Category: Technology

Have you ever seen the movie Minority Report? If you haven’t, all you need to know is that it’s about a special police unit that’s able to predict crimes, and is therefore able to arrest criminals before they actually commit those crimes. We don’t have anything close to the technology required to predict crimes, but theoretically, we can use… Continue reading Chicago tried and failed to use big data to predict crimes

I’m sure you’ve heard about that man-made island chain that China has built in the South China Sea, the one that’s been causing a lot of anxiety for the other countries that claim territory in the heavily-disputed region. Well, now that the chain has been built, China needs to figure out a way to power all… Continue reading China wants to build floating nuclear power plants for its new islands

Japan is already one of most tourism-friendly countries in the world, even going so far as to offer free Wi-Fi to tourists, but there’s always room for improvement. In an effort to make it easier for tourists to purchase goods and services in the country, the Japanese government is planning to test a new system that… Continue reading Japan wants tourists to use their fingerprints to make purchases

In what may be the first practical use for selfies in history, MasterCard will soon allow some of its customers to verify their purchases by taking a picture of their face, rather than entering a password. This is good news, because not only does everyone hate passwords, many people put their security at risk by being too… Continue reading MasterCard wants people to verify purchases with selfies

All things come to an end eventually, and mankind is no exception. Even if we don’t drive ourselves to extinction through the over-consumption of resources, unchecked scientific advancement, or war, on a long enough timescale, our demise is still inevitable. That being said, we can still ensure the continuity of our species, even if we’re all dead, by preserving the records of our existence for… Continue reading 5D discs could preserve mankind’s knowledge for billions of years

Seeing how much attention people like Honey Boo Boo and the Kardashians get genuinely depresses me at times, and it’s even worse when monumental scientific events like the detection of gravity waves only receive a fraction of that attention. It’s not all bad though, because a study by the National Science Foundation has found that the majority of Americans… Continue reading Americans trust scientists more than politicians

Biometric authentication is seen by many to be the natural successor to passwords, but nobody has been able to figure out which method is the best. Fingerprint scanning is the most-popular option at the moment, with retina scanning coming in at a distant second, but some researchers from Binghamton University are working on a method that’s about… Continue reading Brain scans might replace passwords one day

There’s just no stopping Elon Musk, is there? While answering questions at the awards ceremony for the Hyperloop Pod competition earlier this week, Musk talked about his idea for an electric plane that can take off vertically, and expressed his interest in making the idea a reality. Aside from the obvious benefits to the environment that an electric… Continue reading Elon Musk has an idea for an electric plane that takes off vertically

Thousands of engineers from colleges and high schools from across the world gathered at Texas A&M University in College Station on Saturday to compete for a chance to test their pod designs on Elon Musk’s own Hyperloop test track later this year. MIT’s team was awarded the top prize, but twenty-two teams will be testing their pod designs… Continue reading SpaceX declared MIT the winner of today’s Hyperloop competition