Hard Tech

Clean Energy

3D-printed “superalloy” could make power plants more efficient

The material is both stronger and lighter than those used to make conventional turbines.

Sam Jarman

a flat, clear piece of rubber in a spiral shape with thin wires running through it

Brain

This soft brain implant unfurls its arms under the skull

A soft brain implant that unfurls under the skull could make implantation surgeries less costly and risky.

Kristin Houser

a closeup of a tiny LED in the middle of a microchip

Computer Science

MIT breakthrough creates world’s smallest holographic microscope

The world’s smallest holographic microscope foreshadows a future in which smartphones could be used for high-res microscopy.

Kristin Houser

Series| Coded

Combating conspiracy in the disinformation age

6:41

What can we do about troll farms, deepfakes, and phoney headlines in the disinformation age?

Jack Berning

Agriculture

Lab-grown wood is taking shape at MIT

A newly demonstrated technique for making lab-grown wood could overcome several shortcomings of traditional logging, if it's scalable.

Kristin Houser

Robotics

Sophia the Robot will be mass-produced this year

Hanson Robotics is going to begin mass-producing Sophia the robot in 2021, making the social robot available to help combat the pandemic.

Kristin Houser

DIY

Scientists hack kombucha for new materials

Scientists are using a modified kombucha SCOBY to create materials that sense pollutants, purify water, or make damage-sensing packaging materials.

Teresa Carey

Series| Coded

Hacking satellites with $300 worth of TV gear

6:19

There are nearly 3,000 satellites in orbit, and all of them are subject to a breach in satellite security. Here’s how white hat hackers can help.

Jack Berning

Hacking

Interactive map puts Capitol Hill riot videos into context

The developer Patr10tic has used metadata from Parler to create an interactive map linking each of the Capitol Hill riot videos to its exact location.

Kristin Houser

Coronavirus

New mask design from Beats by Dre designer

6:29

The designer of the original Beats by Dre headphones is working on a next-generation face mask that combines fashion and functionality.

Doug Dais

Robotics

One robot was able to watch another bot and predict its actions

A Columbia University study suggests that empathy between robots may be possible — and the skill could make the bots more useful to humans.

Kristin Houser

Series| Coded

Hacker reveals how he robs banks

5:49

Pentesters use the same methods of breaching as criminal hackers, with one key distinction: they’re hired by the owner of the system and perform the attack with permission.

Jack Berning

New AI can draw pictures, inching closer to humanlike smarts

OpenAI's two new machine learning algorithms improve computer vision and can use text cues to draw unique and often offbeat images.

Teresa Carey

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