Hanna Rosin of The Atlantic, a mother of three, wondered what all the easy access to smartphones and tablets was doing to her kids' brains. So she talked to developers of children's media and researchers to find out. Host Rachel Martin speaks with Rosin about her latest article, "The Touch-Screen Generation."
From Star Wars' R2-D2 to The Terminator to WALL-E, robots have pervaded popular culture and ignited our imaginations. But today, machines that can do our bidding have moved from science fiction to real life.
Think hands-free vacuum cleaners or iPhone's Siri or robotic arms performing surgery. At the Innorobo conference in Lyon, France, the latest in service robot technology was on display.
Cicadas live underground and emerge in 13- or 17-year cycles.
Credit WNYC
Here's an example of a finished DIY soil temperature sensor
Credit WNYC
WNYC is asking "armchair scientists, lovers of nature and DIY makers" to help predict the emergency of cicadas in the Northeast by building a temperature sensor like this one. As the results come in, WNYC will map out the findings and share them online.
Back in 1996, a group of baby cicadas burrowed into soils in the eastern U.S. to lead a quiet life of constant darkness and a diet of roots. Now at the ripe age of 17, those little cicadas are all grown up and it's time to molt, procreate and die while annoying a few million humans with their constant chirping in the process.
The Republican and Democratic parties have been in a digital arms race for years. And this week, Republicans frankly admitted that they are losing.
Now, the GOP has ambitious plans to improve its game.
Monday's report from the Republican National Committee puts it bluntly: "Republicans must catch up on how we utilize technology in our campaigns. The Obama team is several years ahead of everyone else in its technological advantage."
A young boy plays on a commode during an event for World Toilet Day in New Delhi in November. An estimated 131 million Indian homes don't have a latrine or a clean toilet.
Credit Manu Fernandez / AP
A woman shows off a cellphone that is protected by a liquid repellent system at a trade show in Barcelona.
Originally published on Mon March 25, 2013 9:56 am
Mobile phones have become ubiquitous across Africa and Asia, but lowly toilets haven't.
Right now, 6 billion people around the world have cellphones. But only 4.5 billion people have access to a clean commode, the United Nations said Thursday.
Originally published on Fri March 22, 2013 2:12 pm
In his book Grand Central: How A Train Station Transformed America, New York Times urban affairs correspondent Sam Roberts writes of the scientific innovations pioneered at New York City's Grand Central Terminal, such as electric commuter trains and standardized time.
Eric Schmidt, Google's executive chairman and former CEO, stands near a statue of the late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung in Pyongyang in January. He's headed now to Myanmar, another largely untapped market.
Credit Dario Pignatelli / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Customers at an Internet and multimedia services store in Yangon, Myanmar. The country is working to expand and improve Internet and mobile phone networks nationwide.
Google's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, who went to North Korea in January, is making a short visit Friday to Myanmar, also known as Burma.
Why is the senior executive of a U.S. technology powerhouse visiting some of the poorest and least wired countries in Asia?
Schmidt will be the first top U.S. executive to travel to the Southeast Asian nation since it began emerging from decades of international isolation under a military dictatorship.
