Menu

Blog

Page 10804

Feb 5, 2016

What is AltspaceVR?

Posted by in categories: entertainment, virtual reality

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQtQGoMRXaI

AltspaceVR lets you share experiences with people in virtual reality. Hang out, attend events, play games, and more.

Join the community (no headset required): https://account.altvr.com/users/sign_up

Read more

Feb 5, 2016

Scientists work out how create matter from light, to finally prove Einstein’s E=mc2

Posted by in category: particle physics

Physicists in England claim they have discovered how to create matter from light, by smashing together individual massless photons– a feat that was first theorized back in 1934, and has been considered practically impossible until now. If this new discovery pans out, the final piece of the physics jigsaw puzzle that describes how light and matter interact would be complete. No one’s quite sure of the repercussions if matter can indeed be produced from photon-photon collision, but I’m sure something awesomely scientific will emerge before long.

Way back in 1930, British theoretical physicist Paul Dirac theorized that an electron and its antimatter counterpart (a positron) could be annihilated (combined) to produce two photons. Then, in 1934, two physicists — Breit and Wheeler — proposed that the opposite should also be true: That two photons could be smashed together to produce an electron and positron (a Breit-Wheeler pair). In other words, that light can be converted into matter, and vice versa — or, to phrase it another way, E=mc2 works in both directions. This would close one of the last gaps in particle physics that has been theorized, but has proven very hard to prove through observation.

Read more

Feb 5, 2016

Much Ado around Nothing: The Cosmological non-Constant Problem

Posted by in category: quantum physics

A new problem is born.

Read more

Feb 5, 2016

Is This Ancient Greek ‘Laptop’ Proof That Time Travel Is Real?

Posted by in categories: computing, time travel

It’s clearly some kind of jewelry or small weapon case, not a freaking laptop.
But just for arguments sake, why would advanced time travelers be using laptops at all? Why not a tablet? Oh god, now they’re going to go over every single ancient depiction of a person looking at a tablet and say it’s from the future. That would have made the library at Alexandria the ancient equivalent to a Best Buy big box store in our time…

Oh god, what have I done?
Too bad I can’t go back in time and…errr.
wink

Continue reading “Is This Ancient Greek ‘Laptop’ Proof That Time Travel Is Real?” »

Feb 5, 2016

Ghost in the Shell Movie Adds Michael Pitt as the Villain

Posted by in category: entertainment

Rupert Sanders’ live-action ‘Ghost in the Shell’ movie has added Michael Pitt as the villain, but it’s not the antagonist you might have expected.

Read more

Feb 5, 2016

Modelling how the brain makes complex decisions

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Researchers have constructed the first comprehensive model of how neurons in the brain behave when faced with a complex decision-making process, and how they adapt and learn from mistakes.

The mathematical , developed by researchers from the University of Cambridge, is the first biologically realistic account of the process, and is able to predict not only behaviour, but also neural activity. The results, reported in the Journal of Neuroscience, could aid in the understanding of conditions from and addiction to Parkinson’s disease.

The model was compared to experimental data for a wide-ranging set of tasks, from simple binary choices to multistep sequential . It accurately captures behavioural choice probabilities and predicts choice reversal in an experiment, a hallmark of complex decision making.

Read more

Feb 5, 2016

Porsche completes photovoltaic pylon

Posted by in categories: energy, robotics/AI, transportation

All they need to do is also make it capture wind energy…


Porsche defrays its luddite position on driverless vehicles with an impressive solar array that will power the Berlin-Adlershof Porsche center from 2017.

Read more

Feb 5, 2016

Ourobotics takes home Silicon Valley Google Award with 10 material bioprinter

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, materials, robotics/AI

Bioprinting companies can be successful at start-up investment conferences, although they are sometimes outshone by more immediately accessible products. Bioprinters have the potential to drastically change life expectancy and quality in the long term, but can “only” help out with scientific research in the short term and that, often, is not exciting enough for start-up awards.

That was not the case at the recent SVOD (Silicon Valley Open Doors) Europe, an investment conference that began in 2005 and went global in 2015. The event then came to Europe for the first time in an effort to connect the Eastern European tech community with more established ecosystems. This year, the event took place in Ireland and “local” startupper Jemma Redmond took home the top prize with the Ourobotics 10 material 3D bioprinter.

I have been following Jemma and her team’s progress, from the pre-conference preparation all the way up to her presentation, via Facebook feed and other updates. The event took place at Google’s Dublin HQ and the winning team received, among other things, $5,000 in Google Adwords credits. Clearly happy about this success, Jemma told me they faced off against 25 other teams.

Read more

Feb 5, 2016

Elon Musk and Spacex to reveal the Spacex Mars roadmap at IAC from Sept 26-30th 2016

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, materials, space travel

At the StartmeupHK Festival in Hong Kong, Musk stated that he was prepared to unveil SpaceX’s Mars roadmap at the International Astronautical Conference, which will take place from September 26 to 30 in Mexico. And according to Berger of Ars Technica, Musk’s plan may call for the kick-off of humans to Mars by 2025, a fairly ambitious goal that puts it nearly a decade ahead of NASA’s nebulous Mission to Mars plans.

SpaceX is working on the Falcon Heavy, a rocket ready to debut later this year capable of lifting 58 tons of material into Low Earth Orbit, which is about four times the lifting power of the Falcon 9. It’s specs are just a few hairs short of NASA’s own Space Launch System, the largest rocket since the Saturn V rockets that carried out the Apollo moon landings.

Continue reading “Elon Musk and Spacex to reveal the Spacex Mars roadmap at IAC from Sept 26-30th 2016” »

Feb 5, 2016

AI Is Transforming Google Search. The Rest of the Web Is Next

Posted by in categories: internet, robotics/AI

As Google’s head of artificial intelligence takes charge of search, deep learning is already changing the way Googling works.

Read more