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Coining the Technological Singularity

Everybody writes about the Singularity now. Almost nobody knows where the word was born.

Not in a lab. Not in a think tank. In the January 1983 issue of Omni magazine, where a mathematician and science fiction writer named Vernor Vinge put a name to the thing the rest of us are still trying to survive.

Think about that. Four decades before ChatGPT, before the AI arms race, before every futurist and their algorithm started forecasting the end of the human era, the framework already existed. Vinge saw the curve. He just needed a word for the point where it goes vertical.

Today, that word is inescapable. Write about AI, about the future of work, about what happens to humanity when the machines get smarter than us, and you are writing about the Singularity, whether you use the term or not. Refuse to, and you owe your reader an explanation for why not. So you are still writing about it.

Thanks to Josh Calder, who dug out and scanned the original page, you can see the exact moment the term entered our vocabulary. A little piece of digital history, hiding in plain sight for 40 years.

Where do you think we are on Vinge’s curve right now? #Singularity #ArtificialIntelligence #Futurism.

Continue reading “Coining the Technological Singularity” | >

A blood protein can flag dementia risk decades before symptoms appear

Forgetting the name of a loved one may be one of the first signs people notice of dementia, but it’s rarely the first warning sign your brain gives. Changes in the brain that lead to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia start showing up decades before symptoms arrive, and the chemicals at work inside the body can often tip us off to these changes well ahead of time.

A recent study found that a blood protein called GDF15, which is released when cells are under stress, could serve as one of the earliest warning signs of dementia. After tracking more than half a million people for 15–25 years, researchers discovered that those with higher GDF15 levels before age 55 were significantly more likely to develop dementia later in life. Finding that protein in the blood was a much stronger predictor of vascular dementia than Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia.

This opens the possibility that a simple blood test in midlife, one that checks for GDF15, could help doctors flag who is at higher risk of dementia decades down the line. The findings are published in Science Advances.

Israeli research offers new hope for overcoming one of the deadliest brain cancers

The researchers then tested BA-101 together with temozolomide and found that the combination was more effective than either treatment alone. In experiments using mouse models, the combined therapy significantly reduced tumor growth, suggesting that targeting the cancer cells’ resistance mechanism could make existing chemotherapy more powerful.

“Temozolomide resistance remains one of the biggest obstacles in treating glioblastoma,” said Amal. “Our findings suggest that targeting nitrosative stress can restore the tumor’s sensitivity to treatment. While additional studies are needed before this approach can reach patients, these results open an exciting new direction for developing more effective therapies against one of the deadliest cancers.”

The researchers said their findings could point to a new approach in cancer treatment: instead of replacing existing drugs, future therapies could focus on blocking the mechanisms that allow tumors to resist them. If further studies confirm the findings, disabling these survival pathways could allow treatments that have become less effective to regain their ability to attack cancer cells.

Second prostate-specific membrane antigen PET scan can change treatment for nearly half of prostate cancer patients

A second prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) PET scan changed treatment plans for nearly half of patients whose first scan was negative, according to new research published in the July issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Findings from the repeat PSMA scans, which included both local and distant disease, resulted in a change in management for nearly 50% of these patients.

Managing recurrent prostate cancer after first-line treatment, such as prostatectomy or radiation therapy, remains a clinical challenge. Although PSMA PET imaging has improved disease detection, 30% of patients still have no detectable disease on initial imaging, even as rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels suggest recurrence. Few studies have examined whether repeating PSMA PET in this situation is worthwhile.

“There is little information on the utility of repeating a PSMA PET after an initial negative scan,” said Ur Metser, BSc, MD, FRCPC, professor of radiology at the University of Toronto and head of the Division of Molecular Imaging at the Joint Department of Medical Imaging at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto. “In our study, my colleagues and I sought to determine the benefit of a second PSMA PET scan, as well as to assess predictors for positive PSMA PET scans.”

Nearby ‘Super Earth’ may be a better candidate for life than previously thought

Using the Hobby-Eberly Telescope at McDonald Observatory, astronomers have taken a closer look at a nearby exoplanet and discovered it may be more Earth-like than previously thought. The planet, known as GJ 3378b, orbits a small, cool star called a red dwarf. Just 25 light-years from Earth in the direction of the northern constellation Camelopardalis, it lies in its star’s “habitable zone”—the region where temperatures could allow liquid water to exist—making it a candidate to host life.

“Our mantra is ‘follow the water,’” explained Paul Robertson, an astronomer at the University of California, Irvine, and lead author on the new study of GJ 3378b published in The Astrophysical Journal. “It’s the one thing every known living thing on Earth needs, so that’s the first thing we look for when trying to find environments that could sustain life.”

Reddwarfs are the coolest group of stars in existence. They are much smaller and dimmer than our sun and often appear reddish, hence their name. They are the most common stars in our galaxy, making them an important target in the search for life outside our solar system.

3D-printed battery electrolyte could let devices store power in almost any shape

Researchers at The University of Texas at El Paso have developed a way to 3D-print an essential battery component in nearly any shape. Their innovation could free engineers from the constraints of standard rechargeable battery sizes and allow energy storage to be built directly into the devices the batteries power.

The work, detailed in a study published in Communications Engineering, centers on gel polymer electrolytes, the material inside a battery that carries the ions (the particles that carry the electrical charge) between the electrodes—the two terminals where chemical reactions occur and electricity enters or leaves the battery.

From liquid limits to printable gel Conventional electrolytes are liquids that must be sealed inside rigid casings, a design that limits battery shapes and raises safety concerns about leaks. The UTEP team instead created a printable gel by combining a light-curable resin with a lithium-based liquid electrolyte, then hardening it layer by layer using a technique called vat photopolymerization.

The Future Will Be Shaped By Accelerated Technological Development And Visionary Leadership

Chuck Brooks is the president of Brooks Consulting International and one of Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Experts.

We are on the brink of a transformative era where rising technologies are colliding to create unparalleled innovation. artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and quantum technologies are transforming research and development, expediting prototyping and disrupting various industries.

This convergence, propelled by exponential processing power, molecular precision and intelligent systems, promises trillions in economic value while posing significant concerns in security, ethics and labor preparedness.

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