The Goodnewspaper The Tech Edition

Whether you’re a Genius Bar wunderkind or partial to pen and paper, you use technology every single day. Technology is a tool humans create to change their lived environment. From the harnessing of fire to the burgeoning of artificial intelligence, it can be assumed that everything then, now, and in between was made to improve, or at least shape, humanity. But even tools as early as campfires and handaxes had downsides. How quickly does fire go from warmth to destruction? Or a necessary survival tool becomes a weapon? And even now, on the precipice of what many call humanity’s most consequential era of technological advancement, we’re asking similar questions: Where does the line exist between a tool for good and a catalyst for chaos? Of course, many of us are…

In 2024, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology hosted its first Global AI Hackathon, a virtual event that drew over 1,300 participants from 86 countries. The inaugural competition challenged young engineers to develop a new app using the MIT App Inventor platform. Last August, the winners presented their apps at the MIT AI & Education Summit, a conference on digital literacy and the importance of responsible AI practices. Winning apps included Signlingo, which translates American Sign Language and spoken language in real time; DocTongue, which helps remotely diagnose patients based on tongue characteristics; and Neo Talk, a social learning tool. At the summit, the creators of Neo Talk — Kanagawa Institute of Technology students Tomoya Sato and Shitara Kaede — said that their device was geared towards kids and teens who…

In April 2025, the Washington State Senate overwhelmingly passed a new law that calls for the installation of anti-speeding technology, known as intelligent speed assistance, in the cars of drivers who have been convicted of reckless driving. The new technology uses GPS and coordinated sensors to automatically prevent penalized drivers from exceeding posted speed limits by resisting accelerator input and limiting power to the engine itself. Amy Cohen, the founder of Families for Safe Streets, lost her son Sammy Cohen Eckstein in 2014 when a speeding driver blew through a red light. She says that most drivers, like the one who struck her son, are repeat offenders. “This measure in Washington is just the beginning of a nationwide movement that is long overdue,” Cohen said in a press statement when…

As a middle schooler, Sam Nadol picked up a unique hobby: Sifting through broken computers at his local recycling center and bringing them back to life. By the time he was 12, he had refurbished eight computers. They each sold within hours of listing them on Craigslist. When the Westchester, New York teen transitioned to high school, he learned about a $600 grant program for student projects. That’s when he launched Reboot PC, a school project that would later evolve into a full-fledged nonprofit. The first person to approach Nadol about Reboot PC was Roger Battacharia, a volunteer with Ossining Padres Hispanos, an organization that provides education opportunities in the Hispanic community. Through Battacharia, Nadol made his first official donation of a dozen computers. Since then, he has gotten refurbished…

GOOD Reduce e-waste by repairing electronics instead of buying new ones. You can do this at a local electronics shop or repair cafe. Find a repair cafe near you. repaircafe.org/en/visit BETTER Dispose of your e-waste responsibly. After clearing your data, use the Consumer Technology Association map to find a GreenerGadgets recycling location. cta.tech/greener-gadgets BEST Donate used computers to World Computer Exchange, a nonprofit that repairs and upgrades computers and donates them back to communities across the globe. worldcomputerexchange.org…

Imagine being buried under building rubble and seeing a three-inch beetle squeeze through the cracks to pinpoint your location — and even deliver lifesaving medication. Lachlan Fitzgerald, a research assistant at the University of Queensland, paints a vivid picture of this scenario as he submerges a giant burrowing beetle in an ice bath and attaches a tiny circuit board to its back. “We see a future where after an urban disaster like an earthquake or a bombing, where humans can’t safely access the disaster site, being able to send in a bunch of cyborg beetles to navigate the disaster zone quickly and efficiently,” he told CNN. In the biorobotics lab, Fitzgerald and his team have been fine-tuning new biohybrid technology that issues electrical pulses to their subjects’ antennae to direct…