All posts tagged: future

The Download: faking blood and the future of batteries

The Download: faking blood and the future of batteries

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Now, a $73 million DARPA effort aims to create shelf-stable versions of plasma, platelets, and red blood cells. The idea is to develop dried blood products that can be stored for long periods and deployed quickly on the battlefield.  The project aims to have bags of dried blood products deployed in the field by 2029. But getting it all done will be tough, and researchers still have major questions about the safety and effectiveness of synthetic alternatives. Discover how the military hopes to make blood last longer. —Andrew Rosenblum This story is from the next issue of our print magazine. Subscribe now to get your hands on a copy as soon as it lands on Wednesday, October 21!   10 Climate Tech Companies to Watch: WeLion New Energy and its semi-solid-state batteries WeLion New Energy is one of MIT Technology Review’s10 Climate Tech Companies to Watch 2026, available exclusively to subscribers. WeLion New Energy is on a quest to make safer, better batteries. The Chinese company’s liquid-solid hybrid cells aim to pack more power into electric …

ATF Director Denies Existence Of Gun Registry, Warns That Future Admins Could Develop One

ATF Director Denies Existence Of Gun Registry, Warns That Future Admins Could Develop One

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authored by Michael Clements via The Epoch Times, Gun Owners of America and members of Congress are renewing their call for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to destroy approximately 1.4 billion ATF records that they call an illegal gun registry. ATF Director Robert Cekada and President Donald Trump say ATF databases comply with federal law while providing an important crime-fighting tool. Cekada tells a story about the widow of a former ATF employee who wanted the agency to generate a list of her husband’s firearms so she could account for them. “I said, ‘Ma’am, I’m sorry, we can’t do that.’ And she was shocked because she thought, like everyone thinks, that we have this ability. We just don’t,” Cekada told The Epoch Times. In a 2022 report, Gun Owners of America Director of Federal Affairs Aidan Johnston wrote that the ATF has a database ready to be converted into an “illegal gun owner registry.” In 2021, the gun-rights advocacy group revealed an ATF internal document that showed the Biden administration had …

Cerebras CEO says we’re nearing a future where everyone has a personal AI assistant at home

Cerebras CEO says we’re nearing a future where everyone has a personal AI assistant at home

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Cerebras Systems CEO and co-founder Andrew Feldman believes we’re nearing a future where everyone will have an AI appliance in their own home. Speaking on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 on Tuesday, the chipmaker executive answered a question about what would need to happen for AI to become a home appliance, saying, “Actually, I don’t think that’s very far away.” He pointed to the advances in consumer AI agents, like Meta’s Muse and Instinct, the startup now valued at $10 billion, as examples of how AI is finding its footing with everyday users. As for home AI? He predicts that we’ll have personal AI assistants that run locally. “Just like your cell phone, they’ll do some work on device and some work going back to the cloud,” Feldman explained. “But I think they will get to know you very well, and you will have a security perimeter around them. And they will certainly have access to credit cards and be able to buy things for you,” he continued. “I think they will make a meaningful …

BBC confirms Waterloo Road’s future – and unveils new and returning cast

BBC confirms Waterloo Road’s future – and unveils new and returning cast

Published by Daniella Wilson

The BBC has confirmed that Waterloo Road will return in January 2027 – and the school drama has landed a fresh renewal that keeps its doors open well beyond that. The broadcaster announced that season 18 will arrive on BBC iPlayer and BBC One next January, while a further run has been ordered that is due to begin filming in Greater Manchester this autumn. As previously confirmed, original cast member Chelsee Healey will be back as Janeece Bryant for the 2027 season, reprising the role that made her a fan favourite. This time Janeece is joined by newcomer Lauren Hylton as her on-screen daughter, Cheryl Bryant, a new student arriving at Waterloo Road. Also joining the student cast are Leo Ashton as Liam Shaw, Callum Broome as Nathan Clark, Yousef Naseer as Ibrahim Azzi, Lewis Pemberton as Cane Morris and Keelan Wright as Marshall Clark. The series introduces a wave of newly qualified teachers too, with Tashinga Bepete as Edward Connell, Cora Kirk as Leah Merchant and Mollie Winnard as Gemma Tully – all of …

The Split Up’s future confirmed following acclaimed first run

The Split Up’s future confirmed following acclaimed first run

Published by Daniella Wilson

It may have only landed on our screens less than a month ago, but already there’s been news on the future of The Split Up – and fans can get excited. After an acclaimed first run and a fittingly gripping finale, The Split’s Manchester-based spin-off has officially been renewed by the BBC for a second season. At just six episodes long, the legal drama quickly gripped audiences with its unique blend of soapy drama, exploration of the legal field and, of course, plenty of interpersonal family issues. Not only that but the South Asian-led drama has been praised for its authentic representation – a deliberate investment into a “new audience” as The Split’s Abi Morgan put it previously in an exclusive chat with Radio Times. So, it’s safe to say that fans were anticipating a renewal but, as ever, you can’t quite predict these things. Born from the world of The Split, Ursula Rani Sarma took over the helm of the new spin-off, which centres on the Kishan family. Ritu Arya as Aria, Arian Nik …

The slimy staple that could be the future of your diet

The slimy staple that could be the future of your diet

Published by Daniella Wilson

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in Seaweed is a slimy green staple in Asian cuisine that experts say could also be the future of human diets everywhere. The marine algae is packed with nutrients, low in calories, sustainable, and found up and down U.S. coastlines. It’s also cheap – with packs of snacking seaweed under $3 and larger sheets, typically used to make sushi, around $5. Experts say this makes for a winning combination as the global population rises and crops are increasingly threatened by climate change, pests and labor shortages. “As the world’s population grows, researchers see seaweed as one way to produce nutritious food more sustainably,” University of Nevada Department of Nutrition Assistant Professor Angeline Jeyakumar explained this summer. Adding seaweed to the daily diet can be as easy as eating more sushi or mixing seaweed strips into other daily meals, like soup and rice (AFP via Getty Images) Vitamin boost Seaweed has many …

In Search of the Future, Artists Reanimate Defunct AI Models

In Search of the Future, Artists Reanimate Defunct AI Models

Published by Jenni Sidey

Editor’s note: This story is an edition of Link Rot, a column by Shanti Escalante-De Mattei that explores the intersections of art, technology, and the internet. The column will appear every other Monday. The development of generative AI text-to-video models has been charted over the past few years through a simple prompt: “Will Smith eating pasta.” The first videos, posted in 2023 using newly released Stable Diffusion models, feature a ravenous, monstrous rendering of the actor shoveling a pasta-shaped blob into his mouth with his hands, only for it to slide, morph, stretch, merge with surrounding artifacts, or simply disappear. Within three years, the test has nearly reached its endpoint, with the pasta responding naturally to gravity and interacting correctly with the other objects in the scene: the fork, the plate, and Smith’s mouth. But as each new model arrives in relentless succession, what happens to those that came before it, or to the videos produced during their training? Source link

NASA plans radar and seismic tests for a hidden lunar cave that could shelter future astronauts

NASA plans radar and seismic tests for a hidden lunar cave that could shelter future astronauts

Published by Jenni Sidey

NASA selected GIMLI to investigate whether the Marius Hills Pit opens into an underground lunar lava tube. Radar, seismic and gravity measurements could reveal a cave’s dimensions and clarify the Moon’s volcanic history. A cave could offer future astronauts natural protection, but its existence at this site remains unconfirmed. A hole in the Moon’s volcanic terrain may lead to a much larger space hidden beneath the surface. NASA has selected an investigation to find out whether that underground space exists, and how large it might be. The Planetary Science Institute will lead the project, called Geophysical Instruments for Marius Lunar pit Investigation, or GIMLI. Its target is the Marius Hills Pit, a possible entrance to a lava tube left by ancient volcanic activity. The investigation will combine radar, seismic measurements, gravity readings and cameras. Together, those instruments could turn an intriguing opening seen from orbit into a clearer picture of the surrounding subsurface. That picture matters for geology and future exploration. A substantial cave could provide natural shielding from radiation, micrometeoroids and extreme surface temperatures, …

Rabbi Deborah Waxman: How progressive Judaism can build a better future

Rabbi Deborah Waxman: How progressive Judaism can build a better future

Published by Sam Flores

Get RNS’ thoughtful, essential religion reporting every morning. Sign up for free! (RNS) — When I came out as a lesbian in 1994, toward the end of my first year of rabbinical school, my mother was apprehensive, observing, “It will already be so hard for you as a woman rabbi. How much more so as a lesbian?” She had a point. I was part of the second generation of women rabbis, and many of my predecessors and peers were still encountering tremendous sexism. There were only a handful of out LGBTQ rabbis, most working in congregations serving, in the terminology of the day, the gay and lesbian community. This reality was one of the reasons why I enrolled at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, a small, progressive seminary that, from its founding, has recognized diversity as a strength and thus sought to widen the boundaries of who is a part of the Jewish community without compromising standards. In 2014, when I was inaugurated as the president of Reconstructing Judaism, Reconstructionism’s central organization, I joked, “Mom, I …

Job titles of the future: Delivery drone air traffic controller

Job titles of the future: Delivery drone air traffic controller

Published by Miika Tikkanen

A collaborative mindset At first, the biggest challenge was trusting the technology. “On the manned-­aircraft side, they tell you ‘Don’t trust the automation,’” Wischnewsky says. The Dallas–Fort Worth area, though, is a testing ground for unmanned aircraft systems traffic management (UTM), a network that allows autonomous drones from FlyTrex and its competitors to share their coordinates in real time to help avoid collisions even beyond the pilot’s line of sight. Once Wischnewsky makes sure a drone is flight-ready, its path is unimpeded, and the weather conditions are clear, UTM takes care of the rest. Ability to stay calm under pressure At his busiest, Wischnewsky will have up to 10 drones on his watch at the same time. “You’re there as a safety net,” he says. Even with automation, keen situational awareness is required, and the most common hazard is the weather. Wischnewsky recalls a particularly stressful day: A drone had been in the air for only seconds when the wind picked up so suddenly that he had to intervene. He returned it safely, preventing an …