Meet the MIT scientist who’s growing semi-sentient cyborg houseplants
Elowan is a cybernetic plant that can respond to its surroundings. Tethered by a few wires and silver electrodes, the plant-robot hybrid can move in response to bioelectrochemical signals that reflect the plant’s light demands.
Only three people have explored the deep oceans. Meet the next two
In a new mission called Five Deeps, a team of explorers will brave the inhospitable depths of the world’s oceans, observing, mapping, and collecting samples along the way. The explorers aim to traverse 40,000 nautical miles over the course of a year.
3D printing could help regrow bones of injured combat veterans
John Szivek, a scientist at the University of Arizona is investigating ways to mend broken bones using 3D printing and adult stem cells. The research is geared toward helping veterans who suffer combat injuries, which can often lead to prolonged ailments and bone defects.
Time for test-tube turkey? Everything you need to know about lab-grown meat
Lab-grown meat is big business. A handful of enterprising startups have raised and invested hundreds of millions of dollars into nascent technology, banking on breakthroughs in biotech to revolutionize the food industry.
Hotter than the sun: Chinese fusion reactor claims breakthrough
China’s “artificial sun” has reached a temperature of 180 million ºF with a heating power of 10 megawatts -- six times hotter than the center of the sun. The device is designed to harness the energy of nuclear fusion, and could mark progress towards fusion as a clean energy source.
Google’s balloon internet is coming to Kenya in 2019
In order to bring the internet to those who lack it, a company called Loon is launching balloons into the stratosphere. From more than 12 miles up, these balloons beam connectivity over a large area on the ground. Loon hopes to empower people to build businesses, improve healthcare, and even increase crop yield.
In a weighty decision, scientists prepare to redefine the kilogram
Metrologists are meeting at the General Conference on Weights and Measures in Versailles to vote on whether to redefine the kilogram as a constant that can be observed in the natural world. Rather than defined by a block of metal, weights will be expressed in terms of the Planck constant (h).
Frogs regrow ‘paddle-like’ limbs when placed in a bioreactor
Frogs have partially regrown amputated limbs thanks to a bioreactor developed by a team of researchers at Tufts University. By jump-starting tissue repair, the bioreactor was shown to help the amphibians regenerate a bigger, more complete appendage than they usually do in the wild.
New CERN experiments probe puzzling questions about antimatter
In a new series of antimatter experiments, CERN researchers aim to unravel one of the many unknowns of antimatter — whether it falls in response to gravity at the same rate as ordinary matter, or if it instead behaves peculiarly. The researchers have developed two experiments called ALPHA-g and GBAR.
To make more room for livestock, the Dutch will moove cows to a floating farm
A Dutch company is developing a floating dairy farm, which they hope to use as a proof-of-concept for future agricultural systems. The farm will use automated cleaning and milking robots, while recycling waste into fertilizer. Later, they hope to include crops and other livestock.
Behind the unsettling sci-fi landscapes of Simon Stalenhag’s ‘Electric State’
The narrative artbook follows the journey of a young traveler, Michelle, and her robot, Skip, as they head west to the Pacific coast through an alternative America torn apart by civil war and the trappings of military-grade virtual reality.
Scientists want to bore holes through clouds using lasers from satellites
Researchers at the University of Geneva in Switzerland have proposed a plan to use ultra-hot and ultra-short laser beams to punch through cloud layers and transmit information from satellites to Earth. The technique could be used to send thousands of times more information more securely.
Healthy mice born from two genetic mothers using stem cells, gene editing
Healthy mice have been born from two mothers, and later went on to bear healthy offspring of their own, according to a recent paper published by researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The research could pave the way for advanced breeding methods in other mammals.
Shrimp eyes inspire new camera focused on helping self-driving cars see better
By mimicking the vision of mantis shrimp, researchers were able to make significant improvements on today’s commercial cameras. They hope their technology can help mitigate accidents by letting self-driving vehicles see more clearly and making underwater GPS more accurate.
Will we ever fly supersonic again? Unraveling the Concorde’s complex legacy
In a new book, Last Days of the Concorde, journalist and author Samme Chittum delves into the mindset that inspired engineers to design this marvel, the series of events that led to its fatal crash, and the possibility that commercial SSTs may someday take to the skies again.
Here’s who won the 2018 Nobel Prizes in Science and why
Thanks to the achievements of this year's winners of the Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, and medicine, we can better fight caner, probe quantum biology, and manufacture greener chemicals. One winner also includes the first female recipient in physics in 55 years.
Wormlike motion sculptures show how athletes move in 3D
Dynamic 3D-printed “motion sculptures” created by researchers at MIT offer athletes a unique way to visualize their bodies in motion. The system they’ve developed uses an algorithm that scans 2D videos of a person in motion and generates data points that can be printed into sculptures.
Don’t be fooled — this automated system sneakily manipulates video content
In the vein of “deep fakes,” the A.I.-augmented videos infamous for superimposing one person’s face onto another’s body, Recycle-GAN, a new system from Carnegie Mellon University, presents another case for how difficult it will be to distinguish fiction from reality in the future.
Swiss researcher offers blueprints for animal-friendly autonomous machines
Oliver Bendel worries that our anthropocentric, high-tech future fails to consider the well-being of Earth’s other creatures: "Machine ethics has so far concentrated almost exclusively on automatic actions that affect people." Bendel has now proposed design ideas for animal-friendly autonomous machines.
Cheesy Kickstarter campaign wants to bring solar energy to students in East Africa
A playful new Kickstarter campaign aims to supply remote communities with a steady source of renewable electricity while giving backers a handful of dairy-inspired tech devices. The campaign, SunMade Cheese, is the newest venture from Yolk.
Can a bracelet really let you control your dreams?
Like many tech products that emerge on crowdfunding platforms, Instadreamer is at once imaginative, intriguing, and somewhat suspect. The bracelet’s creators say their device will let users “take control of their dreams” by inducing vivid, lucid dreaming episodes.
Credit card-size device could slash the price of ultrasound sensors
An unassuming device developed by engineers at the University of British Columbia could pave the way for ultrasounds scanners that cost as little as $100. Barely bigger than a credit card, the UBC ultrasound sensor is mobile, wearable, and can be powered by a smartphone.
Printing metal just got easier with Desktop Metal’s new supercharged tech
Studio System+ expands on the company’s flagship printer by offering more functions and the ability to print smaller metal parts with higher resolution. Studio Fleet is a bundled system of printers, debinders, and furnaces that support rapid fabrication of high-quality, complex metal pieces.
A.I. bests experts at predicting deaths from heart disease
An artificial intelligence algorithm has bested experts at predicting patient deaths from heart disease. In a study published recently in the journal PLOS One, researchers from the Francis Crick Institute make yet another case for using A.I. to inform medical diagnoses.
Engineered sand could remove nasty toxins to produce drinkable water
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley are currently working on a high-tech solution to make better use of the water we have at hand. They’ve engineered sand, coating the grains in compounds that react with and help destroy organic pollutants found in stormwater.
These haunting anatomical images turn vertebrates inside out
Two new imaging techniques developed by researchers at the University of Kansas blend science and art in a haunting and captivating way. The techniques allow for photos to be taken of 50-plus-year-old vertebrate specimens, depicting the intricacies of their anatomy.
New technique combines organic and synthetic tech to harness the sun’s energy
Researchers have pioneered a new way to harness the sun’s energy. By combining organic and synthetic parts in a process called semi-artificial photosynthesis, they’ve developed a proof of concept that can split water into hydrogen and oxygen using modified photosynthetic mechanisms from plants.
Here’s an old-school motion picture machine you can 3D print at home
4-Mation is like a modern reimagining of the Victorian zoetrope device. Whereas the classic design relied on 2D images, kind of like a flip book, 4-Mation uses 3D objects and strobing lights to create dynamic visuals.