Thor Benson

Thor Benson writes about innovation and culture for Inverse. He has also contributed to The Daily Beast, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Wired, and many other publications.

HORIZONS

How a salt lake in California’s desert could make the U.S. an electric car powerhouse

There’s lithium in that there water.

By Thor Benson
Culture

Ancient Mayan collapse reveals why America needs UBI

History repeats itself.

By Thor Benson
curve ball

With virtual reality, scientists reveal a fatal flaw in one of soccer's most trusted defensive moves

A new study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE uses virtual reality to show how the very logic behind one of soccer's key defense moves may work in the opposing team’s favor.

By Thor Benson
The future of pride

How LGBTQ+ culture can survive Covid-19

New Orleans loves a parade, but Pride parties in the city in 2020 have forced its residents to get creative while staying healthy.

By Thor Benson
Nothing to see here

Congress is trying to kill encryption during a pandemic

It seems Congress thinks this might be a good time to kill encryption and trample on our civil liberties.

By Thor Benson
Atari king

A.I. can now beat every title of this iconic 1977 video game console

If you think you're good at Atari games, just wait until you see DeepMind's skills.

By Thor Benson
The real Tesla killer

The coronavirus outbreak is bad news for electric car companies like Tesla

The coronavirus outbreak is making things difficult for the automobile industry, and countries are starting to roll back emission standards.

By Thor Benson
Big dip energy

The coronavirus outbreak is having an unexpected effect on the power grid

With businesses shut down around the nation, electricity demands appear to be decreasing.

By Thor Benson
Build the fence?

Space Force says its new 'Space Fence' will protect us in space

We haven't heard a lot of news from the Space Force since it was founded, but the latest news shows something the military branch developed called the 'Space Fence' is now operational.

By Thor Benson
An outbreak of lies

Social media companies are still losing the fight against coronavirus disinformation

Social media companies are working harder than ever to fight it during the coronavirus outbreak. Is it enough?

By Thor Benson
Fresh out of everything

Amazon offers higher pay as grocery orders skyrocket and workers walk out

With people avoiding leaving the house as much as they can, a lot of people are getting their groceries from Amazon, and its warehouses are struggling to keep up.

By Thor Benson
Fight the power

This web browser fights fascists

Unstoppable Domains is teaming up with the Opera web browser to decentralize the internet and end internet censorship.

By Thor Benson
Office Space, anyone?

Researchers burned down an office to make them safer

If you want to understand how to protect an office from a fire, sometimes you have to burn it down.

By Thor Benson
PIN trust

Your phone's PIN code is probably so bad anyone could guess it, study finds

People are really bad at creating pin codes, and a new study looks at how we could fix this problem.

By Thor Benson
Mask off

Surgical masks are no match for China's facial recognition technology

A Chinese company has announced that it has developed facial recognition software that can identify people even if they're wearing a surgical mask.

By Thor Benson
Drone home

When are delivery drones coming? UPS is getting closer

With people practicing social distancing to help fight the spread of the coronavirus, UPS has announced it's working on new package delivery drones.

By Thor Benson
Robo-doctor

How robots and A.I. could help save our healthcare workers and the elderly

Though advancements still need to be made, robots and A.I. could help us fight the coronavirus outbreak and save lives.

By Thor Benson
Cancer is canceled

A new A.I. system could make sure we never misdiagnose cancer again

Researchers have developed an A.I. system that can accurately diagnose cancer 100 percent of the time, and it could save lives.

By Thor Benson
Don't be a prick

A new device can test you for coronavirus in just 15 minutes

As the United States struggles to test enough people for coronavirus, a new device can detect if you're infected within just 15 minutes.

By Thor Benson
Cash out

Will the coronavirus kill cash? Russia is pushing for more digital payments

As countries work to fight the spread of the coronavirus, Russia is pushing for more digital payments to contain its spread.

By Thor Benson