Other news

Other

New Brazil law restricts use of smartphones in elementary and high schools

Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Monday signed a bill restricting the use of smartphones at school, following a global trend for such limitations.

Other

Best of Last Year: The top Tech Xplore articles of 2024

It was an interesting year for technology research as a team of human behaviorists at Aalto University, working with psychologist colleagues at the University of Helsinki Department of Psychology, found earlier this fall ...

Other

Medieval theology has an old take on a new problem: AI responsibility

A self-driving taxi has no passengers, so it parks itself in a lot to reduce congestion and air pollution. After being hailed, the taxi heads out to pick up its passenger—and tragically strikes a pedestrian in a crosswalk ...

Engineering

New shirt offers better protection for wildland firefighters

A new protective shirt geared to the needs of wildland firefighters has been developed by University of Alberta researchers. The prototype garment offers more protection than the current version commonly worn by workers who ...

Other

Humans change their own behavior when training AI

A new cross-disciplinary study by Washington University in St. Louis researchers has uncovered an unexpected psychological phenomenon at the intersection of human behavior and artificial intelligence: When told they were ...

Engineering

How to learn about a world-class double bass? Give it a CT

When you're an expert in medical CT imaging, two things are bound to happen, says Peter Noël, Ph.D., associate professor of Radiology and director of CT Research at the Perelman School of Medicine. One: You develop an insatiable ...

Other

Barcelona aims to become Airbnb-free zone by 2029

Barcelona, one of Europe's most visited cities, said Friday it aims to ban apartment rentals to tourists by 2029 to ease the housing shortage in Spain's second largest city.

Other

Bird strike: What happens when a plane collides with a bird?

Late last night, Virgin Australia flight VA 148 set out from Queenstown in New Zealand bound for Melbourne. Not long after takeoff, the right engine of the Boeing 737-800 jet started emitting loud bangs, followed by flames.

Other

Pandemic fuels travel boom—in virtual reality

Jem Jenkins Jones was stuck at home in Wales for much of the past year amid pandemic lockdowns but managed to fulfill a promise to her 10-year-old daughter to see the northern lights from Iceland and South Africa's game reserves—in ...

Other

How two friends made art history buying a $70M digital work

It took a few minutes for Vignesh Sundaresan and Anand Venkateswaran to realize that they'd parted with $69.3 million for a digital artwork stored in a JPEG file, coincidentally securing their place in art history.

Other

Q&A: Artist Beeple on selling NFT collage for a record $70M

When digital artist Beeple put an NFT digital artwork up for auction this month, he became instantly famous when it sold for almost $70 million. The record sale also sparked huge interest in digital certificates of authenticity ...

Other

US infrastructure gets C- from engineers as roads stagnate

America's infrastructure has scored near-failing grades for its deteriorating roads, public transit and storm water systems due to years of inaction from the federal government, the American Society of Civil Engineers reports. ...

Other

Pushed by pandemic, Germany seeks to boost technology use

The German government on Wednesday agreed on a strategy to boost the use of data for commercial purposes and signed a deal with state education authorities to fund laptops for teachers who have to work from home because of ...

Switzerland's timeless art mechanics embraces 3-D future

In his snow-bound workshop, Swiss master Francois Junod's moving mechanical artworks whir into action: birds whistle, historical luminaries write poetry—traditional craftsmanship newly recognised as being among the world's ...

Other

Cooper Hewitt acquires two emoji that symbolize inclusion

The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum has acquired two emoji that have helped broaden diversity for users of the tiny pictures, becoming the third museum to add emoji to their digital collections.

Robotics

Robots encourage risk-taking behaviour in humans

New research has shown robots can encourage humans to take greater risks in a simulated gambling scenario than they would if there was nothing to influence their behaviours. Increasing our understanding of whether robots ...