Tech
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Tech
Lasers trace a new way to create hovering hologram-like images
Hovering 3-D images pave the way for futuristic displays that could be used for education or entertainment.
- Computing
Your phone is like a spy in your pocket
Smartphones’ powers of perception make them more user-friendly and efficient. But they also open new opportunities for privacy invasions.
- Tech
New technique could help spot snooping drones
There may be a new way to tell if a drone is creeping on you or your home.
- Life
A robotic arm made of DNA moves at dizzying speed
A DNA machine with a high-speed arm could pave the way for nanoscale factories.
- Astronomy
Pollution is endangering the future of astronomy
Astronomers discuss multiple threats from pollution that will make it harder to observe the night sky.
- Microbes
A new gel could help in the fight against deadly, drug-resistant superbugs
An antibacterial ointment breaks down the defenses of drug-resistant microbes such as MRSA in lab tests.
- Life
Readers wrangle with definition of ‘species’
Readers asked about the definition of "species," a new atomic clock and how a neutron star collision produces heavy elements.
- Microbes
New pill tracks gases through your gut
Swallowing these pill-sized sensors could give new insight into what’s going on in your gut.
- Microbes
These disease-fighting bacteria produce echoes detectable by ultrasound
Ultrasound can help keep tabs on genetically modified bacteria to better fight disease inside the body.
- Artificial Intelligence
Ask AI: How not to kill online conversations
Tips on not being a conversation-killer, courtesy of an AI that studied over 60,000 Reddit threads.
- Tech
Boy robot passes agility tests
Anatomically accurate humanlike robots pave the way for more sophisticated prosthetics and realistic crash-test dummies.
- Astronomy
AI has found an 8-planet system like ours in Kepler data
An AI spotted an eighth planet circling a distant star, unseating the solar system as the sole record-holder for most known planets.
