It was kind of an accident. When Lisa Tobin arrived at The New York Times nearly seven months ago, she had a broad mission: Figure out what the newspaper was supposed to sound like. “I expected that we would come in and spend several months figuring that out and then starting to finalize strategy and figure out what our first-round programming would be,” said Tobin. That’s pretty […]
The finalized prototype of Google self-driving car. First, it was just a dream. Then it became a quirky research project undertaken by a handful of the nerdiest engineers in the robotics industry. Now self-driving cars are on the brink of transforming transportation. The industry creating the technology for autonomous vehicles has morphed from a collaborative space of free-flowing ideas into a high-speed road race where the winners […]
Photo Steven Mnuchin, left, the secretary of the Treasury, announced sanctions on Monday in response to a chemical weapons attack in Syria. “The United States is sending a strong message with this action that we will not tolerate the use of chemical weapons by any actor,” he said. Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Monday imposed sanctions on 271 employees of […]
No license needed in the US for the all-electric “personal flying machine,” as long as it’s used in uncongested areas. The final design will look different to this prototype. A Silicon Valley “flying car” startup, Kitty Hawk, reportedly backed by Google co-founder Larry Page, released a video Monday of its airborne prototype and announced plans for deliveries of a “personal flying machine” this year. “Our mission is […]
Researchers have shown that engineered nanosponges can reduce the severity of infections caused by the bacteria responsible for strep throat and flesh-eating disease. (via WSJ)
It was kind of an accident. When Lisa Tobin arrived at The New York Times nearly seven months ago, she had a broad mission: Figure out what the newspaper was supposed to sound like. “I expected that we would come in and spend several months figuring that out and then starting to finalize strategy and figure out what our first-round programming would be,” Tobin said. That’s pretty […]
File Photo Uber has denied any wrongdoing following reports that the mobile devices of former users were tracked even after the Uber app was deleted. Uber has had more than a share of criticism of late. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick was recently caught engaged in a shouting match with one of his drivers, allegations of a toxic and sexist corporate environment have been made by a former […]
A Chinese investment firm has signed an agreement with Al Marjan Island (AMI) Company to acquire a plot of land on Ras Al Khaimah’s man-made island. Novel International Group has bought the 720.000 sq ft plot, with plans to develop a tourism and retail project, a statement said. The project involves a mixed-use development hotel, hotel apartments and shops, it added. Alan Feng, director, Novel, said: “The […]
SHANGHAI/BEIJING Global security companies and their smaller Chinese rivals are jostling for business along Beijing’s modern-day “Silk Road”, the grandiose plan for land and sea routes connecting the world’s second largest economy with the rest of Asia and beyond. Representing investments of hundreds of billions of dollars, the pet project of Chinese President Xi Jinping is seen boosting economic growth at home, and as positive for everything […]
The 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon is unveiled during a media preview for the New York International Auto Show, Tuesday, April 11, 2017, in New York. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson) Fred Croatti often drives his silver Dodge Charger Hellcat to the grocery store, turning heads as he rumbles through the parking lot with a supercharged 6.2-Liter 707-horsepower engine. Although Croatti’s car sounds like a NASCAR racer, the retired […]
Storms from the sun can affect our power grids, railway systems and underground pipelines. Now scientists and engineers from NASA have assessed the state of science surrounding space weather. (via WSJ)
Tools and building blocks made by 3D printing with lunar and Martian dust. Credit: Northwestern University When humans begin to colonize the moon and Mars, they will need to be able to make everything from small tools to large buildings using the limited surrounding resources. Northwestern University’s Ramille Shah and her Tissue Engineering and Additive Manufacturing (TEAM) Laboratory have demonstrated the ability to 3D-print structures with simulants […]
The hydrogen fuel cell Genesis GV80 concept SUV is shown during a media preview at the New York International Auto Show, at the Jacob Javits Center in New York, Thursday, April 13, 2017. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Hydrogen fuel cell cars could one day challenge electric cars in the race for pollution-free roads—but only if more stations are built to fuel them. Honda, Toyota and Hyundai have leased […]
23 April 2017 Ras Al Khaimah, UAE – Novel international group, a leading highly diversified investment company from China, has signed an agreement with Al Marjan Island (AMI) Company to acquire 720.000 sq. Ft. of landon the man-made island in RasAl Khaimah. Alan Feng, Director, Novel company said that: “Our Group aims at enlarging its presence overseas via high standing partnerships, joint venture and other projects. The […]
Microsoft has launched IoT Central, a fully managed “IoT-as-a-service” offering to assist enterprises with the deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) applications without the need for in-house expertise. IoT Central aims to lower the barrier of entry to deploying IoT solutions in the enterprise, with a spokesperson from Microsoft telling ZDNet that the company “has a history of simplifying complicated technologies and bringing [them] to the masses”, […]
A technique that revolutionized scientists’ ability to manipulate and study minuscule materials, may have dramatic unintended consequences — altering their structural identity, new research reveals. (via WSJ)
Julien Pain was tired of preaching to the choir. After spending several years debunking viral fakes for France 24’s Les Observateurs, Pain was on the lookout for a format that would expand the reach of his fact-checking. “I realized I was only reaching people who agreed with me,” says Pain. “And people who didn’t check their information wouldn’t be reading my fact-checking.” Since September, he has taken […]
©AFP WASHINGTON — Thousands of scientists and people from other walks of life turned out in Washington and New York on Saturday for Earth Day events that organisers have framed as a “celebration” of science to counter a growing disregard for evidence-based knowledge. The “March for Science” festivities included “teach-ins” on the National Mall and parades in midtown Manhattan and hundreds of other cities and towns. The […]
Researchers found that certain search terms revealed AI bias. Credit: Princeton University In debates over the future of artificial intelligence, many experts think of the new systems as coldly logical and objectively rational. But in a new study, researchers have demonstrated how machines can be reflections of us, their creators, in potentially problematic ways. Common machine learning programs, when trained with ordinary human language available online, can […]
The Power of Networks: Six Principles that Connect Our Lives • By Christopher G. Brinton and Mung Chiang • Princeton University Press • 310 pages • ISBN: 978-0-691-17071-8 • £27.95 We don’t normally think of our lives this way, but each of us is enmeshed in myriad networks — the real-life one of people, social media like Twitter and Facebook, and technical networks (internet, cellular). According to […]
Data-driven analytics applications are eating the world and transforming every domain. But the world is also being eaten up in a different way by several non-sustainable practices. On Earth Day, we look at what we know about the relation between big data and the environment: how big data is used to measure sustainability and inform action, and what is the impact they have on the environment as […]
Only a minority of the world’s pipelines can be cleaned with pigs like this one. Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto Around one-third of the world’s gas pipelines can be inspected using ‘pipeline pigs’. These cylindrical devices have figured in three James Bond movies, in one case being modified to secretly transport a person across borders. Back in the real world, the problem is that the other two-thirds of the […]
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Will a robot take away my job? Many people ask that question, yet policymakers don’t have the kind of information they need to answer it intelligently, say the authors of a new study from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM). “Policymakers are flying blind into what has been called the fourth industrial revolution,” said Tom M. Mitchell, the E. Fredkin […]
22 April 2017 Doha – Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), in collaboration with the Embassy of the United States of America in Doha, will be hosting Terry Jones – a world-renowned entrepreneur and speaker – on Tuesday April 25th for a lecture on innovation, digital relationships, and leadership in the wired age. This is part of the Embassy’s speaker series, which brings out experts on various topics […]
