It was the veritable search for a needle in a haystack. With drug-resistant bacteria on the rise, researchers at MIT were sifting through a database of more than 100 million molecules to identify a few that might have antibacterial properties. Fortunately, the search proved successful. But it wasn’t a human who found the promising molecules. It was a machine learning program. One compound has been patented under the name Halicin in homage to HAL, the artificial intelligence (AI) in Arthur C Clar
AI now guides numerous life-changing decisions, from assessing loan applications to determining prison sentences. Proponents of the approach argue that it can eliminate human prejudices, but critics warn that algorithms can amplify our biases — without even revealing how they reached the decision. This can result in AI systems leading to Black people being wrongfully arrested, or child services unfairly targeting poor families. The victims are frequently from groups that are already marginalized
The USB-C standard has been long touted as a “one port to rule ‘em all” solution. Sure, it’s universal in the sense of the shape of the port. But the capabilities of a USB-C port and cable can vary widely. Last month, I wrote about why it’s so hard to differentiate one USB-C cable from another. Experts I talked to also noted that there are very few visual markers that tell you what a USB-C cable can do — charging, data transfer, audio, video, or all of them? We can certainly do better. And softw
The first serious accident involving a self-driving car in Australia occurred in March this year. A pedestrian suffered life-threatening injuries when hit by a Tesla Model 3, which the driver claims was in “autopilot” mode. In the US, the highway safety regulator is investigating a series of accidents where Teslas on autopilot crashed into first-responder vehicles with flashing lights during traffic stops. A Tesla model 3 collides with a stationary emergency responder vehicle in the US. NBC / Yo
This article was originally published on .cult by Neil Green. .cult is a Berlin-based community platform for developers. We write about all things career-related, make original documentaries, and share heaps of other untold developer stories from around the world. It’s a waste of time to try to learn every new technology. Instead, focus on learning how to learn. The tech industry thrives on the insecurity of software developers. The less a software developer thinks they know, the easier it is to
Let’s suppose you were an astronaut who just landed on the planet Mars. What would you need to survive? For starters, here’s a short list: Water, food, shelter – and oxygen. Oxygen is in the air we breathe here on Earth. Plants and some kinds of bacteria provide it for us. But oxygen is not the only gas in the Earth’s atmosphere. It’s not even the most abundant. In fact, only 21% of our air is made up of oxygen. Almost all the rest is nitrogen – about 78%. Now you might be wondering: If there’s
Voyager 1 is the farthest human-made object from Earth. After sweeping by Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, it is now almost 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from Earth in interstellar space. Both Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, carry little pieces of humanity in the form of their Golden Records. These messages in a bottle include spoken greetings in 55 languages, sounds and images from nature, an album of recordings and images from numerous cultures, and a written message of welc
On Sunday, popular American singer songwriter Halsey shared a video on TikTok with tinny music in the background, the on-screen text reading: Basically I have a song that I love that I wanna release ASAP but my record label won’t let me. I’ve been in this industry for 8 years and I’ve sold over 165 million records. And my record company is saying that I can’t release it unless they can fake a viral moment on TikTok. Everything is marketing. And they are doing this to basically every artist these
I tend to gravitate toward ebikes that are light and nimble. I like ebikes that feel more like regular bikes, especially those that use torque sensors for the smoothest pedaling experience. The Velotric Discover 1 isn’t quite that. But for an MSRP of $1,899 (currently on sale for $1,399), it’s a pretty sweet ride in an accessible form factor and a strong first entry for a new company entering a crowded ebike market. The Discover 1 doesn’t stand out in any single metric, but it comes together in
Jason Silva, futurist and host of National Geographic’s “Brain Games,” recently published a mind-bending YouTube video combining the technological prowess of AI with the artistic creativity of someone who believes in the power of psychoactive experiences. It’s called “Dreaming while awake: a journey into ourselves.” The description on Silva’s YouTube channel describes the video as: The first art piece of the singularity: born from a human-AI collaboration by Jason Silva, Hueman Instrument and di