Author Archive

Mike Murphy

Business

America’s Top Drone Company Just Teamed Up with a Chinese Industry Titan

Less than a year ago, DJI knocked the California-based 3D Robotics out of the consumer market. Now, the US firm has turned to software — and a partnership with its vanquisher.

Science & Tech

UK Is Crowdsourcing Its Swarming Drone Attacks

It’s looking for ways to allow a single soldier to control up to 20 drones at once.

Science & Tech

The NSA's Terrorist-Hunting Computer for Pakistan May Have Targeted Innocents

A new report suggests that the agency has been using a machine-learning program to identify potential terrorists, but thousands of Pakistanis may have been mislabeled.

Science & Tech

FAA Gets Serious About Drones

If your new Christmas toy outweighs two butter sticks, you need to register it with the feds. Do it now for free.

Science & Tech

America's Spies Want to Speed Up IBM's Quest for a Quantum Computer

IBM has been working on quantum computers for decades, and now it has the support of IARPA, the U.S. intelligence community’s research agency.

Science & Tech

The US Military Is Developing Brain Implants to Boost Memory and Heal PTSD

One of DARPA's many brain-improvement projects centers on implantable, wireless devices intended to aid troops' cognitive abilities both during and after wars.

Science & Tech

The Scientists and Technologists Who Want To Keep AI Out of Weapons

Stephen Hawking, Steve Wozniak, and hundreds of others signed an open letter that begged leaders to stop a military robotics arms race.

Science & Tech

These Robotic Spiders Could Fix America's Satellite Infrastructure in Space

Instead of sending complete structures into space, the rockets of tomorrow could be filled with raw materials that dozens of multi-limbed robots could assemble in orbit.

Science & Tech

How Fish Could Give Us the Body Armor of the Future

A new study out of MIT may have found a protective, flexible solution for today’s soldiers in an unlikely place: the sea.