Aug 31, 2015
Double black hole is powering quasar, astronomers find
Posted by Sean Brazell in categories: cosmology, space
Astronomers have discovered a galaxy is being powered by a quasar that contains two black holes whirling about each other.
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Aug 31, 2015
Life Might Spread Across Universe Like an ‘Epidemic’ in New Math Theory
Posted by Sean Brazell in category: alien life
As astronomers get closer to finding potential signatures of life on faraway planets, a new mathematical description shows how to understand life’s spread — and to determine if it’s jumping from star to star. “Life could spread from host star to host star in a pattern similar to the outbreak of an epidemic,” study co-author Avi Loeb of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) said in a statement.
Aug 31, 2015
‘Decorated’ graphene is a superconductor
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in category: materials
Lithium-doped graphene turns out to be a conventional superconductor with a transition temperature of 5.9 K.
Depositing lithium on 2D material generates Cooper pairs.
Aug 31, 2015
Quantum revolution: China set to launch ‘hack proof’ quantum communications network
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: cybercrime/malcode, particle physics, security
China is set to complete the installation of the world’s longest quantum communication network stretching 2,000km (1,240miles) from Beijing to Shanghai by 2016, say scientists leading the project. Quantum communications technology is considered to be “unhackable” and allows data to be transferred at the speed of light.
By 2030, the Chinese network would be extended worldwide, the South China Morning Post reported. It would make the country the first major power to publish a detailed schedule to put the technology into extensive, large-scale use.
The development of quantum communications technology has accelerated in the last five years. The technology works by two people sharing a message which is encrypted by a secret key made up of quantum particles, such as polarized photons. If a third person tries to intercept the photons by copying the secret key as it travels through the network, then the eavesdropper will be revealed by virtue of the laws of quantum mechanics – which dictate that the act of interfering with the network affects the behaviour of the key in an unpredictable manner.
Aug 31, 2015
Let’s End Incarceration and Just Have Drones Supervise Criminals
Posted by Zoltan Istvan in categories: computing, drones, law enforcement, robotics/AI
New article on how tech can help achieve free education while also shrinking the prison system:
Micro drones, robot guards, and tracking chips will turn convicts into tax-paying, law-abiding citizens.
Aug 31, 2015
How Technology Is Fueling The Push Toward Solar
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in category: sustainability
Solar energy in the United States has seen immense momentum throughout the years. When the Solar Energy Industries Association released its annual report in 2008, it concluded that U.S. solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity reached a total of 1.183 gigawatts — a stellar achievement at the time.
Contrast that figure with today, and the number is dwarfed by the United States’ installed capacity of 21.3 gigawatts, enough energy to power 4.3 million homes.
As to what is powering this widespread adoption, one only needs to look at the residential market. According to recently released research by GTM, 72 percent of the market growth in 2014 is a result of solar tech companies offering diverse financing solutions and easy-to-navigate web platforms. Going solar for homeowners has become as easy as online shopping.
Aug 31, 2015
Seasteading 20 Questions, 20 Answers, 20 Seconds Each = PechaKucha! | The Seasteading Institute
Posted by Odette Bohr Dienel in category: governance
Aug 30, 2015
Honda’s Asimo: the penalty-taking, bar-tending robot
Posted by Early Boykins III in category: robotics/AI
Auto Express’ Mat Watson meets Honda’s robot Asimo in Brussels, where he plays football, dances and serves a drink!
Aug 30, 2015
AI Dangerous for Economics? The Other Threat Flying Under Radars
Posted by Dan Faggella in categories: economics, machine learning, security
Dr. Nils J. Nilsson spent almost a lifetime in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) before writing and publishing his book, The Quest for Artificial Intelligence (2009). I recently had the opportunity to speak with the former Stanford computer science professor, now retired at the age of 82, and reflect on the earlier accomplishments that have led to some of the current trends in AI, as well as the serious economic and security considerations that need to be made about AI as society moves ahead in the coming decades.
The Early AI that Powers Today’s Trends
One key contribution of early AI developments included rules-based expert systems, such as MYCIN, which was developed in the mid-1970s by Ted Shortliffe and colleagues at Stanford University. The information built into the diagnostic system was gleaned from medical diagnosticians, and the system would then ask questions based on that information. A person could then type in answers about a patient’s tests, symptoms, etc., and the program would then attempt to diagnose diseases and prescribe therapy.
“Bringing us more up to the future was the occurrence of huge databases (in the 1990s) — sometimes called big data — and the ability of computers to mine that data and find information and make inferences,” remarks Nils. This made possible the new work on face recognition, speech recognition, and language translation. “AI really had what might be called a take off at this time.” Both of these technologies also feed into the launch of IBM’s Watson Healthcare, which combines advanced rules-based systems with big data capabilities and promises to give healthcare providers access to powerful tools in a cloud-based data sharing hub.
Work in neural networks, another catalyst, went through two phases, an earlier phase in the 1950s and 1960s and a latter phase in the 1980s and 1990s. “The second phase (of neural networks) allowed…people to make changes in the connected strength in those networks and multiple layers, and this allowed neural networks that can steer and drive automobiles.” More primitive networks led to the cutting-edge work being done by today’s scientists in the self-driven automobile industry via companies like Tesla and Google.
Continue reading “AI Dangerous for Economics? The Other Threat Flying Under Radars” »
Aug 30, 2015
Becoming an Interstellar Species
Posted by Benjamin T. Solomon in categories: anti-gravity, defense, disruptive technology, physics, space travel
Our interstellar challenge is, how do we as a planet confined humans, become an interstellar species? This encompasses all human endeavors, and is vitally dependent upon interstellar propulsion physics to realize our coming of age as an interstellar species.
There are so many competing ideas on how to realize interstellar propulsion. These include chemical rockets, ion propulsion, nuclear engines, solar sails, atomic bomb pulse detonation, antimatter drives, small black holes, warp drives and much more.
How do we sift through all these competing ideas?
For his objectivity and courage in stating that mathematics has become so sophisticated that it can now be used to prove anything, I have named the approach to solving this interstellar challenge the Kline Directive, in honor of the late Prof. Morris Kline.
