Azuma Hikari is a 58-cm hologram and virtual assistant created by Japanese tech company Gatebox that comes with a $2,600 price tag. Azuma is built with a machine learning algorithm that helps her recognize her "master's" voice, learn his sleeping habits, and send him messages through Gatebox's native chat app.

National Geographic hosted a 360 degree tour of a test habitat where crew members of the Mars Society are simulating a Martian mission. This mission is part of the larger Mars 160 mission designed to simulate the conditions and constraints of an actual mission to the Red Planet.

In the face of an administration skeptical of manmade climate change, a group is organizing and hosting "DataRescue events" to archive environmental data in danger of being erased. Anyone who cares about data or the environment can and should get involved as the information under threat could prove invaluable to future environmental researchers.

The SnapSkan service informs car owners about the condition of their tires by tracking and measuring tread depth and safety via 3D scanning technology. The service joins a growing number of "smart" driving technologies that are poised to make driving safer than ever in the coming years.