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Dec 18, 2015

Nanodevices at one-hundredth the cost

Posted by in categories: business, electronics, mobile phones

Microelectromechanical systems—or MEMS—were a $12 billion business in 2014. But that market is dominated by just a handful of devices, such as the accelerometers that reorient the screens of most smartphones.

That’s because manufacturing MEMS has traditionally required sophisticated semiconductor fabrication facilities, which cost tens of millions of dollars to build. Potentially useful MEMS have languished in development because they don’t have markets large enough to justify the initial capital investment in production.

Two recent papers from researchers at MIT’s Microsystems Technologies Laboratories offer hope that that might change. In one, the researchers show that a MEMS-based gas sensor manufactured with a desktop device performs at least as well as commercial sensors built at conventional production facilities.

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Dec 18, 2015

China wants to begin manned deep space missions

Posted by in categories: economics, energy, engineering, materials, neuroscience, robotics/AI, space

China wants to be the leading force in manned space exploration, and is exploring sending people to the far side of the moon, Mars, asteroids, and further into deep space.

Becoming the second largest economy in the world and an emerging superpower of its own, China wishes to add deep space exploration into its achievement portfolio. Besides the ongoing moon exploration, its scientists are considering going deeper into the solar system, including Mars, asteroids, and even manned deep-space mission. Liu Jizhong, director of the lunar exploration program and space engineering center, pointed out that China has to be more pioneering, tackling problems such as high speed deep space exploration, energy and power generation, space robot development, and more. He also said that China must cooperate with others as space exploration is an undertaking shared by the entire human species.

China currently intends to explore the far side of the moon, something that has never been done before. It would require a relay satellite for communication and navigation on Lagrange point, where the satellite could orbit within the combined gravitational pull of the Earth-moon system, as said by Zhang Lihua of China Spacesat Co. While China believes that robots are critical to the mission, it also believes that these trips must be manned in order to effectively leverage human decision-making. China also says they are designing footed robots to explore asteroids and better understand their material composition.

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Dec 18, 2015

Hubble Captures Image of First-Ever Predicted Exploding Star

Posted by in category: cosmology

Star = Blown.

Mind = Blown.


Astronomer witness the first-ever predicted supernova explosion. The event will allow scientists to test their models of dark matter distribution within the galaxy.

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Dec 18, 2015

Tim Berners-Lee: “Secret Developments” in AI Aren’t Public Yet

Posted by in categories: internet, robotics/AI

Tim-Berners Lee is often called the inventor of the world wide web because wrote the original proposal for the web and built the first web browser. But in recent years, he’s turned his attention to artificial intelligence.

In a new wide-ranging interview with Campaign Asia, Berners-Lee spoke about the turing test, Ex Machina, and why we should feel nervous about the future of AI.

The pace of AI research is accelerating, Berners-Lee says, but one problem is that lots of current work in the field is done by private companies, which don’t publish their findings. “Most of the work today is completely under wraps,” Berners-Lee said. “We don’t see what companies are working on. AI development is pretty secretive.”

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Dec 18, 2015

Made In Space Teams with Enterprise In Space to 3D Print First Space-Bound Airframe

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, space

Space Tourism … and Much More.

Copyright ©2015 Parabolic Arc.

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Dec 18, 2015

When wearable electronics devices disappear into clothes

Posted by in categories: electronics, wearables

Here come the self drying jackets and self tying shoes! wink


The Athos Upper Body Package includes 14 built in sensors for real-time muscle and heart rate data. (credit: Athos)

Wearables will “disappear” in 2016, predicts New Enterprise Associates venture capital partner Rick Yang, cited in a Wednesday (Dec. 16) CNBC article — integrated “very directly into your everyday life, into your existing fashion sense to the extent that nobody knows you’re wearing a wearable,” he said.

Continue reading “When wearable electronics devices disappear into clothes” »

Dec 18, 2015

Nearby star hosts closest alien planet in the ‘habitable zone’

Posted by in category: space

Knock Knock.
Who’s there?
A type 3 civilization.
A type 3 what?!

Since when have animals in this zoo been allowed to speak?

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Dec 18, 2015

Report: artificial intelligence will cause “structural collapse” of law firms

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, business, finance, health, law, life extension, robotics/AI


Robots and artificial intelligence (AI) will dominate legal practice within 15 years, perhaps leading to the “structural collapse” of law firms, a report predicting the shape of the legal market has envisaged.

Civilisation 2030: The near future for law firms, by Jomati Consultants, foresees a world in which population growth is actually slowing, with “peak humanity” occurring as early as 2055, and ageing populations bringing a growth in demand for legal work on issues affecting older people.

This could mean more advice needed by healthcare and specialist construction companies on the building and financing of hospitals, and on pension investment businesses, as well as financial and regulatory work around the demographic changes to come; more age-related litigation, IP battles between pharmaceutical companies, and around so-called “geriatric-tech” related IP.

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Dec 18, 2015

Sony plans to boost battery performance 40 percent

Posted by in category: energy

Sony is planning to commercialize lithium-sulfur batteries by 2020, and promising increases of up to 40% over conventional lithium-ion architectures. The devil is in the details, but a battery with 40% more specific energy at the same weight and cost as lithium-ion would enable EVs at lower price points.

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Dec 18, 2015

How to get to our nearest star in just twenty-two years

Posted by in category: particle physics

We should use particle accelerators to propel our spacecraft to Alpha Centauri.

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