Edd Gent
From This Author
Computing Power Can Keep Growing as Moore’s Law Winds Down. Here’s How
Moore's Law is faltering, but that doesn't mean the end of progress in processing power. Rather than relying on semiconductor physics and silicon-fabrication technology, though, we need to turn to innovations in software, algorithms,...
Carbon Nanotube Transistors May Soon Give Waning Moore’s Law a Boost
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have long been touted as a potential material to take us beyond the limits of faltering silicon chips, but they've proven tricky to manufacture. Now scientists have demonstrated a way to...
A New Bionic Eye Could Give Robots and the Blind 20/20 Vision
A bionic eye could restore sight to the blind and greatly improve robotic vision, but current visual sensors are a long way from the impressive attributes of nature’s design. Now researchers have found a...
Here Are the Results of the Biggest Universal Basic Income Trial Yet
Widespread job losses due to the coronavirus pandemic are leading to renewed interest in the idea of a universal basic income (UBI). That coincided perfectly with publication of the results of the biggest UBI...
Hacking Plant Life: Artificial Photosynthesis Takes a Leap Forward
All life on earth ultimately gets its energy from the sun through the amazing ability of plants to sustain themselves on nothing more than water, air, and sunlight. Now researchers have taken a major...
This ‘Once-For-All’ Neural Network Could Slash AI’s Carbon Footprint
AI is creeping into everything from smartphones to cars, but tailoring neural networks to each new bit of hardware is expensive and contributes to AI’s rapidly-growing carbon footprint. So MIT researchers found a way...
This New Smartphone-Based DNA Test Could Help Track Disease in Real Time
On-the-spot DNA tests could prove invaluable to doctors, farmers, and officials responsible for food safety or environmental monitoring. Now Chinese researchers have created an ultra-portable, smartphone-based DNA testing platform that costs less than $10.
Whether...
New ‘Hot Qubits’ Let Quantum Computers Run 15X Warmer Than Before
When people say quantum computing is “hot” right now they are most definitely talking metaphorically; today’s leading devices have to operate at close to absolute zero. Now two research groups have demonstrated technology that...
A New Neural Interface Could Last up to 6 Years Inside the Human Brain
For many futurists, humanity’s destiny lies in merging our minds with machines, but before that can happen we need to physically connect with them. There are a myriad of challenges involved in making a...
How a New AI Translated Brain Activity to Speech With 97 Percent Accuracy
The idea of a machine that can decode your thoughts might sound creepy, but for thousands of people who have lost the ability to speak due to disease or disability it could be game-changing....
Robots to the Rescue: How They Can Help During Coronavirus (and Future Pandemics)
As the coronavirus pandemic forces people to keep their distance, could this be robots' time to shine? A group of scientists think so, and they’re calling for robots to do the "dull, dirty, and...
Scientists Engineered Neurons to Make Electrically Conductive Materials
Electricity plays a surprisingly powerful role in our bodies. While most people are aware that it plays a crucial role in carrying signals to and from our nerves, our bodies produce electric fields that...
To Turbocharge Anti-Aging Treatment, Just Add… a Protein Found in Fruit Flies?
The hunt for the elixir of life is such a universal mythological trope that to talk about it in the context of science seems almost ridiculous. But breakthroughs in the last decade have made...
$100 Genome Sequencing Will Yield a Treasure Trove of Genetic Data
What would the implications be if decoding your genes cost less than a pair of designer jeans? We might soon find out after a Chinese company claimed it can sequence the human genome for...
The World’s First Open-Source Nuclear Reactor Blueprint Is Coming Online
Nuclear power’s role in combating climate change is a contentious topic, but a Silicon Valley entrepreneur thinks he can sway the debate by releasing open-source designs for a small-scale reactor that could be built...
US Tech Manufacturing Depends on 23 Rare Minerals—and Their Supply Is at Risk
A host of high-tech products rely on a small set of scarce minerals. New research suggests that 23 of these face worrying risks to their supply chains that could derail US technological progress.
Rapid population...
This Breakthrough Just Got Us One Step Closer to a Quantum Internet
While quantum computing tends to garner all the headlines, quantum technology also has huge promise for the communication networks of the future. That’s why on top of the roughly $450 million the Trump administration...
The Company That Wants to Fling Rockets Into Space With a Giant Centrifuge
The rapidly falling cost of getting into orbit has spurred a boom in the space industry as a host of new applications become economical. Now a secretive startup plans to slash the cost to...
Could Photonic Chips Outpace the Fastest Supercomputers?
There's been a lot of talk about quantum computers being able to solve far more complex problems than conventional supercomputers. The authors of a new paper say they're on the path to showing an...
How Smart Roads Will Make Driving Easier, Safer, and Greener
Roads criss-cross the landscape, but while they provide vital transport links, in many ways they represent a huge amount of wasted space. Advances in "smart road" technology could change that, creating roads that can...
Precision Fermentation: What It Is, and How It Could Make Farming Obsolete
Concerns around the environmental impact of modern farming are causing us to reassess our relationship with food. But are claims that lab-grown food will replace agriculture in the coming decades realistic?
British journalist and environmental...
IBM’s Plan to Design Solid-State Batteries Using Quantum Tech
Batteries are the key to decarbonizing both transport and the grid, but today’s technology is still a long way from living up to this promise. IBM seems to have decided its computing chops are...
How Scientists Squeezed a Particle Accelerator Onto a Tiny Silicon Chip
Particle accelerators have helped us unravel some of the universe’s biggest mysteries, but they're huge, expensive, and inaccessible to most researchers. A new particle accelerator on a chip could soon change that.
The world’s biggest...
A New Anti-Aging Therapy Is Starting Its First Human Trial—and It Costs $1 Million
Recent research on longevity is making the idea of an elixir of life sound increasingly plausible. But a startup that's started selling a $1 million anti-aging treatment is most likely jumping the gun.
Libella Gene...
First-Ever Artificial Neuron Could Let Us Repair Brain Injuries with Silicon
The merging of man and machine is a staple of sci-fi and at the heart of the philosophy of transhumanism. But interfacing our brains with computers has proven incredibly hard, despite the fact that...
Alphabet Is Developing a Robot to Take Over Boring Everyday Tasks
Robots excel at carrying out specialized tasks in controlled environments, but put them in your average office and they’d be lost. Alphabet wants to change that by developing what they call the Everyday Robot,...
Synthetic ‘Skin’ Is Bringing a Sense of Touch to Virtual Reality
Virtual reality’s ability to create artificial worlds has come a long way in recent years. Now new technology could make those worlds even more realistic by simulating one of the most crucial ways in...
Can You Hack Your Sleep in 28 Days?
Sleep has become the latest frontier in the life-hackers’ battle for self-improvement. But how easy is to to rewire how you spend a third of your life? I took a 28-day crash course to...
Where Should AI Ethics Come From? Not Medicine, New Study Says
As fears about AI’s disruptive potential have grown, AI ethics has come to the fore in recent years. Concerns around privacy, transparency and the ability of algorithms to warp social and political discourse in...
New Battery Lets Electric Cars Go 200 Miles on a 10-Minute Charge
Electric vehicles could decarbonize one of the most polluting sectors of our economy, but they're bedeviled by one major problem: range anxiety. A new battery design that can charge in just 10 minutes promises...
New Tech Is Helping Nuclear Power Make a Comeback
Nuclear power has a lot going for it. It’s carbon-free, can produce huge amounts of power from relatively small amounts of fuel, and once plants are built, they’re cheap to run. But containing the...
With These 4 Breakthroughs, We’ll Be Able to Write Whole Genomes From Scratch
The ability to read genomes has transformed our understanding of biology. Being able to write them would give us unprecedented control over the fabric of life.
Rapid advances in DNA sequencing and gene editing technology...
Investment in Quantum Computing Is Booming—But Will a Quantum Winter Follow?
Quantum computing is red hot right now, not least after Google's recent announcement that it had achieved quantum supremacy. An analysis by Nature shows the quantum hype is translating into a massive investment boost...
Russia Could Take the Lead on Human Gene Editing
There's broad consensus that genetically modifying humans isn't a good idea, at least not anytime in the near future. But it seems Russia has less qualms about the idea, which could leave it to...
AI Can Diagnose Like Doctors. But for Continued Progress, Research Standards Must Improve
Medicine is one of the hottest fields when it comes to applying AI to real-world problems, in particular using deep learning systems to detect disease in medical imagery. There have been promising early results,...
Is the US Doing Enough to Maintain Its Leadership in AI?
Governments around the world are pouring money into AI research and developing detailed AI strategies, but the US has been slow to follow suit. That’s leading some to question whether policy makers are doing...
MIT Future of Work Report: We Shouldn’t Worry About Quantity of Jobs, But Quality
Robots aren't going to take everyone's jobs, but technology has already reshaped the world of work in ways that are creating clear winners and losers. And it will continue to do so without intervention,...
How an AI Startup Designed a Drug Candidate in Just 46 Days
Discovering a new drug can take decades, billions of dollars, and untold man hours from some of the smartest people on the planet. Now a startup says it’s taken a significant step towards speeding...
Silicon Is Reaching Its Limits. Up Next: Carbon Nanotubes
Silicon has powered the information age, but it’s reaching its physical limits. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) hold a lot of promise as a replacement if we can get around some key obstacles—and the designers of...
This Giant AI Chip Is the Size of an iPad and Holds 1.2 Trillion Transistors
People say size doesn’t matter, but when it comes to AI the makers of the largest computer chip ever beg to differ. There are plenty of question marks about the gargantuan processor, but its...
California Passed the Country’s First Law to Prevent Genetic Biohacking
Genetic engineering technologies are quickly becoming mature and cheap enough for people to start using them in their own homes. That’s got scientists and officials worried, and California has now passed the first bill...
How Cheap Must Batteries Get for Renewables to Compete With Fossil Fuels?
While solar and wind power are rapidly becoming cost-competitive with fossil fuels in areas with lots of sun and wind, they still can’t provide the 24/7 power we’ve become used to. At present, that’s...
Microsoft Invests $1 Billion in OpenAI’s Mission to Build Artificial General Intelligence
Since its inception in 2015, OpenAI has been chasing the lofty goal of developing artificial general intelligence (AGI) for the benefit of all. But it turns out that doesn’t come cheap, so now Microsoft...
The Poker-Playing AI That Beat the World’s Best Players
Poker is a powerful combination of strategy and intuition, something that’s made it the most iconic of card games and devilishly difficult for machines to master. Now an AI built by Facebook and Carnegie...
Alphabet Releases Its Master Plan for Toronto’s New Smart City
Ever dreamed of living in a giant experiment? If so, Toronto may be the city for you. Sidewalk Labs has released blueprints for its proposed waterfront smart city and, depending who you ask, it’s...
The LightSail-2 Mission Launched Last Week. It Could Shape the Future of Solar Spaceflight
Just like the early explorers harnessed the wind to sail around the world, scientists have long dreamed of using light to sail through the cosmos. Last week an ambitious trial of a technology called...
How Facebook’s New ‘Mirror World’ Will Help Train AI
The dream of a robot butler seems tantalizingly close, but first we need to teach them how to navigate our cluttered human environments. That’s why Facebook has created an ultra-realistic simulator to train AI...
CRISPR in Russia: The World’s Next Gene-Edited Babies May Not Be Far Away
When Chinese scientist He Jiankui announced he had edited the genomes of two babies last November, he sparked an international outcry. Many feared he had opened the floodgates to human genetic engineering. It seems...
What’s Behind the International Rush to Write an AI Rulebook?
There's no better way of ensuring you win a race than by setting the rules yourself. That may be behind the recent rush by countries, international organizations, and companies to put forward their visions...
These $10 Sensor-Packed Gloves Could Give Robots a Sense of Touch
Machines are mastering vision and language, but one sense they're lagging behind on is touch. Now researchers have created a sensor-laden glove for just $10 and recorded the most comprehensive tactile dataset to date,...
