Technology & Innovation

The SATs are often criticized for being biased towards wealthy students able to afford expensive tutors and test prep. Khan Academy is aiming to level the playing field through its free tutorial program, made in collaboration with the College Board. New findings by Khan Academy and the College Board showed that students who spent 20 hours on their free program did 60 points better than non-users. 

Here’s how a discovery by a plucky band of sky-watchers changed science.   

Amidst the recent discovery of super-Earth LHS 1140b – one of the “most exciting” exoplanets discovered in the last decade – a unique scientific crowdsourcing project is about to begin to further advance the search for new planets.

Three massive mergers threaten to put control of the world’s food in dangerously few hands.

The Repair Cafe movement was started in the Netherlands in 2009 to allow people to bring in their goods to be fixed by volunteers for free. There are now over 1200 Repair Cafes throughout the world. Should you start one?

A new genetic test could improve the palm oil industry and reduce deforestation.

The secret lies in neuroplasticity.   

It happens every once in a great while: the ‘Kids’ come down from their lofty peak and tell the elders what they think is “cool.”

United Airlines brutal ejection of a passenger to make room for their own employees crosses a line.

It might surprise you that the majority of items in American supermarkets are owned by about 10 companies.

The smartphone is set to become the hub of your life, online and off, until this replaces it. 

Do you want your voice heard? Facebook recently unveiled a tool called Town Hall which makes it incredibly easy to contact your elected officials. By removing the friction of contacting politicians, Facebook may be creating a “social infrastructure” that increases civic engagement. 

Your Internet Service Providers are collecting and selling your browsing history. Does that bother you? If so, it may be time to setup a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to better encrypt your data and spoof your location.  

Congress has voted to repeal online privacy rules that would have given consumers greater notice and control over their data. Internet Service Providers such as AT&T and Verizon will now be able to sell your browsing history, app usage, and geo-location. 

Three autonomous aerial vehicles (AAVs) are being considered for this epic feat.   

Say it should fall. It’ll cost over $1 trillion to rehabilitate the nation. Who’s going to pay for that?   

Is coal on the way out? These new findings suggest that it is, but they suggest that for the first time one of the key drivers of this change is the free market.

A new study suggests you should show “sportsmanship” instead of complaining about problems at work.

You know what would make LEGO even better? A base tape that lets you build against gravity.

It’s not that the brain is a quantum computer, but that we can use quantum theory to explain it. 

Despite our focus on China, Amazon may be displacing more American workers. How do we create a human-first economy when what is beneficial to us as consumers may not align with what’s best for American workers? 

“Human ambitions have no limits,” the Sheikh announcing the project said.   

The first full-sized hyperloop test track is being built in the Nevada desert.

Is Alzheimer’s triggered by too much sugar? We have long known that consuming too much sugar is related to obesity and diabetes. A new UK study has found a molecular “tipping point,” where a crucial enzyme related to insulin regulation is damaged by excess glucose. This may have a major impact on our understanding of the cognitive disease along with our diet.    

Two mind-blowing theories offer a significant challenge to the accepted model.   

The new data dump by WikiLeaks showcases just how vulnerable our smartphones and smart TVs are to hacking. This first release, part of the larger Vault 7, provides insight into the massive capabilities of the CIA to use popular tech tools as a form of surveillance. Now, what happens when it gets into the wrong hands? 

This is huge news for the 285 million visually impaired people around the world.

There is a wide definition of fake news, and a narrow one. These two types of fake news have different origins. 

For autonomous self-driving cars to truly take over, every road needs to be digitally mapped.

Only 15% of Wall Street’s capital actually flows into the “real” economy, while much of the rest slushes around within Wall Street itself. As a result, the financial sector does not create the same opportunities for the real economy as it once did.