The authoritative guide to ensuring science and technology make life on Earth better, not worse.

What We’re Reading

Credit: Matt Field. Based in part on photo by Morio CC SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

China is rapidly developing its military AI capabilities

By Matt Field | Artificial Intelligence, Disruptive Technologies, What We’re Reading

artist's conception Miami sea rise

Hard numbers help visualize climate change. And it’s not pretty.

By Dan Drollette Jr | Analysis, Climate Change, What We’re Reading

Credit: Matt Field. Based in part on a photo by Rico Shen CC BY-SA 4.0.

Is your robot up to it? DARPA wants machines that can explain how conditions affect their own performance

By | Artificial Intelligence, Disruptive Technologies, What We’re Reading

Credit: Matt Field. Based in part on images by Evan Swigart, FeastingMadeEasy / Lili, and NickSS from London (all CC BY 2.0).

Overweight and underwater: obesity and climate change

By Matt Field | Climate Change, What We’re Reading

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump meet on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in Hamburg on July 7, 2017. Credit: Kremlin Presidential Executive Office.

Trump makes it official: The United States will pull out of the INF treaty

By Matt Field | Nuclear Risk, What We’re Reading

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Credit: World Economic Forum / swiss-image.ch / Valeriano DiDomenico CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

A new voice chimes in on regulating facial recognition and big-tech

By Matt Field | Artificial Intelligence, Disruptive Technologies, What We’re Reading

Credit: NOAA Climate.gov / Emily Greenhalgh.

NOAA seems to be fact checking Trump

By Matt Field | Climate Change, What We’re Reading

The Syrian city of Aleppo depicted in the midst of a still ongoing civil war. Credit: British Foreign and Commonwealth Office / Basma CC BY-ND 2.0

Rare interview with captured scientist raises alarm over Islamic State chemical weapons program

By Matt Field | Disruptive Technologies, What We’re Reading

A Huawei executive is at the center of a diplomatic firestorm after being arrested in Canada. Credit: Brücke-Osteuropa via Wikimedia Commons.

Unlike Trump, US lawmakers aren’t going easy on Chinese telecoms

By Matt Field | Disruptive Technologies, What We’re Reading

Hollywood sign submerged in sand

When it rains, it acid-rains

By Dan Drollette Jr | Opinion, What We’re Reading

Flooding from a king tide inundates a neighborhood served by septic tanks. Credit: Miami-Dade County

The smelly side of climate change

By Dawn Stover | Climate Change, What We’re Reading

Megaphragma mymaripenne, a microscopic wasp. Credit: Alexey A. Polilov CC BY 4.0.

Microscopic wasps and their tiny brains could help DARPA develop “third-wave” AI

By Matt Field | Disruptive Technologies, What We’re Reading