a Type of Electric Car That Doesn’t Exist Yet

By Dan Robitzski