Why is this line so long?
Don't despair if, once you've gathered your shopping items, you're met by a single line that looks a mile long.…
November 16, 2018
522
Technology
What is augmented reality, anyway?
Before augmented reality products and apps take over the world, they'll have to get out of their own way.
November 16, 2018
570
You can't characterize human nature if studies overlook 85 percent of people on Earth
Ninety percent of psychology studies come from countries representing less than 15 percent of the world's population.…
November 16, 2018
540
Yes, GPS apps make you worse at navigating – but that's OK
Without their devices, regular GPS users take longer to negotiate a route, travel more slowly and make larger navigational…
November 16, 2018
504
A vaccine that could block mosquitoes from transmitting malaria
Researchers have tried unsuccessfully for decades to develop a malaria vaccine. Now a new approach, showing promise in mice,…
November 15, 2018
521
Sci-fi movies are the secret weapon that could help Silicon Valley grow up
As fictional inventors make terrible choices on the big screen, real-world tech innovators can learn from their example…
November 15, 2018
541
Skipping a few thousand years: Rapid domestication of the groundcherry using gene editing
It has taken hundreds, if not thousands, of years to create the juicy, shiny produce that you take for granted at the supermarket.…
November 14, 2018
666
Partial mycoheterotrophs: The green plants that feed on fungi
Since plants can't pick up and move to greener pastures if conditions are tough, some have evolved interesting and sneaky…
November 14, 2018
535
The world's plastic problem is bigger than the ocean
Cleaning up plastic pollution in the ocean is good – and long overdue. But where will the waste go? Recycling isn't…
November 13, 2018
555
Why space debris cleanup might be a national security threat
Countries developing technology that removes or blasts away space junk may appear to be doing a public service. But those…
November 13, 2018
544
Could consciousness all come down to the way things vibrate?
A resonance theory of consciousness suggests that the way all matter vibrates, and the tendency for those vibrations to…
November 9, 2018
541
Singles Day shows China's global retail power
Chinese customers spend billions on Nov. 11. Why, and what does it mean for the global retail marketplace?
November 9, 2018
546
Driving autonomous cars off the beaten path
One-third of roads in the U.S. are unpaved; plenty more have faded or obscured road markings. Today's self-driving vehicles…
November 8, 2018
556
Experiments with optical tweezers race to test the laws of quantum mechanics
The discovery and development of optical tweezers won the 2018 Nobel Prize in physics. Now physicists are using this tool…
November 7, 2018
625
Threats remain to US voting system – and voters' perceptions of reality
Protecting democracy requires more than just technical solutions. It includes education, critical thinking and members of…
November 6, 2018
522
A game plan for technology companies to actually help save the world
Amazon, Facebook and Google have lofty goals for their effects on global society. But people around the world are still…
November 6, 2018
562
Colonizing Mars means contaminating Mars – and never knowing for sure if it had its own native life
Space researchers have had a careful approach to robotic exploration of Mars and been hands-off toward Europa and Enceladus.…
November 6, 2018
527
Even a few bots can shift public opinion in big ways
Measuring Twitter bots' effects on the opinions of real people can yield surprising results about what makes them influential.
November 5, 2018
604
Developing teen brains are vulnerable to anxiety – but treatment can help
Almost a third of American adolescents have anxiety disorders. Researchers in developmental neuroscience are figuring out…
November 2, 2018
654
Immigration to US Westernizes Asian guts
When immigrants come to the US, it isn't just the people who assimilate. The microbes in their gut also become Westernized…
November 1, 2018
621