Robotic Bees Could Support Vertical Farms Today and Astronauts Tomorrow

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July 18, 2023

Vertical farms, indoor operations where crops are stacked on shelves rather than grown in a field, have been used to address food insecurity—while leaving a minimal carbon footprint—for more than a decade. But only a limited range of vegetables, such as lettuces and herbs, grow well in this type of high-tech hydroponic setup. Most food crops require pollination, and the helpful critters that perform this task outdoors, such as bees and bats, do not thrive under the artificial lights of indoor farms. Can buzzy new pollinating robots fill in?

Sophie Bushwick, Associate Editor, Technology

Agriculture Robotic Bees Could Support Vertical Farms Today and Astronauts Tomorrow The buzzy industry of robotic pollinators is setting its sights on indoor farms for urban—and extraterrestrial—environments By Molly Glick

Artificial Intelligence Should We Care About AI's Emergent Abilities? Here's how large language models — or LLMs — actually work.  By Sophie Bushwick,George Musser,Elah Feder | 12:45

Defense Russia Is Trying to Leave the Internet and Build Its Own Russia and other nations are working on "sovereign Internet" systems that threaten digital rights—and the stability of the global Internet  By Timmy Broderick

Privacy Chatbot Honeypot: How AI Companions Could Weaken National Security AI chatbots blur the line between intimacy and secrecy, posing risks for users with national security interests and access to sensitive information By Remaya M. Campbell

Plants Can Virtual Reality Mimic Nature's Power to Make Us Healthier? Just seeing nature in VR brings some health benefits—and helps scientists learn why we need the real thing By Meghan Bartels

Energy Hackers Could Use Electric Vehicle Chargers to Attack the Power Grid Hackers have already infiltrated electric vehicle chargers, usually for innocuous reasons, but bad actors could use that foothold to bring down the power grid By Tik Root,Grist

Artificial Intelligence AI Is an Existential Threat--Just Not the Way You Think Some fear that artificial intelligence will threaten humanity's survival. But the existential risk is more philosophical than apocalyptic By Nir Eisikovits,The Conversation US

Weather Climate Change Could Stump AI Weather Prediction Artificial intelligence taps historical weather data in forecasting, but the changing climate is complicating such efforts By Chelsea Harvey,E&E News

Artificial Intelligence AI Could Quickly Screen Thousands of Antibiotics to Tackle Superbugs As the threat of antibiotic resistance increases, new antibiotics are imperative—and AI could widen the pipeline By Jaimie Seaton

QUOTE OF THE DAY "Years of sociotechnical research show that advanced digital technologies, left unchecked, are used to pursue power and profit at the expense of human rights, social justice, and democracy. Making advanced AI safe means understanding and mitigating risks to those values, too." Seth Lazar and Alondra Nelson, Science

FROM THE ARCHIVE Growing Skyscrapers: The Rise of Vertical Farms Growing crops in city skyscrapers would use less water and fossil fuel than outdoor farming, eliminate agricultural runoff, and provide fresh food By Dickson Despommier | November 2009

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