Futurism

This Is What Your Professors Really Think About You Leaving Academia

As university budgets shrink, more and more graduate students are seeking jobs outside academia. You’d think this would be a good thing for the world, but professors aren’t convinced. In fact, many actively discourage their students from striving for non-academic jobs. The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Stacey Patton reports that at a recent conference on…

Here’s How to Get Rid of Traffic Jams

Traffic congestion steals our time, reduces our quality of life, and hurts us economically. But what can we possibly do about it? Here’s how technology and some common sense could put an end to traffic congestion. A 2010 RAND study noted that traffic congestion comes from an imbalance in the supply of and demand for…

Dubai To Build The World’s First Climate-Controlled City

The United Arab Emirates has announced its plan to build a “pedestrian city” — a gargantuan mall that will take up over 48 million square feet. Remarkably, the facility will feature a temperature-controlled domed retail street network that will extend for 4.3 miles (7 km). Called the “Mall of the World,” the Dubai-based facility will…

Republicans Believe Uber Will Help Them Win Back America’s Cities

With each passing year, the population of urban areas is growing — and most of those cities are run by Democrats. But a key Republican believes the ride-sharing service Uber is the killer app that can create a future wedge between labor unions and Democratic politicians, driving them from power. The theory comes from the…

This Concept Sub Means That You Could Visit the Deep Ocean

Check out Manatee — a concept personal submersible vehicle designed by Eduardo Galvani. Designed for safe and comfortable subaquatic explorations, the sub can be controlled by anyone who knows how to operate a joystick and a touch screen control panel. Jacques Cousteau — eat your heart out. The joystick commands the thrusters and helms for…

A Tricorder That Automatically Counts All The Calories In Your Food

It’s impossible to know how many calories we’re about to consume just by glancing at the food on our plate. That’s why the researchers at GE are trying to build a universal calorie counter. Here’s how it would work. The quest to build a machine that can automatically count calories in any food was spearheaded…

This ‘Bio-Bot’ Walks On Command Using Actual Muscles

Engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed tiny biological machines capable of walking by using twitching muscle cells. Remarkably, these self-propelled “bio-bots” can be controlled externally using electrical pulses. Oh, and they’re 3D printed. We typically imagine robots as being comprised of metal gears and electronic parts. But by combining biological components,…

Could We Travel To Another Galaxy Using Hypervelocity Stars?

The thought of traveling to a distant star is daunting enough, let alone the prospect of facing millions of years of flight time to reach the nearest galaxy. Remarkably, the discovery of galaxy-escaping hypervelocity stars may provide a solution. In a recent paper, discussed here by Adam Crowl, Robin Spivey ponders “autonomous probes that spawn…

This Intelligent Road Marking System Would Revolutionize Driving

When it comes to conveying information, road surfaces offer very little. But that could change if this Russian-designed road marking system should ever be implemented, a system that features an interactive road laden with sensors. The Razmetkus-designed interactive system works by displaying information for each driver individually, updating them about the traffic situation, providing helpful…

I Think I Just Saw the Future, in This House

The future is always weirder than what you imagine. What you’re seeing is an off-the-grid house made entirely from specially-treated fabric that can withstand 100-mile-an-hour tornado winds, store energy, recycle water, and maintain comfortable temperatures year-round. Called Techstyle Haus, it’s made with rapid prototyping, and can be rebuilt to handle rapidly-changing climates. It’s powered by…

Behold the Phoenix Towers, a proposed 47-hectare complex designed for the Chinese city of Wuhan. The tallest tower will reach one kilometer in height, making it the tallest structure in the world. The “blatantly iconic” towers will also purify the city’s polluted air and lakes. You may also enjoy:

Is Second Life About to Become a Ghost World?

Second Life, one of the most hyped virtual worlds in history, is heading towards ghost town status. Intrepid tech reporter Wagner James Au broke the story over the weekend, noting that Second Life makers Linden Lab are at work on a top-secret new virtual world. It’s possible that this new virtual world is part of…

Science Fiction Does Something Way Better Than Predict The Future

People get stuck on the idea that science fiction predicts the future, and that we should look to SF books to find out what we’ll be doing 20 years from now. But actually, says Questionable Practices author Eileen Gunn, science fiction does something way more valuable: teach us that change is inevitable. Top image: Oliver…

Could Clicking On Familiar Faces Eventually Replace Passwords?

Passwords and PINs are notoriously difficult to remember. But it just so happens that we’re exceptionally good at remembering distinct faces — a psychological quirk that security experts now say could be the next big thing in authentication. It’s called Facelock, a password alternative that plays to the strengths of human memory. Developed by researchers…

The Beijing Zoo Opened A Virtual “Online Zoo”

China is a big place, and not everyone can easily get to the zoo. To solve the problem, the Beijing Zoo went virtual. It’s an interesting approach to the stated mission of most zoos, which is to educate the public and to promote awareness of conservation-related issues. If the public can’t come to the zoo,…

Vancouver School Board Introduces Gender-Neutral Pronouns

Students and teachers in Vancouver, British Columbia, can now use the gender-neutral pronouns “xe,” “xem,” and “xyr.” The move is designed to accommodate students for whom “he” and “she” does not fit or is deemed inappropriate. It’s taking forever for us to adopt gender-neutral pronouns, so this move is very encouraging. The best we’ve got…

This Map Reveals Where Our Future Water Wars Will Begin

As droughts intensify around the world, the stand-off over who gets access to which water sources is becoming more and more fraught. Here are the places around the globe where the competition for water has already begun playing itself out. Map: Pitch Interactive for Popular Science Popular Science had the map put together from data…

This Robot Is Going To Hitchhike Across Canada By Itself

Starting next month, a robot named hitchBOT will attempt to hitchhike across Canada. Using speech recognition, speech processing, and social media, it will try to charm its way from one coast to the other. Its journey will commence on July 27th, 2014 at the Institute for Applied Creativity at the Nova Scotia College of Art…

New “Bionic” Dildo Allows You to Feel Things You Never Felt Before

After the arrival of bionic arms and mind-controlled exoskeletons, it was only a matter of time before we began translating these new technologies into sex toys. The Ambrosia Vibe isn’t as sophisticated as other bionic technologies, but it is one step on the path to having that detachable penis you always wanted. The idea is…

This Machine Can Learn About the World Just by Watching It

It’s a possible step on the road to a total surveillance AI like the one in Person of Interest. Researchers from the University of Washington have developed a computer program that teaches itself everything there is to know about any visual concept — without any human supervision. Called LEVAN (Learning EVerything About ANything), it’s best…