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1166 episodes
Why You Should Keep That Extra Toe
A team of researchers believes that the birth defect that leads to extra fingers and toes could provide a blueprint for a way to control robotic limbs.The condition is known as polydactyly and it impacts one in every 500 babies.Th...
Polymer Made from Waste Cooking Oil Could Cure PFAS Pollution
PFAS, or per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) are a problem. Also called "forever chemicals" PFAS are commonly used in non-stick coatings, lubricants and fire-fighting foams, but they are turning up everywhere.The chemical ha...
New Michelin Tire Means No More Flats
Airless tires may finally be coming to passenger vehicles.Tires are just about the most important and underappreciated thing about your car. Nobody cares about the poor, lowly tire until there’s a nail in the road and then… look out. Jus...
The Genius/Madness of Apple's $1,000 Monitor Stand
At last week’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference, Apple dropped the jaws of those in attendance and throughout the tech world by announcing the availability of the Mac Pro Stand … starting at $999.Yes, you heard that right and yes, it’s a...
Warren Buffett’s Co. Takes $377M Hit from ‘Ponzi Scheme’
If you were to visit DC Solar’s website, you’d see a professional-looking dot-com, tiled with images of the company’s solar generators in action. You’ll also notice the proud press releases focu...
How Bosch Took a Dumb SKIL Drill Press and Made it 'Smart'
At the end of the day, everyone just wants to make more money. That was the message at the Factory of the Future experience at the Bosch Rexroth Automation & Electrification facility in Hoffman Estates, IL. According to Peter Fi...
Musk: Tesla Pickup Will Be Sub-$50K, Better Than the F-150
Elon Musk has always been one to make grand projections and, hey – if he can make good on even a handful of his brash promises then the future of the transportation industry – on earth, below ground and in out space – should be interesting....
Sensor-Laden Glove Could Lead to More Capable Robots
Teaching robots how to recognize and handle unknown items remains a key hurdle to enabling automation of a much wider range of routine tasks.But researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology may have come up with a relatively...
Worker Gets 10 Months in Prison for Peeing on Food Products
Last Friday, 49-year-old Gregory Stanton was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison for urinating on a conveyor belt that carried cereal at the Kellog's plant in Memphis Tennessee. Charged with tampering with consumer products, St...
Salto is a Jumping Robot Bush Baby
In 2016, researchers at the University of California - Berkeley created Salto (Saltatorial Locomotion on Terrain Obstacles). Salto is a tiny jumping robot that can leap off of the ground, hit a spot on the wall, and then jump off the wall. Cool...
Wearable Sensors Designed with Octopus-Inspired Suckers
Researchers from South Korea have created a new graphene-based biosensor that sucks to your skin -- it was inspired by the suckers on an octopus.The researchers
Ford’s Self-Driving Delivery Van Deploys Humanoid Robot
Ford has partnered with Agility Robotics to put a humanoid robot, Digit, into self-driving vehicles to create what they call the "future of self-driving vehicle delivery."Digit is a bipedal robot that was designed and developed by Agilit...
Novartis Unveils World’s Most Expensive Drug Treatment
When scientists are able to develop a new treatment for a rare disease that severely impacts the lives of very young children, it’s generally considered good news.And in the case of the newest announcement from Novartis, it is. But it’s ...
Amazon Denies Report its Cutting Thousands of Suppliers
Amazon has found itself at odds with the news outlet Bloomberg over a recent report that the wholesaling giant could be making some big changes. But if the report is to be taken at face value, then it’s not Amazon that’s the true victim – its s...
Researchers 3D-Print Bathrooms in 12 Hours
Researchers from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have developed a way to 3D print bathrooms, and they do it in less than a day.The team spent four years developing a concrete formula that could flow through the hoses and pr...
Boring Company Hits Pay Dirt
After talks stalled in Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, Elon Musk’s The Boring Company has finally landed its first paying customer, inking a $48.6 million deal with the Las Vegas Convention Center. The contract calls for the construc...
The Chicago River's Crowd-Controlled, Floating Roomba
A group in Chicago had a great idea – they wanted to develop a series of floating gardens in creating the Wild Mile along a man-made canal of the Chicago River. The problem, not surprisingly, was the garbage that kept finding its way into these...
WWII Plane Found in Boneyard Refurbished in Time for D-Day
One C-47 troop carrier was so visible in the D-Day Invasion of World War II that it was emblazoned with its own message for Adolph Hitler: “That’s all… brother.”It’s b...
Robot Designed to Forever Mop Up Blood
Chinese artists Sun Yuan and Peng Yu have found an interesting new application for an industrial robot: squeegeeing blood.Yuan and Yu combined a Kuka robot, Cognex visual-recognition sensors and software to create "Can’t Help Myself", an...
Microscopic Robot Drops Bombs on Cancer Cells
Researchers from the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College and City University of Hong Kong have created a biohybrid floating-plane robot.The robots were inspired by Transformers toys and whales. The robot can shape shift it'...
Robotic Dogs Redesigned to Care for the Elderly
Researchers at the University of Cincinnati are developing robotic pets to help care for the elderly.Led by professor Claudia Rebola, a team of researchers is working to make robotic pets more realistic and practical. For example, they c...
Exec’s Escort-Turned-Girlfriend Charged $5.8 Million to His Company Card
A 45-year-old executive was fired after he, and his former escort-turned-girlfriend, racked up nearly $5.8 million dollars on his company credit card.Scott Kennedy worked as a top financial executive at Nemera's plant in Buffalo Grove, I...
Company Unveils Flying Taxi Prototype
The developer of a two-seat flying car recently tested a larger prototype that company officials hope will finally help realize the potential of urban air mobility.
Tesla Issues Software Update After Second Parked Car Starts on Fire
Last month, we reported on a situation that was captivating China and perplexing Tesla. In a video that was widely shared on social media, a Model S sitting idly in a parking garage is recorded bursting into flames.At the time, Tesla too...