the digest (Page 198)

Latest in the digest

Privacy experts are concerned that governments could use Amazon's patented accent-detection technology to violate civil rights.

Artificial Intelligence

Experts Warn of Amazon’s Accent-Detecting Technology

By Kristin Houser

A biotechnology firm figured out how to scan an embryo for genetic markers that predict an abnormally high or low intelligence.

Health & Medicine

New Test Predicts How Smart Babies Will Be Before They’re Born

By Dan Robitzski

In a new video, tech company Synthesia demonstrates its AI-powered dubbing tech, which could make it easy for others to create deepfakes.

Artificial Intelligence

See the Translation Tech Lawmakers Say “Threatens Democracy” in Action

By Kristin Houser

A new startup called Nebula Genomics wants to reward you for your genomic data in the form of "Nebula credits." But will those ever be worth anything?

This Blockchain Startup Wants to Pay You for Your DNA Data

By Victor Tangermann

A team of Harvard scientists just launched a new initiative to steer the U.S. towards better AI policy. Soon, they'll teach Congress the basics.

Artificial Intelligence

Harvard Is Launching an “AI Bootcamp” For Tech-Phobic Lawmakers

By Dan Robitzski

The La Roche-Posay My Skin Track UV sensor monitors how much UVA and UVB radiation you're getting, so you know when to get more sunscreen.

Health & Medicine

L’Oreal and Apple Built a Wearable to Measure UV Radiation

By Dan Robitzski

Google engineers trained a neural net on thousands of song lyrics and classic novels. It wrote some songs and we think they're fantastic.

Google Trained a Neural Net to Write Cringey Song Lyrics

By Dan Robitzski

Engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and software company Autodesk used AI to create a spider-like NASA lander.

Artificial Intelligence

See the Spider-Like Lunar Lander Developed By AI

By Kristin Houser

Researchers at Aalborg University in Denmark are proposing to use AI robots to survey water pipes under the ground. And it could save cities millions.

Artificial Intelligence

Surveillance Robots Could Help Maintain Sewer Systems

By Victor Tangermann

The 77th Brigade of the British Army is responsible for creating viral marketing campaigns that promote the military's interests around the world.

The British Army has an Official Viral Content Division

By Dan Robitzski

As more AI research is shared with the public, more hobbyists are picking it up and building algorithms to help them with everyday life

Artificial Intelligence

How a Neural Network Runs a Family-Owned Japanese Dry Cleaner

By Dan Robitzski

A Google AI team has created an AI capable of identifying new speakers in audio clips even if it's never heard the speakers before.

Google’s New AI Can Recognize Voices It’s Never Heard Before

By Kristin Houser

The Two Fastest Supercomputers on Earth Belong to the US

The Two Fastest Supercomputers on Earth Belong to the US

By Kristin Houser

Spanish scientists just let some photosynthetic bacteria go to town on stool samples. They turned it into biofuel and filtered out any greenhouse gases.

A Purple, Photosynthetic Bacteria Can Turn Your Poop Into Power

By Dan Robitzski

A newly uploaded video featuring a drone bike theft is probably fake, but it does draw attention to the possibility of the devices supporting crime.

Watch a Drone Steal a Bicycle

By Kristin Houser

We Should Make Dangerous Robots Look Dangerous, Says Roboticist

We Should Make Dangerous Robots Look Dangerous, Says Roboticist

By Kristin Houser

Sources close to the matter shared details on Samsung's foldable phone, including its price and release date, with Yonhap News Agency.

Robots and Machines

Here’s What Samsung’s Foldable Phone Will Probably Cost You

By Kristin Houser

Tesla developed bioweapon defense mode to help drivers in the event of an attack, but it's also helping them breathe during California's wildfires.

Tesla’s “Bioweapon Defense Mode” Is Helping Californians Breathe

By Kristin Houser

The headmaster of a Chinese high school lost his job after he was discovered mining crypto using the school's electricity.

Headmaster Fired for Stealing School’s Electricity to Mine Crypto

By Kristin Houser

A new charge-storing system looks like a fabric that can be stitched into whatever you're wearing that day, helping discretely power biosensors.

Science & Energy

A New Battery Can Be Stitched Into Clothes to Power Wearables

By Dan Robitzski

According to recent FCC filings, SpaceX is planning on orbiting more than 1,500 Starlink satellites at almost half the altitude to keep them safe.

SpaceX Found a Way To Keep Its Satellites From Cluttering Up Space

By Victor Tangermann

Global fertility rates are declining, meaning we could be headed toward a society with more grandparents than grandchildren, according to a new report.

Fertility Rates Are Now Falling in Half the World’s Countries

By Kristin Houser

Next week, the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) is set to meet and redefine the kilogram. It's a bizarre step forward for science.

The Metric System Is About To Get a Long-Anticipated Upgrade

By Dan Robitzski

In the future, sex workers in urban areas could operate out of autonomous vehicles, according to a new report by UK academics.

Self-Driving Vehicles

Joy Ride: Experts Say Future Sex Work Could Happen in Autonomous Cars

By Kristin Houser

The Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) has selected 31 students to participate in a four-year-long program focused on developing AI weapons.

Artificial Intelligence

China Recruits “Patriotic” Children to Develop Its AI Weapons

By Kristin Houser

Startup Precise Bio is nearing human trials of its bioprinted corneas, according to a newly published report in IEEE Spectrum.

Health & Medicine

Bioprinted Corneas Are Nearly Ready for Human Trials, Says Startup

By Kristin Houser

Tesla selects Robyn Denholm, CFO and Head of Strategy at Telstra, to replace Elon Musk as the chair of its board of directors.

Tesla Announces Elon Musk’s Replacement as Chair of the Board

By Kristin Houser

Swiss company Energy Vault came up with an elegant solution to storing energy: hoisting giant bricks over 300 feet in the air.

Giant Hanging Bricks Could Store Energy Better Than Batteries

By Victor Tangermann

New Self-Repairing Material Could Let You Key Your Car Just for Fun

Science & Energy

New Self-Repairing Material Could Let You Key Your Car Just for Fun

By Dan Robitzski

After four years of study, NASA concluded that 3D printing works just as well in space as it does on Earth. Deep space missions may be in the future.

NASA: Objects 3D Printed in Space Perform Well Enough to Support Missions

By Dan Robitzski

Microsoft just created a new AI system that can scan a news column and pull out the most important facts for quicker reading.

Artificial Intelligence

Microsoft’s New Neural Network Summarizes the News — Erratically

By Dan Robitzski

Researchers have created a bioreactor device that helps regrow limbs on frogs when worn for just 24 hours post-amputation.

Science & Energy

A Wearable Device Helped Frogs Regrow Their Amputated Limbs

By Kristin Houser

A new kind of prosthetic limb gives people the control of the most sophisticated prostheses out there, but is also easily-interchangeable.

Prosthetics and Devices

New Prosthetic Limbs are More Interchangeable Than Ever

By Dan Robitzski

A new online tool, "AI Portraits" takes a photo of your face and uses artificial intelligence to try and generate a realistic portrait.

Artificial Intelligence

This Website Will Generate an AI Portrait of You

By Dan Robitzski

NASA posted a video to its Commercial Crew Twitter account of astronauts wearing SpaceX spacesuits while inside a Crew Dragon spacecraft.

NASA Astronauts Put SpaceX Spacesuits to the Test

By Kristin Houser

When Galaxies Merge, The Black Holes In Their Hearts Fuse Together

Science & Energy

When Galaxies Merge, The Black Holes In Their Hearts Fuse Together

By Jon Christian

Researchers created bionic mushrooms that could keep electricity-generating cyanobacteria alive longer than other surfaces.

We Can Now Generate Electricity From “Bionic Mushrooms”

By Kristin Houser

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invested big money in new sanitation technology, yielding developments that could save hundreds of thousands of lives.

Health & Medicine

Bill Gates Wants to Save Lives and Money With High-Tech Toilets

By Dan Robitzski

The Energy Spent Mining $1 of Bitcoin Could Earn You $3.40 in Gold

The Energy Spent Mining $1 of Bitcoin Could Earn You $3.40 in Gold

By Kristin Houser

Chinese police are now employing gait recognition software to identify citizens, making it the latest weapon in the nation's war against privacy.

China Can Now Identify a Citizen Based on Their Walk

By Kristin Houser

Plant-based meats are more impressive and convincing than ever. But if they're going to save the environment, governments need to help.

Unless Governments Get Involved, Plant-Based Meat Won’t Take Off

By Dan Robitzski

New research shows that those who are given more money become greedier and refuse to help fight climate change. The poor are left on their own.

To Fight Climate Change, The Poor Would Spend More Than The Rich

By Dan Robitzski

China just unveiled a life-size replica of its new permanently crewed space station called Tiangong. But it's not quite as big as the ISS.

China’s New Space Station Is Called The “Heavenly Palace”

By Victor Tangermann

SpaceX recently proved it was ready to handle caring for an injured astronaut with a rehearsal aboard its GO Searcher recovery ship.

SpaceX Reveals How It Would Handle an Astronaut Emergency

By Kristin Houser

A new gadget uses machine learning to identify pollen and spores — and it could eventually give you a better sense of the air you're breathing.

Artificial Intelligence

This Gadget Tells You Exactly What Allergens You’re Inhaling

By Jon Christian

Phubbing: How Phones Pull You Away From Your Loved Ones

Phubbing: How Phones Pull You Away From Your Loved Ones

By Dan Robitzski

A blue and red "Vote" poster for political apps.

Exercise Your Civic Duty by Shaming Your Friends Into Voting

By Kristin Houser

A newly-discovered star in our galaxy is only 300 million years younger than the universe itself. it's older than anything scientists expected to find.

An Ancient Star Reveals Our Galaxy Is Older Than We Thought

By Dan Robitzski

New research suggests that offshore wind farms can suck the destructive energy out of hurricanes before they make landfall.

Huge Wind Farms Could Weaken Hurricanes Before They Make Landfall

By Jon Christian

Researchers develop a corkscrew-shaped nanobot they can guide through the dense tissue of an eyeball using a magnetic field.

A New Nanobot Drills Through Your Eyeball to Deliver Drugs

By Kristin Houser

General Motors just launched a contest asking the public to name its newly unveiled eBikes, which it claims will go on sale in 2019.

Science & Energy

General Motors Will Give You $10,000 to Name Its New eBike

By Kristin Houser

A new AI agent taught itself, using reinforcement learning, how to get dressed in the morning. The results could make animation much easier on artists.

Artificial Intelligence

Having a Bad Day? An Adorable Video Shows AI Learning to Get Dressed

By Dan Robitzski

More Robots Means Fewer Seasonal Workers for Amazon This Holiday

Artificial Intelligence

More Robots Means Fewer Seasonal Workers for Amazon This Holiday

By Victor Tangermann

As of November 1, doctors across the U.S. are free to prescribe Epidiolex, a cannabis-derived drug, to epilepsy patients.

Health & Medicine

Doctors Can Now Prescribe FDA-Approved Drug Derived From Cannabis

By Kristin Houser

A giant space laser, built with mostly-existing technology, could serve as a homing beacon for any aliens that might be out there.

A Giant Space Laser on Earth Could Blast Messages at Alien Planets

By Dan Robitzski

Elon Musk shared a video walkthrough of the Boring Company's test tunnel in Hawthorne, CA, which will open on December 10.

Advanced Transport

Take a Virtual Ride Through the Boring Company’s First Tunnel

By Kristin Houser

Jaguar Land Rover is working on a system to prevent riders in autonomous vehicles (AVs) from experiencing motion sickness.

Advanced Transport

A Major Automaker Is Trying to Stop AVs From Making People Sick

By Kristin Houser

The future of architecture could be knitted concrete, a technique in which a textile serves as the basis for a concrete structure.

Science & Energy

Watch the First Knitted Concrete Structure Take Shape

By Kristin Houser

A new machine learning algorithm built by 20th Century Fox can compare movie trailers and predict which films will appeal to an audience.

Machine Learning

Fox is Using Machine Learning to Predict Which Movies Will be Hits

By Dan Robitzski

The military and government labs are building new navigation and steering devices that use quantum physics and Earth's magnetic field.

Advanced Transport

Quantum Navigation Could be as Accurate as GPS, Without Satellites

By Dan Robitzski

A US warship just succesfully intercepted a dummy nuclear missile with another missile for the second time. But will it actually prevent disaster?

Watch a Missile Smash a Dummy Nuclear Warhead Out of the Sky

By Victor Tangermann

Cryptocurrency millionaire Jeffrey Berns is building a blockchain city in the Nevada desert surrounding Tesla's Gigafactory.

A Millionaire Is Building a Blockchain Utopia in the Nevada Desert

By Kristin Houser

Palau will ban all coral reef-damaging sunscreens by 2020. It's a small but important drop in the bucket if we want to stop bleaching.

A Sunscreen Ban Won’t Save the Coral Reefs, but It’s a Good Start

By Dan Robitzski

Researchers find clear evidence of a link between the radio waves emitted by certain cell phones and cancer in male rats.

Your Cell Phone Could Cause Cancer — Under Very Specific Conditions

By Kristin Houser