Menu

Blog

Page 11330

Dec 30, 2015

Autonomous Cars Can Now Learn to Use Landmarks While Driving

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

Cambridge scientists are “teaching machines to see” using a new smartphone-based system (or a regular camera), without GPS or a wireless connection.


This has applications in everything from driverless cars to autonomous vacuum cleaners.

Read more

Dec 30, 2015

A priest got suspended for riding a hoverboard in church

Posted by in category: transportation

Read more

Dec 30, 2015

These Technologies Will Shift the Global Balance of Power in the Next 20 Years

Posted by in categories: business, economics, habitats, solar power, sustainability, transportation

Governments, businesses, and economists have all been caught off guard by the geopolitical shifts that happened with the crash of oil prices and the slowdown of China’s economy. Most believe that the price of oil will recover and that China will continue its rise. They are mistaken. Instead of worrying about the rise of China, we need to fear its fall; and while oil prices may oscillate over the next four or five years, the fossil-fuel industry is headed the way of the dinosaur. The global balance of power will shift as a result.

LED light bulbs, improved heating and cooling systems, and software systems in automobiles have gradually been increasing fuel efficiency over the past decades. But the big shock to the energy industry came with fracking, a new set of techniques and technologies for extracting more hydrocarbons from the ground. Though there are concerns about environmental damage, these increased the outputs of oil and gas, caused the usurpation of old-line coal-fired power plants, and dramatically reduced America’s dependence on foreign oil.

Continue reading “These Technologies Will Shift the Global Balance of Power in the Next 20 Years” »

Dec 30, 2015

LA’s Gas Leak Is a Global Disaster

Posted by in categories: climatology, energy

One of the worst environmental disasters of the decade is currently underway in a quiet community 25 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Putrid, methane-rich natural gas has been spewing into the air at an estimated rate of nearly 1,300 metric tons per day for over two months. Experts are calling it the climate version of the BP oil spill, and the leak isn’t going to be contained anytime soon.

Natural gas is often touted as a cleaner energy source than oil or coal, because of the lower greenhouse gas emissions associated with burning it. But as this disaster highlights, there are insidious risk to natural gas production. Coupled with weak regulation, they can make this energy source as dirty as the fossil fuels it’s meant to replace.

Continue reading “LA’s Gas Leak Is a Global Disaster” »

Dec 30, 2015

Two Steps Closer to a Quantum Internet

Posted by in categories: internet, quantum physics

Einstein’s “spooky action at a distance” can reach as far as low earth orbit, and twisted light could boost quantum communication bandwidth.

Read more

Dec 30, 2015

Frighteningly Enormous Solar Flare Update: White House Prepares For Coronal Mass Ejection, Potential Catastrophic Space Weather Events

Posted by in category: space

While many people are looking back on pivotal events of 2015 — famous deaths, terrorism, and the horse and pony Republican presidential debates — a disturbing solar flare report is trending again.

Recently, the White House made preparations for unpredictable and severe space weather events. And much of the clamor focuses on the possibility of a catastrophic coronal mass ejection striking Earth, citing an AOL latest news story.

According to a Newsy video report (below), an intense solar flare narrowly missed a direct hit with Earth by a matter of days in 2012. NASA said an intense CME launched towards the planet at speeds of over 6 million miles per hour.

Read more

Dec 30, 2015

Powerful Solar Storm to Hit Earth Before New Year’s Eve

Posted by in category: space

Here’s one way to end the year on a bright note.

A powerful solar storm set to slam Earth today will make for stunning views of the Northern Lights just before New Year’s Eve. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center said the “strong” storm could allow the Northern Lights to dip as far south as Oregon and Illinois.

Read more

Dec 30, 2015

The prose at the end of the universe — By Aaron Souppouris | Engadget

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, genetics, human trajectories, media & arts, space travel

https://soundcloud.com/kelly-tang-9/sets/nasa-sounds-of-earth

“Programming ‘indestructible’ bacteria to write poetry.”

Read more

Dec 30, 2015

Robot Car GIF — Find & Share on GIPHY

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

This is Disney’s wall-riding robot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9P9_QM8cN8


Discover & Share this Robot Car GIF with everyone you know. GIPHY is how you search, share, discover, and create GIFs.

Read more

Dec 30, 2015

We Must Cut the Military and Transition to a Science-Industrial Complex

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, economics, life extension, military, transhumanism

My new article for Vice Motherboard. It’s about one of the biggest ideas I believe in–the necessity to spend more money directly on science goals instead of bomb making and defense:


It just so happens that there is another way—a method that would satisfy liberals and conservatives alike. Instead of always spending more on our military, we could transition our nation and its economy into a scientific-industrial complex.

There’s compelling reason to do this beyond what meets the eye. Transhumanist technology is starting to radically change human life. Many experts expect to be able to stop aging and conquer death for human beings in the next 25 years. Others, like myself, see humans merging with machines and replacing our every organ with bionic ones.

Continue reading “We Must Cut the Military and Transition to a Science-Industrial Complex” »