Artificial Intelligence

Machine Learning Is Bringing the Cosmos Into Focus

Training neural networks to identify galaxies could forever change humanity’s perspective of the universe.

Digital Government

The Scary State of Volcano Monitoring in the United States

One of the most volcanically active countries in the world is not ready for a devastating eruption.

Emerging Tech

A Doozy of a Lawsuit Over Self-Driving Cars

Waymo is suing Uber, and says a former employee stole nearly 10 gigabytes of secret files.

Digital Government

Biometric Checkpoints in Trump’s America

Technological advances mean border screening could be more expansive than ever, if the government can get past the hurdles to implementing such a system.

Digital Government

The Internet Is Mostly Bots

More than half of web traffic comes from automated programs—many of them malicious

Emerging Tech

Will Trump’s Victory Be Silicon Valley’s Wake-Up Call?

It’s long past time for tech companies to acknowledge that wielding enormous publishing power requires taking editorial responsibility.

Digital Government

Can Somebody Please Tell Facebook's Algorithm Hillary Lost?

Hopeful pre-election selfies are still high up in news feeds, even after Clinton’s defeat.

Cybersecurity

How Much Will Today’s Internet Outage Cost?

Some companies lose tens of thousands of dollars for every minute of a DDoS attack.

Digital Government

A Computer’s Hot Take on the 2016 Election

An artificial intelligence found Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton seemed to get “happier” coverage than Donald Trump. But is that evidence of media bias? Not necessarily.

Emerging Tech

Is Silicon Valley a Meritocracy?

Obviously not. But maaaybe? (Still no.)

Digital Government

A Computer That Stores Memories like Humans Do

A new mathematical model of memory could accelerate the quest to build super-powered, brain-inspired hardware systems.

Emerging Tech

A New Era for the Automobile

In long-awaited federal guidelines on self-driving cars, officials hint at a new kind of DMV.

Digital Government

When Hurricane Hunters Are Replaced by Drones

For more than 70 years, pilots have flown into the center of deadly storms to collect crucial scientific and forecasting data. Is it time to have robots do that work for them?

Emerging Tech

Will Pedestrians Be Able to Tell What a Driverless Car Is About to Do?

For self-driving vehicles to succeed, they’ll have to earn the trust of walkers, joggers and bicyclists.

Artificial Intelligence

How Artificial Intelligence Can Help Burn Victims

Machine learning allows computers to see patterns in medical images that are invisible to human doctors.

Emerging Tech

Two Big Questions for Elon Musk

The Tesla CEO says it would be “morally reprehensible” for his company to build a fully driverless car before introducing semi-autonomous safety features. But how do we know Autopilot is safer than the alternative?

Digital Government

Juno's New Images of Jupiter

NASA releases more than 1,300 unprocessed images from the mission.

Modernization

What Comes After the Touch Screen?

The quest for the next human-computer interface