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Mar 2, 2020

How robots explain themselves matters more than you might think

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

A robot might be great at its job. But that’s not enough to engender trust.

[Source Image: z_wei/iStock, AlfazetChronicles/iStock].

Mar 2, 2020

Elon Musk shows off the shiny SpaceX Starship

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel

The partial rocket named “SN1” literally buckled under pressure.

Mar 2, 2020

How Neanderthal DNA might have shaped some human brains

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Gene variants acquired through interbreeding seem to give some people with European ancestry more elongated brains. Gene variants acquired through interbreeding give some people more elongated brains.

Mar 2, 2020

L3Harris wins $1.2 billion contract to maintain, upgrade space surveillance systems

Posted by in categories: military, space, surveillance

WASHINGTON — L3Harris has been awarded a 10-year $1.2 billion contract by the U.S. Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center to maintain and modernize the military’s network of space surveillance sensors.

The award is for a new program named MOSSAIC, short for maintenance of space situational awareness integrated capabilities. The selection of L3Harris was announced Feb. 25 on the beta. SAM.gov federal contracting opportunities website.

MOSSAIC replaces a previous contract that Harris (before it merged with L3) had held since 2002 to maintain the Air Force’s network of telescopes — known as the Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance System — that track objects in geostationary orbits. Now under control of the U.S. Space Force are three GEODSS sites — on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean; at the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico; and in Maui, Hawaii.

Mar 2, 2020

Cyborgs, Robots, And Biohackers: The First-Ever Survey of Transhumanism

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, life extension, neuroscience, robotics/AI, transhumanism, wearables

the photo series by vintner and fletcher illustrates three gradual stages of transhumanism from ‘testing ground’, ‘patient zero’ to ‘humanity 2.0’. at the lowest tier, ‘testing ground’ looks into individuals who have created wearable technology to expand their human abilities, improving everything from concentration to mental health.‘patient zero’ studies those who have taken permanent action to become half human and half robot. in the final chapter, ‘humanity 2.0’, the transhumanist subjects focus on life extension and immortality.

Mar 2, 2020

Reinforcement-learning AIs are vulnerable to a new kind of attack

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

Adversarial attacks against the technique that powers game-playing AIs and could control self-driving cars shows it may be less robust than we thought.

Mar 2, 2020

Musk Reads: Tesla Model 3 range gets a big boost

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transportation

Tesla Model Y deliveries draw closer and the Cybertruck appeals to police. When is a 600-mile Model S arriving? It’s Musk Reads: Tesla Edition #146.

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

Mar 2, 2020

DNA testing reveals Chattanooga Zoo’s Komodo dragon produced offspring on her own

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Who needs a mate? Certainly not a female Komodo dragon at a Tennessee zoo.

Mar 1, 2020

New Electronic State of Matter May Lead to Quantum Teleportation

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

Scientists uncovered a new state of matter that could lead us to many exciting new forms of quantum computing and teleportation.

Mar 1, 2020

New genus of Australian lion discovered in Queensland’s Riversleigh World Heritage fossil site

Posted by in category: futurism

A genus of Queensland marsupial lion that, in its heyday, would have had other animals “shaking in their boots”, is reclassified to be entirely new.