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Apr 9, 2020

SARS-CoV-2 infects T lymphocytes through its spike protein-mediated membrane fusion

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

COVID-19, the novel coronavirus disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 and outbroken at the end of 2019 in Wuhan, China, becomes a worldwide pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 belongs to the betacoronavirus genus and has 79.5% identity to SARS-CoV. SARS-CoV-2 uses angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as its host entry receptor.

Apr 9, 2020

The Pentagon Wants an Orbital Space Weapon to Blast Enemy Missiles

Posted by in categories: military, particle physics, space

You know the scene in “Akira” where Tetsuo rips a satellite space weapon out of orbit?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxh-IjxG2KY

Now the U.S. military wants to try something similar, according to Defense One. The Pentagon is requesting hundreds of millions of dollars to ramp up space-based weaponry including particle beams and space lasers that’ll fire downward at Earthly targets — a dark vision of the militarization of space.

Apr 9, 2020

Reconstructing the clock of human development

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Researchers led by Kyoto University have reconstituted the human ‘segmentation clock’ — a key focus of embryonic development research — using induced pluripotent stem cells, iPSCs.

Apr 9, 2020

Google outage hits Gmail, Snapchat and Nest

Posted by in category: futurism

Company investigating after Cloud Platform problem causes email delivery failures.

Apr 9, 2020

Musk Reads: Starship user guide reveals big plans

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, space travel

SN3 suffers a setback and Crew Dragon is still set to fly. Could Starlink help in the coronavirus lockdowns? It’s Musk Reads: SpaceX Edition #157.

A version of this article appeared in the “Musk Reads” newsletter. Sign up for free here.

Apr 9, 2020

Revisiting the Intelligent Ship

Posted by in categories: futurism, military

Last September, we looked at Dstl and DASA’s new competition to map out the future of naval warfare. With the first contracts now announced, Harry Lye catches up with the Intelligent Ship project.

Apr 9, 2020

NASA Telescope Idea Could Spot Vegetation on Distant Exoplanets

Posted by in category: space

Albert Einstein first discovered the phenomenon in 1936.

Apr 9, 2020

Department of Energy Announces $30 Million for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Research

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Focus is on Physical Sciences Research and Management of Complex Systems

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a plan to provide up to $30 million for advanced research in machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) for both scientific investigation and the management of complex systems.

The initiative encompasses two separate topic areas. One topic is focused on the development of ML and AI for predictive modeling and simulation focused on research across the physical sciences. ML and AI are thought to offer promising new alternatives to traditional programming methods for computer modeling and simulation.

Apr 9, 2020

Computer Vision Is Solving Problems That Weren’t Even On Our List

Posted by in categories: entertainment, robotics/AI

Replicating human interaction and behavior is what artificial intelligence has always been about. In recent times, the peak of technology has well and truly surpassed what was initially thought possible, with countless examples of the prolific nature of AI and other technologies solving problems around the world.

Think about this: Gary Kasparov stated that he would never lose a game of chess to a computer. For a long time, this seemed like a statement that would withstand all tests.

Roll on 1996, however, and IBM developed Deep Blue, a computer bot/program/application that beat the master Gary Kasparov at his own game.

Apr 9, 2020

A Transhumanism Future? – Anders Sandberg Interview

Posted by in category: transhumanism

https://youtube.com/watch?v=UFe7oRIDMxs

This is a solid interview on core Transhumanist topics.


My interview with Anders Sandberg, a prominent transhumanist thinker and research fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University. We discuss how the transhumanist movement has changed, how it should engage in politics, whether pre-natural death cryogenics should be allowed and how long humans could live for amongst other things. Hope you enjoy!

Continue reading “A Transhumanism Future? – Anders Sandberg Interview” »