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Reviewing Space developments in 2016 and the next big future in space

This is one of the Nextbigfuture article series reviewing developments in 2016 and looking ahead to developments over the next few years. Here we look at 2016 in space. Later articles will look at medicine, life extension, energy and other areas. Previously we reviewed computers and artificial intelligence

The biggest developments in space in 2016.

SpaceX had several successful launches and landed several rocket stages but had an accident which has grounded SpaceX. They hope to launching again in January 2017.

The future just arrived, first state legalizes driverless cars (5 Photos)

Michigan just made it into the history books today after Governor Rick Snyder signed 4 bills into law, all governing the legality of the autonomous car, making Michigan the first state to officially sign off on driverless cars on the roads.

Many states have allowed testing of driverless vehicles, but Michigan just officially put them on the road for consumers.

Why artificial intelligence has not yet revolutionised healthcare

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are predicted to be part of the next industrial revolution and could help business and industry save billions of dollars by the next decade.

The tech giants Google, Facebook, Apple, IBM and others are applying artificial intelligence to all sorts of data.

Machine learning methods are being used in areas such as translating language almost in real time, and even to identify images of cats on the internet.

Researchers on the Verge of Creating Artificial Intelligence/Human Hybrids

There is a longstanding debate among artificial intelligence experts and futurists: When, not if, AI emerges on the scene, will it help humanity or destroy it?

The scenario has played out through innumerable iterations in popular culture, the most popular being The Terminator series.

Steven Spielberg, riffing on the film Stanley Kubrick was going to direct before his death, presented the counterpoint, espousing a benevolent vision of AI in A.I. Then there are more nuanced, ambiguous iterations, like the recent Ex Machina.

Mind Controlled Bionic Limbs

In the George Lucas classic Star Wars, hero Luke Skywalker’s arm is severed and amputated during a lightsaber fight and consequently fitted with a bionic arm that he can use as if it were his own limb. At the time the script was written, such a remedy was pure science fiction; however, the ability to manufacture bionic arms that have the functionality and even feel of a natural limb is becoming very real, with goals of launching a prototype as soon as 2009. Already, primates have been trained to feed themselves using a robotic arm merely by thinking about it, while brain sensors have been picking up their brain-signal patterns since 2003. The time has come for implementing this technology on paralyzed human patients and amputees. This article will provide a brief explanation of the technology, its current status, and the potential future it holds.

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