Robots aren’t taking warehouse employees’ jobs, they’re making their work harder
By: Shirin Ghaffary October 22, 2019 In the past few years, some have wildly speculated about how automation will eliminate wide swathes of the US job market, leaving masses of unemployed, frustrated workers. It’s an issue that’s raised enough concern that 2020 Democratic presidential candidates spent a good amount of time arguing about it in […]
What happens if your mind lives for ever on the internet?
By: Michael Graziano October 22, 2019 I magine that a person’s brain could be scanned in great detail and recreated in a computer simulation. The person’s mind and memories, emotions and personality would be duplicated. In effect, a new and equally valid version of that person would now exist, in a potentially immortal, digital form. […]
The race to build a flying electric taxi
By: BBC October 22, 2019 For any commuter the prospect of being whisked to and from work in a fraction of the time it usually takes is pretty irresistible. No traffic jams, no train delays and no cold platforms – what’s not to love? This is the promise of more than a hundred companies developing […]
Scientists ‘may have crossed ethical line’ in growing human brains
By: Ian Sample October 21, 2019 Neuroscientists may have crossed an “ethical rubicon” by growing lumps of human brain in the lab, and in some cases transplanting the tissue into animals, researchers warn. The creation of mini-brains or brain “organoids” has become one of the hottest fields in modern neuroscience. The blobs of tissue are […]
A Soccer Team In Denmark Is Using Facial Recognition To Stop Unruly Fans
By: National Public Radio October 21, 2019 On a cold, sunny October day on the outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark, a group of men dressed in black gathers outside Brondby Stadium to shoot off a couple of rockets, raise their fists and shout about how the home team will soon beat — and beat up — […]
Drone Delivery Is One Step Closer To Reality
By: David Schaper October 18, 2019 Sounding like a huge swarm of angry bees or maybe a hedge trimmer on steroids, a small quadcopter lifts up off of a landing pad in front of the main hospital building on the WakeMed campus in Raleigh, N.C. Underneath it is a metal box — smaller than a […]
Antsy about ANC: reform in South Africa
By: The Intelligence October 17, 2019 Listen To Full Prodicast
Can money buy happiness? Two centuries’ worth of books suggest it can
By: The Economist October 16, 2019 DO A COUNTRY’S inhabitants get happier as it gets richer? Most governments seem to believe so, given their relentless focus on increasing GDP year by year. Reliable, long-term evidence linking wealth and happiness is, however, lacking. And measuring well-being is itself fraught with problems, since it often relies on […]
Revealed: Google made large contributions to climate change deniers
By: Stephanie Kirchgaessner October 11, 2019 Google has made “substantial” contributions to some of the most notorious climate deniers in Washington despite its insistence that it supports political action on the climate crisis. Among hundreds of groups the company has listed on its website as beneficiaries of its political giving are more than a dozen […]