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Mar 11, 2020

Technology Policy Discussion Forum for Presidential Candidates

Posted by in categories: geopolitics, policy

Technology Policy Discussion Event for Presidential Candidates: Featuring Adam Kokesh, Ben Zion, John Macafee, Vermin Supreme, Zoltan Istvan and more.


Causes event in Melbourne, VIC, Australia by DEBT NATION on Sunday, March 15 2020.

Mar 11, 2020

French presidential candidate Mélenchon uses ‘hologram’ optical illusion to appear in seven places

Posted by in categories: geopolitics, holograms

As the April 23rd French presidential election approaches, candidates are predictably stumping to bring voters out, but far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon may have the most effective strategy: using an optical illusion, he beamed “holograms” of himself to six cities around the country.

As Le Parisien reports, Mélenchon, who is often compared to Bernie Sanders, uses a technique known as Pepper’s Ghost (and not technically a hologram) to broadcast a 2-D version of himself. From Dijon, he simultaneously appeared in seven places at once yesterday.

Mar 11, 2020

Vladimir Putin’s Stasi ID card found in German archives

Posted by in category: security

The discovery of an East German secret police ID card wouldn’t normally attract much attention, but things get a lot more interesting when it’s Vladimir Putin’s.

Issued in 1985, the document belonged to the then mid-ranking Soviet officer, now the President of Russia. At the time, Putin worked for the KGB spy service as a liaison with the East German State Security Service (Staatssicherheitsdienst), nicknamed the “Stasi.”

From 1985 to 1990, Putin was stationed in Dresden, East Germany. The German newspaper Bild says the ID card found in the archives proves Putin was working for the Stasi, but the Stasi Records Agency (BStU) says it served a purely practical purpose.

Mar 11, 2020

Exercise and the brain: why moving your body matters

Posted by in categories: health, neuroscience

Exercise boosts your brain, but a walk on the wild side is what you need to keep your hippocampus happy.

Mar 11, 2020

New Antenna Will Boost UAV Communication with Satellites

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, satellites

A group of Chinese researchers has developed a compact, sabre-like antenna for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that can switch between two radiation patterns for better communication coverage. They describe their work in a study published 26 February in IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation.

For UAVs cruising at high speeds, it’s desirable to have small, aerodynamic antennas that limit drag but can still yield sufficient bandwidth and coverage. Zhijun Zhang, a researcher at Tsinghua University, notes that sabre-shaped antennas are beneficial in the sense that they are very aerodynamic—but there is a major limitation that comes with this design.

“Conventional sabre-like antennas generate a donut-shape radiation pattern, which provides an omnidirectional coverage and is ideal for air-to-ground communication. However, a donut-shape pattern has a null at its zenith,” Zhang explains.

Mar 11, 2020

Bees: how important are they and what would happen if they became extinct?

Posted by in categories: existential risks, food

40% of the world’s insect species are in decline, and scientists believe that a third are threatened with extinction. From pesticides to invasive species, there are various reasons, but any losses could have a major impact on our food systems.

Mar 11, 2020

2018 May be the Year of The Artificial Pancreas

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

The authors of a paper in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, have concluded that artificial pancreas’ may be available by 2018.

Mar 11, 2020

How autonomous freight trains powered by artificial intelligence could come to a railroad near you

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

As driverless trucks hit the road, America’s freight railroad industry looks to artificial intelligence to stay competitive — including in the Pacific Northwest.

Mar 11, 2020

Chemists create new artificial enzyme

Posted by in categories: biological, food

Enzymes are nature’s powerhouses. Found in the cells of all animals, plants, and every other living organism, they accelerate the chemical reactions that trigger thousands of biological functions—from forming neurons to digesting food.

Mar 11, 2020

Satellite operators hint at fear of SpaceX, Blue Origin becoming competitors

Posted by in category: satellites

WASHINGTON — Two of the world’s largest geostationary satellite fleet operators said March 10 that launch providers who compete with them by deploying their own constellations could influence their choice of rockets.

Executives from SES and Eutelsat at the Satellite 2020 conference here said they are watching as SpaceX deploys its own Starlink constellation of broadband satellites, which could make SpaceX one of their competitors.

Blue Origin could also become a competitor if it launches Amazon’s Kuiper broadband constellation, according to Eutelsat Deputy CEO Michel Azibert and Hughes President Pradman Kaul, since Jeff Bezos owns both Amazon and Blue Origin.