Twenty-six words in an article of a 1996 u.s. law allowed the internet to be what we know it to be; and in “content publishing” giants like google, facebook and …
Xenobot
The image we usually have of robots mostly includes a lot of plastic, a lot of metal, power cables, noisy motors and flashing pilots. This was and remains to a …
The unknown ancestor
It is certain that all humankind originated in Africa. It is also certain that our most recent genes are the result of interbreeding between the three versions of the original …
Delicate tasks
As for its looks, the german designed and IBM programmed CIMON-2 (the smiley plastic balloon on the left) does not claim any prizes. Though, it has a rich emotional (and …
Emergency button
It has (or it say it has) 50 million users/customers worldwide. Perhaps they are not many. The online matchmaking app Tinder, and its owner, deserves to celebrate this accomplishment, establishing …
Education at the threshold of the 4th industrial revolution
The education system as we know it is only about 200 years old. Before that, formal education was mostly reserved for the elite. But as industrialization changed the way we …
Digital yuan
Blockchain technology, which was created to allow the global movement of digital currencies by bypassing the control of central banks, has led to the creation of “cryptocurrencies” suitable only for …
Cold Fusion
For some, it represents the ultimate energy solution: a cheap energy source without environmental implications. The final (and, above all, practical) form of such a nuclear process does not appear …
Besides, they constantly go off
Vermont is a peculiar state among the others of the u.s.a.. It is generally considered a progressive one (one of the presidential candidates for the DNC primary elections, Bernie Sanders, …
Boiling Frogs
There is an urban legend, a variation of an older fairy tale, which explains how to boil a living frog. As the legend says, if you put a frog into …
Genes do dance!
They have been discovered since the 40’s. But in vain: as for official genetics (that is, mainstream geneticists and biologists), they were considered “junk genes”, useless. This point of view …
Absolute evil; and the state as absolute good
The above image depicts the favorite incident of those who predict the danger posed by the 21st-century technological developments: a rather microscopic drone puts a bullet in a head… Who …