LIGO detects gravitational waves for the second time, from another pair of merging black holes. This time they were smaller and provided a longer-duration signal of their final moments. Two events within four months suggests that such detections will soon be giving astronomers a wealth of new information about previously invisible events in the Universe.
Smart man.
Android creator Andy Rubin has several tricks up his sleeve. Rubin’s company Playground is currently tinkering with quantum computing and smartphone AI, and he believes that this combination could create a conscious intelligence that would underpin all of technology.
Rubin and his team of roughly fifteen engineers, who hold experience in everything from computer science to mechanical engineering, are currently working with about fifteen other companies to release new and innovative products. Playground enjoys “hatching” new companies within the company and using its vast resources. One such hatchling is a quantum computing firm that Rubin refuses to name. He thinks the company could one day commercialize quantum devices using standard manufacturing processes. Quantum computing has the potential to boost processing power.
More news on the using the magnetic vortex method to control electron spin.
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have developed a way to swiftly and precisely control electron spins at room temperature.
The technology, described in Nature Communications, offers a possible alternative strategy for building quantum computers that are far faster and more powerful than today’s supercomputers.
“What makes electronic devices possible is controlling the movement of electrons from place to place using electric fields that are strong, fast and local,” said physics Professor Jesse Berezovsky, leader of the research. “That’s hard with magnetic fields, but they’re what you need to control spin.”
USA Today story:
As co-writer for USA TODAY’S “For the Record,” I’ve been writing about the campaigns of Republican, Democratic, Libertarian and Green presidential candidates since the newsletter’s launch last summer. But the first presidential candidate to reach out to me was Zoltan Istvan, the Mill Valley, California-based Transhumanist Party candidate who foresees the merger of humans and technology in the very near future. I spoke by phone with Istvan last week.
Big promises are the hallmark of presidential campaigns.
Four years ago, Newt Gingrich said he’d make the moon the 51st state by 2020. Bernie Sanders has proposed free college education for every American. Donald Trump has promised to build a 1,900-mile wall on the border with Mexico.
Raketa will be one of the the first companies in the world to record the production of physical goods in the Blockchain.
Posted in nanotechnology
After their nanorods were accidentally created when an experiment didn’t go as planned, the researchers gave the microscopic, unplanned spawns of science a closer look.
Chemist Satish Nune was inspecting the solid, carbon-rich nanorods with a vapor analysis instrument when he noticed the nanorods mysteriously lost weight as humidity increased. Thinking the instrument had malfunctioned, Nune and his colleagues moved on to another tool, a high-powered microscope.
They jumped as they saw an unknown fluid unexpectedly appear between bunches of the tiny sticks and ooze out.
The new goal is to reverse aging, not only in animals, but in humans. And age reversal is essential, as significant age-related disruption has already occurred in most people due to changes in our gene expression profiles.
Gene expression patterns change with age. This influences the rate at which an individual ages, and also determines what senile disorders they are likely to contract. But innovative gene-editing methods based on a unique technology called CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) are now being successfully harnessed for use as an age-reversal therapy for humans.
In response to these breakthroughs, Life Extension® magazine sent biogerontologist Dr. Gregory M. Fahy to Harvard University to interview Dr. George Church, who is a leading developer of cutting-edge CRISPR techniques. Here, Dr. Church explains remarkable opportunities for transforming human aging that may begin to unfold sooner than most have imagined.
Iconic American motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson is known for chrome, freedom, and big, beefy V-twin engines — but soon, it’ll also be known for something very different.
In an interview with the Milwaukee Business Journal, Harley senior VP Sean Cummings says that it’ll put an all-electric motorcycle on the road within five years. You might recall that the Wisconsin-based company built a limited number of LiveWire electric prototypes in 2014, letting media and customers go for test rides, but those bikes were never sold to the public and were never intended for a production run. Still, LiveWire’s existence suggested Harley was pretty serious about exploring the notion of an EV motorcycle — and apparently, the customer response was positive.
The LiveWire was pretty impressive for its day, capable of 0 to 60 in under four seconds and a top speed of nearly 100 miles per hour — but the 55-mile range (33 in a high-performance mode) along with the 3.5-hour charging time made it a little less versatile than a traditional gasoline motorcycle. Presumably, Harley will use the next few years to engineer a newer, better powertrain that offers more range and quicker charging.
