The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, accused social media company Twitter of being politically biased Tuesday as he defended his plan to roll back rules intended to ensure a free and open internet. Pai, a Republican named by President Donald Trump to head up the FCC, unveiled …
your ad hereResearchers Use Advanced Technology to Study Child Mummy
Researchers from Northwestern University and Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago are using advanced technology to unwrap the mysteries of an 1,800-year-old mummy. They say the high-energy X-ray beams from a synchrotron will provide molecular information about what is inside the mummy of the little girl. Argonne says it’s the …
your ad hereParaguay’s First Digital Indigenous Map Aims to Reduce Land Conflicts
Indigenous groups in Paraguay, battling to protect their ancestral lands from expanding agriculture and cattle ranching, launched the first online map of their territory Tuesday. Paraguay’s beef and soy export industries are the main drivers of deforestation in the fast-growing South American nation, often coming into conflict with some 120,000 …
your ad hereAirbus, Rolls-Royce, Siemens Developing Hybrid Plane
Airbus, Siemens and Rolls-Royce are teaming up to develop a hybrid passenger plane that would use a single electric turbofan along with three conventional jet engines running on aviation fuel. The plane is an effort to develop and demonstrate technology that in the future could help limit emissions of carbon …
your ad hereArtificial Muscles Give ‘Superpower’ to Robots
Inspired by the folding technique of origami, U.S. researchers said Monday they have crafted cheap, artificial muscles for robots that give them the power to lift up to 1,000 times their own weight. The advance offers a leap forward in the field of soft robotics, which is fast replacing an …
your ad hereIndia’s Global Entrepreneurial Summit to Focus on Women
Startup founders, investors and tech leaders from around the world are heading to Hyderabad, India for the 8th annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit, co-hosted by the U.S. and Indian governments. Ivanka Trump, adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump and his daughter, will join host Prime Minister Narendra Modi in kicking off the …
your ad hereMobile App Connects Responders to Those Having Mental Health Crisis
Rickey pushes himself up slowly, grabs the leash tethered to the side of his walker and takes a few steps. His dog, a terrier named Madman, perks his ears up and follows him. Rickey pauses and looks across the street at a rundown building. “That was a Blues Club,” he …
your ad hereRwanda Ramps up STEM Education for Girls
In Rwanda, the number of schoolgirls studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics, the so-called STEM fields, is climbing steadily. It’s part of an ambitious government agenda to transform the economy. In the past decade, several STEM schools for girls have opened in Rwanda amid the rising demand. Chika Oduah reports …
your ad hereMobile App Protects Mental Health Victims
More than 18 percent of American adults experience mental illness in a given year. It is among the top three causes of homelessness in the US as about 25 percent of America’s homeless suffers from mental illness. In San Francisco, one man is trying to make a difference using technology …
your ad hereFake Fecal Matter Could Help Improve Sanitation
2.3 billion people around the world have no access to flush toilets and use pit latrines or other rudimentary measures to dispose of their waste. Researchers at the University of Bath are using fake fecal sludge to determine a better way to safely dispose of raw sewage. Faith Lapidus reports. …
your ad hereDoes Cellphone-Sweeping ‘StingRay’ Technology Go Too Far?
New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Las Vegas are among scores of police departments across the country quietly using a highly secretive technology developed for the military that can track the whereabouts of suspects by using the signals constantly emitted by their cellphones. Civil liberties and privacy groups are …
your ad hereFor Cambodian Techies, US Tour Ends With Vision of Startup at Home
At home in Phnom Penh, the five techies knew of each other by reputation but had never met. After three weeks touring the United States, they’ve returned to Cambodia fired up about collaborating on a fintech startup. “Before, when I thought about a million-dollar business, it was only a dream,” …
your ad hereIn Fukushima Cleanup, It’s Human Nature vs. Science
More than six years after a tsunami overwhelmed the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Japan has yet to reach consensus on what to do with a million tons of radioactive water, stored on site in around 900 large and densely packed tanks that could spill should another major earthquake or tsunami …
your ad hereWhat’s On the Menu? Augmented Reality and 3-D Food Models
At Vino Levantino wine bar in New York City, the desserts are delicious but not always so straightforward. “We have a few desserts that are not usual … or people (are) not familiar with them,” owner Haim Amit said. “Like we have the kadaif, I mean, not everyone knows what’s …
your ad hereStartup Hopes to Show 3-D Versions of Menu Items
It’s not always easy to know what to order when dining out, especially with exotic or foreign cuisines. But a tech startup in New York is hoping to help, using augmented reality to bring restaurant menus to life. VOA’s Tina Trinh met with the founder of Kabaq …
your ad hereSeeing Microscopic Creatures from Space
The oceans and lakes are full of life, and most of it is not visible to the naked eye. In most bodies of water, every cubic centimeter contains many microorganisms — bacteria, zooplankton as well as single-cell plants called phytoplankton — all of them important links in the natural food …
your ad hereChinese Theme Park Seeks to Ride Boom in Demand for Virtual Entertainment
Giant robots and futuristic cyberpunk castles rise out of lush mountain slopes on the outskirts of Guiyang, the capital of one of China’s poorest provinces. Welcome to China’s first virtual reality theme park, which aims to ride a boom in demand for virtual entertainment that is set to propel tenfold …
your ad hereRussian Tech Firm Wins US Intel Prize
Amid concerns about Russian hacking and online influence, Russian technology firm NtechLab has won a prize awarded by the United States intelligence community. VOA’s Moscow Bureau visited NtechLab to ask its general director about the award, the technology, and concerns about privacy. …
your ad hereTech Firms Scrounging for Skilled Workers Training Their Own
Some information technology companies are growing so concerned about not find enough digital talent that they’re training their own. IBM, Amazon and Microsoft all now have apprenticeship programs that pay workers learning on-the-job while they build IT skills. The programs cost companies tens of thousands of dollars per trainee. …
your ad hereWhat Happens Once ‘Net Neutrality’ Rules Bite the Dust?
The Federal Communications Commission formally released a draft of its plan to kill net-neutrality rules, which equalized access to the internet and prevented broadband providers from favoring their own apps and services. Now the question is: What comes next? ‘Radical departure’ The FCC’s move will allow companies like Comcast, AT&T …
your ad hereFall of China’s Former Internet Censor Highlights Frustrations Over Controls
The former face of China’s “Great Firewall,” Lu Wei, has become the first “tiger” to come under the Communist Party’s corruption investigation since President Xi Jinping began his second term last month. Analysts say the graft probe into Lu’s corruption practices is widely believed to be legitimate and long overdue. …
your ad hereCoffee-Based Fuel to Power London Buses
A startup is making fuel from waste coffee grounds to power some of London’s buses. VOA’s Steve Baragona reports. …
your ad hereFacebook to Let Users See Whether They ‘Liked’ Russian Accounts
Facebook Inc. said Wednesday that it would build a web page to allow users to see which Russian propaganda accounts they have liked or followed, after U.S. lawmakers demanded that the social network be more open about the reach of the accounts. U.S. lawmakers called the announcement a positive step. …
your ad hereUber Reveals Cover-up of Hack Affecting 57M Riders, Drivers
Uber is coming clean about its cover-up of a year-old hacking attack that stole personal information about more than 57 million of the beleaguered ride-hailing service’s customers and drivers. So far, there’s no evidence that the data taken has been misused, according to a Tuesday blog post by Uber’s recently …
your ad hereRobotic Fingers Get a Feel for the Real World
You can reach into your pocket and tell whether you’ve grabbed coins or keys, and now researchers in California have developed a robot with a similar level of tactile sensitivity. Faith Lapidus reports. …
your ad here