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• Mercedes-Benz shows off self-driving 18-wheeler

  Mercedes-Benz showed off an autonomous semi-trailer truck that will be available in a decade and allow long-haul drivers to relax and tend to paperwork and other duties other than driving.

• Smarter algorithms will power our future digital lives

  Researchers are working on a new version of an algorithm that will power better search, autonomous cars, smarter smartphones and the Internet of Things.

• Forget passwords -- the Nymi wristband uses your heartbeat for security

  Imagine one day strapping on a wristband in the morning and then opening your smartphone and laptop without passwords, getting into your car without a key and even boarding a plane without your ID or a boarding pass.

• NASA's Mars machines gets company from India

  An Indian spacecraft today was the first from the country to slide into orbit around Mars. The Indian Space Research Organization's Mars Orbiter Mission, or MOM, reached Mars, fired its engines and maneuvered itself into orbit around the distant planet after a 10-month journey.

• IBM's solar concentrator can produce energy, clean water and AC

  IBM Research and Switzerland-based Airlight Energy today announced a new parabolic dish that increases the sun's radiation by 2,000 times while also producing fresh water and air conditioning.

• GoogleX to circle the Earth with Internet-connected balloons

  Google is looking to launch a fleet of high-altitude balloons that will circle the planet, providing Internet connectivity to remote areas -- and it plans to do so within a year.

• Future spacesuits could act like protective second skin

  As NASA works to one day send astronauts to asteroids and eventually to Mars, the space agency is also looking for new spacesuits that will keep the astronauts safe, while enabling them to move freely.

• Lens-less camera, costing pennies, brings vision to the Internet of Things

  There's a type of camera technology emerging with a view of the world similar to what a honey bee sees. The images appear blurry and hazy, but if you're a bee, good enough for finding flowers and people to sting.

• SpaceX wants to build cities on Mars

  CEO and co-founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk, not only wants to send astronauts to Mars, he wants to build a city there.

• A wireless router may someday charge your mobile devices

  For all intents and purposes, the new Apple Watch is not a mobile device that uses wireless charging. While its charging cable uses magnetic inductive coupling, the wire must still physically attach to the watch in order to work.

• Harvard team develops soft robot that stands up and walks on its own

  Harvard University scientists have built a soft robot they say can function without a communications and power tether. The four-legged robot can literally stand up and walk away from the people who built it.

• NASA's Catch-22: Russia may move astronaut training to Crimea

  Russia is reportedly planning to move survival training for all Soyuz passengers to a Russian naval base in Sevastopol, Crimea, an area the Russian military grabbed from Ukraine earlier this year.

• Stanford's ant-sized radios could connect the world

  Scientists at Stanford University have built ant-sized radios that could one day help track patients' temperatures, turn on coffee makers in the morning and prevent forgery.

• Quantum Dot technology may smother OLED TVs in the crib

  For the past year, manufacturers have heralded OLED ultra-high definition (UHD) TVs as a harbinger of sea change in the home entertainment industry, affording thinner and even flexible panels with higher quality pictures than today's LCD sets.

• NASA's Mars rover begins its major scientific mission

  NASA's robotic rover Curiosity is about to take on the mission it was sent to Mars to perform.