Menu

Blog

Page 7602

Mar 14, 2020

Don’t Let Robots Pull the Trigger

Posted by in categories: biological, military, robotics/AI

Ban Killer Robots

“Robotic weapons that target and destroy without human supervision are poised to start a revolution in warfare comparable to the invention of gunpowder or the atomic bomb. The prospect poses a dire threat to civilians—and could lead to some of the bleakest scenarios in which artificial intelligence runs amok. A prohibition on killer robots, akin to bans on chemical and biological weapons, is badly needed. But some major military powers oppose it.”


Weapons that kill enemies on their own threaten civilians and soldiers alike.

Mar 14, 2020

Human antibody to new coronavirus

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

First step towards medicine against new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)

Mar 14, 2020

Tesla-Scale Terahertz Magnetic Impulses

Posted by in category: physics

Simulations suggest that a relatively simple laser technique could produce femtosecond magnetic-field pulses, which currently are only available at a few major lab facilities.

See more in Physics

Click to Expand.

Mar 14, 2020

We’re not saying Earth is doomed… but 139 minor planets were spotted at the outer reaches of our Solar System. Just an FYI, that’s all

Posted by in categories: particle physics, space, tractor beam

A simple tractor beam can pull them away like a higgs boson tractor beam.


Too bad they are likely uninhabitable.

Mar 14, 2020

Electrical Field May Speed Wound Healing

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

O.o circa 2019.


A scientist in Wisconsin has invented a bandage that uses an electrical field to speed up the time needed for a wound to heal. It could one day lead to treatments for baldness and obesity.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Continue reading “Electrical Field May Speed Wound Healing” »

Mar 14, 2020

Jugaad epitomized: a deep dive into India’s synthetic biology scene

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical

Google the word “jugaad,” and you’ll find a plethora of results, from simple dictionary definitions to advice that Western companies should adopt it as part of their practices. Jugaad — a colloquial Hindi, Bengali, and Punjab word — simply means “hack,” and captures the pervasive Indian spirit of finding a low-cost — and sometimes quite resourceful — solution to any problem. If this word doesn’t make one think of entrepreneurship, I don’t know what does.

Indeed, the small-scale biotech facilities scattered all across India, offering products with extremely high adoption rates such as microbial-based biofertilizers, capture the essence of jugaad. In India, finding solutions to the problems at hand is very natural, a way of life, essentially — and any solution, especially an economically sensible one, will be readily adopted. With such a pervasive ideal, India seems like the perfect setting for synthetic biology and biotech-based innovation.

Mar 14, 2020

Tulsi Gabbard calls for giving Americans $1K a month during coronavirus outbreak

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, economics, geopolitics, health

Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Tulsi GabbardLawmakers call for universal basic income amid coronavirus crisis Tulsi Gabbard calls for giving Americans K a month during coronavirus outbreak Biden consolidates majority support in new Hill/HarrisX 2020 poll MORE (D-Hawaii) called for introducing a universal basic income (UBI) of $1,000 a month until coronavirus “no longer presents a public health emergency.”

“Most Americans don’t have that safety emergency bank account even for a short term, what to speak of if you’re talking about weeks, or in this case people are looking at potentially months,” Gabbard said in an interview on Hill. TV.

Her proposal, H.R. 897, would give a UBI of $1,000 per month to all adult Americans “until COVID-19 no longer presents a public health emergency.”

Mar 14, 2020

More than 600 suspected Mexican drug cartel members arrested in US

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, law enforcement

The DEA-led initiative focused on members of Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), one of the most dangerous drug cartels in the world, who were monitored by federal law enforcement officials over a six month period.

The agencies announced that the operation resulted in 600 arrests nationwide, 350 indictments and seizures of money and drugs.

Continue reading “More than 600 suspected Mexican drug cartel members arrested in US” »

Mar 14, 2020

He Has 17,700 Bottles of Hand Sanitizer and Nowhere to Sell Them

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Amazon cracked down on coronavirus price gouging. Now, while the rest of the world searches, some sellers are holding stockpiles of sanitizer and masks.

An Amazon merchant, Matt Colvin, with an overflow stock of cleaning and sanitizing supplies in his garage in Hixson, Tenn. Credit… Doug Strickland for The New York Times.

Mar 14, 2020

DARPA awards contracts for Manta Ray autonomous submarine program

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

Diving into the autonomous submarine race, DARPA has awarded contracts to three companies as part of its Manta Ray Program. Intended to support a new generation of long-duration, long-range Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs), the end goal is to produce robotic vehicles that can operate for months without maintenance or human logistics support.

UUVs have advanced so far and so fast in the past 20 years that today major navies like those of the US and the UK are developing vehicles that are so large and so long-range that they are essentially unmanned versions of conventional submarines with the crew spaces removed.

The problem is that sailors are aboard their boats for a reason, which means that future UUVs need to be able to maintain themselves and do without humans to provide logistical support like refueling. This would mean that commanders would have more capabilities at their disposal without being hampered by the UUVs being dependent on manned vessels and ports that would reduce the hosts’ flexibility and availability.