The Digital Frontier

A data center with rows of servers and neatly organized cables in red and blue on both sides of a central aisle.

The Digital Frontier

Advancements in 20th century medicine reshaped society and made good health an expectation, not an exception. Now, 21st century breakthroughs may end disease, reverse aging, and restore sight and hearing — perhaps sooner than we think.
Featured
How Boom is resurrecting supersonic flight
If Boom gets its way, the future of supersonic passenger travel will be quieter, cleaner, and more affordable than its past.
The West needs more water. This Nobel winner may have the answer.
Paul Migrom has an Emmy, a Nobel, and a successful company. There’s one more big problem on the to-do list.
More
Have we got the brain all wrong? Study shows its shape is more important than its wiring
Neural activity may be more influenced by the shape of the brain – its grooves, contours, and folds – than by its complex interconnections.
How Fishcoin is using blockchain to combat seafood fraud
Are you buying black-market fish? Fishcoin is waging a war against fraud.
Flexible brain implant tested in people for the first time
Startup Precision Neuroscience has tested its flexible, ultra-thin brain implants in people for the first time.
Why Indonesian fishers now have crypto wallets
Big Fish is notoriously corrupt. This startup is using blockchain to stop that.
90% of patients respond to new blood cancer treatment in trial
Israeli researchers have developed a new form of CAR-T therapy effective against multiple myeloma, a plasma cell cancer.
Brain scans hint that lonely individuals process the world differently
A study finds that the brains of people who score higher in loneliness react in unique ways when viewing video content.
Visiting space likely won’t cause permanent brain damage, says NASA study
Spending months in space has a major impact on astronauts’ brains, but three years back on Earth appears to reverse the change.
How the world’s most sensitive yardstick reveals secrets of the universe
When two massive objects – like black holes or neutron stars – merge, they warp space and time. Here’s the tool that measures the resulting waves.
Made-to-fade tattoo ink keeps cancer therapy from leaving a mark
Henry Ford Health researchers are using temporary tattoo ink to help radiation therapy patients for whom permanent tattoos may not be an option.
Scientists are growing animals in artificial wombs. Humans might be next.
Artificial wombs promise to give people a way to have biological children without putting their own health at risk.
The neurons that make us feel hangry
Researchers gave pinpointed a cluster of cells called AgRP neurons near the underside of the brain that may create “hangry” feelings.
Record-breaking amount of Earth’s mantle drilled out of ocean floor
Scientists aboard the JOIDES Resolution have retrieved “a staggering” amount of mantle rock from below the ocean floor.
New drug for fatty liver disease cuts fat by 65%
A new NASH treatment, efruxifermin, significantly reduced liver fat when combined with a GLP-1 drug in a small trial.
Marc Andreessen: The single greatest risk of NOT pursuing AI 
AI has many caught between near utopia and horrifying dystopia. Marc Andreessen sees a better future for all, if we build AI in warp speed.
Why has no one broken the land speed record for 25 years?
Two groups are competing to be the first to create a 1,000-mph car, which would shatter the current land speed record.
How Oslo’s electric evolution will shock the world by 2030
What if an entire city decided to go electric? This one is. Step into Oslo, Norway.
Lung cancer drug slashes patients’ risk of death by 51%
Osimertinib, an FDA-approved lung cancer drug, slashes the risk of death for certain patients by 51%, according to new trial results.
Rhythmic brain stimulation could boost cognitive function
An analysis of over 100 studies helps resolve conflicting evidence on the benefits of transcranial alternating current stimulation, or tACS.
To fear AI is to fear Newton and Einstein. There are no “dragons” here. 
Who’s afraid of utopia? AI doubters have cold feet. History can warm them.
Subscribe to the newsletter