Self-driving cars are all the rage today, Companies ranging from car manufacturers like General Motors and Toyota to private-hire companies like Uber and even Internet search giant Google are all scrambling to be the first to bring them to market. The efforts are so intense that the University of Michigan has established an entire city to help the cause. Dubbed Mcity, it allows manufacturers to safely test their autonomous cars using human props....

Pedestrian etiquette – things like not walking into oncoming traffic or keeping to the right of the sidewalk – comes naturally to humans. However, while robots have been programmed to accomplish many things, teaching them to navigate among crowds has proved a challenge because it is hard to accurately predict each person’s path. Now, a team of MIT engineers, led by Steven Chen, have overcome the hurdle with a knee-high autonomous machine that can seamlessly weave itself through pedestrians, paving the way for errand-running and pizza delivering robots....

Every year on September 19, residents of Mexico City conduct an emergency evacuation drill to mark the anniversary of an 8.0 magnitude earthquake that killed about 10,000 residents in 1985. Yesterday was no exception. At 11:00 am, thousands of people left their homes, offices, and shops and made their way to the predesignated safe zones. Little did they know that within just two hours, the evacuation warning bells would ring again. Only this time, they were instantly followed by the violent shaking of a 7.1 magnitude earthquake....

A week ago, on Tuesday, September 12, Apple unveiled its latest offerings to eagerly awaiting fans. The 2017 product showcase held at Apple Park, the company’s new “spaceship” headquarters in Cupertino, CA, included an upgraded Apple Watch, 4K Apple TV, as well as the next generation iPhones – 8 and 8 plus. Just as the presentation appeared to be drawing to a close, company CEO Tim Cook, took to the podium mouthing the late Steve Job’s familiar, “one more thing . . .” phrase, before introducing the much-anticipated iPhone X (“ten”)....

Though it has been 16 years, Americans who lived through the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks remember the events of the tragic day vividly. Early that morning, 19 members of the Islamic extremist organization Al Qaeda, split into four teams, each with an experienced pilot, and hijacked four commercial flights — United Flight 93 from New Jersey, American Flight 77 from Washington DC, as well as United Flight 175 and American Flight 11 from Boston....

On Tuesday, September 5, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program will be terminated in six months and urged the U.S. Congress to pass replacement legislation before March 2018. The program, the result of a 2012 executive order by former President Barack Obama, shields young undocumented immigrants from deportation....

Scientists have long known that the world’s first flower bloomed between 250 million and 140 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period when dinosaurs dominated the earth. The single mutation was so successful that flowering plants, or Angiosperms, now make up almost 90% of all plant species, far outnumbering seed plants like conifers, that appeared on earth much earlier, between 350 million and 310 million years ago....

On Friday, August 25, Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Southern Texas as a Category 4 storm, leaving in its wake unprecedented damage and chaos. To make matters worse, the storm lingered around for days, dumping almost 52-inches of rain, breaking a 50-year record for tropical cyclone rainfall measured in a single place in the US....

Over a 100 million years ago, an 18-foot (5.48 meter) long, 2,500-pound (1,133 kg) pineapple-shaped dinosaur met an untimely death when it was swept away by a river in what is now Alberta, Canada. Fortunately for us, its body ended up situated back-first on the muddy floor of an old seaway. This helped preserve the ancient behemoth’s front half in such extraordinary 3-D detail that the armored dinosaur almost looks alive....

Hurricane Harvey, which began as a tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, August 23, rapidly escalated to a Category 4 storm as it made its way towards Southern Texas. As expected the powerful hurricane, which packed 130mph winds, made landfall near the city of Rockport on August 25 at about 10:00 pm local time, causing widespread destruction. Three hours later, it made a second landfall on the northeastern shore of Copano Bay, this time as a Category 3 storm with 125 mph winds!...

Utrecht, the fourth largest city in the Netherlands, is a cyclist’s dream. Unlike other urban areas that confine riders to tiny lanes, cyclists here get priority with dedicated “bicycle streets,” where cars are considered “guests,” as well as special bike tunnels and bridges. The city is also in the process of constructing the world’s biggest indoor parking lot for bikes at its central train station. However, the over 60 percent residents who use the two-wheelers as their primary mode of transportation are still frustrated because, like cyclists all over the world, they have to make constant stops at traffic lights....

Governments, corporations, and even individuals concerned about losing valuable data or photos in the event of a cataclysmic disaster can now rest easy thanks to the recently opened Arctic World Archive. Located 300-meters (984-feet) below the ground inside an abandoned coal mine in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole, the “Doomsday Vault” is equipped to keep information safe in the event of a natural or man-made catastrophe....

When six-week-old Gavel arrived at the Government House, the official residence of the Governor of Queensland, in April 2016, everyone thought it would be for just a short period. The adorable purebred German Shepherd was, after all, being trained to become a Queensland Police Service (QPS) dog to help officials chase down criminals. Given that five members of his extended family are currently in the force, there was little doubt of his success....

Though most of you probably are well into your summer break, the astronomical season does not begin until June 20. Called summer solstice, it is the day when the North Pole is most inclined towards the sun, allowing residents of the Northern Hemisphere, to enjoy the longest day (and shortest night) of the year. Of course, the opposite is true for the Southern Hemisphere where residents will celebrate winter solstice and experience the shortest day (and longest night) of the year....

Given that Americans consume over 100 million donuts each year, they don’t really need an excuse to devour the gooey fried treat. However, if you are among the minority that does, you are in luck, because Friday, June 2, is National Donut Day. Celebrated annually on the first Friday of the month, the holiday’s origin can be traced back to Salvation Army workers who volunteered to help injured US troops during World War I (WWI)....

Memorial Day, which will be celebrated on Monday, May 29 this year, is one of the most important holidays in the American calendar. Observed annually on the last Monday of the month, it honors the men and women who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Though the tradition is believed to have been started by local communities in the late 1800’s, the first official Memorial Day celebration is credited to Waterloo, New York. On May 5, 1866, the town’s residents organized a community-wide event to pay respects to perished soldiers by decorating their graves with flowers and flags....

With technology permeating almost every aspect of our lives, the demand for computer programmers can only increase. To train the workforce of the future, companies around the world are frantically developing computing languages to introduce children as young as seven to the mysterious world of programming both in and out of school....

As you are firming up your summer plans, you may want to pencil in the total solar eclipse on August 21. Dubbed the ‘Great American Eclipse,' it is not just the first total solar eclipse visible from the contiguous United States since February 26, 1979, but also the first that can be seen across the country, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, in almost a century. The last time the celestial phenomenon was experienced coast-to-coast was on June 8, 1918!...

Supermarket shelves are filled with plant-based milk alternatives, including soy, almond, and coconut milk, that cater to the lactose intolerant or those concerned about livestock welfare and environmental sustainability. While the milk-free options work well with cereal or in coffee, they fail miserably when it comes to making derivatives like cheese or yogurt. However, these shortcomings may soon be a thing of the past thanks to California-based start-up Perfect Day, which has figured out how to create lactose-free dairy milk in a laboratory!...

In our increasingly fast-paced, technology-driven world, most adults do not get the recommended 8-10 hours of sleep every night. Things are even worse for those with young children. A recent study revealed that 86% of parents in the United Kingdom complain of fatigue and about 26% get less than 5 hours of sleep every night. To provide exhausted patrons a little relief from their hectic schedules, David Lloyd Clubs, a chain of gyms and fitness centers in Europe, has introduced a napercise class!...

On May 7, 39-year-old Emmanuel Macron became France’s youngest leader since 35-year-old Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned emperor in 1804. The former economy minister is also the first president in modern French history who does not belong to the country’s two mainstream political parties — the conservative Republicans and the left-wing Socialists. Macron, who quit the government in 2016 to form Centrist party “En Marche!” (“On the Move”), identifies himself as a radical outsider and promises to overhaul the country’s “failing” political system and revive the shrinking economy....

Every Mother’s Day, Americans show their appreciation for the special woman in their lives by showering her with lavish gifts. This Sunday (May 14) is going to be no exception. A National Retail Foundation (NRF) study of 7,400 people revealed that consumers plan to spend an average of $186 for the holiday, totaling to an astounding $23.6 billion. This is the highest amount since the survey began 14 years ago, and easily topples 2016’s record spend of $21.4 billion....

On April 29, officials at the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF) received a tip from the local police chief that some villagers in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province were holding a Bornean orangutan captive. When the rescue team arrived at the Tanggirang village they discovered that instead of the signature orange-reddish brown hair, the great ape had white hair, a paler skin color, and blue eyes. The mammal was also very sensitive to light....

On Saturday, April 29, 2017, President Donald Trump celebrated his 100th day in office. The marker has become a perennial fixture on the American political calendar since Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945), the 32nd President of the United States, helped the country limp back from the Great Depression with a flurry of new legislation within his first 105 days in the White House....