the digest (Page 201)

Latest in the digest

The Crop Trust has agreed to dedicate $1.4 million per year to maintaining the IRRI gene bank, the world's largest collection of rice varieties.

Science & Energy

The World’s Largest Collection of Rice Is Now Permanently Funded

By Kristin Houser

The World’s Fastest Camera Can “Freeze Time,” Show Beams of Light in Slo-Mo

Science & Energy

The World’s Fastest Camera Can “Freeze Time,” Show Beams of Light in Slo-Mo

By Jon Christian

Based on a new video, Boston Dynamics's SpotMini dog-like robot may be gearing up for a career as a construction site supervisor.

Boston Dynamics

Watch Boston Dynamics’ Lazy Robodog March Around a Construction Site Without Helping at All

By Kristin Houser

Tesla Filed a Trademark Application for “Teslaquila,” Because of Course It Did

Tesla Filed a Trademark Application for “Teslaquila,” Because of Course It Did

By Jon Christian

This Weird Robot Has 32 Legs and Is Shaped Like a Lumpy Sphere

This Weird Robot Has 32 Legs and Is Shaped Like a Lumpy Sphere

By Kristin Houser

To Feed a Hungry Planet, We’re All Going to Need to Eat Less Meat

To Feed a Hungry Planet, We’re All Going to Need to Eat Less Meat

By Jon Christian

Just two percent of adults would have to upload their DNA to genealogy sites before you could use a DNA sample to find a relative of virtually anyone.

Health & Medicine

Creeps Will Soon Be Able to Find Almost Anyone on Genealogy Sites

By Jon Christian

In a newly released video, you can watch Boston Dynamics's humanoid robot Atlas parkour its way across a makeshift obstacle course.

Boston Dynamics

The Boston Dynamics Robot Atlas Is Now a Parkour Master

By Kristin Houser

A robot named Pepper will appear in front of the UK Parliament next week. Nobody, including the lawmakers who arranged the interview, seem to know why.

A Robot Is Scheduled to Testify in Front of the UK Parliament

By Jon Christian

Virtual Reality Is “Reuniting” Immigrants With Their Families

Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality Is “Reuniting” Immigrants With Their Families

By Kristin Houser

A pair of new cryptocurrency reports asserts that the asset class is still very risky for investors, but not much of a threat to the world economy.

Reports: Crypto Is a Threat to Your Savings Account, But Not World Markets

By Kristin Houser

Chinese researchers have found a way to create healthy mice pups using only genetic material from two moms — no dads required.

Science & Energy

These Healthy Mice Pups Have Two Moms and No Dads

By Kristin Houser

A team of European researchers is exploring how internet usage affects mental health, marking the first international effort to do so.

We’ll Soon Know Exactly How Terrible the Internet Is for Our Mental Health

By Kristin Houser

Amazon Built an AI to Evaluate Job Applicants. One Problem: It Seemed Sexist.

Artificial Intelligence

Amazon Built an AI to Evaluate Job Applicants. One Problem: It Seemed Sexist.

By Jon Christian

Lockheed Martin engineers are using Microsoft's HoloLens to speed up construction of NASA's next space capsule by showing technicians the next step.

Lockheed Engineers Are Using HoloLens to Build NASA’s New Space Capsule

By Jon Christian

Tesla bragged about getting the highest safety ratings in the history of cars. Now the government says that's not exactly how it works.

Government to Tesla: We Never Said the Model 3 Was the “Safest Car Ever”

By Dan Robitzski

Fitness Trackers Say This Coffee Cup Has a Pulse. Wait, What?

Health & Medicine

Fitness Trackers Say This Coffee Cup Has a Pulse. Wait, What?

By Victor Tangermann

This Wireless Implant Heals Damaged Nerves and Then Self-Destructs

Health & Medicine

This Wireless Implant Heals Damaged Nerves and Then Self-Destructs

By Jon Christian

SpaceX’s First Tourist Isn’t Worried About Training for His Trip to the Moon

SpaceX’s First Tourist Isn’t Worried About Training for His Trip to the Moon

By Kristin Houser

New prosthetics can perform dexterous motions like opening beers and grinding pepper, by learning how your specific nervous system gives orders.

The Latest Prostheses Take Orders Directly From Your Nerves

By Jon Christian

A European aquaculture giant that says it's working on a facial recognition system to track the health of millions of salmon.

Facial recognition

Farmers Are Using Facial Recognition to Keep Farmed Fish Healthy

By Jon Christian

Researchers have found a way to create lab-grown collagen without harming a single animal or placing an added strain on the environment.

Lab-Grown Collagen Is Vegan and Eco-Friendly — and Identical to the Real Stuff

By Kristin Houser

Report: It’s Easy to Hack an Entire Generation of Military Weapons

Report: It’s Easy to Hack an Entire Generation of Military Weapons

By Dan Robitzski

Google withdrew itself from the running for the Pentagon's JEDI contract, but the reasons it gave for the move are worth questioning.

Google Won’t Bid on Pentagon Contract, but Not Just Because Employees Wanted It To

By Kristin Houser

Researchers Identify the “Missing Link” in the Chemistry of Saturn’s Largest Moon

Researchers Identify the “Missing Link” in the Chemistry of Saturn’s Largest Moon

By Kristin Houser

A Startup’s Bold Plan to Open Robot Farms Near U.S. Cities

A Startup’s Bold Plan to Open Robot Farms Near U.S. Cities

By Jon Christian

Ford Patent Would Let You Steer Your Car by Tilting Your Phone

Advanced Transport

Ford Patent Would Let You Steer Your Car by Tilting Your Phone

By Jon Christian

Expert: To Understand an Algorithm, Treat It Like an Animal

Artificial Intelligence

Expert: To Understand an Algorithm, Treat It Like an Animal

By Jon Christian

SpaceX Just Landed Its First Rocket in California

SpaceX Just Landed Its First Rocket in California

By Kristin Houser

Edible Tech Is Finally Useful, Is Here to Help You Poop

Health & Medicine

Edible Tech Is Finally Useful, Is Here to Help You Poop

By Dan Robitzski

A “Vaccine” Created from Mushrooms Could Help Save the Bees

Science & Energy

A “Vaccine” Created from Mushrooms Could Help Save the Bees

By Jon Christian

Report: Unless We Make Dramatic Changes, We’re Headed for Climate Catastrophe

Report: Unless We Make Dramatic Changes, We’re Headed for Climate Catastrophe

By Kristin Houser

We Need a Backup Supply of the World’s Helpful Germs, Say Researchers

Health & Medicine

We Need a Backup Supply of the World’s Helpful Germs, Say Researchers

By Kristin Houser

Experts Worry a Landmark Report on Climate Change Will Call For Unrealistic Tech

Experts Worry a Landmark Report on Climate Change Will Call For Unrealistic Tech

By Jon Christian

This Brain-Analyzing AI Could Kill Your Dream of Being a Professional Athlete

This Brain-Analyzing AI Could Kill Your Dream of Being a Professional Athlete

By Kristin Houser

Pour One out for MASCOT, the Asteroid-Exploring Lander

Pour One out for MASCOT, the Asteroid-Exploring Lander

By Kristin Houser

Oil Will Be Used Less for Fuel, More for Plastics and Fertilizers

Oil Will Be Used Less for Fuel, More for Plastics and Fertilizers

By Jon Christian

Australia is on track to all but eliminate cervical cancer within its borders by 2066, and the U.S. could follow in its footsteps.

Australia’s Success Shows That the US Could Eliminate Cervical Cancer If It Really Wanted To

By Kristin Houser

The US Government Wants to Allow Fully Autonomous Vehicles on US Roads

Self-Driving Vehicles

The US Government Wants to Allow Fully Autonomous Vehicles on US Roads

By Victor Tangermann

Mindstrong says its app can analyze your typing and scrolling to find signs of depression and anxiety. But it hasn't shared much data to support that.

Health & Medicine

This Startup Says Its App Can Detect Signs of Depression and Anxiety. Experts Aren’t Sure.

By Jon Christian

A Virgin Atlantic flight powered in part by sustainable jet fuel completed a trek from Orlando to London on Thursday morning.

Renewable Energy

A Plane Powered by Recycled Waste Just Flew Across the Atlantic

By Kristin Houser

Investigators have charged California resident Anthony Aiello with the murder of his stepdaughter — based on her Fitbit data.

Fitbit Data Helped California Police Track Down a Murder Suspect

By Jon Christian

This Humanoid Robot Can (Slowly) Install Drywall All by Itself

This Humanoid Robot Can (Slowly) Install Drywall All by Itself

By Kristin Houser

Lockheed Martin is proposing to send a four-crew lunar lander from the Lunar Gateway to the surface of the moon. And it weighs a ton.

Lockheed Martin’s Giant Moon Lander Is an Absolute Unit

By Victor Tangermann

Training a neural net to decode a person's brain signals and send them to a robotic limb led to better, precise control over prosthetics.

A Neural Network, Connected to a Human Brain, Could Mean More Advanced Prosthetics

By Dan Robitzski

A fertility clinic in California gives would-be parents the option of scanning embryos for eye color, putting us one step closer to "designer babies."

Prosthetics and Devices

You Can Now Pick Your Baby’s Eye Color Before You’re Even Pregnant

By Kristin Houser

Transcend Air says its prototype aircraft could whisk a half-dozen passengers at a time between Boston and New York in less than 40 minutes.

Advanced Transport

This Futuristic Aircraft Could Take You From New York to Boston in 36 Minutes

By Jon Christian

The First Full-Scale Hyperloop Passenger Capsule Has Arrived

The First Full-Scale Hyperloop Passenger Capsule Has Arrived

By Kristin Houser

Researchers Think They’ve Discovered the First Moon Outside Our Solar System

Researchers Think They’ve Discovered the First Moon Outside Our Solar System

By Kristin Houser

For the first time, researchers discover gamma rays emanating from the microquasar SS 433, and they aren't coming from the usual source.

Science & Energy

We Just Learned Something New About “One of the Weirdest Objects in the Milky Way”

By Kristin Houser

Tesla Seems to Be Producing Plenty of Cars. They Just Aren’t Ending up on the Road.

Tesla Seems to Be Producing Plenty of Cars. They Just Aren’t Ending up on the Road.

By Kristin Houser

The FDA Just Raided the Headquarters of E-Cigarette Maker JUUL

The FDA Just Raided the Headquarters of E-Cigarette Maker JUUL

By Victor Tangermann

Thought it's Subterranean Challenge, DARPA is asking teams of roboticists to create autonomous robots that can navigate underground environments.

The Military Wants Robots That Can Explore Tunnels Barely Large Enough to Fit a Human

By Kristin Houser

The Stuff in IKEA’s Biodegradable Packaging Will Now Make Tasty Lab-Grown Meats

Science & Energy

The Stuff in IKEA’s Biodegradable Packaging Will Now Make Tasty Lab-Grown Meats

By Jon Christian

To study the effects of deep space radiation exposure on astronaut health, researchers exposed mice to comparable levels of radiation. It hurt their guts.

Traveling to Mars Could Cause Life-Threatening Damage to Astronauts’ Guts, Says Study

By Kristin Houser

Google DeepMind built the largest-scale generative adversarial network to date. The algorithm can make photorealistic pictures of burgers and dogs.

Google Used Its Most Sophisticated AI yet to Create Pictures of Burgers

By Dan Robitzski

The Arch Foundation plans to encode important books and crowdsourced images into synthetic DNA molecules and store them on the Moon.

A Nonprofit Plans to Store Human Knowledge in DNA and Store It on the Moon

By Jon Christian

A series of neural nets wrote a novel based on what it saw and heard while being driven around the country. It's, uh, interesting.

Artificial Intelligence

An AI Took a Road Trip and Wrote a Terrible Novel About It

By Dan Robitzski

Here’s What It’s like to Drive with Tesla’s New “Mad Max” Autopilot Mode

Here’s What It’s like to Drive with Tesla’s New “Mad Max” Autopilot Mode

By Kristin Houser

Scientists Want to Use a Plasma Beam to Push Space Junk Out of Orbit

Scientists Want to Use a Plasma Beam to Push Space Junk Out of Orbit

By Kristin Houser

In its constant quest to get us to keep watching, streaming juggernaut Netflix is trying out a new format: choose-your-own-adventure style content.

Netflix Plans To Try Out “Interactive” Shows

By Jon Christian

You Can Now Navigate a US Airport Terminal Using Just Your Face as ID

You Can Now Navigate a US Airport Terminal Using Just Your Face as ID

By Kristin Houser

Automation Could Destroy Poor Economies, Says Historian

Automation Could Destroy Poor Economies, Says Historian

By Jon Christian

A new study on bipedal movement in lizards suggests adding lizard-like tails to robots could improve their ability to maneuver "off-road."

Giving Robots Lizard-Like Tails Could Improve Their Mobility

By Kristin Houser