Elon Musk has a new plan to protect humanity from artificial intelligence -- if you can't beat'em, join'em. In October 2014, Musk ignited a global discussion on the perils of artificial intelligence. Humans might be doomed if we make machines that are smarter than us, Musk warned. He called artificial intelligence our greatest existential threat. Now he is hoping to harness AI in a way that will benefit society.

A year ago, Bertrand Vallage took a submarine to the bottom of the French Mediterranean to fix instruments his team had installed there for a physics experiment. Some cables had fallen loose from their connections, and Vallage and his submarine crew were there to plug them back in so the experiment could get back to work detecting tiny particles called neutrinos. In principle, they could reconnect each cable in five minutes using two clumsy metal arms connected to the submarine. But as they maneuvered the joysticks that controlled the arms, they kept dropping the cables, kicking up dust from the seabed. Each time, they had to bring the cable inside the submarine and clean it, over and over again.

NASA may have equipped its Mars Curiosity rover with an impressive array of scientific instruments, but the robot attaché's size and $2.5-billion price tag give its operators ample reason to steer clear of terrain that could jeopardize its mission. Which is a shame, because much of Mars' craggy, cave-ridden, boulder-strewn landscape is so treacherous (planetary geologists literally call it chaos terrain), that big, expensive robots like Curiosity can't risk accessing it. That's why NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory built Puffer. Short for Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robot, Puffer is the agency's latest origami-inspired device. JPL has experimented previously with collapsible solar panels based on the Japanese art of folding paper.

NASA is developing a robot that could go where no robot has gone before: over and under difficult terrain on Mars or another planet. The PUFFER -- Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robot -- could traverse ground that a standard rover would get caught on, making a helpful travel companion. The space administration says its Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California is working on the little trooper, which will be lightweight and "was inspired by origami." A NASA video (below) shows how it's done: The robot can fold into itself to squeeze underneath short obstacles or use its tailfin as leverage to propel itself up and over them. And it could last a long time because it has solar panels on its underside so it can recharge. PUFFER wouldn't go on a solo journey to Mars, but would be a teammate that could tag in when a larger rover faces a topographical blockade.

Kim Stanley Robinson, one of the grandmasters of modern science fiction, released a new book on March 14: New York 2140. It's a sprawling adventure story/political drama/slice of life story set in New York City after climate change sends sea levels surging more than 50 feet--drowning Lower Manhattan and transforming a city of gridlike streets into a city of canals, a Super-Venice. We spoke extensively with Robinson about the book--check it out here. But we also spoke with the esteemed author about his last book, Aurora, and the big ideas behind it--from the present state and near future of space travel to what could happen when humanity does reach the stars. Aurora is set a hearty seven centuries or so from now, on an interstellar colony ship heading toward Tau Ceti. Heavily rooted in real science and realistic future science, the book takes a dramatic turn halfway through--one that left many SF fans gasping.

March 1, 2017 --Is there – or was there ever – life on Mars? NASA has spent decades investigating the question with orbiters and rovers, including its upcoming Mars 2020 rover, but at least one scientist suspects he already knows the answer. According to Gibert Levin, NASA probably detected microbial life on Mars in 1976. Dr. Levin was one of the scientists involved with the Viking lander, whose biological experiments gave conflicting results when samples tested positive for metabolism but negative for organic molecules. The unreliable organic molecule experiment was the one that failed, and the metabolism detection succeeded.

Uber just showed how committed it is to mapping the planet. The ridesharing outfit has started rolling out map cars in Singapore, putting the vehicles on five major continents (sorry, Antarctica, you'll have to wait). As in other cases, the cartographic cars are really driver rides with mapping tech on top to collect data based on real trips. Privacy shouldn't be an issue, Uber says -- they won't keep imagery from the end points of your trip, and what data they do collect won't be made public. The company is still a long way off from having comprehensive mapping data of its own.

AI might be a hot topic but you'll still need to justify those projects. The Toyota Research Institute (TRI) just announced its technology leadership team at CES. In November Toyota announced an initial five-year, $1 billion investment in TRI, which will be a research and development enterprise designed to bridge the gap between fundamental research in robotics and artificial intelligence and product development. In other words, the mandate is to develop all the cool AI stuff happening in labs and DARPA-backed research projects and bring it to market. Comparisons have been drawn to famous industrial laboratories like Bell Labs and PARC, which are jointly responsible for an impressive chunk of silicon-age advances. Some of TRI's specific mandates are to enhance the safety of automobiles, with the ultimate goal of creating a car that is incapable of causing a crash; to increase access to cars to those who otherwise cannot drive, including the handicapped and the elderly; to help translate outdoor mobility technology into products for indoor mobility; and to accelerate scientific discovery by applying techniques from artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Good weather seldom lasts more than a few hours off the coast of Antarctica, and after a remarkable day of cloudless fine conditions, the next day dawns grey and cold. The research vessel, Akademik Treshnikov, moves back from its parking spot against the glacier and sails to a nearby location, where the submarine is again launched. Instead of exploring the underside of the glacier, this time the focus is on marine life on the ocean floor. As the unmanned sub reaches a depth of 900m, a giant sponge resembling an enormous gourd looms into view. The four-man team operating the robotic sub manoeuvre it into place, and then using a robotic arm, lift the beautiful creature from its perch, and places it in one of the sampling boxes.

The Orangutan looked quite magnificent. From her inquisitive eyes to her distinctive orange fur, she was just the sort of creature nature lovers adore watching on TV. But a closer inspection revealed something a little different about her. That's because she is actually an undercover robot, fitted with high-definition cameras behind her glass eyes and used to infiltrate the animal kingdom. The orangutan, as well as an adorable wolf-cub, an utterly convincing meerkat and an incredible floating otter are among 34 animatronic beasts created for the BBC's new series, Spy In The Wild.