Discussions
The Startup Meant to Reinvent What Bitcoin Can Do
A company given $21 million by leading Silicon Valley investors aims to extend Bitcoin’s functionality so it can power much more than just payments.
Desalination out of Desperation
Severe droughts are forcing researchers to rethink how technology can increase the supply of fresh water.
Auras: There’s an App for That
A variety of new digital filters will make a photograph look vintage. The inauthenticity of the effect is irrelevant: it’s enough to evoke an audience’s sense of the past.
Solving the Autism Puzzle
For years scientists searched fruitlessly for the causes of autism by looking for genes shared by families prone to the disorder. Now researchers taking a new approach have begun to unlock its secrets.
Google to Try to Solve Death, LOL
A new company launched by Google will seek to extend human life spans.
What It Will Take for Computers to Be Conscious
The world’s best-known consciousness researcher says machines could one day become self-aware.
2014 in Mobile: Wearable Gadgets Galore
Wearable technology finally took off in 2014, although some devices fared better than others.
The Top Technology Failures of 2014
What do the latest technologies to flop, fizzle, and flame out tell us about innovation?
2014 in Computing: Breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence
The past year saw progress in developing hardware and software capable of human feats of intelligence.
2014 in Biomedicine: Rewriting DNA, Decoding the Brain, and a GMO Paradox
From genetically modified foods to gene therapy, 2014 was a big year for rewriting biology.