Alfred Nobel wanted the prizes that bear his name to recognize achievements that offered the "greatest benefit to mankind." The world's tiniest machines -- celebrated in this year's chemistry prize -- may revolutionize daily life. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on Wednesday awarded the final Nobel prize in sciences for 2016. The 8 million kronor ( 930,000) chemistry prize went to Jean-Pierre Sauvage of France, Sir Fraser Stoddart of Britain, and Bernard "Ben" Feringa of the Netherlands. The scientists were recognized for their breakthroughs on molecular machines, which began with Dr. Sauvage linking two ring-shaped molecules in 1983.

Self-driving vehicles that can seamlessly shuttle people around cities are years away--perhaps even decades, depending on who is providing the forecast. But the founders of Clearpath Robotics aren't worried. They already have fleets of self-driving vehicles operating on roads with traffic, intersections, and pedestrians. But instead of shuttling people through city streets, the startup's self-driving vehicles navigate goods through the miles of roads inside massive industrial factories, including at Caterpillar cat and GE ge . "Unlike city streets, a factory floor is a controlled environment, which makes it an ideal place to introduce self-driving vehicles at scale," said Clearpath CEO and co-founder Matt Rendall.

The rapid introduction of self-driving cars and other advanced technologies makes it possible to achieve the zero deaths goal, the department said in a statement. Fully autonomous vehicles hold the potential to eliminate human error, which is a factor in 94 percent of crashes, according to the department.

The United Nation's Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), which last week chose to ban all commercial trade of pangolins, will come to a close today. The pangolin, also known as the scaly anteater, has been poached to near extinction. Wildlife conservationists hope the ban will help restore the species, which is harvested for meat and scales. But others say trade sanctions aren't enough – that a coordinated effort between governments, businesses, conservationists, and communities will be necessary to save this maligned mammal. "Hopefully this will be followed by increased resources and attention being devoted to saving this well armored – but utterly defensive – and wholly unique species," Jeff Flocken, North American regional director at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, told Reuters.

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display

"Amy" saves entrepreneur Gillian Morris about 43 productive hours a year. Morris, the founder of Hitlist, a travel app that alerts users to cheap flights, has been using Amy, a virtual assistant from x.ai for about two years, to schedule meetings. To ask for Amy's help, Morris sends an email to the person or people she wants to meet with and copies Amy. From there, Amy takes Morris out of the email chain and handles the back and forth about dates and times. Morris estimates Amy schedules about 10 meetings for her a week, and spares her from having to read or respond to any related emails herself.

It takes a lot of fuel to break free from Earth's gravity and navigate outer space. A staggering 90 percent of a rocket's initial mass is made up of propellant. What if we could trim that fat, launch spaceships with minimal resources, and collect the rest of what we need along the way? Such "massless exploration" is very likely our future in space. Imagine we wanted to rendezvous with a distant asteroid and bring back samples from its surface. "Today, that mission would have to be launched with enough propellant for the entire round trip," Kyle Doyle, program manager of Cornell's Cislunar Explorers, told Digital Trends.

Modern technology is fundamentally reshaping our electoral process. It's time to make it work for us. Public and open debate is a central achievement of democracy. It is a forum for people to articulate their viewpoints, exhibiting candid passion and offering sound facts and logic. It is also a powerful instrument to share informed knowledge with a wide audience of people who possess less subject matter expertise. In the philosophy of Aristotle, public debate is the task of a class of virtuous men, for they, in his mind, constitute ideal rulers and are responsible for sharing their wisdom with common households.

Russia will shoot down internet drones that pose a threat to the country's security, reports said Tuesday, citing Russian officials. Several tech companies, including Google and Facebook, are planning to provide internet using drones to remote places that do not have access to the cyberspace. State-run telecom company Rostelecom cautioned the Russian telecommunications industry that internet-sharing drones, such as those from Britain's OneWeb and South Korea's Samsung, are likely to pose a security threat, Russian language Life news reported. "Ground operators might encounter problems. If foreign players win here, it could be an issue for [Russia's] sovereignty. Whoever controls the information controls the world," a representative for Rostelecom reportedly said.