Popular Science 150 features new research from Blueprint affiliate Daron Acemoglu that studies the effects of the “so-so automation” on income inequality over the past four decades. “So-so automation” refers to industry robotics that have relatively minor gains in productivity and consumer convenience, but save corporations a lot of money by displacing lower-skilled workers. The results show that automation has exacerbated the wage gap between white and blue collar workers, as it reduced “the wages of men without a high school degree by 8.8 percent and women without a high school degree by 2.3 percent, adjusted for inflation.”