Michael J. Coren

Women have been taking off on some of the world’s biggest, scariest waves for years. But virtually none of them could compete in professional events since the sport’s largest competitions remained closed to female surfers. That era is likely over. On Oct. 19, the organizers of the invite-only competition at Mavericks announced its first women’s heat, marking what is likely to become a permanent feature of the sport.

Microsoft’s stock soared to new heights in after-hours trading following the release of a strong earnings report on Oct. 20. The software giant posted $22.33 billion in revenue for its first quarter in fiscal 2017, and beat Wall Street’s earnings-per-share expectations by more than 12%.

Tesla announced today that hardware installed on all its new vehicles will make them capable of full autonomy, but the electric-car company won’t activate that functionality until the software has been road-tested and regulators give the green light.

Bots first entered the 2016 election cycle by crowding into social media channels. Without any direct coordination with campaigns, the snippets of code were spewing out rank partisan propaganda. Even a novice programmer could slap one together, and start choking off a reasonable conversation on Twitter and comment boards. By the second presidential debate, they were taking over the conversation: a Oxford University study (pdf) found almost 25% of the nine million tweets about the debate in the days leading up to the event were issued by bots.

Peter Thiel, the billionaire venture capitalist and one of Trump’s most prominent supporters, is forcing Silicon Valley to take sides.

Scientists studying the human body say we’re made to run. Our big toes, springy tendons and sweat glands reveal an evolutionary past when humans outran their prey, and rival carnivores, to secure protein for growing brains.

Companies that once rushed to go public are now putting off the day as long as possible—but employees and investors aren’t waiting.

Sometimes succeeding in Silicon Valley means sliding metal sensors under your skin to track the amount of sugar in your blood. That’s what a community of biohackers, coders, and CEOs are doing in a 90-day Biohacker Challenge to see how far they can go to successfully track, tweak, and optimize their minds and bodies.

It has been yet another record-breaking quarter for the tech industry.

Politico reports that the Republican National Committee has asked mail vendors to halt efforts to elect Donal Trump as part of the party’s “Victory” program.

No US presidential candidate has ever withdrawn before the election. And yet, there has never been a presidential candidate from a major party quite like Donald Trump.

Republican leaders began to abandon their presidential candidate, Donald Trump, after a video revealed him making predatory comments about women

They don’t call economics the dismal science for nothing. A study of Ethiopian workers released last week by the US National Bureau of Economics Research found low-wage factories—often known as sweatshops— were dangerous, undesirable and paid even less than self-employment in the informal sector. But, the researchers concluded, countries were still better off than not having those jobs at all.

In 1849, the first ship sailed into San Francisco Bay carrying miners seeking their fortunes. Few found them. Their successors in the technology economy have struck it rich, though, and many have taken up residence in the biggest residential skyscraper along the city’s old shoreline: the 58-floor Millennium Tower.

In one of the world’s last great high seas fisheries, the western and central tropical Pacific, it’s still a free-for-all. Only 2% of the fishing vessels are monitored by authorities, and as much of 40% of the catch may be unintended or illegal.

When they fire up the Petra Nova system at the W.A. Parish power plant this year, it will become the world’s largest coal plant capable of capturing its own carbon, perhaps extending a lifeline for coal in an era of severe climate change (pdf).

For more than a decade bioplastics have, essentially, been a giant lab experiment. Plastics made from plants hold a lot of promise, given that most consumer plastic on the market today is derived from petroleum—which we would much rather keep in the ground. Some bioplastics have even been turned into garbage bags, bottles, and straws available for purchase by any company or individual who seek them out. Still, only 2% of the world’s 300 million tons of plastic production comes from plants, according to Lux Research.

For some of us, our DNA is a time bomb. Small inherited genetic mutations heighten our risk for diseases from cystic fibrosis to breast cancer that explode in our adult years, usually without warning. That’s because only a fraction of those at risk will ever have their DNA tested. Most genetic diseases are rare, and the tests are too expensive to administer to everyone.

For technology companies looking to go public, winter is finally over. At least 14 tech firms have gone public on US exchanges this year, reports the financial advisory firm  Renaissance Capital—10 of them in the third quarter alone.

The renowned Y Combinator accelerator started funding non-profits in 2013, arguing they would benefit from the same training as conventional startups. They are now part of every batch of YC companies. Founders and venture capitalists, long skeptical of charity, are increasingly giving to startups in which the earnings are small, but the social impact is high (and the 501(c)(3) donations are tax deductible).

The amount of video footage capturing US police officers on the job is about to grow exponentially.

The US government’s emergency warning system is “stuck in the 90s,” warned New York senator Chuck Schumer in a letter to regulators, and it should take a cue from social media if we’re going to keep people safe.

Car-sharing services for vehicles are a small but increasingly popular way to pay off monthly payments, or turn a luxury vehicle into an affordable purchase.

Every appliance speaks a secret language. Now we know what they’re saying.