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The Digital Frontier

A data center with rows of servers and neatly organized cables in red and blue on both sides of a central aisle.

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.
Featured
Two people trek across a dry, open desert landscape marked by sparse vegetation under a partly cloudy sky, illustrating the challenges of water scarcity. In the distance, mountains stand as silent observers to this arid expanse.
AI
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.
A police cap is covered with binary code on a bright yellow background.
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:
An e-reader displaying text is propped up against a stack of hardcover books.
Books
How the Internet Archive’s “Free Digital Library” fell to the “fair use” test
More
A penny with a pen on top of it.
Engineering
Ex-NASA engineer Mark Rober created the world’s smallest Nerf gun — from DNA
Mark Rober and Pallav Kosuri created a Nerf gun so tiny they had to build it out of DNA. This DNA “origami” has the potential to revolutionize engineering.
A 3d image of a brain made of wires and dots.
AI
Dumbing down or wising up: how will generative AI change the way we think?
Artificial intelligence tools are now managing huge swathes of information on our behalf, potentially changing what and how we think.
A bedroom with a bed and a lamp, where the history of insomnia has left its mark.
Neuroscience
A short history of insomnia and how we became obsessed with sleep
Insomnia is big business and getting bigger. When did sleep become so important, so elusive, and so expensive?
A NASA astronaut about to step onto the moon
Aerospace
NASA spends $50K on liquid metal spacesuit material
NASA-backed engineers are developing a new spacesuit material that will use liquid metals to repel lunar dust on demand.
An image of a blue star in the sky.
Astronomy
Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites are “leaking” signals
Starlink satellites are emitting signals that interfere with our most sensitive radio telescopes, interfering with radio astronomy.
A pink coral is growing on the bottom of the ocean.
Oceans
Sex life discovery raises IVF hope for endangered purple cauliflower soft coral
The purple cauliflower soft coral Dendronephthya australis, now listed as an endangered species, has a new hope of survival with IVF.
A person holding a cell phone with a sticker that says i voted.
Debunking the myth of Gen Z “voter apathy” ahead of the 2024 election
Gen Z is stereotyped as politically apathetic. These youth action groups are proving that couldn’t be further from the truth.
images showing the effect of the treatment on neuromuscular junctions
Biology
Blocking this one protein could strengthen muscles
Stanford researchers have figured out how a therapy that blocks a single protein can reverse age-related muscle loss in mice.
An HIV infected cell
CRISPR
CRISPR cure for HIV now tested in 3 people
Excision BioTherapeutics has shared data from the first human clinical trial of a CRISPR cure for HIV. Here’s what we know — and don’t know.
A man is holding up a living pharmacy prototype, which looks like a small piece of plastic with lines on it
Medicine
“Living pharmacies” could mean you never forget to take your meds again
The US government is funding the development of “living pharmacies,” implants containing cells that release medications on demand.
A woman engaging in cardio at home, seen from the back, wearing a wet swimsuit.
Sports
Cardio improves cognitive function & mental health. Here’s the best way to do it at home.
While many people do cardio exercise to keep physically fit, research shows cardio also improves cognitive function and mental health.
Optic nerves
Healthcare
MIT’s soft fiber implants could offer drug-free pain relief
An innovative new way to use fiber-pulses to inhibit pain.
A man pouring concrete into a trench.
Construction
Cleaning up one of the world’s most commonly used substances
C-Crete has created a more sustainable cement binding material that could significantly reduce the industry’s CO2 emissions.
an illustration of the Earth surrounded by space junk
Aerospace
NASA funds AI lasers to zap space junk
NASA is funding the development of AI space lasers to protect its spacecraft and astronauts from potentially deadly space junk.
An image of a rocket launching with the T-Minus logo over top of it
Aerospace
T-Minus: SpaceX’s wild pace, a marsquake mystery solved, and more
Freethink’s weekly countdown of the biggest space news, featuring SpaceX’s launch problem, a marsquake mystery, and more.
An image of the zika virus (in purple) infecting monkey cells (in green)
Virology
Why 20 women were just deliberately exposed to Zika
In a first-of-its-kind human challenge trial, Johns Hopkins University researchers deliberately exposed 20 women to the Zika virus.
Nasa's nasa spacecraft nasa spacecraft nasa spacecraft n.
Planet Earth
The 2023 annular eclipse will have huge consequences 6 months later
Only twice a year are the conditions right for the Sun, Earth, and Moon to align in space: creating conditions for either solar or lunar eclipses.
A person using a syringe to inject something into a petri dish.
CRISPR
New “anti-CRISPR” discovered in viruses
A new “anti-CRISPR” system could help us control gene-editing tech and battle antibiotic-resistant superbugs.
A large white dome in the middle of a city.
Astronomy
There’s an entire solar system hiding inside Sweden
The Avicii Arena in Stockholm is the world’s largest spherical building and the center of the world’s largest scale model of our solar system.
Three silver balls hanging on a black background.
For entrepreneurs, product positioning can be even more important than the product itself
Here are 3 strategies for smarter product positioning.
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