The Internet of Things refers to the connection of all devices to the cloud

The Internet of Things connects everyday objects to the internet

The IoT enables physical devices to share data collected via sensors or specialized software, often without human intervention. Controlling the air conditioning and heating in one's home via an app, as well as receiving alerts when away from home about someone at the door, is made possible by the IoT.

What is a smart city?

The internet of things and automation are two of the technologies used in smart cities. Learn about the technologies making cities more human-centric in this three-minute read.

The internet explained at five levels of difficulty, from protocols to internet flattening

Resembling a roadway with traffic laws that all cars must follow, the internet is the hardware that connects a source to a destination, and these connections must follow specific software rules. Although data had to travel through about 10 networks to reach a destination in the past, data centers increasingly consolidate traffic, just as a highway does for cars, to improve data speeds.

As of 2025, the internet is entering its fourth phase, with three more to go

Since the inception of the internet as a tool for connecting teams of researchers, technological and infrastructure advancements have progressively increased connectivity. Connections between computers, mobile devices, all devices, and now AI agents will be succeeded by an internet that integrates perception and the senses toward an eventual quantum internet.

Smart cities without strong cybersecurity can leave utilities extremely vulnerable

Insecure devices connected to the Internet of Things pose risks to the entire network, which cybercriminals can hijack to compromise infrastructure and private resident data. Poorly secured systems that become inoperable can undermine the promise of smart cities by worsening the quality of life.

In the V2X framework, vehicles are wireless connected to each other

Vehicle-to-everything systems would also connect cars to traffic infrastructure and pedestrians, enabling safer, quicker, and more efficient road transportation. Tests have been conducted to demonstrate the viability of this technology with both WiFi-based and cellular network-based systems.

View the ecosystem of global services, organizations, and agencies behind the internet

Through an open, transparent, and collaborative model built on open standards development and shared global ownership, the internet is kept freely accessible amid evolving international policies. Key organizations, such as IANA, which allocates IP addresses and fulfills administrative functions for the Domain Name System, function as non-profit organizations.

Defining 2025's internet slang

The internet is a slang factory, and new terms regularly crop up. This list breaks down some of the newest terms to hit social media, including "aura farming" (the cultivation of charisma to attract others) and "clock it" (an encouragement to remember something important).

The cloud relies on hardware infrastructure with real-world limits

While unlimited storage providers exist, this does not mean online storage is limitless, as it relies on servers, cables, power, and physical space, all of which are finite. However, the cloud seems infinite because the number of servers and data centers built outpaces demand. Storage solutions are also routinely replaced with more efficient options.

All computers are defined by their ability to input, store, process, and output data

From wooden machines to wearable tech, computers have changed a lot in appearance, but they all still perform the same essential tasks. Early computers were made of wood and metal—some were so big that they filled entire rooms just to solve simple math problems.

A detailed interactive timeline of technology since 1500

Tech devices are heirs to a complex history of both technological invention and social history. What if you could visualize how radio, TVs, and other devices are connected to the past and each other? Trace the elaborate genealogies of your phone and computer with this interactive timeline showing tech inventions since 1500.

Biohacking: The effort to optimize health and extend life through technology

Biohacking seeks to optimize human health and performance through everything from simple lifestyle adjustments to more radical interventions like body modifications and experimental technology. At its core, biohacking covers a wide spectrum—ranging from improving sleep and focus to implanting devices that integrate technology with the human body.

The gig economy is a labor market in which workers earn money through on-demand jobs

These “gigs” are often temporary or flexible tasks, such as driving for Uber. Colloquially, the term “gig economy” usually refers to people doing jobs where they connect with people who request their services through an app.

Immersive technologies include virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality

Virtual reality relies on technologies that use screens to generate every pixel, immersing a user in an entirely digital world. In contrast, augmented reality overlays digital content onto views of the real world. Mixed reality combines both to allow real-time interaction with virtual objects.

Integrated circuits are made with light and require significant purified water and chemicals

The nonstop operation of fabrication plants, which takes months to manufacture a wafer of hundreds of integrated circuits, strains local resources and generates significant chemical waste. Much of the electricity consumed is used to maintain clean room conditions within plants.

Do wearables help those with chronic disease?

The integration of wearable technology in healthcare has promised significant benefits for chronic disease management, yet the actual impact remains underexplored. This systematic review published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research...

View major global infrastructure, including power plants, fuel lines, and water pumping stations

The Open Infrastructure Map displays data from the OpenStreetMap database, which aggregates information from freely licensed geodata sources, surveys, and photographic and satellite imagery. It also displays power lines, generators, substations, various chemical pipelines, telecommunications towers, data centers, and more in daytime and nighttime maps.

Adhesion molecules and intercellular junctions allow cells to connect together

While some organic structures are mostly composed of non-cellular components (e.g., collagen and calcium phosphate minerals in bones), tissues and organs composed of connected cells rely on specialized proteins and connections to create watertight seals that protect cells within the interior from environmental molecules.

The WEF’s Edison Alliance connected more than 1 billion people to digital services

By 2024, the World Economic Forum-backed Edison Alliance had delivered digital connectivity and access to financial, healthcare, and education services to more than 1 billion people, using public-private partnerships across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the US.

The Oort Cloud is a shell of icy objects surrounding the solar system, from which many comets originate

Proposed in 1950 by Jan Oort, the theoretical structure is believed to be the origin of comets with periods of more than 200 years. Leftover planetary building blocks from the early solar system formed the Oort Cloud after being flung out by the gravity of planets like Jupiter.

What it means to call something 'Orwellian'

The adjective often refers to anything that resembles the dystopian governments of George Orwell, usually a state like the one in "1984" that monitors its citizens to ensure compliance. But as this video essay from Noah Tavlin makes clear, the more precise definition is a society that redefines language to control thought.

OSINT: How hackers find their marks

What is OSINT? How do hackers gather intel about targets? Just how much can they learn about you? Learn more as we dig in to the world of OSINT.

The speed of electricity may refer to the movement of electrons or energy

In the 18th century, various experiments, including one in which monks holding an iron wire were shocked, suggested that electricity traveled at infinite speed. Advancements in technology, recognizing that electric currents were moving electrons, and the development of the theory of electromagnetism showed that electric signals can travel at near light speed, despite electrons moving much slower.

What is a microbiome (and why are they important)?

Jump to: What is the microbiome? How microbiota benefit the body The role of probiotics Can diet affect one’s microbiota? Future areas of research What is the microbiome? Picture a bustling city on…

In 1999, Microsoft and Intel’s addition signaled the information tech era for the Dow

Microsoft and Intel became the first information technology firms added to the DJIA. Their inclusion marked a turning point—the digital revolution and tech began to drive the American economy.

Electrical grids worldwide must double their power delivery capacity by 2050 to meet surging demand from AI and electric vehicles.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

See how each of the more than two million known species relates to each other—and to common ancestors—in this zoomable tree of life.

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Corals are themselves not coral reefs—the term refers to the tiny marine invertebrates that build the rigid reef.

The first image of a black hole was captured by creating an Earth-sized virtual observatory from a network of eight radio telescopes.

Telehealth demand for GLP-1s for weight loss is booming as consumers seek easier access.

While the sun's gravity keeps the planets in orbit, their gravity also pulls on the sun, causing it and everything else in the solar system to orbit around a mutual balance point called the barycenter—the true center of the solar system.

Objects can be 3D printed with light by projecting 2D computerized tomography (CT) scans onto rotating cylinders of resin, which solidify upon exposure.

Studies suggest when you sleep is as important as how much you get, and syncing with your circadian rhythms may lead to less fatigue and improved long-term health outcomes

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.

An investigation suggests a Scottish island became awash in forever chemicals via seafoam and seaspray—raising questions about what that means for the safety of other coastal areas.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

The syncytiotrophoblast is the outer layer of the placenta and the largest human cell, spanning an area about twice that of a king-sized bedsheet.

El Niño, Spanish for 'the boy,' was named after Jesus Christ because the phenomenon resembled the weather changes observed around Christmastime.

The boiling temperature of water decreases with increasing elevation because the molecules need less energy to overcome the lower atmospheric pressure associated with thinner air.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

The first robot in literature may have been a 'mechanical man' in 1907's 'Ozma of Oz,' a book in L Frank Baum's 'Wizard of Oz' series.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

Trace how the Bill of Rights, inspired by centuries of political theory, took shape between 1774 and 1789.