Raymond Alva for NPR
Scientists are using the Mojave Desert to test robots for the next space age.
Eugene Gologursky and JIJI Press/Getty Images
Sponsor Message
Google/Handout via Reuters
Google is unveiling a new quantum computing chip. Will it help unlock the secrets of the universe?
Paul Sancya/AP
The automaker will focus on development of partially automated driver-assist systems for personal vehicles like its Super Cruise, which allows drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel.
Ted Shaffrey/AP
Police say the suspect had a ghost gun, possibly made with a 3D printer, when he was arrested on Monday. Here’s what to know about the increasingly widespread weapons and efforts to regulate them.
Evan Agostini/Getty Images
Digital compact cameras are showing up on wish lists this holiday season. Here’s what to look for when buying one
Screenshot captured by NPR/O2
The company behind the scam-baiting granny said the AI technology can keep scammers on the phone for 40 minutes at a time, keeping them away from real people.
Allison Usavage/Cornell University
If you crossed WALL-E with a floor lamp, it might look a little like the PhytoPatholoBot. These robots aren’t roving through space or decorating a living room — they’re monitoring the stems, leaves and fruit of Cornell AgriTech’s vineyards, rolling down each row and scanning for mildew.
Getty Images/Image Source/Connect Images
Two families are suing AI chatbot company Character.AI for allegedly encouraging harm after the kids became emotionally attached to the bots. One chatbot allegedly exposed a child to sexualized content.
Sponsor Message
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America
The nuclear industry and big tech companies think they can solve each other’s problems, but critics are skeptical the marriage can last.
Ted Shaffrey/AP
The public is racing to find evidence that might lead to the gunman who killed health insurance CEO Brian Thompson. When does crowdsourcing detective work help police, and when can it cause harm?
General Motors Co./GM
The EV1 was the first modern, mass-produced electric vehicle from a major automaker — pioneering some technologies you can still find in today’s EVs. But the model was controversial, and short-lived.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
TikTok has been facing down a January divest-or-be-banned deadline. The company filed a lawsuit challenging the law, which was heard before a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C.
2024 was a surprising year — games from small teams rocketed up the charts, while big releases from major companies slowed. Here are our favorites from a diverse year, sortable by platform and genre.
Emily Brisse, Mitchell Rutherford and Abbey Osborn/Compiled by NPR
Teens spend much of their days on their phones — many of them during school. Here’s how schools and teachers are trying to fix that.
Getty Images
It’s cuffing season: the time of year where the weather cools down and folks look for a warm body to cuddle up with. But we’re getting into some of the less warm and fuzzy aspects of dating.
Michael Dwyer/AP
The term brain rot first appeared in Henry David Thoreau’s famous Walden, according to the Oxford University Press. How did he use it — and what might he have made of its modern meaning?
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Maroon Ent
The Earworm Eraser is a 40-second audio track specifically designed to banish “Jingle Bells,” “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and other much-too-catchy seasonal tunes.
Dean Lewins/AAP Image/AP
A social media ban for children under 16 will be the first law in the world to levy fines on TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram for allowing youth accounts.
Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP
A spokesperson for Meta confirmed that Zuckerberg and Trump met on Wednesday, saying he was invited for dinner with the president-elect to talk about the incoming administration.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images North America
Will TikTok be sold? The question has been asked before, during Trump’s first term. But now, the situation has changed considerably.
David Levenson/Getty Images
Michel Martin asks former Google CEO Eric Schmidt about the government’s move to separate Google from its Chrome browser and the future of artificial intelligence as envisioned in the book “Genesis.”
Kiichiro Sato/AP
The incoming Trump administration is likely to crack down on the H-1B visas used by tech companies and research institutions to hire top talent from other countries.
Disclaimer
This content has been reposted from npr.com for informational purposes only.
