Science of the Future
Below is the complete archive of related articles sorted by date.
The human brain may not be such a great model for designing artificial intelligence
[M]ost artificial neural networks are decidedly un-brainlike, in part because they learn using mathematical tricks that would be difficult, if ...
‘Trial by fire’: How COVID-19 is changing the biotech industry’s relationship with artificial intelligence
AI is currently being used by many companies to identify and screen existing drugs that could be repurposed to treat ...
‘AI in archeology’ pinpointing new excavation sites at an ‘unimaginable’ pace
Archaeologists have uncovered scores of long-abandoned settlements along coastal Madagascar that reveal environmental connections to modern-day communities. They have detected ...
If we want to go to Mars, we’ll need to figure out how to feed our astronauts. Synthetic biology can help.
Revolutionary food production and closed-loop biomanufacturing could transform human space travel and address the growing food crisis on Earth ...
What’s holding up gene therapy? Making drugs on a large scale
As interest in gene therapy grows, manufacturers face physical, biological, and engineering challenges to developing and producing drugs on a ...
From bioterror to bioerror: Who’s afraid of biohacking?
In March, amateur scientists in Sydney announced they had created a COVID-19 test kit that is simpler, faster, and cheaper ...
Is climate change dampening our ability to fight the coronavirus and other diseases?
Scientists have long known that the rise in average global temperatures is expanding the geographical presence of vector-borne diseases such ...
Can Google’s medical AI improve our medical system? Laboratory results and real life offer different answers
[A] study from Google Health—the first to look at the impact of a deep-learning tool in real clinical settings—reveals that ...
Do rising carbon dioxide levels dampen our ability to think and make decisions?
As the 21st century progresses, rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations will cause urban and indoor levels of the gas ...
Smartphone DNA testing app offers ‘ultra-portable’ health and environmental monitoring tool
On-the-spot DNA tests could prove invaluable to doctors, farmers, and officials responsible for food safety or environmental monitoring. Now Chinese ...
Video: These ‘micro-machines’ could repair our bodies and clean our oceans
Measuring less than a millimeter wide, these micro-machines are programmable lifeforms that researchers from the University of Vermont and Tufts ...
CRISPR coffee? And puppies? 10 novel uses for gene editing you probably didn’t know about
You might have heard of the tremendous potential CRISPR could have in treating disease. The technology is already accelerating the ...
3D-printed organs: Stuff of science fiction or an answer to the organ transplant shortage?
Among the more interesting applications of fast-moving 3D printing technology is its potential to help solve our critical organ transplant ...
Using artificial intelligence to predict who will get sickest from coronavirus
Scientists in the United States and China have developed a prototype artificial intelligence (AI) tool that, in a small-scale study, ...
Coronavirus might push us towards a more automated society
There’s plenty of hope and opportunity to be found in this crisis. Peter Xing, a keynote speaker and writer on ...
Fruit fly protein could boost anti-aging treatment
Impressive results in animals that have had their lifespans boosted by up to 40 percent have started making their way into humans. … ...
‘The genie is out of the bottle’: How ‘mind reading’ will transform medical care
The ability to detect electrical activity in the brain through the scalp, and to control it, will soon transform medicine ...
Chance of extraterrestrial contact will multiply by 1,000 in coming decade, says SETI scientist
[H]owever small the probability of seeing a signal from E.T. is, those chances are soon going to be a lot ...
Colonizing other planets could be the key to humanity’s long-term survival
Our species will face no shortage of existential risks in the coming decades, whether it be from nuclear war, climate ...
Video: What CRISPR means for human evolution
Tech experts discuss the past, present and future of CRISPR gene editing. How will the technology affect our future generations? ...
‘Game-changer’: Europe’s ExoMars rover armed with new life-testing tool
In a new paper published in the journal Astrobiology, Jacob Heinz, my colleague at the Technical University of Berlin, and I discuss ...
Extraterrestrial protein found inside meteorite? If true, discovery bolsters pursuit of alien life
A team of researchers claim to have found a protein inside a meteorite. It would be the first protein ever ...
Visit Mars and bring back alien life? Troubles containing coronavirus should make us wary of bringing microbes to Earth
You know what? Maybe we ought to reconsider this whole thing about looking for life on other worlds. It would ...
Infographic: Which 3D printed organs are closest to being transplantable?
No one has printed fully functional, transplantable human organs just yet, but scientists are getting closer, making pieces of tissue ...
Building ‘better’ astronauts through genetic engineering could be key to colonizing other planets
Through genetic engineering, we will one day have the ability to thrive in harsh alien environments ...
Why AI doctors could signal the arrival of superintelligent robots
What would alert us that superintelligence is indeed around the corner? We might call such harbingers canaries in the coal ...
We have 4 ways to search for alien life. Where should we focus our resources?
There are, right now, four ways to search for alien life, ranging from the most passive to the most active ...
Trends that will shape the 2020s: Psychedelics as medicine, diagnostic cell phone apps and AI prediction of disease outbreaks
Clearly, a lot can happen in a decade—but innovation has to start somewhere. Based on what’s breaking through now, here ...
