An infinite loop: New research suggests the universe may be a closed sphere
Most people think of space as a flat sheet: You travel in one direction, and you end up far from your starting point. But a new paper suggests that the universe may in fact be spherical: If you travel far enough in the same direction, you'd end up back where you started.
NASA’s charge-dissipating paint provides a potential solution to a dusty problem
The fine dust which covers the moon's surface causes a range of technical problems from gumming up electronics to sticking to absolutely everything. It's even potentially harmful to the health of astronauts. Now, NASA has come up with a solution which could help alleviate the dust problem.
How to watch Mercury transit the face of the sun on Monday
A rare event is occurring on Monday: The planet Mercury is passing directly between the Earth and the Sun. This is called a transit, and it occurs only 13 times every 100 years. The last transit of Mercury was in 2016, and the next one won't be until 2023, so you should take the chance to view this event.
Loose pin responsible for Boeing Starliner’s failure to deploy parachute in test
Boeing has identified the part which lead to a parachute failing to deploy during the testing earlier this week of its Starliner capsule, which is intended to eventually ferry astronauts to the International Space Station. The company has announced that a misplaced pin was the cause of the issue.
See the Mars 2020 rover winched into the air and moved into a test chamber
NASA's Mars 2020 rover is roving ever nearer to completion. Having recently stood on its own six wheels for the first time and practiced its descent separation from the craft that will transport it to the red planet, the rover has now undergone vacuum testing at a facility in Pasadena, California.
Have trouble staying focused? These brain-training earbuds might help
FocusBuds, billed as the world's productivity-boosting earbuds, use a brain-training technique to help wearers block out concentration-breaking distractions. Here's how the technology works -- and how would-be owners can get their hands (well, ears) on them as soon as possible.
Digital Trends Live: HoloLens 2 and Stadia available, James Dean is back
On this episode of Digital Trends Live, hosts Greg Nibler and Sam Slaughter dig into the biggest trending stories in tech, including the HoloLens 2 ships, Google Stadia now available, Twitter accused of spying, A.I. deemed “too dangerous” to release, James Dean reappears, and more.
Juul discontinues sales of its mint-flavored pods
Juul is discontinuing its sales of mint Juul pods, citing studies released from different surveys. The announcement comes a week after a lawsuit claims Juul shipped out one million batches of contaminated mint e-liquid. The company said that all sales of mint-flavored Juul pods would cease both online and in stores.
Boeing wants to get to the moon in as few steps as possible
Boeing submitted a proposal to NASA for a human lander concept that would deliver astronauts to the moon in the fewest steps possible. The proposal is part of NASA’s Artemis program and is meant to reduce the number of segments that need to be sent into orbit—from 11 mission-critical events to five.
Plant-based burgers? Old news. This startup makes steak with fermented fungus
New startup Meati Foods has developed a meat substitute that it claims both looks and tastes like steak, but is actually made entirely from mushroom. In doing so, it hopes to challenge the might (or is that meat?) of similar companies such as Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat.
Cockpit calamity: Pilot error sparks hijack security alert on passenger plane
A pilot preparing for take-off at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam on Wednesday accidentally set off a hijack alert, prompting a security incident that saw part of the airport put on lockdown and flights delayed. An Air Europa official later tweeted that it had all been a mistake and that everyone was fine.
Digital Trends Live: T-Mobile/Sprint merger, Ford’s manual EV, and more
On this episode of Digital Trends Live, hosts Greg Nibler and Jeremy Kaplan break down the biggest trending stories in tech, including the T-Mobile/Sprint merger, Facebook’s facial-recognition, Ford’s new manual EV, drone deliveries for CVS, and more.
Forget Face ID! Next-gen biometrics will listen to the sound of your bones
Researchers from South Korea's Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute have developed new biometric technology that can identify people based on the way sound waves pass through their body. Here's how the tech works -- and why it could prove so useful in the future.
World’s first robotic brain surgery could be a game-changer for patients
A neuroradiologist in Toronto has carried out the world’s first robotic brain surgery. The robot-assisted aneurysm coiling was conducted on a 64-year-old female patient at Canada’s Toronto Western Hospital and Krembil Brain Institute on November 1. Here's why it matters.
At $2 million per launch, SpaceX’s Starship brings cost of space down to earth
SpaceX’s much-anticipated Starship rocket could only cost $2 million per mission. Elon Musk said that the reusable passenger spaceship would cost $900,000 worth of fuel per launch, which added in with other costs, comes out to about a $2 million price tag -- a drop in the bucket in terms of space dollars.
Drone and rover tag teams could help solve the world’s deadly land mine problem
Roughly 20,000 people are maimed or killed each year due to land mines; the vast majority being civilians in parts of the world subject to ongoing conflict. Could a tag team of autonomous robots help solve the problem? Roboticists from Worcester Polytechnic Institute think so.
Flying meds: UPS uses drones for deliveries to CVS customers for first time
UPS wants to use drones as well as trucks to deliver goods to customers. The shipping giant recently teamed up with CVS Pharmacy for its first trial deliveries of prescription meds to customers in the U.S. The drone flew from the store to the customer’s home, lowering the medicine to the ground with a cable and winch.
Watch Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule hit 650 mph in critical test
Boeing deemed a launch abort test of its Starliner crew capsule a success on Monday, but it didn’t go entirely to plan as one of its parachutes failed to deploy when it returned to the ground. Following more tests, the Starliner could be used to carry astronauts to the space station as early as 2020.
Tesla reaches settlement with Walmart to bring solar panel suit to an end
Walmart announced it dropped its lawsuit against Tesla over malfunctioning solar panels manufactured by the company that resulted in fires. A Walmart spokesperson said that a settlement has been reached between the two companies and the stipulation of dismissal has been filed with the court.
This monstrous, 826-ton wave buoy turns rough seas into renewable energy
Ocean Energy has spent the better part of the past decade perfecting a wave power generator that’s not only tough enough to survive the seas, but also capable of capturing huge amounts of energy from them. The result? A hulking, 826-ton marvel of modern engineering known as the OE Buoy.
New UV-sensitive yarn gets much warmer when exposed to the sun’s rays
Renowned American yarn company Red Heart have come up with a way to make people even cosier this winter. Their new Red Heart Heatwave yarn promises to keep wearers warmer thanks to patented fibers that get warmer when exposed to the sun's ultraviolet rays. Here's what you need to know.
The 2019 Freedom on The Net report says social media is ruining everything
The internet today is pretty far from the utopian place that it was in the past, the Freedom on the Net 2019 report by bipartisan watchdog and think tank Freedom House suggests. And social media may be what's to blame. Here's why it's causing so many problems for citizens.
Facebook wants you to take a selfie in order to verify your identity
Facebook is reportedly working on facial-recognition software that would verify the identities of users trying to access the app. Jane Manchun Wong tweeted out a prototype of Facebook’s facial-recognition identity login, which asks users to take a selfie by looking in different directions.
NASA’s Voyager 2 sends first message back from the edge of the solar system
The Voyager 2 spacecraft has sent back its first message from the interstellar space, after having left our solar system late last year. This makes it only the second human-made object to ever reach beyond this point, following sibling Voyager 1, which crossed this threshold in 2012.
DNA, laser-etched glass, and beyond: A peek into the future of data storage
Data has a problem. Simply put: We produce way too much of it, and storing it is becoming an issue. But pioneering researchers are exploring futuristic ways of solving our data problem once and for all. From 5D optical storage to embedding data in DNA, here are some of their ideas.
Haibike Sduro FullSeven 7.0 Review: More than its parts
The Haibike Sduro FullSeven 7.0 is a bike with a long name, an eye-catching look, and a collection of mediocre components that somehow are more than their sum. Here's our Haibike Sduro Fullseven 7.0 review.
SpaceX video shows off successful test of new Crew Dragon parachutes
SpaceX has posted a video showing how the parachute system for its Crew Dragon can land the spacecraft safely in the event that one of its four main parachutes fails. The Crew Dragon is still undergoing a variety of tests ahead of its first mission carrying astronauts to the ISS, which could take place in 2020.
Astronauts will attempt to fix ‘unserviceable’ dark matter detection instrument
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer instrument was installed on the International Space Station in 2011 but was only designed to operate for three years. Now, the cooling system is failing. So ISS astronauts will attempt to rejuvenate the device and get it working once again using new spacewalk procedures.
Astronaut smart glove controls drones wirelessly, could be used to explore Mars
Scientists from NASA and the SETI Institute have developed a new "smart glove" for astronauts which could be used for future exploration of locations like the Moon and Mars. The gloves allow astronauts to wirelessly control robots such as drones through one-handed gestures.
New printer creates colorful, more realistic 3D digital holograms
A French company has come up with a new technique for printing holograms: 2D images which appear to be 3D. The Chimera printer can print brighter, more detailed holograms than previous hologram printing technologies, using a specially developed highly sensitive photomaterial which has a very fine grain.
Rare super-Neptune exoplanet spotted in nearby binary system
Astronomers using the Italian Telescopio Nazionale Galileo and the High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer on the Keck Telescope have discovered a rare type of exoplanet called a super-Neptune. This type of planet is larger than Neptune and around five to seven times the size of Earth.
How did that planet get there? TESS investigates a planetary mystery
NASA's planet-hunting satellite TESS, or Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, has made another intriguing discovery. This time, it's located a planet somewhere where it shouldn't be, right in the middle of a zone in which any planet should have been annihilated by its star.
5,000 ‘eyes’ will scan the night sky for clues to the puzzle of dark energy
The hunt for dark energy has gained a new weapon, with the first test of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) being completed recently. DESI is installed atop a telescope and will search for evidence of the energy which makes up 68% of the universe and speeds up its expansion.
NASA is considering whether to send an orbiter to Pluto
NASA is considering making a return trip to Pluto, and has awarded funding to the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) to study the cost and feasibility of an orbiter mission there. This following the success of the New Horizons mission which visited Pluto in 2015.