If we want robots to be the complex autonomous agents promised to us in sci-fi movies, they need to be able to interpret the (often complicated) subtexts of situations they might encounter in the ...

The very minimum requirement for a space elevator is, obviously, a cable strong enough to support its own weight when hanging from geostationary orbit down to earth, 36000 km below. That is a very ...

Back in the late 1970s, Arthur C. Clarke caused a stir when he brought to the public’s attention the idea of a space elevator: a much easier, cheaper, faster and convenient way to defeat Earth’s ...

Space-elevator tech, a longtime sci-fi staple, is about to get a test here in the real world. The Japanese STARS-Me (Space Tethered Autonomous Robotic Satellite-Mini Elevator) payload arrived at the ...

Well, Einstein’s done it again! That is to say, the gravitational theories of Albert Einstein have once again been confirmed, and to a new degree of precision. The equations of general relativity ...

Next time you step inside an elevator, imagine it has a button marked “space.” It may sound like the stuff of science fiction, but researchers in Japan are prepping an experiment for this month to ...

Forget buying a stairway to heaven. Serious people are trying to build an elevator to space. That’s not a metaphor, and yes, a space elevator sounds like plot point from an Arthur C. Clarke novel.

See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. It sounds like a science fiction plotline—a space elevator. Now, it may ...

elevator is built, but the weight penalty of the associated cooling systems may make them quite impracticable. It would be marvellous, of course, if our superstrength material was also a ...