A Mattress Recycling Program Fosters At-Risk Youth

Founded by Greg Croteau, the Massachusetts-based, non-profit UTEC aims to rescue young adults facing gang violence, with criminal records or in poverty, while simultaneously recycling mattresses. To do this, UTEC recruits a youth workforce (where 83% have a criminal record, 76% were in a gang and 68% don’t have high school degrees) to break down mattresses and salvage reusable raw materials to give to hotels, …

DeepMind’s New AI Helps Decipher Ancient Inscriptions

Ancient texts offer rare, direct insight into the past but the meaning of each often remains elusive. As they are typically found in fragments and engraved on inorganic materials (like stone or metal) that evade carbon dating, they present challenges to archeologists who have struggled to decipher them, or even note when they were written. This is why DeepMind—an artificial intelligence company acquired by Google’s parent …

The Ionic Wind Aircraft Flies Without Moving Parts

A team of MIT engineers, led by Steven Barrett (an associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at the academic institution), have invented the Ionic Wind Aircraft—a first-of-its-kind flying vessel that employs no moving turbines or propellers. Rather, the craft’s flight is sustained by an “ionic wind” (aka electroaerodynamic thrust) produced when a current passes between thin (positively charged) and thick (negatively charged) electrodes onboard. Lithium-polymer …