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Communication

The latest Li-Fi prototype

What Is Li-Fi, and Will It Replace Wi-Fi?

Mobile communications professor Harald Haas has theorized about using LED bulbs to transmit data for years. Now, the technology is a reality.

Cool Finds

The Mystery of a Titanic Telegram

Did the Titanic’s owners know about its collision with an iceberg?

Trending Today

Edward Snowden Thinks Alien Transmissions Might Be Hidden by Encryption

To chat with aliens, scientists might have to crack codes

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The Innovative Spirit

This Interactive Installation Rains a Poem Down on Viewers

Artists Camille Utterback and Romy Achituv wrote the software that drives an artwork, in which onlookers catch letters falling on a large screen

New Research

Giraffes Spend Their Nights Quietly, Constantly Humming

Not so silent after all

Cool Finds

These Drum Pants Might Help People Who Can’t Speak

An electronic drum kit could give a voice to some people who can’t talk.

The Daily Tribune often traded content with other papers in purple (lines represent shared text).

There Were Listicles That Went Viral Long Before There Was an Internet

Digital scholars are zeroing in on stories that were trending way back in the 19th century

Java sparrows are both vocalists and percussionists.

New Research

These Sparrows Sing to the Beat of Their Own Drum

Java sparrows amp up their tunes with acoustic beak taps synchronized with chirps

A Diana monkey, perhaps tuning in to the distress calls of fellow primates.

New Research

Monkeys Can Hack Each Other’s Grammar

Campbell’s monkeys add suffixes to alarm calls to indicate specific threats, and Diana monkeys tune in for their own benefit

Why Brain-to-Brain Communication Is No Longer Unthinkable

Exploring uncharted territory, neuroscientists are making strides with human subjects who can “talk” directly by using their minds

Cool Finds

A Smart Algorithm Looked at 16 Billion Emails, And Here Is What It Learned

When you respond to an email, you mirror the sender’s email style

A large colony of Mexican free-tailed bats can consume an estimated 250 tons of insects in a single night.

These Bats Use Sonar to Jam the Signals of Their Rivals

How hungry Mexican free-tails sabotage the competition

Trending Today

The FCC Just Voted to Preserve Net Neutrality

FCC passes “Preserving the Open Internet” rules by 3-2 vote

New Research

Chimpanzees May Have Their Own Form of Bilingualism

Humans aren’t the only primates capable of learning new “words” for the same object

A photo of Achatinella mustelina

Cool Finds

How Endangered Snails Are Endangering Hawaiian Public Radio

The mating season of protected snails delay radio repairs during pledge season

Cool Finds

Do We Doodle Because We Speak?

Scribbling and sketching aren’t just practices to idle time away, but a more fundamental indication of our need for language

Researchers have made an important first step towards engineering direct, brain-to-brain communication between humans.

Scientists Prove That Telepathic Communication Is Within Reach

An international research team develops a way to say “hello” with your mind

The corner in downtown Hartford where the first pay phone was installed

The Pay Phone’s Journey From Patent to Urban Relic

The history of the device that is well on its way to becoming, well, history

The power of science fiction comes from the license to dream.

Round Table

What Idea From Science Fiction Would You Most Like To See Become Reality?

Astronomers, writers and an astronaut weigh in with some interesting answers

A teenage boy sends a text message on his mobile phone as stands in the floodwater on the main street of Bentley in Doncaster.

Cool Finds

Programmers Are Creating a Way for Your Phone to Get Online Even When Data Is Down

The Cosmos Browser uses text messages to browse the web

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