Articles by Technology Review from April 2014

Even conventional industrial robots are becoming safer to work around, making them more likely to collaborate with humans.Most industrial robots are far less friendly than the Roomba robot vacuum clea...

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New models built with security and privacy in mind reflect the Zeitgeist of the Snowden era....

Inks made from different types of materials, precisely applied, are greatly expanding the kinds of things that can be printed....

Microprocessors configured more like brains than traditional chips could soon make computers far more astute about whats going on around them....

Relatively cheap drones with advanced sensors and imaging capabilities are giving farmers new ways to increase yields and reduce crop damage....

Computer scientists have created machines that have the balance and agility to walk and run across rough and uneven terrain, making them far more useful in navigating human environments....

Big data and artificial intelligence are producing ultra-accurate forecasts that will make it feasible to integrate much more renewable energy into the grid....

A new map, a decade in the works, shows structures of the brain in far greater detail than ever before, providing neuroscientists with a guide to its immense complexity....

Thirty years after virtual-reality goggles and immersive virtual worlds made their debut, the technology finally seems poised for widespread use....

The ability to create primates with intentional mutations could provide powerful new ways to study complex and genetically baffling brain disorders....

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The smartphone era is finally getting the productivity software it needs....

The successful test of a soft touchdown demonstrates a capability that could cut the cost of space launches significantly.Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, took a step toward making spaceflig...

Mobile news curation uses human editors and good design to improve the experience of reading the news on smartphones.In 1704, John Campbell, Bostons postmaster, turned his handwritten newsletter into...

For almost half a century, James Turrell has been working with light in a way that merges art and technology.Imagine a painting by Mark Rothko transformed into a movie. In a space behind a glass panel...

For almost half a century, James Turrell has been working with light in a way that merges art and technology.Imagine a painting by Mark Rothko transformed into a movie. In a space behind a glass panel...

The economics of combating climate change may depend on an underfunded technology.When it comes to technology for averting climate change, renewable energy often gets the limelight. But a relatively n...

An iPad accessory launching later this year will bring transparent morphing buttons to the devices screen to aid touch-typing.As they peck out text on the featureless glass surface of their phone or t...

Because China relies so heavily on coal for power, electric vehicles arent necessarily an improvement over gasoline-powered cars.Sales of electric vehicles in China, the worlds largest auto market, ha...

Tiny robots that work together like ants could lead to a new way to manufacture complex structures and electronics.Someone glancing through the door of Annjoe Wong-Foys lab at SRI International might ...

Tapping into big data, researchers and planners are building mathematical models of personal and civic behavior. But the models may hide rather than reveal the deepest sources of social ills.In 1969,...

A Brazilian neuroscientist says brain-controlled robotics will let the paralyzed walk again.In less than 60 days, Brazil will begin hosting soccers 2014 World Cup, even though workers are still hurryi...

Author Sarah Lewis discusses some counterintuitive pathways to breakthroughs.The path to a great achievementwhether it is a technological innovation or a masterwork of artis almost never direct. On th...

A U.N. climate report says well overshoot greenhouse gas targets, and will need new technologies to make up for it.A U.N. climate report released on Sunday concludes that there may still be time to li...

Teslas audacious plan to build a giant battery factory may mostly be a clever negotiating tactic.Lithium-ion batteries are just about everywherethey power almost all smartphones, tablets, and laptops....

Three years after the Fukushima disaster, some countries are pulling back from nuclear power while others grow capacity....

New solar thermal technologies could address solar powers intermittency problem.When the worlds largest solar thermal power plantin Ivanpah, Californiaopened earlier this year, it was greeted with ske...

Google believes open hardware innovation could help it find industries and markets for its software and services.In a two-story building in an industrial district of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Ara Knai...

An old idea for treating cancer is yielding impressive results on cancer patientsand lots of attention from drug companies.New medicines that shrink tumors and have beneficial effects lasting for mont...

Efforts to build robot hands and humanoids more cheaply could make them affordable enough for businesses and even homes.The Atlas humanoid robot, unveiled last year by Boston Dynamics, a company later...

Samsungs Galaxy S5 is the first smartphone that can use a fingerprint to authorize payments in stores and online.Anyone with an iPhone 5 can use its fingerprint reader to unlock the device and pay for...

A flexible electronic skin patch has strain gauges to measure tremors, and heating elements to release drugs held inside nanoparticles.Offering a preview of what future wearable medical devices may lo...

If the NSA did have the keys to the backdoor in a random number generator it could break some encryption without trouble.The security of a data connection protected using a flawed U.S. encryption stan...

Crop yields are expected to decline due to climate change faster than scientists thought.A few years ago scientists thought climate change wouldnt cause much harm to overall food production until temp...