How can you send documents, watch educational videos or work collaboratively in regions where there is no internet coverage or electricity? These were the challenging questions taken up by researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, who have developed a standalone box, known as the Beekee Box, that can generate a wireless network so…
Citizen Scientists Re-Tune Hubble’s Galaxy Classification
Hundreds of thousands of volunteers have helped to overturn almost a century of galaxy classification, in a new study using data from the longstanding Galaxy Zoo project. The new investigation, published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, uses classifications of over 6000 galaxies to reveal that “well known” correlations between different features are…
Uber Will Test Unmanned Aircraft at Fort Worth Alliance Airport’s New Technology Zone
Uber and other companies have a new place to test their driverless—and pilotless—technology in Fort Worth. The well-known ride-sharing company—which aims to develop an Uber Elevate air taxi system at DFW Airport and Frisco by 2023—is among the key players in a new mobility innovation zone at Fort Worth’s Alliance Airport. Hillwood, the company that…
Driverless Cars Are Going to Disrupt the Airline Industry
As driverless cars become more capable and more common, they will change people’s travel habits not only around their own communities but across much larger distances. Our research has revealed just how much people’s travel preferences could shift, and found a new potential challenge to the airline industry. Imagine someone who lives in Atlanta and needs…
All-Woman Team Commands Rock-Zapping Laser on Mars
The laser that zaps rocks on Mars is commanded by a talented group of engineers and scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory—who also happen to all be women, a rarity in the engineering field. “It’s unusual, simply because engineering still tends to be male-dominated,” said Nina Lanza, a planetary scientist on the team who has…
A Platform for Africa’s Mobile Innovators
Sam Gikandi ’05 SM ’06 and Eston Kimani ’05 have always believed in the potential of Africa’s entrepreneurial community. Their years at MIT, beginning in 2001 when they left their home country of Kenya, only reinforced that belief. Through the MIT-Africa initiative and other campus programs that allowed them to work in regions across the…
Lettuce Have It! Machine Learning for CR-Optimization
At Earlham Institute (EI), artificial intelligence based techniques such as machine learning is moving from being merely an exciting premise to having real-life applications, where it’s needed most: improving efficiency and precision on the farm. Researchers in the Zhou Group at EI, in cooperation with Ely-based G’s Growers, have developed a machine learning platform, AirSurf-Lettuce,…
NASA’s SET Mission to Study Satellite Protection Is Ready for Launch
Ready, SET, go — NASA’s Space Environment Testbeds, or SET, will launch in June 2019 on its mission to study how to better protect satellites in space. SET will get a ride to space on a U.S. Air Force Research Lab spacecraft aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SET studies…
Cyber of the Fittest: Researchers Develop First Cyber Agility Framework to Measure Attacks
For more than a year, GozNym, a gang of five Russian cyber criminals, stole login credentials and emptied bank accounts from unaware Americans. To detect and quickly respond to escalating cyber-attacks like these, researchers at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) have developed the first framework to score the agility of cyber attackers…
Somebody’s Watching You: The Surveillance of Self-Driving Cars
Picture the future, where driving is a thing of the past. You can hop in your car or one from a ride-share, buckle up and tell the car where you want to go. During your ride, you can check your email and look up a few things online through your dashboard. Meanwhile, your whereabouts and…