Tech
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Tech
Wiggling wheels could keep future rovers trucking in loose lunar soil
A rover that wriggles through soil could climb hills on the moon or Mars that are too steep for a simple wheeled bot.
- Science & Society
How materials science has changed humankind — for better and worse
As people began wielding new materials, the technologies fundamentally changed humankind, the new book ‘The Alchemy of Us’ argues.
- Space
New search methods are ramping up the hunt for alien intelligence
Six decades of radio silence hasn’t stopped scientists searching for intelligent life beyond Earth. In fact, new technologies are boosting efforts.
- Health & Medicine
You can help fight the coronavirus. All you need is a computer
With Folding@home, people can donate computing time on their home computers to the search for a chemical Achilles’ heel in the coronavirus.
- Artificial Intelligence
An AI that mimics how mammals smell recognizes scents better than other AI
An artificial intelligence modeled after the neural circuitry in mammalian brains can keep learning new aromas without forgetting others.
- Math
How a quantum technique highlights math’s mysterious link to physics
Verifying proofs to very hard math problems is possible with infinite quantum entanglement.
- Artificial Intelligence
Linking sense of touch to facial movement inches robots toward ‘feeling’ pain
Artificial systems that allow a robot to “feel” pain might ultimately lead to empathy.
- Computing
AI can predict which criminals may break laws again better than humans
Computer algorithms are better than people at forecasting recidivism, at least in some situations, a new study finds.
- Tech
The U.S. power grid desperately needs upgrades to handle climate change
The climate is changing faster than the U.S. power grid is adapting. Smarter grids and smaller grids could help.
- Physics
A quantum strategy could verify the solutions to unsolvable problems — in theory
A quantum technique for verifying solutions to difficult problems could apply to an “unbelievably huge” class of puzzles.
- Archaeology
A 3-D printed vocal tract lets an ancient mummy speak from beyond the grave
A re-created version of a mummy’s vocal tract reveals what this ancient Egyptian might have sounded like.
- Life
‘PigeonBot’ is the first robot that can bend its wings like a real bird
Insights into the joint movements and feather surface structures that help birds control their wing shape could help robotic flyers move more deftly.
