Lifeboat Foundation

NASA has a long history of seeing its technology turned around after spaceflight for some more earthbound purposes. (Enjoy that scratch-resistant coating on your glasses? Well, it began life as an ‘80s-era spacecraft water filtration system.) What some people miss is that it’s still happening today.

Every year, NASA puts out what it calls a “spinoff report.” No, this is not a list of ideas for a series of zany, roommate comedies set aboard the ISS. (Although this is an excellent idea. Call me, NASA TV!) The spinoff report is actually a list of all the ways NASA’s tech has been repurposed into new products, ranging from the inevitable to the surprising to the bizarre.

Here are a few of highlights from this year’s version:

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This battery electric multicopter is part spider and part futuristic flying machine.

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These upgrades certainly get Elon Musk’s seal of approval.

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Google says it’s disappointed by draft rules that would ban driverless cars from traveling on public roads in California without a licensed human driver.

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https://vimeo.com/53577644

Economist Carlota Perez talk about the future of ICT.

Despite more than a thousand artificial-intelligence researchers signing an open letter this summer in an effort to ban autonomous weapons, Business Insider reports that China and Russia are in the process of creating self-sufficient killer robots, and in turn is putting pressure on the Pentagon to keep up.

“We know that China is already investing heavily in robotics and autonomy and the Russian Chief of General Staff [Valery Vasilevich] Gerasimov recently said that the Russian military is preparing to fight on a roboticized battlefield,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work said during a national security forum on Monday.

Work added, “[Gerasimov] said, and I quote, ‘In the near future, it is possible that a complete roboticized unit will be created capable of independently conducting military operations.’”

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That isn’t even the weirdest thing about it.

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You can now hail an Uber from inside Facebook Messenger.

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With hints of a new subatomic particle, physics is entering the unknown.

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