May 28 How will driverless cars make life-or-death decisions? By Kamala Kelkar In a future when cars no longer need humans to drive, decisions about who might live or die in a crash are already being made — by the so-called “moral codes” preprogrammed into a car's neurology. Continue reading
May 17 First giraffe genome reveals the oddity behind an African icon By Nsikan Akpan The giraffe is an oddball, both outside and in. By sequencing the giraffe’s genome for the first time, researchers have learned that the animal’s extraordinary external features are matched by wild genetic traits buried inside its cells. Continue reading
May 11 Watch 10:11 L.A. to San Francisco by train in 30 minutes? A pipe dream indeed By PBS News Hour What if you could make a train trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco in half an hour? It may sound farfetched, but a group of MIT students are developing a new form of transportation to bring that dream to… Continue watching
May 11 Can our bodies handle the hyperloop? By Nsikan Akpan The hyperloop wants to transport people at near supersonic speeds. An engineer and a NASA doctor explain if the human body can cope. Continue reading
May 10 NASA’s Kepler mission doubles tally of exoplanets by weeding out impostors By Nsikan Akpan NASA has confirmed 1,284 exoplanets, the largest number announced at once, thanks to a new math formula. Continue reading
May 06 Two in a row! SpaceX sticks second, trickier sea landing By Nsikan Akpan SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket pulls off tougher second landing on a droneship barge at sea. Continue reading
May 02 Watch 10:40 How farmer-philanthropist Howard Buffett is planting hope in Africa By PBS News Hour Howard Buffett, son of billionaire Warren Buffett, has an ambitious life goal: ending world hunger. As a farmer and philanthropist, his focus is on reviving African agriculture, which has suffered massive production failures. In collaboration with The Atlantic, Judy Woodruff… Continue watching
Apr 27 Watch 4:10 When a player takes a hit, this concussion sensor measures the blow By PBS News Hour What if coaches could know as soon as an athlete sustains a head injury? A startup in upstate New York has a wearable device that could help keep players safer by sending alerts and measuring hits as soon as they… Continue watching
Apr 24 Solar plane completes dangerous 3-day flight over the Pacific Ocean By Michael D. Regan The Solar Impulse-2 finished the most challenging leg of its around-the-world trip, which started in March 2015 in the United Arab Emirates, in an attempt to draw attention to clean-energy technology. Continue reading
Apr 13 Watch 6:17 Can water ATMs solve India’s water crisis? By PBS News Hour About 76 million Indians don’t have regular access to clean drinking water, the most of any country in the world. But a new nationwide experiment aims to address the water crisis with “water ATMs,” machines that purify water on site… Continue watching