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Feb 2, 2020

A Federal Ban on Making Lethal Viruses Is Lifted

Posted by in category: futurism

O.o!


The N.I.H. will create expert panels to assess controversial research into creating pathogens that easily infect humans.

Feb 2, 2020

Coronavirus — Cats and dogs ‘thrown from tower blocks’ in China after fake news rumours animals are causing spread

Posted by in category: futurism

PANICKING pet owners are reportedly throwing cats and dogs out of towerblocks following bogus claims deadly coronavirus can be passed on by animals.

Chilling pictures coming out of crisis-hit China are said to show the bloodied corpses of animals lying in the road after being hurled to their death.

One dog was found dead after allegedly being thrown from one block of flats in Tianjin City in Hebei Province — home to the outbreak epicentre Wuhan.

Feb 2, 2020

Perspective: A review on memristive hardware for neuromorphic computation

Posted by in categories: information science, physics, robotics/AI

If you are interested in mind uploading, then I have a research paper for you to consider. One of the serious issues with mind uploading is the computer substrate. Simulating the brain will require a new and incredible computing capability. New techniques and new hardware are going to be required to make it practical. Of course, there is currently zero demand for mind uploading hardware, so the market is not going to provide this capability. However, there is incredible market demand for cutting edge hardware for machine learning and artificial intelligence. And it turns out that one potential technique for artificial intelligence simulates the way that the brain works: neuromorphic computing. And there is a relatively new type of electronic component that seems to mimic some of the functions of a brain’s neuron: the memristor. Memristors are relatively new, having only been fabricated for the first time by HP in 2008. So I am trying to keep up with the latest developments in memristive technology.

Here are some excerpts from the paper:

“…Artificial Neural Network (ANN) algorithms offer fast computations by mimicking the neuronal network of brains. A weight matrix is used in neural networks (NNs) for parallel processing that makes computing faster…The memristor has attracted much attention because of its potential to have linear multilevel conductance states for vector-matrix multiplication (output = weight × input), corresponding to parallel processing…”

Continue reading “Perspective: A review on memristive hardware for neuromorphic computation” »

Feb 2, 2020

Canberra Fires : Wall of Flames Moving toward city

Posted by in category: futurism

Canberra fires: Extraordinary images emerging from the fires in Canberra.

The Australian Capital is under threat tonight as a massive bushfire emerges amid soaring heat and high winds.

A huge wall of flames moving over hills toward the Australian capital of Canberra tonight.

Continue reading “Canberra Fires : Wall of Flames Moving toward city” »

Feb 2, 2020

DARPA Scientist: Engineers Must Stop Making Autonomous Weapons

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

But his best idea for doing so requires unanimous support.

Feb 2, 2020

Join this video meeting

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Today (11am PST / 2pm EST / 7pm GMT) — Carboncopies JOURNAL CLUB with Dr. Michael Cerullo presenting work by Hilary Putnam: “Minds and Machines”. Continuing our theme on consciousness and personal identity. The Journal Club is open, you are very welcome to join at http://call.carboncopies.org/

The livestream (see our Youtube channel) will also be recorded for later viewing.

Feb 2, 2020

Epigenetics and Exercise

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, life extension

Due to the groundbreaking work in superlongevity by Dr David Sinclair and Yuancheng Ryan Lu on the Information Theory of Aging and how epigenetic therapy can be used to reverse aging, I suddenly have a compelling interest in epigenetics. Here is a recent research article that I’d recommend on.


Epigenetics can be defined as ‘the structural adaptation of chromosomal regions so as to register, signal, or perpetuate altered activity states.’ Increased transcription of key regulatory, metabolic, and myogenic genes is an early response to exercise and is important in mediating subsequent adaptations in skeletal muscle. DNA hypomethylation and histone hyperacetylation are emerging as important crucial events for increased transcription. The complex interactions between multiple epigenetic modifications and their regulation by metabolic changes and signaling events during exercise, with implications for enhanced understanding of the acute and chronic adaptations to exercise, are questions for further investigation.

Feb 2, 2020

Xenobots — World’s First Living Robots created using Super Computer and Frog Cells

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, robotics/AI

A book is made of wood. But it is not a tree. The dead cells have been repurposed to serve another need.

Now a team of scientists has repurposed living cells—scraped from frog embryos—and assembled them into entirely new life-forms. These millimeter-wide “xenobots” can move toward a target, perhaps pick up a payload (like a medicine that needs to be carried to a specific place inside a patient)—and heal themselves after being cut.

Continue reading “Xenobots — World’s First Living Robots created using Super Computer and Frog Cells” »

Feb 2, 2020

The Cure for Grey Hair

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, futurism

Research suggests that a cure for grey hair is close. In the near future, it will be possible to reverse grey hair (also spelt gray).

Feb 2, 2020

What you experience may not exist. Inside the strange truth of reality

Posted by in categories: computing, neuroscience

What our senses allow us to experience may not reflect what actually exists. It may be a creation of our own consciousness, or a computer simulation designed by superintelligent beings.