Future Stories

RUN, LIZARD, RUN It’s not every day that a single study tells us something unexpected about lizards and robots, but such is the case for a new research project out of Australia. Researchers from several Aussie universities teamed up to study eight species of Australian lizards that run on two legs. They determined that we may have been wrong about why lizards move that way — and concluded that we might want to consider giving robots lizard-like tails to help with the bots’ own bipedal movement. HEADS UP For their study , published Tuesday in  Journal of the Royal Society Interface , the researchers used a slow motion camera to record the lizards as they ran along a horizontal racetrack. To keep tabs on the lizards’ body positions, the researchers tagged nine locations, including the tops of the lizards’ heads and their tails, with Liquid Paper. They then analyzed the footage using custom-built software. “There was an existing understanding that the backwards s...

NASA’s got a whole new plan. On Wednesday, the space agency  announced  its detailed National Space Exploration Plan to achieve the President’s lofty goals set out in his December 2017 Space Policy Directive-1 . Those bold plans include: planning a new Moon landing , long-term human deployment on and around the Moon, reassertion of America’s leadership in space, strengthening private space companies , and figure out how to get American astronauts to the surface of Mars. There are a lot of unknowns built into the plan, not the least of which is whether or not scientists can figure out a way to keep astronauts safe from the  many hazards of space . Those smarties at NASA took that into account when  detailing expected timelines for completing each goal in the 21-page report. Indeed, the timeframe within which NASA expects to reach key milestones along the way to their goals includes dates that NASA expects it will actually figure out certain parts of the pla...

PHONE HOME Are we alone in the universe? Hunting for biological signatures of life on  moons and exoplanets  is just one way we might find an answer. Another is to look for “technosignatures” of alien technology — radio signals or microwaves coming from deep in space. The idea has been around for decades, but now Congress is  pushing NASA to ramp up the approach. This week, the agency held a  three-day workshop  in Houston to explore the state of the field and what might come next. ALIEN TECH The organizing committee included representatives from NASA, the Planetary Science Institute, the SETI Institute and several large research universities. During a   Reddit  question-and-answer session on Thursday between workshop participants and the public, Penn State professor of astronomy and astrophysics Jason Wright said that  though the search for alien technosignatures goes back decades, its pace slowed in the United States after the 1990s. B...

Would you be OK with a caterpillar robot crawling all over your insides, even if it meant it would deliver helpful medications in the process? That might be a choice you have to make in the future. To glimpse what else we’ve seen in our crystal ball, read on. Scientists Want to Put a Horrifying Caterpillar Robot Inside Your Body.  Researchers in Hong Kong have invented a robot that looks like a caterpillar. It’s designed to travel through your body and release drugs. Should Coma Patients Live or Die? Machine Learning Will Help Decide.  An algorithm is helping Chinese researchers determine if a coma patient will wake up again. This “Flying Sports Car” Is Like a Giant Drone You Can Ride In.  This week, Philippine inventor Kyxz Mendiola took his Koncepto Milenya, a flying sports car prototype, out for its first public test flight. These Robots Weave Super Durable Fiberglass Structures So Humans Don’t Have To.  MIT researchers have created Fiberbots, autonomous robo...

IMPOSSIBLE STANDARDS Flat stomachs and thigh gaps are simply everywhere on social media. That can make many women feel inadequate — or even push them into disordered eating . And because it’s the internet, some (lots of) photos might not (definitely don’t) reflect reality. Many users, after all,  edit their selfies into unattainable ideals of beauty. Researchers at Ohio State University may have found a way to reduce the negative impact of retouched Instagram selfies: simply label them as edited. SELFIE STICKLERS For the  study , published last week in the journal  Body Image , the researchers asked 360 female college students to each look at 45 Instagram selfies of thin women wearing revealing clothing. Half the participants saw mostly images that had been marked with an icon indicating that they had been edited or filtered and half saw mostly images with no icon. Participants who saw the photos that had been marked a...

HACK ATTACK Hackers accessed data from nearly 50 million Facebook accounts, the company said today . The company discovered the breach on Tuesday, according to the post, and does not know who was behind the attack. The social giant didn’t immediately say what data the hackers might have stolen. Facebook’s vice president of product management Guy Rosen wrote in a post announcing the breach: Our investigation is still in its early stages. But it’s clear that attackers exploited a vulnerability in Facebook’s code that impacted ‘View As’, a feature that lets people see what their own profile looks like to someone else. This allowed them to steal Facebook access tokens which they could then use to take over people’s accounts. Access tokens are the equivalent of digital keys that keep people logged in to Facebook so they don’t need to re-enter their password every time they use the app. ZUCKED This new data breach is significant not just because it showed another way that hackers...

THE BIRDS AND THE B52S Each year thousands of birds collide with airplanes, dying in the process. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to figure out an effective way to help the animals survive alongside humans in the not-so-friendly skies. That may be changing, though. A team from Purdue University has uncovered a simple solution to the problem of bird collisions, at least for one species: adding red or blue LEDs to planes . BIRD’S EYE The Purdue team described their experiment in a  study  published this week in the journal  PeerJ.  They cut two holes in a large board, one on the left side and one on the right, and positioned a large LED light next to each. Each LED could shine in five different wavelengths of light: ultraviolet, blue, green, red, and white. Then they let a brown-headed cowbird go and observed which hole it chose to fly through, given various choices of LED lights. They chose the species because it is commonly involve...

Wrapping these robotic skins around an object will “bring it to life”, making any household object a helpful, programmable robot. The post Robotic Skins Can Turn Almost Anything Into a Machine appeared first on Futurism .

PAY BACK We tap away on our mobile devices all day long. Isn’t it about time they tapped us back? Human-computer interaction researcher Marc Teyssier clearly thinks so. He’s the brains behind MobiLimb , a horrifying finger-like robotic attachment for smartphones and tablets that somehow simultaneously evokes “The Addams Family” and “Black Mirror.” Today, he published a video demonstrating all the ways the robotic finger can creep you out — including by softly stroking the back of your hand while you mess around on your phone. SINGLE DIGIT According to a paper Teyssier will present at the Berlin User Interface Software and Technology conference in October, the MobiLimb uses five precisely-controllable motors to make a great range of finger-like motions. Sometimes Teyssier isn’t feeling the standard black plastic look, so he covers the robotic finger with one of two custom skins — a fur-covered one and a fleshy model that (kinda, sorta) makes it look...

NO DEAL Before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a  lawsuit against Elon Musk for alleged fraud yesterday, the Tesla CEO reportedly turned down a settlement offer. That’s according to the  Wall Street Journal,  which spoke to  sources who said the settlement for an undisclosed amount was approved by the SEC’s commissioners. But after Musk’s lawyers turned it down Thursday, the sources said, the agency “rushed to pull together” the complaint they filed that afternoon. TWEET TROUBLES Musk’s troubles with the SEC stem from an August 7 tweet in which he said he was considering taking Tesla private for $420 per share — a corporate buyout the SEC says he had no way of financing. Sources who talked to CNBC offered more details about the no-deal settlement, reporting that the enigmatic CEO “refused to sign the deal because he felt that by settling he would not be truthful to himself.” In other words, Musk wouldn’t take the settlement becau...

This week, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) landed a pair of tiny hopping robots to the asteroid called Ryugu, and they’ve got the mind-blowing photos to prove it. Meanwhile, SpaceX is officially gearing up to send a Japanese rover to the surface of the Moon around 2020. Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto. Here Are the First Photos Japan’s Robot Landers Sent Back From an Asteroid.  Japan’s asteroid-exploring robots have officially landed on Ryugu and are now transmitting data and photos of the rocky small planet. Scientists Just Took A “Spectacular Step” Towards Lab-Grown Human Egg Cells.  Researchers have come closer than ever before to producing lab-grown human egg cells using just the blood of a person. Electrical Stimulation Helped A Man With Paralyzed Legs Walk Again.  With the help of electrical stimulation and physical therapy, a 29-year-old man diagnosed with total lower body paralysis can now take steps on his own. SpaceX Will Send Another Company’s ...

He’s been likened to Tony Stark. Hordes of bros on the internet swear that he’s going to save the world. Any critical press against his companies is written off as a conspiracy by the government and big oil. That’s right folks, we’re talking Elon Musk. The latest news: on Thursday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Musk because of his ill-fated announcement to take Tesla private at $420 per share. The announcement wasn’t too much of a surprise — after all, the SEC had already launched formal inquiry into Tesla’s finances and  subpoenaed the entire Tesla board (plus, the Justice Department launched a formal fraud investigation into the same). But the government just came out guns blazing. And honestly the filing is pretty juicy for those who don’t mind slogging through a little legal and finance jargon. Luckily, we’ve done that for you. Here are the highlights: Musk is under investigation for fraud because he made a pot joke. Musk’s Tw...

Here we go again: tech executives have found themselves in front of Congress. On Wednesday, execs from Apple, Google, Twitter, AT&T, and Charter Communications came before a Senate Commerce Committee to once more discuss  mishandling consumer data and concerns over privacy rights. Congress made its intentions clear — it wants to pass federal rules on how tech companies are allowed to handle private consumer data. It’s easy to imagine that this hearing might have gone the same way as the five that came before it — under-informed congresspeople ask softball questions , tech company execs back-pedal, question-dodge, and answer vaguely  whenever federal regulation comes up. But this time, things were different. Leaders from prominent tech companies like Apple and Amazon have stated their support for federal regulations that would protect the privacy of user data the companies collect. Bud Tribble, a vice president at Apple and leader of the company’s privacy sof...

BITING ACCUSATIONS The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is no longer nipping at Elon Musk’s heels . It’s now sinking its teeth into him. On Thursday, the SEC filed a lawsuit against the Tesla CEO, alleging that Musk mislead investors and the public about his ability to take the tech company private. In doing so, the SEC claims, Musk ran afoul of the commission’s regulations. The complaint reads: [Musk] falsely indicated that, should he so choose, it was virtually certain that he could take Tesla private at a purchase price that reflected a substantial premium over Tesla stock’s then-current share price, that funding for this multi-billion dollar transaction had been secured, and that the only contingency was a shareholder vote. In truth and in fact, Musk had not even discussed, much less confirmed, key deal terms, including price, with any potential funding source. FALL FROM GRACE The lawsuit isn’t exactly a surprise — we already knew the SEC was investing Musk....

WHAT? Hold onto your rapidly accelerating, non-locomoting feet — Segway is back with a new product: Segway skates. Yes, seriously. As Fast Company reported , the company best known for making tourists stand out even more hilariously has met its crowdfunding goal for The Drift W1, a pair of self-balancing e-skates. In fact, the Indiegogo campaign raised almost 30 times its funding goal, with two weeks to spare. OKAY BUT WHAT? Wondering where Segway has been over the past few years? Well, the company’s actually been around, making a decent bit of money after being purchased by Ninebot , a Beijing robotics company that makes little self-balancing helper bots. SERIOUSLY: WHAT. Let’s not ignore the extremely dumb-looking elephant in the room. If you thought scooters were annoying, just wait until the sidewalks are flooded by bros zipping around on their high-tech Heelys. Segway plans on shipping The Drift W1 to Indiegogo backers in October. The company is hoping to capitalize on t...

BEAT THE HEAT Cranking up your air conditioner in the summer heat might seem like a good idea. But it’s not a great idea for the planet, or for your electric bill. Now, researchers from Columbia University have devised an alternative to air conditioning that could keep your home cool without sending your power bill sky high. It’s a white polymer that reflects more than 96 percent of sunlight, and it comes in a dyeable, paint-like form, meaning we could use it to coat the sides and roofs of our homes to keep them cooler when the Sun is at its strongest. TINY BUBBLES The researchers describe the coating in a paper published Thursday in the journal Science . To create it, they engineered a mixture that forces water to settle into tiny droplets in a polymer. When those droplets evaporate, they leave tiny air holes behind. The holes, the researchers say, are what give the coating its remarkable sunlight-reflecting property. The researchers put their concoction to the test u...

DRONING ON In 2013, we learned about  Amazon’s splashy plans to drop packages off at customers’ homes using drones. Sure, there have been a few pilot drone deliveries , but for the most part, even Amazon hasn’t made that future a reality yet. But in Iceland, a startup called Aha has been using drones to deliver hot food and other goods for five months. Its secret: keeping the system very, very simple. As we creep towards a future in which drone delivery is commonplace, Aha’s success shows that a simple approach might work best — and that maybe tech giants like Amazon are over-engineering the concept. BARE BONES Aha’s delivery drones have no cameras or radar,  IEEE  Spectrum reports . In fact, they navigate the Reykjavik area using  only  GPS, which keeps them on pre-determined routes selected because they’re free of trees and other obstacles. When they arrive at a customer’s home, the drones lower deliveries — burgers are popular, but...

Back in June, NASA revealed two mind-blowing facts: that there is organic matter on Mars, and that levels of methane in the planet’s atmosphere ebb and flow over time. It’s pretty exciting news that shook our understanding of astrobiology. And while this isn’t necessarily proof that aliens are out there, much of our terrestrial methane was produced by living things. And as any child can tell you, if you smelled it, someone must have dealt it . The recent methane findings “confront us with robust data that demand interpretation,” a team of international scientists wrote in a study published last week in Astrobiology . The study authors have done just that — they sorted out what measurements, experiments, and missions NASA and other space organizations should prioritize as they seek more evidence that Mars does (or did) support life. In short, the scientists want to study Mars’ geological activity. They want to understand the relationship between these newly discovered organic c...

SYNESTHETES Tired: Listening to music. Wired: Feeling  the music. A mind-bending new suit straps onto your torso, ankles and wrists, then uses actuators to translate audio into vivid vibration. The result: a new way for everyone to experience music, according to its creators . That’s especially exciting for people who have trouble hearing. THE FEELIES The Music: Not Impossible suit was created by design firm Not Impossible Labs and electronics manufacturing company Avnet. The suit can create sensations to go with pre-recorded music, or a “Vibrotactile DJ” can adjust the sensations in real time during a live music event.” Billboard  writer Andy Hermann tried the suit out , and it sounds like a trip. “Sure enough, a pulse timed to a kickdrum throbs into my ankles and up through my legs,” he wrote. “Gradually, [the DJ] brings in other elements: the tap of a woodblock in my wrists, a bass line massaging my lower back, a harp tickling a melody across my chest.” MORE A...