Watch a Sporty AI Teach Itself to Dribble Better Than You
A simulated basketball player can teach itself through trial and error how to finely manipulate the ball, both while stationary and while running.
How Engineering the Climate Could Mess With Our Food
Scientists look at the eruptions of Mount Pinatubo and El Chichón to give us a glimpse at how geoengineering might affect a critical global system: agriculture.
How Engineering the Climate Could Mess With Our Food
Scientists look at the eruptions of Mount Pinatubo and El Chichón to give us a glimpse at how geoengineering might affect a critical global system: agriculture.
Anki’s New Home Robot, Vector, Sure Is Cute. But Can It Survive?
It’s charming, it’s (relatively) smart, and it’s mobile. The question is: Can Vector succeed where other home robots have failed?
Robots Are Renting Airbnbs to Get a Better Grip
Airbnb: great for travelers, and even better for putting a robot's new manipulation skills to the test.
Climate Change’s Looming Mental Health Crisis
“As we have more natural disasters, one would expect to also have increases in those kinds of mental health consequences.”
This Robot Hand Taught Itself How to Grab Stuff Like a Human
The system, developed by OpenAI, ends up “inventing” characteristic grasps that we humans already commonly use to handle objects.
A Major Victory for the Impossible Burger, the Veggie ‘Meat’ That Bleeds
The highly engineered food with GM yeast finally makes its way through an FDA maze. Not everyone is jazzed, though.
That Purple Kush You’re Toking Might Be a Genetic Imposter
ACDC and Lamb's Bread and Ghost OG, oh my: Researchers compare the genetics of cannabis strains and find ... irregularities.
Dive Under the Ice With the Brave Robots of Antarctica
Sending a robot into the icy depths and getting it back alive can be more challenging than communicating with a Mars rover millions of miles away.