Any sort of list or ranking is fraught with subjectivity, and perhaps none more so than ranking the 100 greatest human technological achievements that have landed us where we are today. But this week, the hosts of the excellent tech podcast Hard Fork, Casey Newton and Kevin Roos, did just that. And, let's just say, it's a wild ride.

Continue Reading

Category: Technology

Tags: New York Times, Ozempic, GPT, Artificial Intelligence, Medication, Cloning, Experimental, History, Global

An innovative combination of readily available natural products has shaped up to be an alternative to drugs like Ozempic to tackle obesity, type 2 diabetes, liver function and gut inflammation – without the invasiveness, cost or negative side effects that are associated with GLP-1 receptor agonists.

Continue Reading

Category: Diet & Nutrition, Wellness & Healthy Living, Body & Mind

Tags: University of South Australia, Gastrointestinal, Obesity, Ozempic, Weight Loss, Inflammation, Diabetes, Gut health, Microbiome, Cholesterol

Believe it or not, love it or hate it, it's that time of year again. The End, a time to look back and take note of the year's triumphs, failures and overlooked moments before swinging around in about-face and moving ahead into 2025.

Continue Reading

Category: Outdoors, Lifestyle

Tags: Multitools, Knife, Tools, best-of-2024, Outdoors and Camping, Multi-functional, Modular

There's nothing quite like motorcycles. The idea of being on two wheels, on a saddle that sits upon enough fuel to set you on fire, a combustion engine that’s made out of a thousand moving parts ... the road, the ability to be one with the elements ... it’s almost like the rest of the world ceases to move when you twist your wrist on that throttle.

Continue Reading

Category: Motorcycles, Transport

Tags: Custom Bikes, Superbike

This light-filled tiny house, by New Zealand's Cocoon Tiny Homes, features a remarkably spacious and flexible interior layout. Suitable for a small family, it includes two bedrooms and even has room for a home office or a gym.

Continue Reading

Category: Tiny Houses, Lifestyle

Tags: Tiny Footprint, Micro-House, Building and Construction, Home, House

We got a glimpse at what a new cross between a helicopter and a jet aircraft might look like after Bell released a new image. It's of a model used in wind tunnel tests of its entry in DARPA's Speed and Runway Independent Technology (SPRINT) program.

Continue Reading

Category: Military, Technology

Tags: Bell Helicopter, DARPA, Tiltrotor, VTOL

Dark chocolate has been extensively studied for its cardiometabolic health benefits, but findings have been inconsistent, spurring heated debates over whether this treat has pros that outweigh the cons. Now, new research puts dark chocolate back on the table, quantifying its impact on type 2 diabetes risk and weight gain in a study of nearly 200,000 US adults.

Continue Reading

Category: Diet & Nutrition, Wellness & Healthy Living, Body & Mind

Tags: Harvard, Chocolate, Polyphenols, Obesity, Cardiovascular, metabolism, Microbiome, anti-aging

VR manufacturing giant FuninVR already has VR machines operating in more than 6,000 gaming arcades and public environments worldwide, but that number might take a quantum leap with the release of the company’s 2025 catalogue.

Continue Reading

Category: Consumer Tech, Technology

Tags: VR, Virtual Reality, Games

What was once a concept that appeared to have no chance whatsoever of making it to production is now officially a factory camper van family. We speak of Nissan's MyRoom, which moved from concept to full-on production reality earlier this year and is now spawning a smaller version, the NV200 MyRoom. The new, little camper vanette rolls all the homey, stress-melting tranquility of the original Caravan MyRoom into a smaller, more maneuverable mini-camping package. And it goes up for sale this month.

Continue Reading

Category: Automotive, Transport

Tags: Nissan, Campervan, mini-campervan, Japanese, RV, Camping, Outdoors and Camping, Van

In a potentially game-changing move for the EV industry, Stellantis and Zeta Energy Corp have teamed up to develop the next-generation EV battery with more range, more power, 50% faster charging, and at less than half the cost.

Continue Reading

Category: Automotive, Transport

Tags: Lithium-sulfur, Lithium-ion, Batteries, EV Charging, stellantis

While scientists really do seem to love getting rats loaded on cocaine, a new study of rodents getting high on the lab's supply reveals intriguing new insights into how individuals respond differently when the reward is preceded by an unpleasant experience, or an averse cue.

Continue Reading

Category: Addiction, Brain Health, Body & Mind

Tags: University of Texas El Paso, Cocaine, Addiction, Brain, Animal science, Behavior, Neuroscience, Drugs

Filter-feeding mollusks respond to water pollution in a very detectable and measurable manner. With that fact in mind, scientists have created a commercial water-quality-monitoring system that uses electronically augmented live mollusks as its sensors.

Continue Reading

Category: Environment, Science

Tags: Pollution, Water, Ocean, CNRS, Universite de Bordeaux

New York's Priority Bicycles has announced a new e-commuter that's been designed with input from customers. The Current Plus features a mid-drive motor and Gates belt combination, an Enviolo or Shimano rear hub, and a 75-mile battery.

Continue Reading

Category: Bicycles, Transport

Tags: ebikes, Pedal-assisted, City

The Sun is at the most active stage of its 11-year cycle, resulting in some stunning aurora visible in places it doesn’t normally reach. As expected, that means the latest Northern Lights Photographer of the Year collection captures some of the brightest and most intense light shows we’ve ever seen.

Continue Reading

Category: Photography, Consumer Tech, Technology

Tags: aurora, Northern Lights, Gallery, Images, Photo, Astrophotography

Mercedes-Benz has unveiled a list of research programs and future technologies it's working on – including a "new kind of solar paint" it says could generate enough energy for up to 20,000 km (12,427 miles) of driving per year under ideal conditions.

Continue Reading

Category: Automotive, Transport

Tags: Solar Power, Mercedes-Benz, Paint, Perovskite, Clean Energy

SpaceX has launched 20 of its Starlink satellites up into Earth's orbit, enabling direct-to-cellphone connectivity for subscribers anywhere on the planet. That completes the constellation's first orbital shell, following a launch of an initial batch of six satellites for testing back in January.

Continue Reading

Category: Technology

Tags: SpaceX, Satellite, Starlink, Elon Musk, Communications

People with disabilities face a range of obstacles navigating the workforce and workplace, and for those that make up the neurodiverse population, having conditions that can often 'hide in plain sight' presents unique challenges that can have a devastating impact on their health.

Continue Reading

Category: ADHD & Autism, Brain Health, Body & Mind

Tags: La Trobe University, ADHD, Autism, neurodiversity, Neuroscience

The Artemis II and III missions slated to return US astronauts to the Moon have been set back. At a press conference, NASA officials said that problems with the heat shield and life support systems would delay the launches until 2026 and 2027.

Continue Reading

Category: Space, Science

Tags: artemis, NASA, Moon

The electric motor might carry the hype banner at the moment, but some minds remain convinced that there's plenty of innovation left to be extracted from internal combustion. AIE is one of the rotary engine's biggest champions and has been advancing new rotaries via the latest manufacturing tools and techniques since 2012. Its latest release shows that Wankel engines can be a perfect fit for compact, power-demanding applications in robotics and aerospace. More palmable than a basketball, the 40ACS Wankel packs a power-to-weight punch in a package that disappears away in small spaces.

Continue Reading

Category: Aircraft, Transport

Tags: Wankel, Engine Technologies, UAV, UAS, Robots

To find black holes we usually have to look thousands of light-years away. But a new study suggests we could find evidence of them right here on Earth, as tiny tunnels they’ve carved out in rocks or old buildings.

Continue Reading

Category: Physics, Science

Tags: Dark Matter, Black hole, University at Buffalo, Astronomy, Astrophysics, Earth