Meet the radio-obsessed civilian shaping Ukraine’s drone defense

Despite it being over 100 years old, radio technology is still critical in almost all aspects of modern warfare—including in the drones that have come to dominate the Russia-Ukraine war. But before the war, there was a frightening vacuum of expertise. Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, who has been obsessed with radios since childhood, stepped in to fill it. Now, the unlikely hero is sharing expert advice and intel on the ever-evolving technology that’s taken over the skies. His work may determine the future of Ukraine, and wars far beyond it. This story was written by Charlie Metcalfe and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com

ChatGPT is about to revolutionize the economy. We need to decide what that looks like.

You can practically hear the shrieks from corner offices around the world: “What is our ChatGPT play? How do we make money off this?” Whether it’s based on hallucinatory beliefs or not, an AI gold rush has started to mine the anticipated business opportunities from generative AI models like ChatGPT. But while companies and executives see a clear chance to cash in, the likely impact of the technology on workers and the economy on the whole is far less obvious. This story was written by editor at large David Rotman and narrated by Noa.

Beyond gene-edited babies: the possible paths for tinkering with human evolution

In the future, CRISPR will get easier and easier to administer, potentially opening up paths for tinkering with human evolution. What will that mean for our species? This story was written by senior biomedicine editor Antonio Regalado and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com

The great commercial takeover of low Earth orbit

Did you know that NASA intends to destroy the International Space Station by around 2030? Once it's gone, private companies will likely swoop in with their own replacements. Get ready for the great commercial takeover of low Earth orbit. This story was written by David W. Brown and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com

The world’s on the verge of a carbon storage boom

Pump jacks and pipelines clutter the Elk Hills oil field of California, a scrubby stretch of land in the southern Central Valley that rests above one of the nation’s richest deposits of fossil fuels. Oil production has been steadily declining in the state for decades, as tech jobs have boomed and legislators have enacted rigorous environmental and climate rules. Companies, towns, and residents across Kern County, where the poverty rate hovers around 18%, have grown increasingly desperate for new economic opportunities. In late 2023, one of the state’s largest oil and gas producers secured draft permits from the US Environmental Protection Agency to develop a new type of well in the oil field, which it asserts would provide just that. If the company gets final approval from regulators, it intends to drill a series of boreholes down to a sprawling sedimentary formation roughly 6,000 feet below the surface, where it will inject tens of millions of metric tons of carbon dioxide to store it away forever. Hundreds of similar projects are looming across the state, the US, and the world. Proponents hope it’s the start of a sort of oil boom in reverse, kick-starting a process through which the world will eventually bury more greenhouse gas than it adds to the atmosphere. But opponents insist these efforts will prolong the life of fossil-fuel plants, allow air and water pollution to continue, and create new health and environmental risks that could disproportionately harm disadvantaged communities surrounding the projects, including those near the Elk Hills oil field. This story was written by senior climate and energy editor James Temple and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com.

Is robotics about to have its own ChatGPT moment?

Robots that can do many of the things humans do in the home—folding laundry, cooking meals, cleaning—have been a dream of robotics research since the inception of the field in the 1950s.  While engineers have made great progress in getting robots to work in tightly controlled environments like labs and factories, the home has proved difficult to design for. Out in the real, messy world, furniture and floor plans differ wildly; children and pets can jump in a robot’s way; and clothes that need folding come in different shapes, colors, and sizes. Managing such unpredictable settings and varied conditions has been beyond the capabilities of even the most advanced robot prototypes.  But now, the field is at an inflection point. A new generation of researchers believes that generative AI could give robots the ability to learn new skills and adapt to new environments faster than ever before. This new approach, just maybe, can finally bring robots out of the factory and into the mainstream. This story was written by senior AI reporter Melissa Heikkilä and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com

Gorillas, militias, and Bitcoin: Why Congo’s most famous national park is betting big on crypto

In an attempt to protect its forests and famous wildlife, Virunga has become the first national park to run a Bitcoin mine. But some are wondering what crypto has to do with conservation. This story was written by Adam Popescu and narrated by Noa (newsoveraudio.com)

How gamification took over the world

We live in an undeniably gamified world. We stand up and move around to close colorful rings and earn achievement badges on our smartwatches; we meditate and sleep to recharge our body batteries; we plant virtual trees to be more productive; we chase “likes” and “karma” on social media sites and try to swipe our way toward social connection. But instead of liberating us from drudgery and maximizing our potential, gamification has turned out to be just another tool for coercion, distraction, and control. Why did we fall for it? This story was written by Bryan Gardiner and narrated by Noa (newsoveraudio.com)

Technology that lets us “speak” to our dead relatives has arrived. Are we ready?

Inside the quest to engineer climate-saving “super trees”

What is AI?

Artificial intelligence is the hottest technology of our time. But what is it? It sounds like a stupid question, but it’s one that’s never been more urgent.  MIT Technology Review takes a deep dive into the competing answers from titans of industry and helps us understand how we got here—and why you should care, no matter who you are.

The cost of building the perfect wave

The growing business of surf pools wants to bring the ocean experience inland, making surfing more accessible to communities far from the coasts. These pools can use—and lose—millions upon millions of gallons of water every year. With many planned for areas facing water scarcity, who bears the cost of building the perfect wave? This story was written by senior features and investigations reporter Eileen Guo and narrated by Noa.

How generative AI could reinvent what it means to play

Open-world video games are inhabited by vast crowds of computer-controlled characters. These animated people—called NPCs, for “nonplayer characters”—populate the bars, city streets, or space ports of games. They make virtual worlds feel lived in and full. Often—but not always—you can talk to them. After a while, however, the repetitive chitchat (or threats) of a passing stranger forces you to bump up against the truth: This is just a game.  It may not always be like that. Just as it’s upending other industries, generative AI is opening the door to entirely new kinds of in-game interactions that are open-ended, creative, and unexpected. Future AI-powered NPCs that don’t rely on a script could make games—and other worlds—deeply immersive. This story was written by executive editor Niall Firth and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com

The entrepreneur dreaming of a factory of unlimited organs

At any given time, the US organ transplant waiting list is about 100,000 people long. Martine Rothblatt sees a day when an unlimited supply of transplantable organs—and 3D-printed ones—will be readily available, saving countless lives. This story was written by senior biomedicine editor Antonio Regalado and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com

Design thinking was supposed to fix the world. Where did it go wrong?

Design thinking suggests that we are all creatives, and we can solve any problem if we empathize hard enough. The methodology was supposed to democratize design, but it may have done the opposite. Where did it go wrong? This story was written by Rebecca Ackermann and narrated by Noa - newsoveraudio.com