---
title: "This Week in Tech: Sept 15-21"
description: "Miss tech news from this week? We've got you covered. We learned who will fly in SpaceX's BFR, saw the premiere of hydrogen-powered trains, and more."
date: "2018-09-22"
modified: "2018-09-22"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/week-tech-sept-15-21"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "bfr"
  - "Google"
  - "hydrogen powered trains"
  - "neural implant"
  - "robotic skin"
  - "tech"
  - "This Week in Tech"
  - "twit"
---

# This Week in Tech: Sept 15-21

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/TWIT.png>)
*\<em\>Image: Tag Hartman-Simkins\</em\>*

Have you ever seen a bright red lion statue reading out poems generated by a machine learning algorithm? We hadn't, either — until this week. Perhaps researchers from Yale University can wrap it in their newly-developed "robotic skin" to allow it to pounce on unsuspecting passers-by. Have absolutely no idea what we're talking about? Read on to get the picture.

**[Flying Cars May Work Best When Tethered To Power Lines.](<https://futurism.com/flying-cars-tethered-power-lines>)** To make flying cars more practical, one company suggests tethering them to the ground and making them run along a network of power lines.

[**Germany Just Rolled Out the World’s First Hydrogen-Powered Trains.**](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/hydrogen-powered-trains>) The world's first hydrogen-powered trains are now in operation in Lower Saxony, Germany. They could help lower diesel emissions.

[**Elon Musk Tweeted Some Very Cool New Renders of the Big Falcon Rocket.**](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/bfr-renders-spacex>) SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted two new BFR renders, giving people a preview of the rocket it expects to ferry passengers to the Moon and Mars.

**[Military Pilots Can Control Three Jets at Once via a Neural Implant.](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/jets-pilots-mind-control-darpa>)** DARPA just unveiled a research project that lets people control multiple jet planes at once with just their thoughts. For now, though, it requires invasive surgery.

[**This “Robotic Skin” Can Turn Pretty Much Anything Into a Robot.**](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/robotic-skin-animate-objects>) Yale researchers have created a robotic skin made out of sheets of elastic embedded with sensors and actuators that can give inanimate objects the ability to move.

[**Here's Why Google Built an AI-Powered Lion Statue That Spits out Poems.**](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/google-lion-statue-spits-poems>) A bright red statue of a lion in Trafalgar Square was programmed to generate poems. It used a machine learning algorithm trained on tens of millions of words of 19th century poetry.

***More This Week in Tech: This Week in Tech: September 8-14***

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)