From covert Cold War experiments like Operation Popeye to modern climate tech startups, weather modification has evolved from military strategy to environmental intervention—yet the ethical questions remain just as urgent.

How will custom silicon be built in an AI-native world? In this talk, Mohamed Kassem (CEO of Native Chips) explores how agentic AI and automated workflows are transforming ASIC development—compressing timelines, reducing complexity, and redefining how chips go from idea to production.

What if ligament repair didn’t mean replacement—but regeneration? Developed by Industrial Technology Research Institute, LigamiX™ is a bioengineered ligament designed to help the body heal itself. With a porous, bionic structure and advanced biocomposite materials, it promotes tissue integration, reduces inflammation, and offers a new path forward for orthopedic recovery.

What if the world around you became the interface? Developed by Industrial Technology Research Institute and deployed through Darwin Display Solutions, NeoVision AR turns transparent displays into intelligent, interactive layers powered by AI. From airports to smart buildings, it’s redefining how people navigate, explore, and interact—without ever touching a screen.

What if machines could tell you they’re about to fail—days or even weeks in advance? Developed by Industrial Technology Research Institute, the Prognosis Monitoring System (PMS) is an AI-powered predictive maintenance solution already deployed across semiconductor fabs and critical infrastructure. With real-time diagnostics and over 90% accuracy in predicting remaining useful life, it’s helping companies prevent costly downtime and save millions.

We’ve been throwing away our roads—and paying for it twice. A new breakthrough from Industrial Technology Research Institute and Lianyue Aggregates Co., Ltd. uses a biological process to regenerate aged asphalt into high-performance pavement, turning waste into a scalable, low-carbon infrastructure solution.

As AI systems scale to unprecedented power levels, the real constraint isn’t compute—it’s heat. A new breakthrough from Industrial Technology Research Institute reveals how next-generation cooling could redefine the future of high-performance computing.

For decades, the United States relied on proxy wars to avoid the political cost of direct conflict. But the rise of drones—especially low-cost, one-way loitering munitions—is rewriting that playbook. As technology removes the risk of American casualties, it is also lowering the barrier to using force, reshaping not just the battlefield but presidential decision-making itself.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how software is built—and how companies hire. As AI begins to automate coding and routine knowledge work, many tech leaders believe the future workforce will be much smaller but far more creative. If machines can build the app, the real question becomes: what skills will humans need to stay essential? This article explores why entrepreneurship and builder thinking may become the most important skills for the next generation—and

Swiss scientists at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne have developed a self-adjusting crystal lens that could eliminate the need for reading glasses. Using liquid crystal technology and tiny sensors, the lenses automatically change focus in milliseconds, restoring the natural focusing ability lost with age.

Composer-improviser David Leikam performs live on a NS Design 6-string fretless electric cello, creating fully improvised music in the moment. Born with cerebral palsy, David uses music as his language of expression, transforming cutting-edge sound techniques and technology into evolving sonic landscapes.

An ordinary-looking fish in the Mediterranean hides a remarkable secret. Under certain conditions, eating the Sarpa salpa—also known as the dreamfish—can trigger vivid hallucinations lasting up to 36 hours. Ancient Romans reportedly served it at banquets for its mind-altering effects. Today, scientists are looking beyond the strange folklore and asking a deeper question: could the biology behind this fish reveal clues about how the human brain works—and even inspire new treat

How are corporate venture capital teams investing in the age of AI? In this Silicon Valley Unplugged session, leaders from Applied Ventures, Hitachi Ventures, and Lam Capital share how strategic investors evaluate emerging technologies, support deep-tech startups, and identify the next wave of innovation shaping the future of AI and advanced computing.

A new generation of drones is breaking one of robotics’ oldest boundaries: the line between air and water. These amphibious machines can fly through the sky, dive beneath the ocean’s surface, navigate underwater, and then relaunch into flight. As multi-domain robotics begins to reshape industries from infrastructure inspection to maritime security, the technology is opening an entirely new frontier for autonomous systems.

For years, we told students to learn coding because it was the language of the future. But in an era where AI can generate entire applications from a simple prompt, syntax is no longer the advantage. The real competitive edge has shifted upstream — to problem discovery, systems thinking, persuasion, and execution. As code becomes automated, judgment becomes scarce. This is why the next generation doesn’t just need technical skills; they ne

They never had to “learn” AI — they grew up with it. Today’s teenagers treat generative models and intelligent systems not as breakthroughs, but as everyday collaborators. As the first truly AI-native generation comes of age, their approach to building companies is fundamentally different: faster execution, fearless experimentation, and seamless human–machine partnership. The question is no longer whether they will build the future — it’s how dramatically they will reshape it

A woman who fell in love with a robot she 3D-printed herself is waiting for human–robot marriage to become legal. Once dismissed as a “sexbot” story, her relationship reveals something far more unsettling: emotional bonds with machines are forming faster than the law can name them. As companion robots evolve beyond novelty and intimacy, marriage law—built for humans alone—faces questions it was never designed to answer.

In this talk, Sam Fok, Co-Founder and CEO of femtoAI, shares how ultra-efficient AI inference is enabling intelligence to run directly on embedded and edge devices. Drawing from real-world experience at the intersection of silicon and software, he explains why efficiency—not scale alone—will define the next wave of AI, how co-design unlocks major gains in power and cost, and what it takes to move edge AI from research prototypes into scalable, deployable systems.

China’s newest humanoid robot doesn’t just think—it moves like us. With near-human gait, eye contact, and subtle expressions, Moya marks a shift in robotics that goes beyond intelligence. Why is so much effort being spent on copying human movement, and what does biology and psychology reveal about this obsession?

Long after we forget a film’s plot, we remember how it made us feel. Emotion is the residue of cinema—the part that lingers in the body after the screen goes dark. In an age where artificial intelligence can replicate style, structure, and even genre with increasing ease, emotion has become the clearest signal of humanity. That is why the 2026 Human vs. AI Film Festival is organized not by genre, but by feeling.