Elon’s Cybertruck smash and more: The biggest on-stage screwups in tech history
It’s a brave person who steps onto a stage to show off a new piece of tech. When it goes wrong, it can go spectacularly wrong, leading the incident itself to become the star of the show.
Six theories on why the Cybertruck’s bulletproof glass cracked so easily
Elon Musk smashing two of the windows of Tesla's divisive pickup, the Cybertruck, was the most commented-upon moment of the futuristic vehicle's unveiling. But why did the armor glass windows let him down? Here are several theories which might explain the breaks heard around the world.
Dr. Cecilia Bitz tracks sea ice as it disappears at unprecedented levels
Dr. Cecilia Bitz is an atmospheric scientist who studies sea ice. She's watched it melt and retreat in the Arctic Ocean and knows the trend is harmful for the planet. Melting ice is part of a climate change feedback loop that's causing big problems for polar bears, Native Alaskans, and others.
Straight flush: How next-gen smart toilets could revolutionize health tracking
Smart toilets may sound like a weird gimmicky novelty. However, they could turn out to be the health-tracking revolution that people have waited for. Here's why smart toilets could prove to be the internet-connected device that might one day just happen to save your life.
Here’s an A.I. preview of what climate change will do to your neighborhood
Researchers are using machine learning to help the public visualize the impact of climate change and inform policymakers on what to do.
Meet the robotic pioneers that will help humanity colonize Mars
The race to populate Mars is on. But before humans can visit the red planet, we need to send out robot scouts to see the lay of the land. The next generation of Martian robotics will use sophisticated AI, novel propulsion methods, and flexible smallsats to meet the challenges of colonizing a new world.
SpaceX’s Starlink project poses an existential threat to astronomy
There could very well soon be more satellites visible in the night sky than stars. That's a major problem for astronomy, one leading astrophysicist told Digital Trends. Here's why it's a big problem -- and what he thinks the United Nations should consider doing about it.
MIT is teaching self-driving cars how to psychoanalyze humans on the road
MIT CSAIL researchers have developed an algorithm for self-driving cars that aims to predict human drivers' personalities, determining whether they're selfless or selfish. In the process, they hope that it will help autonomous vehicles to more safely drive among them. Here's how it works.
This mind-blowing 8K holographic display makes 3D look awesome again
Bored of flat TVs? Looking Glass Factory has created the world’s first 8K holographic display: an astonishing 33.2 million pixel beast capable of throwing out images that literally seem to pop out of the screen. For its creators, its the latest step in a dream dating back 30 years.
Robot overlords? More like co-verlords. The future is human-robot collaboration
Forget stealing our jobs; the next frontier of robotics is going to help humans by allowing them to carry out a whole host of tasks remotely -- whether it's maintenance or even surgery. Here's why it could prove to be such a major game changer for a whole lot of people.
What Blade Runner got right (and wrong) about 2019
1982's Blade Runner is rightly considered a masterpiece among science fiction movies. But how accurate were its predictions about the future? With November 2019 being the far-flung month and year in which the movie is set, here’s what the movie got right and, in one case, very wrong.
Your Alexa speaker can be hacked with malicious audio tracks. And lasers.
Smart speakers are awesome. But they're also subject to some pretty terrifying vulnerabilities, as two recent proof-of-concept demonstrations show. Whether it's adversarial sound attacks or laser hacks, here are two ways researchers have found to exploit smart speaker weaknesses.
Drone and rover tag teams could help solve the world’s deadly land mine problem
Roughly 20,000 people are maimed or killed each year due to land mines; the vast majority being civilians in parts of the world subject to ongoing conflict. Could a tag team of autonomous robots help solve the problem? Roboticists from Worcester Polytechnic Institute think so.
DNA, laser-etched glass, and beyond: A peek into the future of data storage
Data has a problem. Simply put: We produce way too much of it, and storing it is becoming an issue. But pioneering researchers are exploring futuristic ways of solving our data problem once and for all. From 5D optical storage to embedding data in DNA, here are some of their ideas.
NASA astronomers think this interstellar comet is carrying alien water
A team of astronomers at NASA think they might have found water from another planetary system on an interstellar comet. If they’re correct, this would be the first time in human history that water hailing from another planetary system has been found within our solar system.
This startup wants you to submit pictures of your poop. Lots of them, in fact
Sending pictures of your poop over the internet sounds like the kind of thing that should be discouraged. The creators of the new #giveashit campaign think different, however. Not only do they want your poop photos; they plan to use them to train a new feces-analyzing A.I.
Inside the outrageously ambitious plan to scan the entire Earth with lidar
The Earth Archive is an ambitious new project that hopes to scan planet Earth in full 3D using the technology which helps self-driving cars make sense of the world around them. Here's why its creators believe that this is such an important mission -- and why time is running out.
Dear robots: If you come to steal our jobs, please take these ones first
Over the coming decades, it’s likely that huge numbers of other jobs will be replaced thanks to advances in artificial intelligence and robotics. But are there jobs we should specifically try and automate away for the good of humankind? Here are some which fit the bill.
We’re slowly trapping ourselves under an umbrella of space junk
Kessler Syndrome is a scenario in which the density of objects in low Earth orbit is high enough that collisions between objects could cause a cascading effect that ultimately traps humanity beneath a ceiling of space junk. We spoke to the man who coined the term.
Robots aren’t coming to steal your job. They’re coming to improve it
Paul Daugherty, chief technology an innovation officer at Accenture, thinks it’s neither inevitable nor likely that machines will ultimately replace humans in the workforce
400 years after the Mayflower voyage, this A.I. ship will retrace its path
Four-hundred years ago next fall, a ship called the Mayflower set sail from Plymouth, England, to the New World, aka America. To mark the anniversary, an IBM-powered autonomous ship is getting ready to retrace the voyage. Here's how it came to be, and what makes it so exciting.
Machines are getting freakishly good at recognizing human emotions
In certain scenarios, A.I. algorithms can outperform humans at identifying certain emotions, such as happiness and sadness, by looking at faces. Here is why that matters -- and what it means for the way that we will interact with machines (and vice versa) in the future.
IBM contest winners answer call by developing lifesaving tech for firefighters
Could smart sensor technology help make firefighters’ jobs a bit less dangerous? That’s the hope of Prometeo, a Spanish team that was announced as the winners of IBM’s Call for Code 2019 competition. Here's what the team has developed -- and how it promises to help.
From iPads to Apple Watches, tech has changed Major League Baseball forever
In recent years, MLB has taken a more modern approach to its game and adopted technology to help usher in a tech-savvy era of America's pastime. While in many cases tech has been used for good, it can also lead to new ways of cheating, causing players and coaches to become increasingly paranoid.
This ad blocker for audio is a peek into the future of ‘perceptual ad blockers’
Adblock Radio is a new artificial intelligence tool, similar to music-recognizing app Shazam, which uses machine learning to spot audio ads so users can skip them. Welcome to the exciting new world of perceptual ad-blockers. Here's why they must turn out to be necessary.
How Endel and Toro y Moi are shaping the future of music and digital wellness
Playlists to focus, sleep, and relax are booming on streaming platforms. Similarly, a host of smart home products aim to affect your wellbeing in similar ways. Endel has a vision to unify these in a way that's always unique to you. Companies like Apple and Warner Music, as well as Toro y Moi see it too.
A.I. musicians are a growing trend. What does that mean for the music industry?
The most prolific musical artists manage to release one or two studio albums in a year. A.I. company Auxuman plans to put out a new full-length album every single month. Welcome to the world of machine creativity. Here's why Auxuman's founder is so confident he's onto a winner.
Why is it still so hard to land on the moon?
Two missions from SpaceIL and the Indian Space Research Organization both failed to land craft on the moon this year. Fifty years after Apollo, we spoke to two space experts to understand why are lunar landings still so challenging.
Earth has a food waste problem. Can giant, solar-powered refrigerators help?
There’s a problem with food waste in developing countries that can’t be fixed by buying a fridge. Farmer Nnaemeka C. Ikegwuonu created ColdHubs, solar-powered rooms that extend the shelf life of produce. With the potential to reduce food waste worldwide, places in Africa are already reaping the benefits.
Thanks to iris scanning, refugees can get the food they need at a glance
For humanitarian organizations trying to deliver aid to refugees, the lack of identification can be a quagmire. The United Nations' World Food Programme has deployed a technological solution, using iris scanning and Blockchain to help refugees get food quickly and easily.
Waiting in the wings: How drones are revolutionizing the battle against hunger
How do you use drones to save lives following a disaster? The World Food Programme, the food-assistance branch of the United Nations, is doing its bit to use drone technology to help humanity. Here are some of the ways that it is using unmanned aerial vehicles right now.
No soil? No problem. H2Grow can cultivate crops practically anywhere
Through tailor-made hydroponic systems, H2Grow aims to solve hunger in arid regions and help vulnerable communities become more self-reliant by securing food resources. H2Grow, a project from the United Nations World Food Programme, is helping crops flourish in unexpected places.
Forget fingerprints. These headphones can scan your ear canal for identification
Move over Face ID! The future of biometric security systems will use earbuds to map your inner ear. It sounds crazy, but the State University of New York at Buffalo's new EarEcho technology could actually turn out to be pretty darn useful. Here's why this wacky new biometric tech is exciting.
New algae-based bioreactor can swallow carbon dioxide 400x faster than trees
A.I. startup Hypergiant Industries has developed a prototype algae bioreactor which promises to be 400 times more efficient than trees at sucking carbon dioxide out of the air. Here's why it could turn out to be such a game-changer when it comes to battling climate change.