Future

Meredith Clark, associate professor and founding director of the Center for Communication, Media Innovation and Social Change at Northeastern. Credit: Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University Black Twitter, a subset of the platform distinguished by its hashtag, has been supporting and driving causes in the U.S.—including the Black Lives Matter movement—for more than a decade. But the future of the online community is in doubt now…

Observed and simulated characteristics of storm 1b. Storm total precipitation (mm) from the (a) gridMET observations and (b) ensemble mean of the historical simulations on the 3 km resolution domain. Precipitable water (mm; shaded) and wind speed at 10-m (m/s; contour) from the (c) NARR and (d) ensemble mean of the historical simulations on the 27 km resolution domain. Wind speed contour interval is 5 m/s starting at 10 m/s. Sea-level pressure (mb;…

Same-day delivery of millions of products. Answers to your every question by simply calling out, “Alexa.” Amazon has transformed our expectations for how we buy things and how we interact with technology. It’s now intuitive for many of us to buy almost anything we want with a click — whether from Amazon or some other retailer — and to count on it being delivered within days, if not the same day. As Amazon has built the sprawling logistics and delivery empire that makes this possible, it has also begun to change the…

Elon Musk has said his company SpaceX would save the International Space Station (ISS) from crashing after the head of the Russian space agency warned that the crippling sanctions announced by the West against Moscow could lead to the ISS falling into the US, Europe, or India. In a Twitter thread, Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin had warned the sanctions announced in response to the Russian military action in Ukraine have the potential to destroy the cooperation on ISS. He had asked who would save the space station from an…

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has declared that it will suspend the country's “observer” status at its facilities and freeze new agreements with Russian scientific institutes. The 23 member states of CERN resolved to discontinue all collaboration with Russia at a meeting of the CERN Council, following a request from Ukrainian scientists. CERN also stated that it will support “initiatives to support Ukrainian collaborators and Ukrainian scientific activity in…

Although nuclear power remains controversial, new reactors are being built in surprising numbers and these will provide the second largest share of the world’s carbon-free energy. It's also an industry undergoing rapid change as new technology comes on line. So, what will nuclear power look like in the decades to come?On December 2, 1942, underneath the University of Chicago's Stagg Field football stadium, Chicago Pile 1 (CP-1) was activated, becoming the world's first nuclear reactor. Today, 78 years later, 440 reactors…

Swedish two-wheeled electric mobility outfit Cake has added three new models to its lineup, all of which are aimed at younger riders. The Kids Evolution program features the Ready balance bike, the Steady mountain bike and the Go off-road electric motorcycle."Learning to ride a bicycle is a must before even thinking of anything with a motor," said Cake CEO and founder, Stefan Ytterborn. "The joy and excitement, developing skills, balance and control is the common platform, no matter where the path for kids on two wheels…

Already a year old, the Hyundai Staria van still looks more like a brand-new concept vehicle than most actual concept cars. However, it's the real deal, a futuristic take on the MPV available from dealerships in markets around the world. Hyundai tipped early on that it had planned its own Staria camper van, a successor to the pop-top Grand Starex camper, and it's now debuted a pair of mini-RVs that blend the Staria's visionary looks and cutting-edge driving technologies with modern smart-camping comforts. Buyers can…

The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, will inform Russian President Vladimir Putin in the near future of its opinion on whether to continue cooperating with Western partners on the International Space Station (ISS), Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin told Sputnik."Our stance was recently discussed at the supervisory board of Roscosmos, which includes representatives of key ministries and departments related to the work of Roscosmos, and is headed by the relevant Deputy Prime Minister. We plan to report our position to the…

The inaugural drone flight from the Coventry vertiport carried a six-bottle pack of prosecco. A pop-up urban port for delivery drones—and one day, potentially flying taxis—launched Monday in Britain, lifting a box of prosecco for a brief celebratory test flight hailed as groundbreaking. Air-One, a…