Ideas

Encryption Debate: The Issue Isn’t Strong Crypto; It’s Easy Crypto

The encryption debate is poised to intensify this year.

Emerging Tech

NOAA’s Next-Gen Environmental Satellite One Step Closer to Launch

Next up is the environmental testing phase.

Emerging Tech

NASA's New Posters and the Retro Travel Ads That Inspired Them

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s new collection of throwback images are a dreamy celebration of technology and human curiosity.

Digital Government

Female Coders Are Rated More Highly Than Men—Except When People Know They’re Women

This only adds to the avalanche of research on gender discrimination within the technology sector.

Emerging Tech

Inside NASA's Isolation Chamber

For these NASA crew members, 148 cubic meters is all they will know for 30 days.

Digital Government

When Computers Started Beating Chess Champions

On this day 20 years ago, a machine defeated a sitting world champion for the first time.

Emerging Tech

Drones 101: What You Need to Know

There are a few things you have to do before taking flight.

Digital Government

What Obama’s Air Force Budget Request Says About the Future of Warfare

The Defense Department budget request is full of high tech-items aimed at countering the capabilities of technologically advanced adversaries.

Emerging Tech

Google’s Self-Driving Cars Are Now Legal Drivers According to the US Government

The decision is not itself a law, but rather a clarification on how existing laws will be interpreted in the future.

Emerging Tech

Obama's Budget Would Grow Federal R&D By 4 Percent

The president's 2017 fiscal year budget boosts total research and development funding to $152 billion.

Emerging Tech

The Research Pirates of the Dark Web

After getting shut down late last year, a website that allows free access to paywalled academic papers has sprung back up in a shadowy corner of the Internet.

Digital Government

IBM’s Watson Should Run for President

it might be the perfect time for an actual robot to enter the race.

Artificial Intelligence

The Army Has Made a Robot Cockroach

Biologically inspired robot bugs could be the next big thing in intelligence collection.

Digital Government

Special Ops Wants Wearable Sensors Without Blind Spots

SOCOM is seeking a wearable system that can correct the error, known as “parallax,” which occurs combining visual feeds from offset sensors.

Artificial Intelligence

Should We Fear an AI Arms Race?

Five reasons the benefits of defense-related artificial intelligence research outweigh the risks—for now.

Digital Government

Video: This NASA Scientist Tracks the Dangerous Asteroids in Earth's Orbit

The first line of planetary defense is a physicist in California.

Emerging Tech

What’s More Difficult Than Building Robotic Hands? Building Robotic Fingers.

These digits can lift fragile objects, even if they're heavy.

Emerging Tech

You’re Not Alone: Even the Obamas Can’t Get Good Wi-Fi

The President says he hopes to fix the “whole tech thing” for “the next group of folks” who will move in.

Emerging Tech

Speed Dialer Aims to Profit off IRS' Terrible Customer Service

Software helps route paying customer to a breathing person within 1 to 6 minutes at an IRS call center notorious for its lengthy hold times.

Digital Government

Twitter Steps Up Efforts To Combat ISIS

The social media giant says it is increasing efforts to combat extremism on the site.