October 27, 2025

Robotaxi companies must do more to prove safety, Waymo co-CEO says

Waymo co-CEO Takedra Mawakana urged rival autonomous vehicle companies to be more transparent about their safety data during an interview at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025. She said that companies removing human drivers from vehicles have a responsibility to prove their technology makes roads safer.

October 2025

Dispatch: Partying at one of Africa’s largest AI gatherings

October 22, 2025
It’s late August in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, and people are filling a large hall at one of Africa’s biggest gatherings of minds in AI and machine learning. The room is draped in white curtains, and a giant screen blinks with videos created with generative AI. A classic East African folk song by the Tanzanian singer…

Job titles of the future: AI embryologist

October 22, 2025
Embryologists are the scientists behind the scenes of in vitro fertilization who oversee the development and selection of embryos, prepare them for transfer, and maintain the lab environment. They’ve been a critical part of IVF for decades, but their job has gotten a whole lot busier in recent years as demand for the fertility treatment…

Inside the archives of the NASA Ames Research Center

October 22, 2025
At the southern tip of San Francisco Bay, surrounded by the tech giants Google, Apple, and Microsoft, sits the historic NASA Ames Research Center. Its rich history includes a grab bag of fascinating scientific research involving massive wind tunnels, experimental aircraft, supercomputing, astrobiology, and more. Founded in 1939 as a West Coast lab for the…

Engineering better care

October 21, 2025
Every Monday, more than a hundred members of Giovanni Traverso’s Laboratory for Translational Engineering (L4TE) fill a large classroom at Brigham and Women’s Hospital for their weekly lab meeting. With a social hour, food for everyone, and updates across disciplines from mechanical engineering to veterinary science, it’s a place where a stem cell biologist might…

Infinite folds

October 21, 2025
When Madonna Yoder ’17 was eight years old, she learned how to fold a square piece of paper over and over and over again. After about 16 folds, she held a bird in her hands. The first time she pulled the tail of a flapping crane, she says, she realized: Oh, I folded this, and…