There is a broad consensus that news media outlets incorporate ideological biases in their news articles. However, prior studies on measuring the discrepancies among media outlets and further dissecting the origins of thematic differences suffer from small sample sizes and limited scope and granularity. In this study, we use a large dataset of 1.8 million news headlines from major U.S. media outlets spanning from 2014 to 2022 to thoroughly track and dissect the fine-grained thematic discrepancy in U.S. news media. We employ multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) to quantify the fine-grained thematic discrepancy related to four prominent topics - domestic politics, economic issues, social issues, and foreign affairs in order to derive a more holistic analysis. Additionally, we compare the most frequent $n$-grams in media headlines to provide further qualitative insights into our analysis. Our findings indicate that on domestic politics and social issues, the discrepancy can be attributed to a certain degree of media bias. Meanwhile, the discrepancy in reporting foreign affairs is largely attributed to the diversity in individual journalistic styles. Finally, U.S. media outlets show consistency and high similarity in their coverage of economic issues.

March 23, 2017 --If some NASA researchers have their way, Mars exploration technology of the future may rely on an art form from the past. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has developed a Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robot (PUFFER) prototype that could change how we explore Mars. The rugged yet portable machine takes its inspiration from the art of origami, which, despite Americans' association with grade-school arts and crafts, is proving to be a cutting-edge design philosophy. Recent developments in the field have led to an explosion of uses ranging from solar panels to bulletproof barriers. What sets PUFFER apart from other rovers is that it folds flat, making its mini-profile even slimmer.

March 23, 2017 --If some NASA researchers have their way, Mars exploration technology of the future may rely on an art form from the past. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has developed a Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robot (PUFFER) prototype that could change how we explore Mars. The rugged yet portable machine takes its inspiration from the art of origami, which, despite Americans' association with grade-school arts and crafts, is proving to be a cutting-edge design philosophy. Recent developments in the field have led to an explosion of uses ranging from solar panels to bulletproof barriers. What sets PUFFER apart from other rovers is that it folds flat, making its mini-profile even slimmer.

The artificial intelligence (AI) engine "can understand with near-human accuracy the textual content of several thousands posts per second, spanning more than 20 languages," Facebook announced in a blog post Wednesday. Facebook's newest AI system will allow it to continue to personalize content for its billion plus users, as well as weed out spam and hate speech. The engine also marks another major milestone in deep-learning technology, as Facebook, Google, and Microsoft invest heavily in teaching machines to think. "Having good machine learning models is a force multiplier for a lot of the stuff they are doing," Bradley Hayes, a postdoctoral associate at MIT and the creator of the satirical AI chatbot @DeepDrumpf, told The Christian Science Monitor last month. For Facebook, the "scalability" Mr. Hayes refers to is enormous.

Developers of artificial intelligence (A.I.) now have an added incentive to pursue their work: $5 million dollars. The prize money was announced at the annual TED conference Wednesday, in a joint initiative between tech giant IBM and X Prize, the company behind the world's first private space race to reach the moon. Motivating the backers of this competition is, among other things, a desire to demonstrate the potential benefits to mankind of advances in A.I., but many skeptics have yet to be convinced. "Personally, I am sick and tired of the dystopian conversation around artificial intelligence," said X Prize founder Peter Diamandis when unveiling the prize. The competition challenges teams to "develop and demonstrate how humans can collaborate with powerful cognitive technologies to tackle some of the world's grand challenges," according to an X Prize statement.

Could a population of Frankenstein's monsters have driven humans to extinction? Nathaniel Dominy, an evolutionary biologist at Dartmouth College, and Justin Yeakel, an ecologist at the University of California, Merced, pose just that ghoulish question in a study published Friday in the journal BioScience ahead of Halloween. And, according to their research, the answer is yes. That scenario may have come to pass in the fictional world of Mary Shelley's novel "Frankenstein" had the monster's creator, Victor Frankenstein, kept a promise to his creation to build him a female companion. But fortunately for humans, say Dr. Dominy and Dr. Yeakel, Dr. Frankenstein went back on his word.

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.

The second-oldest confirmed shipwreck in the Great Lakes, an American-built, Canadian-owned sloop that sank in Lake Ontario more than 200 years ago, has been found, a team of underwater explorers said Wednesday. The three-member western New York-based team said it discovered the shipwreck this summer in deep water off Oswego, in central New York. Images captured by a remotely operated vehicle confirmed it is the Washington, which sank during a storm in 1803, team member Jim Kennard said. "This one is very special. We don't get too many like this," said Mr. Kennard, who along with Roger Pawlowski and Roland "Chip" Stevens has found numerous wrecks in Lake Ontario and other waterways.

Toyota and Volkswagen are the latest in a string of auto industry giants to partner with ride-hailing companies, as the future of "mobility services" steers toward less ownership and more self-driving cars. Toyota and Uber announced a partnership Tuesday in which Toyota, valued at 177 billion, will invest an undisclosed amount to collaborate with Uber to develop autonomous cars. Volkswagon has invested 300 million in Gett, a taxi-hailing service that operates in 60 cities in Israel, Russia, the United States, and Britain, allowing the Israeli startup to expand in Europe, The Wall Street Journal reported. Tuesday's announcements are the latest in a series of major investments by the automakers to compete with Apple (whose 500 billion value is as much as seven major automakers combined) and Google, as the everyday commute appears poised to undergo a massive transformation. The focus on autonomous cars comes as Tesla, another tech startup, is attempting revolutionize the electric car and battery technology.

The six astronauts at the International Space Station got an early Easter treat this weekend with the arrival of a supply ship full of fresh food and experiments. Instead of the usual bunny, Saturday's delivery came via a swan -- Orbital ATK's Cygnus capsule, named after the swan constellation. The cargo carrier rocketed away from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday night. NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra used the station's big robot arm to grab the capsule, as the two craft soared 250 miles above the Indian Ocean. A Russian cargo ship will lift off Thursday, followed by a SpaceX supply run on April 8. NASA has turned to private industry to keep the space station stocked.