The technique that the astronomers of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) use to observe black holes is called Very Long Baseline Interferometry, or VLBI, but it might as well be called Extremely Delayed Gratification Astronomy: it can take weeks or months after an observing run to find out whether the telescope array actually saw anything...
The technologies chip makers hope can keep Moore’s Law alive
Imagine a trio of aerobatic aircraft. Over the years they've gotten very good at their routine. But they want to add another five or six or seven members.
The technologies chip makers hope can keep Moore’s Law alive
The writer–director of Ex Machina talks robot consciousness, mass surveillance and trying to wrap his head around the multiverse
Scientific American contributor Keren Elazari argues in a 2014 TED talk that securing cyberspace is impossible without the help of hackers.
Daniel Dennett and Deb Roy explain why digital technology will drive organizations into an evolutionary arms race
I'm not a scold about scientific accuracy in film. As long as a movie is not built on a fundamentally stupid premise (“Lucy,” the Scarlet Johansson vehicle predicated on the false notion that humans use only 10 percent of their brains, comes to mind), I am happy to let myself be entertained...
Each of the telescopes that the astronomers of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) are currently working to bring into their black-hole-observing, planet-size array is a special case.
Over the holidays, while visiting family in Southwest Missouri, where I grew up, I saw one of the oddest sights on local roadways since armadillos started showing up as road kill: multiple Chevrolet Volts...
This week millions of people will find themselves standing in an airport-security line, hoping their supposedly travel-size toiletries don’t create a national security incident.
Tell us what big tech announcement or new gadget made you roll your eyes
In our May 2014 issue, Sridhar Kota, a professor of engineering at the University of Michigan and founder and president of the company FlexSys, published an article about his long-running campaign to take complex, multipart machines and redesign them as flexible, one-piece devices (subscription required)...
A closer look at some of the breakthroughs on the cover of the December issue of Scientific American
Not long ago I came across a piece in the Scientific American archives from the earliest days of very-long baseline radio interferometry, the technique employed by the Event Horizon Telescope...
10 problem-solving, planet-improving, lifesaving advances set to drive progress in the years ahead
Gold medallions? Unfortunately martial-looking instruments of science? Send us your stories and photos
Wired has a fun piece about physicist and black-hole guru Kip Thorne's work on the film Interstellar, which comes out November 7. We've known the premise of the film for a long time: Earth is a disaster, the human race is on the verge of extinction, and mankind must find a new home...
The Michigan start-up Sakti3 says its solid-state cells more than double the energy density of today’s best Li-Ion batteries
Before they can see Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the center of the Milky Way, the astronomers of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) must complete an epic to-do list.
