Driverless trucking, holodecks and other top science stories

Welcome to your weekly science update – a curated list of this week’s most interesting stories in science.

The driverless future of trucking. Daimler gets permission to test driverless trucks on Nevada roads.

An app for your DNA. Apple is the latest tech giant to move into genomics with DNA testing applications.

Smart phone microscope. Meanwhile, smart phones are already proving to be a valuable tool for medical diagnostics in developing countries. A study this week showed their effectiveness in diagnosing parasite infections.

Japan launches an “NIH”. The Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) has a mandate to smooth the flow of basic discoveries to the clinic and the market.

A cure for blindness. Introducing light-sensing proteins into retinal cells to cure blindness is a good example of a very exciting idea that almost seemed too ambitious to work in practice. But this week researchers took this idea one step closer to clinical trials in humans.

Sleep on it. New study shows for the first time how sleep loss affects critical aspects of decision making in high-stakes, real-world situations.

The coming neuro-tech boom. A steady rise in neuro-technology patents hints at the coming boom in technologies which aim to read your thoughts and connect directly to your brain.

Human space flight. SpaceX takes a big step toward transporting more than cargo from Earth to space. On Wednesday it’s Dragon capsule was put to the test, simulating what would happen if the astronauts inside would need to abort their mission in an emergency.

The Holodeck is coming. It’s a little different from how Star Trek imagined it, but next generation Virtual Reality technology is set to transform how we work and play.

U.A.E enters the race to Mars. The United Arab Emirates has detailed a plan to send an un-manned probe to Mars by 2021.

Evolution trumps GMOs. Fears that genetically modified organisms could wipe out their natural counterparts may be unfounded. A study at Purdue University has found that over the course of 15 generations, a natural species of Zebra fish out-competed it’s genetically modified cousins despite having been engineered to be more appealing to mates.

Organ Farm. A new type of stem cell brings researchers a step closer to growing human organs in pigs and cows for research and therapeutic purposes.

Author: David Gleicher is Senior Programme Manager, Science and Technology,at the World Economic Forum

Image: This computer-generated view depicts part of Mars at the boundary between darkness and daylight, with an area including Gale Crater beginning to catch morning light, in this handout image provided by NASA. REUTERS/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Handout