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Jun 7, 2017
Scientists slash computations for deep learning
Posted by Sean Cusack in categories: robotics/AI, transportation
Rice University computer scientists have adapted a widely used technique for rapid data lookup to slash the amount of computation — and thus energy and time — required for deep learning, a computationally intense form of machine learning.
“This applies to any deep-learning architecture, and the technique scales sublinearly, which means that the larger the deep neural network to which this is applied, the more the savings in computations there will be,” said lead researcher Anshumali Shrivastava, an assistant professor of computer science at Rice.
The research will be presented in August at the KDD 2017 conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It addresses one of the biggest issues facing tech giants like Google, Facebook and Microsoft as they race to build, train and deploy massive deep-learning networks for a growing body of products as diverse as self-driving cars, language translators and intelligent replies to emails.
Jun 7, 2017
Playing a musical instrument could help restore brain health, research suggests
Posted by Sean Brazell in categories: computing, health, neuroscience
A study by neuroscientists at Toronto-based Baycrest Rotman Research Institute and Stanford University involving playing a musical instrument suggests ways to improve brain rehabilitation methods.
In the study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience on May 24, 2017, the researchers asked young adults to listen to sounds from an unfamiliar musical instrument (a Tibetan singing bowl). Half of the subjects (the experimental group) were then asked to recreate the same sounds and rhythm by striking the bowl; the other half (the control group) were instead asked to recreate the sound by simply pressing a key on a computer keypad.
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Jun 7, 2017
Solar System’s Long-Term Future Could Lie Outside Milky Way
Posted by Bruce Dorminey in categories: futurism, space
Jun 7, 2017
Zoltan Istvan: How Basic Income Can Work In California
Posted by Zoltan Istvan in categories: economics, health
I’m super excited to share a (via NowThis Op-Ed) video of my bipartisan plan to fund a Basic Income, which I call a Federal Land Dividend. This is a main platform issue of my California Libertarian Governor run. This plan can forever end poverty and lack of health care in California and America—and perhaps even end poverty and lack of health care around the world if adopted by foreign governments.
This futurist has a plan to bring basic income to America.
Jun 7, 2017
Scientists Can Now Answer How Stardust Makes Molecules
Posted by Yugal Agrawal in category: futurism
June 6 (UPI) — Our galaxy and its neighbors exist in a sort of cosmic void, research suggests. The latest analysis supports the conclusion of a 2013 study which showed the Milky Way exists in a region of the universe sparsely populated by galaxies, stars and planets.
The new research — presented this week at the annual American Astronomical Society meeting — also helps bridge the divide between astronomers torn by competing measurements of the Hubble Constant, the rate at which the universe is expanding.
Different groups of astronomers have developed different techniques for measuring the Hubble Constant, with each method yielding different numbers.
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Jun 7, 2017
Friday June 9th 13:00 EST/18:00 UK “How to Promote Longevity?”
Posted by Steve Hill in category: life extension
Due technical issues the Longevity Panel with Aubrey de Grey, Alexandra Stolzing and Oliver Medvedik + guests will be airing on Friday 9th June at 13:00 on the MMTP Facebook page. Apologies for the delay.
We are teaming up with LEAF/Lifespan.io for our Longevity Panel with Dr. Alexandra Stolzing, Dr. Aubrey de Grey, Dr. Oliver Medvedik and a number of other guests. We will be streaming the panel live to this page and we invite you to join us. It will also be made available later to view on Youtube.
This was originally scheduled for the 6th June but had to be rescheduled due to technical problems. We apologize for the inconvenience.
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Jun 6, 2017
Elon Musk says robots will beat humans at everything by 2030
Posted by Dan Kummer in categories: Elon Musk, robotics/AI
The performance of humans’ puny brains will be outmatched by computers within just 13 years, billionaire Elon Musk has claimed.
The Tesla and SpaceX founder said that artificial intelligence will beat us at just about everything by 2030.
He made the comments on Twitter, where he was responding to a new study which claims our race will be overtaken by 2060.
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Jun 6, 2017
Solar System Map: Surprisingly deceptive
Posted by Philip Raymond in categories: astronomy, cosmology, gravity, lifeboat, mapping, physics, space, space travel
What’s wrong with this illustration of the planets in our solar system? »
For one thing, it suggests that the planets line up for photos on the same solar ray, just like baby ducks in a row. That’s a pretty rare occurrence—perhaps once in several billion years. In fact, Pluto doesn’t even orbit on the same plane as the planets. Its orbit is tilted 17 degrees. 
So, forget it lining up with anything, except on rare occasions, when it crosses the equatorial plane. On that day, you might get it to line up with one or two planets.
But what about scale? Space is so vast. Perhaps our solar system looks like this ↓
No such luck! Stars and planets do not fill a significant volume of the void. They are lonely specs in the great enveloping cosmic dark.* 
Space is mostly filled with—well—space! Lots and lots of it. In fact, if Pluto and our own moon were represented by just a single pixel on your computer screen, you wouldn’t see anything around it. Even if you daisy chain a few hundred computer screens, you will not discern the outer planets. They are just too far away.
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