Edge of innovation
Displaying 1 - 10 of 14 articles
Improved autonomous vehicle technology could reduce the tens of thousands of annual U.S. deaths due to human error behind the wheel. Are driverless cars the next big public health intervention?
How will neurotech evolve? An NAS workshop this week focuses on social and ethical opportunities and challenges we face both now and down the road.
The technological goals are lofty. But fitting the new tech into the social and political landscape might pose the bigger challenge.
A list of 10 new technologies poised to transform our lives provides a chance to think about any related risks sooner than later. Reconceptualizing “value” changes what responsible development means.
Microscopic needle-like particles don’t seem like something you’d want to feed a baby. Whether safe or not, the way we deal with nanoscale food additives leaves plenty of other questions.
Two very similar new carbon nanotube products, released eight years apart, provoked very different reactions. What’s changed about the way we consider nanotechnology risks and benefits?
Contributing to the public good should be a top priority for public and land grant universities. Here, some ideas on how to match what institutions value with academics’ own drive for service.
Insecticides and mosquito nets only get you so far. Synthetic biologists are ready to take the battle against mosquito-borne disease to the level of DNA – which might spell the insects’ ultimate doom.
A new model of citizen-led science is emerging – as in the case of Flint, Michigan’s poisoned water. Rather than simply supporting scientists, citizens ask their own questions and set the research agenda.
After steam, electricity and computers come cyber-physical systems: the fourth industrial revolution. A new book by the World Economic Forum’s founder foresees a rosy future – but that’ll take work.