Technology

Verizon workers picket outside one of the company's facilities in Philadelphia Wednesday. Verizon landline and cable workers on the East Coast walked off the job Wednesday morning after little progress in negotiations since their contract expired nearly e

National

Tens Of Thousands Of Verizon Workers Go On Strike

10:20am April 13, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

Nearly 40,000 union workers on the East Coast, who haven't had a contract since August, have walked out. Among other things, they object to outsourcing and two-month location transfers of employees.

This graphic shows how the same emoji is interpreted on different platforms.

Lost In Translation: Study Finds Interpretation Of Emojis Can Vary Widely

6:35pm April 12, 2016

by Eyder Peralta

That sweaty smiley face emoji may be positive to some of your friends and negative to others. And depending on who you're texting it may appear entirely different on their device.

IRS Head Says Cybersecurity Problems Leave Taxpayers Vulnerable

5:01pm April 12, 2016

by Brian Naylor

With taxes on the minds of many Americans this week, a Senate committee looks at how vulnerable taxpayers' information is to cyber theft. The head of the IRS testifies on Capitol Hill.

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A hammock-canoe drawing, U.S. Patent No. 299,951, is displayed in a June 1884 publication of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Va. Critics of the patent system say it's too easy for people to save a slew of semi-realistic ideas, then sue

National

Can Silly Patents Help Fight Frivolous Lawsuits?

2:00pm April 12, 2016

by Laura Sydell

Critics of the patent system say it's too easy for people to save a slew of semi-realistic ideas, then sue when a firm separately tries to make something similar. A new website fights fire with fire.

A Real-Life Tax Scam: This Is What IRS Phone Fraud Sounds Like

7:31am April 12, 2016

by Aarti Shahani

It's tax season, which also means it's tax scam season. People around the country are getting phone calls from criminals pretending to be tax collectors. Here is one of them.

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A box of 3-D models 24-year-old student Amos Dudley made of his teeth. The model labeled "3" rests on a 3-D-printed tray Dudley made to make impressions of his teeth with a putty-like material. Also in the box are a clear plastic aligner and other 3-D mod

Health & Safety

New Jersey Student Uses 3-D Printer For DIY Dental Work

6:45am April 12, 2016

by Jon Kalish

Tired of his crooked teeth, 24-year-old Amos Dudley made a mold of his teeth and fabricated a set of aligners using orthodontics reference books, a 3-D printer and other digital fabrication tools.

National

College Student Uses 3-D Printer To Fix His Crooked Teeth

6:28pm April 11, 2016

by Jon Kalish

A college student in New Jersey figured out how to straighten his crooked teeth using his school's 3-D printer.

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One version of the Fitbit, a popular fitness tracker.

A Fitbit Saved His Life? Well, Maybe

4:56pm April 11, 2016

by Alison Kodjak

A man shows up in the emergency room with a speedy, irregular heartbeat, but can't say when it first went awry. No problem. The ER doctors just checked the phone records of his fitness tracker.

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Zhenan Bao, a chemical engineer at Stanford University, is working to invent an artificial skin from plastic that can sense, heal and power itself. The thin plastic sheets are made with built-in pressure sensors.

Just Like Human Skin, This Plastic Sheet Can Sense And Heal

3:46pm April 11, 2016

by Joe Palca

Human skin has properties that are hard to mimic, but a Stanford engineer is working to create a type of artificial skin that can sense, heal and generate its own power.

National

With Hollywood's Advanced Digital Face-Lifting, Do We Even Need Actors?

12:27pm April 10, 2016

You can now digitally replace just about anything on an actor's body — including the actor himself. Journalist Logan Hill explains this practice of often invisible digital retouching in media.

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