Tech: Is the Terminator future already here?

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June 18—This week, the buzz behind electric air taxis, the energy costs of Google's AI search feature, and one explanation for more frequent train derailments. All that and more below. --Ben Guarino, Associate Editor, Technology

Top Stories

Electric Flying Taxis Are Quietly Sneaking Up on Us New electric-powered, vertical-lift aircraft are rising to the challenge of delivering clean and cheap air taxi services Steven Ashley

We Should Engineer Better Learning in Our Schools Students should learn about both the natural world and human-made—or engineered—one we live in Christine M. Cunningham, expert writer

Has AI Already Brought Us the Terminator Future? Is baby Skynet already here? We need robust laws now to withstand eliminating humans from nuclear decision-making Tamlyn Hunt

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There's No Need to Panic over 'Flying' Spiders, and Satellites Are Not So Great for the Ozone Layer Sweltering heat in Greece, ozone-damaging chemicals on the decline and an investigation of what space does to our body are all in this week's news roundup. Rachel Feltman; Kelso Harper; Fonda Mwangi

Voyager 1 Is Back! NASA Spacecraft Safely Resumes All Science Observations NASA's venerable Voyager 1 spacecraft has resumed normal science operations with all four functioning instruments for the first time in more than six months Meghan Bartels

What Do Google's AI Answers Cost the Environment? Google is bringing AI answers to a billion people this year, but generative AI requires much more energy than traditional keyword searches Allison Parshall

Longer and Longer Freight Trains Drive Up the Odds of Derailment Replacing two 50-car trains with a single 100-car train increases the odds of derailment by 11 percent, according to a new risk analysis Ben Guarino

Atom-Thick Gold Coating Sparks Scientific 'Goldene Rush' Ultrathin gold was achieved with the help of a century-old sword-making technique Rachel Nuwer

What Happens if a Nuke Goes Off in Space? Russia may be planning to put a nuclear weapon in orbit. We have known since the 1960s why that is a bad idea Allison Parshall

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