Online data fed directly into the brains of human beings via a “software/wetware” interface? We’re closer than you think. But the impact on humanity may be devastating.
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In their book Surfaces and Essences: Analogy as the Fuel and Fire of Thinking, Douglas Hofstadter and Emmanuel Sander remind us that the way we view the world is necessarily […]
A paradox of selling technology in the 21st century is that it’s often more difficult to convince users that they need the latest gadget, even if that gadget is more […]
Stills from the video of the tragic derailment.
Who elected young college graduates the kings and queens of language?
University of California’s Paul Piff led a series of experiments that delved into the behavior associated with the rising income inequality in the United States. What he found was incredibly […]
Ray Kurzweil is singularly sure about The Singularity.
Developed by Raytheon, the helium aerostats will hover at 10,000 feet and can see up to 320 miles in any direction. Unlike ground-based systems, they can provide warnings to military personnel minutes, rather than seconds, in advance.
The pocket-sized breathalyzer uses sensors to measure and calculate acetone levels — a key indicator of fat breakdown — and sends data to a smartphone app within 10 seconds.
Do you ever stay up late and then curse yourself the next morning when your alarm clock wakes you up? Jerry Seinfeld has the same problem. He’s got a pretty […]
If it runs Android, you can install an app, created by designers at the University of California-Berkeley, that will let the phone crunch data during downtime.
A built-in webcam captures the person’s face, then tweaks the expression using software. Tests showed that subjects were more likely to “like” a garment when they saw themselves smiling in the mirror.
Virginia Military Institute professors have designed a rover that attracts and kills ticks as it crosses an area. Tests show a kill rate of between 75 and 100 percent.
For five months out of every year, the citizens of Rjukan live in the shadow of neighboring mountains. That won’t be the case this year.
Would you kill a baby if you knew he would grow up to be Hitler?
To truly help developing societies, we need to answer their immediate needs.
We are sitting on “an economic time bomb.”
Is abortion the most futile policy debate ever? Sometimes I wish the entire country would enter collective, premature menopause just to end it, already. The anti-abortion initiatives and state laws […]
I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s really no way to be one hundred percent popular as conductor.
This is the basis of what we call creativity: not a deus ex machina scrawling on a tabula rasa, but the mind’s constant search for interesting new ways of grouping the data we’re constantly taking in.
Art and music is part of what it means to be a human being.
As an artist I’m more excited then scared about how it’s going to affect the business model or my bottom line.
It doesn’t take a study to explain that being better able to listen to and understand others will make you more successful in your career and your relationships.
“Flipper” isn’t one of them: A team of Scottish scientists report that the animals’ distinctive whistles help label each other, allowing them to stay connected while swimming in a group.
After investigating deadly school bus accidents, the National Transportation Safety Board made recommendations for the development of connected-vehicle technology.
According to a news report, local officials are promoting them throughout the region because they say they are better at protecting homes and property than dogs.
A first-of-its-kind study warns that just one massive greenhouse gas emission could be enough to devastate the global economy.
Not only are machines rapidly catching up to — and exceeding — humans in terms of raw computing power, they are also starting to do things that we used to […]
“We can’t afford it!” Insert the frothing face of the Republican congressperson of your choice above that phrase and you have a pretty comprehensive picture of the current debate in […]
It’s the morning of Wednesday, 13 September 1939. In an America supremely at peace, newspapers hit front lawns with headlines screaming of war. The horrific conflict splashed across the front […]