Lifeboat News: The Blog – Safeguarding Humanity

NASA’s making a big exoplanet announcement this week, watch it live!

Jul 22
2015

NASA has had a pretty big month already, but apparently the US space agency’s not done yet. The Ames Research Centre team has revealed that they’ll be making a big announcement on Thursday at 4pm UTC (9am PDT on Thursday, or 2am AEST on Friday) about the exoplanet-hunting Kepler mission. And speculation is already running wild that they may be about to announce the discovery of a new Earth-like planet in the habitable zone of a star… in other words, a potential new home for humanity (or prime spot to look for extraterrestrial life).

10 Technologies That Could Make Humans Immortal

Posted by Shailesh Prasad in life extension, robotics/AI

Jul 22
2015

Will humans ever live forever? With these technological advancements maybe one day. From Robot Avatars to Scientists Manipulating Molecules Alltime10s proudly presents 10 Technologies That Could Make Humans Immortal.

The 8 most innovative scientists in tech and engineering

Posted by Albert Sanchez in engineering, innovation

Jul 22
2015

Based on our list of the 50 groundbreaking scientists who are changing the way we see the world.

Deep neural network program recognizes sketches more accurately than a human

Posted by Sean Brazell in robotics/AI

Jul 22
2015

The Sketch-a-Net program successfully identified a seagull, pigeon, flying bird and standing bird better than humans. (Credit: QMUL, Mathias Eitz, James Hays and Marc Alexa)

Stephen Hawking aliens theory may be right | Newsday

Posted by Sean Brazell in alien life | 2 Comments on Stephen Hawking aliens theory may be right | Newsday

Jul 22
2015

Looking for aliens is really, really cool. But more cool would be finding them. And this obviously leads to the question, what if we catch E.T. watching “Guardians of the Galaxy” in a dark corner of our galaxy? What if we’re not alone? The philosophical consequences are worth intense contemplation.

Star Wars VR Pitch Looks Like The Perfect Star Wars Game

Posted by Sean Brazell in entertainment, virtual reality

Jul 22
2015

Pitch accepted.

Inside Windows Cortana: The Most Human AI Ever Built

Posted by Sean Brazell in robotics/AI

Jul 22
2015

Microsoft wants Cortana to be the Alfred to your Batman — handling your communications and attending to your needs. We get up close and personal with one of the most human-like artificial-intelligence interfaces ever made.

How Brain Implants (and Other Technology) Could Make the Death Penalty Obsolete

Posted by Zoltan Istvan in futurism, law, neuroscience

Jul 22
2015

A new story on how coming technology may change our attitudes on the death penalty. This story was a feature on Vice yesterday, as well as Motherboard:.

The Genesis Engine

Posted by Phillipe Bojorquez in biotech/medical

Jul 22
2015

This is the story of the most important biological discovery of the last 10 years. Will it be used for good, or evil, or everything in between?

Renewable energy boom will mean vastly cheaper electricity

Posted by Simon Waslander in energy, solar power, sustainability

Jul 22
2015

Renewable energy boom will mean vastly cheaper electricity

Renewable energy, combined with prolific battery storage, will soon result in vastly cheaper electricity — and solar power that’s less expensive than what fossil fuel-based power plants can produce.

Additionally, solar power with lithium-ion and flow-battery storage systems will make the combination of renewable energy so inexpensive that it will surpass nuclear power and obviate the need for futuristic power sources such as fusion, according to Tesla CTO JB Straubel.

“I think we’re at the beginning of a new cost decline curve. Almost no one today would have predicted photovoltaic prices would have dropped as fast as they have, and storage is right at the cliff heading down that price curve,” Straubel said.