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Jan 19, 2016

Quantum Weirdness Now a Matter of Time

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics, robotics/AI

Imagine a Quantum computer and/ or device that can perform “all possible operations” with the associated data all at once; and not just performing a series of operations. Meaning, with Quantum Entanglement processing, our AI machines could truly outperform all of us. No longer a fantasy or myth; it will be real.


Bizarre quantum bonds connect distinct moments in time, suggesting that quantum links — not space-time — constitute the fundamental structure of the universe.

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Jan 19, 2016

Objet d’Art: A Space Oddity — By Rachel Small | Interview Magazine

Posted by in categories: media & arts, space, space travel

img-nasa-rake_111059524287

“Though humble in appearance, this object is the product of great ambitions. Dubbed a “Lunar Rake,” it was designed and manufactured in the late 1960s in partnership with NASA. A facsimile of the implement that astronauts would theoretically use to scrape up dust on the moon, this model was used only during training.”

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Jan 19, 2016

A Brief History of Stephen Hawking Being a Bummer

Posted by in categories: engineering, existential risks, genetics, sustainability

Yeah, he’s turned into quite the man-of-panic as of late.


Stephen Hawking is at it again, saying it’s a “near certainty” that a self-inflicted disaster will befall humanity within the next thousand years or so. It’s not the first time the world’s most famous physicist has raised the alarm on the apocalypse, and he’s starting to become a real downer. Here are some of the other times Hawking has said the end is nigh—and why he needs to start changing his message.

Speaking to the Radio Times recently ahead of his BBC Reith Lecture, Hawking said that ongoing developments in science and technology are poised to create “new ways things can go wrong.” The scientist pointed to nuclear war, global warming, and genetically-engineering viruses as some of the most serious culprits.

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Jan 19, 2016

Scientists Claim to Perform Head Transplant on Monkey, Experts Say Prove It

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

An international team of neuroscientists claims to have successfully carried out a head transplant on a monkey, along with other related experiments. But because the details haven’t been published, experts remain skeptical.

Warning: Graphic image to follow.

As New Scientist reports, the procedure was led by Sergio Canavero, a neuroscientist who works for the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group in Italy. Canavero made headlines last year by suggesting that head transplants are about to become a reality, and that the medical technology required to perform such a seemingly radical procedure already exists. At the time, Canavero said the first human head transplant would happen in about two years. If this latest development is true, his team appears to be right on track.

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Jan 19, 2016

Neuroscientists have figured out how your brain wakes you up

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

You may not realise it when your alarm clock forces you into a bleary-eyed stupor first thing in the morning, but there’s actually a complex chemical process going on inside your brain as you wake up. And scientists now think they’ve identified the part of the brain that ends periods of light sleep and brings us into a state of wakefulness.

Researchers from Switzerland focussed their attention on a specific neural circuit located between the brain’s hypothalamus and thalamus. By stimulating this circuit with pulses of light in a group of mice, the academics could prompt rapid awakenings from sleep and then cause prolonged wakefulness.

Why should we be excited about knowing more about how we get yanked out of our regular sleep patterns? The researchers say it could ultimately help those who are trapped in a long-term coma or vegetative state, and on the flip side, could also help those with sleep disorders, or at least give doctors a better idea of why they aren’t sleeping correctly.

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Jan 19, 2016

Interesting Futurism Animation 16

Posted by in category: futurism

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Jan 19, 2016

The Dawn of the Singularity: A Visual Timeline of Ray Kurzweil’s Predictions

Posted by in categories: engineering, Ray Kurzweil, singularity

The following predictions were made by Ray Kurzweil, now the Director of Engineering at Google. He has made 147 predictions since the 1990’s and has maintained an astonishing 86% accuracy rate.

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Jan 19, 2016

Painless electrical zaps may replace dental anesthesia needles

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, materials

As much as some people fear getting dental fillings or root canals, what many of them are really afraid of is the needle that delivers the anesthetic into the mouth tissue. Even though the skin in the “jabbing area” is usually pretreated with a topical anesthetic, it can still hurt. Before long, however, a shot of electricity could make that topical treatment deep-acting enough that the needle isn’t even needed.

In a recent study, scientists from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil combined two commonly-used anesthetic drugs – prilocaine hydrochloride and lidocaine hydrochloride – with a polymer to form a hydrogel. The polymer was included to make it sticky, so that it could be applied to the lining of a pig’s mouth.

Using a process known as iontophoresis, a mild and painless electrical current was then passed through the hydrogel. As a result, there was a 12-fold increase in how well the prilocaine hydrochloride permeated through the tissue. The anesthetic effect was claimed to be not only fast-acting, but also long-lasting.

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Jan 19, 2016

LinkNYC’s free gigabit Wi-Fi is here, and it is glorious

Posted by in categories: economics, habitats, internet, mobile phones

I’m standing on the corner of 15th Street and Third Avenue in New York City, and I’m freezing. But my iPhone is on fire. After connecting to one of LinkNYC’s gigabit wireless hotspots, the futuristic payphone replacements that went live for beta testing this morning, I’m seeing download speeds of 280 Mbps and upload speeds of 317 Mbps (based on Speedtest’s benchmark). To put it in perspective, that’s around ten times the speed of the average American home internet connection (which now sits at 31 Mbps). And to top it all off, LinkNYC doesn’t cost you a thing.

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Jan 19, 2016

God Does Not Deserve Admiration

Posted by in category: ethics

God does not exist. However, let’s grant for a moment that God is real. Religious texts and practices show that God is wicked, cruel, and immoral, and totally unworthy of affection by moral human beings.

For the sake of brevity, we’ll exclusively consider the God of the New Testament, and ignore the God of the Old Testament, Koran, and other books. This God is often portrayed as hip, cool, and loving. If we dig deeper into some of the basic tenets of Christianity held by mainstream Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox churches, we’ll see that it’s an elaborate smoke screen. The God of the New Testament is a beast.

The Problem of Evil

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