Lifeboat News: The Blog – Safeguarding Humanity

Thousands of ‘scrotum frogs’ mysteriously dying

Posted by Sean Brazell in sustainability

Oct 18
2016

I’m no biologist, but from what I understand frogs are kind of like the canary in the coal mine: They breath with their skin, thus environmental disasters will effect them first. So very, very not good.

Peruvian authorities want to know why more than 10,000 endangered frogs living near Lake Titicaca have suddenly died.

The Titicaca Water Frog is considered a “critically endangered” species, according to conservation groups. The giant amphibians, which can weigh more than two pounds, have excessive skin folds that have earned the species a rather wrinkly nickname: scrotum frog.

Apple hires CMU professor as director of AI research to smarten up Siri — By Devin Coldewey | TechCrunch

Posted by Odette Bohr Dienel in business, robotics/AITagged Apple, Siri

Oct 18
2016

Apple is making a visible push in the direction of AI today by hiring Carnegie Mellon University professor Ruslan Salakhutdinov for what appears to be a newly minted position: director of AI research.

The Nobel Prize for Chemistry goes to the creators of molecular machines

Posted by Shailesh Prasad in chemistry, nanotechnology

Oct 18
2016

An Electromagnetic Arms Race Has Begun: China Is Making Railguns Too

Posted by Klaus Baldauf in innovation, military

Oct 18
2016

CASIC, a major Chinese defense contractor, has made major breakthroughs for China to build and deploy military railguns.

Medical Innovations

Posted by Shailesh Prasad in biotech/medical, innovation

Oct 18
2016

Google’s ‘DeepMind’ AI platform can now learn without human input

Posted by Elmar Arunov in robotics/AI

Oct 18
2016

Bow to your robot overlords. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, now possesses a smart AI capable of learning without the need for human input.

Apple’s new director of AI research will speak at EmTech MIT 2016

Posted by Elmar Arunov in computing, robotics/AI

Oct 18
2016

Ruslan Salakhutdinov, a deep-learning expert at Carnegie Mellon, is exploring smart ways for computers to learn about the world.

Shailesh Prasad Photo

Posted by Shailesh Prasad in futurism

Oct 18
2016

Samsung’s 10nm node, SoCs now in mass production

Posted by Shailesh Prasad in computing

Oct 18
2016

Samsung announced today that it is rolling out 10nm technology for mass manufacturing, with hardware expected in early 2017.

Graphene and Quantum Dots Come Together to Create “Hybrid” Tech

Posted by Shailesh Prasad in materials, quantum physics

Oct 18
2016

In Brief:

This new development in photoelectronics makes the technology more cost (and quantum) efficient. This opens ways for graphene to be further integrated in the field of photoelectronics.

EICREA professors Frank Koppens and Gerasimos Konstantatos led researchers in the ICFO in developing a hybrid photodetector that is better-performing in terms of speed, accuracy and range, and operates in the visible spectrum, near infrared (NIR) and short-wave infrared (SWIR), with wavelengths ranging from 400 to 3000 nm.