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How Can We Teach Morals to Robots?
Read a robot a story, and you will be known as a weirdo. Teach a robot to read, and you might prevent a robot apocalypse. More > -
What the Heck is Your Exposome?
With a simple test, Dean Jones, professor of medicine at Emory University, says he can peg a pet owner. “We can pretty much guess who has pets based upon what's in their blood,” he ... More > -
Can the Sea Fix Antibiotic Resistance?
Back when antibiotics were first released in 1945, the concept of resistance, although present, was not considered to be a significant threat. Over the last seventy years, that view has changed ... More > -
Why Is A Gorilla Aboard The Space Station?
A gorilla got loose on the International Space Station, escaping from its containment unit and chasing after astronaut Tim Peake. At least, that's what it looks like. More > -
How Virtual Reality Will Improve... 4K Video?
There are many uses for virtual reality. Along with gaming, immersive tutorials, and… adult activities ( More >
Billionaire tycoon and reality TV entertainer Donald Trump's status as the 2016 Republican presidential nominee frontrunner has only been solidified in recent weeks, thanks to many decisive primary election victories. And as the general election in November draws nearer, many have begun seriously considering the prospect of President Trump.
How are companies using drones? There's a lot of speculation about the future of the drone business in America, with promises that the small, unmanned flying vehicles will transform everything from farming to package delivery, and will do so while generating billions and billions of dollars. We can't quite see the future, but we have something almost as good: Bard College's Center for the Study of the Drone published a report today about the people actually using drones for work and research. It's a snapshot of the drone industry as it exists right now, and a glimpse at how it will transform into the future.
Sony took the stage at the Game Developer's Conference 2016 in San Francisco yesterday to announce that the Playstation 4 VR headset will be available for purchase in October for $399. Even with the $60 Playstation Camera that you'll need to buy with it, the PS VR remains the cheapest option for gamers hoping to dip their virtual toes into VR waters.
“Have you ever had shoes without shoestrings?” Kanye West intoned in 2009's “Run This Town” collaboration with Jay-Z and Rihanna. The self-styled genius and fashion auteur maybe forgot that Velcro exists, but his line could almost as easily describe Nike's new HyperAdapt 1.0 sneakers with "adaptive lacing", debuted by the long-running footwear giant in New York today.
Of the 4,000 Americans waiting for heart transplants, only 2,500 will receive new hearts in the next year. Even for those lucky enough to get a transplant, the biggest risk is the their bodies will reject the new heart and launch a massive immune reaction against the foreign cells. To combat the problems of organ shortage and decrease the chance that a patient's body will reject it, researchers have been working to create synthetic organs from patients' own cells. Now a team of scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School has gotten one step closer, using adult skin cells to regenerate functional human heart tissue, according to a study published recently in the journal Circulation Research.
We're deep into election season in America, and despite the feeling that the 2016 campaign began at the dawn of time, there are still 236 days left before the election actually happens. As good, concerned citizens, invested in the fate of democracy, there are a lot of good, productive things we can do, like show people how to register to vote or fact-check candidates' science claims. It's also important to avoid doing something unproductive, like spending all day arguing about politics online in comments sections. To skip that last part, maker Simone Giertz created a robot that argues online for her:
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly recently returned to Earth after spending almost a full year in space aboard the International Space Station, and while his social media accounts are sadly no longer filled with incredible shots of our planet from orbit, he's still putting up lots of awesome images on Instagram.
Hops, the flowers of a plant in the marijuana family, do more than make your beer taste bitter, citrusy, and delicious—they've been shown to have a number of positive health effects, including preventing neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, treating insomnia or anxiety, and even combatting cancer. Now scientists from the University of Idaho are working to extract two of the most important compounds from hops in order to use them in pharmaceuticals. The researchers presented their work this week at the meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Diego.
Dinosaurs, it turns out, are not completely extinct. Far from it, in fact, as some 13,000 species of birds—dinos' modern relatives—roam the earth today. "Dinosaurs Among Us," a new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, showcases the relationship between ancient dinosaurs and birds, exploring the evidence that birds are a kind of dinosaur.
Over the last few months, water has become the focus of debate in the United States as ugly details of the Flint water crisis come to light. The problem of water contamination is ubiquitous global. Some 2 million tons of sewage and other effluent drain into the world's waters, according to the United Nations. To explore the issue, students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and New York University (NYU) explored how microbes can both contribute to and diminish water pollution.
You may have thought, after the critical bomb that was Indiana Jones And the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008, that perhaps cinema's most beloved archaeologist/adventurer/Nazi fighter character was destined to rest undisturbed for centuries, the legacy of the classic first three films slowly washing away the memories of that not-so-great fourth one. Alas, that was not to be.
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” revisited a once-glorious universe, years after it was ruined through mismanagement, neglect, and overdrawn politics. I am speaking, of course, of the fictional setting of Star Wars, and not at all about what three poorly written prequels did to the franchise. In this new concept art from Industrial Light & Magic, we get a glimpse into the vision of the world at its creation.