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.
What *Is* Meat, Anyway? Lab-Grown Food Sets Off a Debate
You don’t typically find philosophical bickering at an FDA public meeting. But then again, lab-grown meat is no ordinary topic.
Robots Can’t Hold Stuff Very Well, But You Can Help
A new online sim computes how and where a robot should grip objects like vases and turbine housings. You can even upload designs of your own objects.
Rats! Coral Reefs Aren’t Getting the Bird Poop They Need
Rat invasions ripple across an island ecosystem into places you’d never expect—including all the way into surrounding coral reefs.
Why Did the Human Cross the Road? To Confuse the Self-Driving Car
Human drivers struggle to figure out something as simple as whether someone will cross the road. Just imagine how robocars feel.
Don’t Just Lecture Robots—Make Them *Learn*
By drawing on prior experience, a humanoid-ish robot can watch a human pick up an apple and drop it in a bowl, then do the same itself, even if it’s never seen an apple before.
Don’t Just Lecture Robots—Make Them *Learn*
By drawing on prior experience, a humanoid-ish robot can watch a human pick up an apple and drop it in a bowl, then do the same itself, even if it’s never seen an apple before.
Can the Koala Genome Save the Species From Deforestation and Chlamydia?
Understanding the animal's genes could help combat shrinking habitats and an epidemic of chlamydia.
Why (and How) California Is Destroying Mountains of Weed
How exactly do you obliterate potentially tens of thousands of pounds of cannabis across the state? Not unlike how you get rid of yard trimmings.
How Roboticists Are Copying Nature to Make Fantastical Machines
Nature knows what it’s doing, and roboticists are more than happy to steal evolution’s ideas to make a plethora of curious and clever machines.