The Digital Frontier
Advancements in 20th century medicine reshaped society and made good health an expectation, not an exception. Now, 21st century breakthroughs may end disease, reverse aging, and restore sight and hearing — perhaps sooner than we think.
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The West needs more water. This Nobel winner may have the answer.
Paul Migrom has an Emmy, a Nobel, and a successful company. There’s one more big problem on the to-do list.
Police spend 40% of their time on paperwork. Can AI help?
Axon’s AI innovations promise to free officers from desks, but not without questions of ethics. CEO Rick Smith addresses concerns and community trust:
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Catalysts
8 complete strangers tell their life stories. What happens next is magic
One surprising way to boost empathy lies in telling other people’s stories from a first-person perspective.
A nun built a hydroelectric plant that’s providing free power to a town in Africa
Blackouts are a daily disruption in the country, which sources most of its electricity from a run-down and mismanaged hydropower system.
Docs discover likely cause of pig heart transplant failure
A pig virus — and not organ rejection — appears to be the reason a man who lived for two months after a pig heart transplant ultimately died.
Google Career Certificate programs are now free for US businesses
Google has announced a new Career Certificate program and a plan to give any US business $100,000 in free tech training.
Drones and driverless cars could help with Ukraine’s humanitarian crisis
We need a universal code of conduct for deploying autonomous vehicles and drones in humanitarian settings.
Surprise in death data: Malaria has a U-shaped death curve
Better death records can reveal surprises about common killers like malaria — and help save lives.
China is going to try to move an asteroid
As part of its new planetary defense strategy, the China National Space Administration is going to launch a mission to redirect an asteroid.
This German firm is building a floating solar plant on a quarry lake
A German company will switch on a floating solar power plant, a rapidly-installed, renewable technology that could help phase out oil.
Rebreather dives are wildly risky. But this might save lives.
Duke researchers have developed an early warning system for rebreather divers at risk of hypoxia.
World’s smallest DBS device reverses Parkinson’s symptoms
An ultra-small deep brain stimulation (DBS) device could increase the number of Parkinson’s patients to receive the powerful treatment.
Joystick-operated robot could help surgeons treat stroke remotely
With a modified joystick, surgeons in one hospital may control a robotic arm at another location to safely operate on a patient.
The US has untapped green energy, hidden in abandoned oil wells
By converting some of its abandoned oil and gas wells into geothermal power stations, the US could secure its clean energy future.
Watch: Incredible jumping robot triples world record
A new jumping robot that can soar nearly 100 feet into the air might use the ability to explore the moon for NASA.
3D-printed artificial coral reefs could save coastal fish
A new method for designing and 3D printing custom artificial coral reefs could make them more accurate stand-ins for the natural kind.
How Robert Langer, a pioneer in delivering mRNA into the body, failed repeatedly but kept going
Langer published the first paper to show that it was possible to deliver nucleic acids like RNA and DNA to the body via tiny particles.
North Korean citizens are jailbreaking smartphones to bypass censorship
In the face of severe punishments, North Korean hackers are finding clever ways to access forbidden content.
A new kind of diamond will hold a billion Blu-Ray’s worth of data
Ultra-pure diamond wafers could be used for quantum memory in tomorrow’s ultra-powerful quantum computers.
RNA breakthrough offers a potential heart attack cure
King’s College London researchers have used RNA to regenerate cardiac tissue in pig hearts, what they hope is the first step towards a heart attack cure.
WWF report highlights tiger population gains for the Year of the Tiger
The global tiger population is finally increasing after more than a century of gradual decline, a new study from WWF reveals.
Researchers want to fight cancer — by mutating it even more
Sloan Kettering researchers have proposed a controversial way to improve immunotherapy: making cancer cells mutate on purpose.
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