Space travel is all about momentum. Rockets turn their fuel into momentum that carries people, satellites and science itself forward into space. 2021 was a year full of records for space programs around the world, and that momentum is carrying forward into 2022. Last year, the commercial space race truly took off. Richard Branson and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos both rode on suborbital launches – and brought friends, including actor William Shatner. SpaceX sent eight astronauts and 1 ton of supplie
Japan has a strong heritage in not only pop art (like anime and manga), but also mobility, with inventive staples like Onikyan car wheels and Dekotora Trucks. And what happens when you bring those two together? Itasha. This is a car styling trend that emerged in the 1980s, but has been given a fresh lease of life with new car breeds and emerging tech. Itasha means literally painful or cringeworthy in Japanese, and refers specifically to vehicles that have been decorated with anime, manga, or vid
When immersive experiences first became accessible to everyday consumers in the form of headsets like the Oculus Rift and Google Glass, it seemed like the industry was ripe for mainstream acceptance. A few years later, the hype around VR and AR seemed to have died down, and it seemed we’d have to wait some time before the hype built up again. Then Facebook (the company) changed its name to Meta and signaled its investment in the metaverse. Suddenly everyone cared about VR and AR again. Yet I sti
There are few more compelling story lines at the intersection of Wall Street and Fear Street than China‘s rise to global prominence in the field of artificial intelligence. You don’t have to look very far to find a military or financial expert who believes China‘s AI program will some day surpass the capabilities of its democratic counterparts in Silicon Valley. But, as we’ve written before, the idea that China is in second place behind the US is a bit misleading. Sure, it’s technically correct,
If you’ve been on any social media platform in the past two weeks, you’ve probably seen a grid of green, yellow and black squares. This is the latest pandemic phenomenon called Wordle – a free online game that gives users a new word puzzle each day. It was created by Josh Wardle for his crossword-loving partner. As of January 10, the game has 2.7 million players. In Wordle, players have six tries to guess a target five-letter word. Every time they make a guess, they are told which letters in the
Last week, the US Department of Transportation Secretary announced the National Roadway Safety Strategy launch. The strategy aims to respond to a national crisis: deaths and serious injuries involving cars and heavy trucks. It’s a collaborative effort between a range of government departments, such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, to centralize many tasks and responsibilities under a central plan. It gets its funding from the
The modern world hurts my brain. Let’s take the news that Apple enables users to store their COVID vaccination certificates in the Wallet and Health apps as an example. When I first heard about it, I was pumped. Flashing my QR code to enter a restaurant or grab a coffee would be far simpler if it sat in my Apple Wallet. Friends, the time I’d save! But, of course, the world had something to say about that. While putting my digital certificate of vaccination in an easy-to-access place is cool… is
After its introduction in 2014, Apple Pay has made spending seamless for swathes of people. Now, the company wants to move to the other side of the aisle. This time, to accept payments. Last week, Bloomberg reported that Apple is planning to introduce a new feature in the coming months that will let merchants accept card payments directly through their iPhones. In short, it wants to make its device a payment terminal or a point of sale (POS) machine. How will it work? The report noted that this
Earlier this year, a viral article on Fast Company gained attention around the world. In the piece, entitled ‘How to spot a toxic culture by reading between the lines of a job ad’, writer Stephanie Vozza discussed how to interpret some of the key phrases company’s use to get down to what the work culture is really like. For example, if a job advertises free snacks, meals and drinks, could that mean that you’ll be expected to work long hours and not leave the office during lunchtime? Or, if a bus
To cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in half within a decade, the Biden administration’s goal, the U.S. is going to need a lot more solar and wind power generation, and lots of cheap energy storage. Wind and solar power vary over the course of a day, so energy storage is essential to provide a continuous flow of electricity. But today’s batteries are typically quite small and store enough energy for only a few hours of electricity. To rely more on wind and solar power, the U.S. will need more ov