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Mar 1, 2019

Elon Musk sent a $100K Tesla Roadster to space a year ago. It has now traveled farther than any other car in history

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel, sustainability

Fans like Ben Pearson use NASA data to project the car’s location through space. For now, the convertible will continue its long drive around our inner solar system. And perhaps if humans make it to Mars like Musk hopes, we might even see the Roadster on our way there.

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Mar 1, 2019

Prospects for Bioinspired Single-Photon Detection Using Nanotube-Chromophore Hybrids

Posted by in categories: computing, cyborgs, nanotechnology, quantum physics

The human eye is an exquisite photodetection system with the ability to detect single photons. The process of vision is initiated by single-photon absorption in the molecule retinal, triggering a cascade of complex chemical processes that eventually lead to the generation of an electrical impulse. Here, we analyze the single-photon detection prospects for an architecture inspired by the human eye: field-effect transistors employing carbon nanotubes functionalized with chromophores. We employ non-equilibrium quantum transport simulations of realistic devices to reveal device response upon absorption of a single photon. We establish the parameters that determine the strength of the response such as the magnitude and orientation of molecular dipole(s), as well as the arrangements of chromophores on carbon nanotubes. Moreover, we show that functionalization of a single nanotube with multiple chromophores allows for number resolution, whereby the number of photons in an incoming light packet can be determined. Finally, we assess the performance prospects by calculating the dark count rate, and we identify the most promising architectures and regimes of operation.

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Mar 1, 2019

How I Became a Robot in London—From 5,000 Miles Away

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Wearing a haptic feedback glove, I pilot a robotic hand from across the world, feeling what it feels. The sensation is almost too weird to be real.

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Mar 1, 2019

Lise Meitner Is the Forgotten Female Physicist Who Deserved a Nobel Prize

Posted by in categories: military, particle physics

Nuclear fission — the physical process by which very large atoms like uranium split into pairs of smaller atoms — is what makes nuclear bombs and nuclear power plants possible. But for many years, physicists believed it energetically impossible for atoms as large as uranium (atomic mass = 235 or 238) to be split into two.

That all changed on Feb. 11, 1939, with a letter to the editor of Nature — a premier international scientific journal — that described exactly how such a thing could occur and even named it fission. In that letter, physicist Lise Meitner, with the assistance of her young nephew Otto Frisch, provided a physical explanation of how nuclear fission could happen.

It was a massive leap forward in nuclear physics, but today Lise Meitner remains obscure and largely forgotten. She was excluded from the victory celebration because she was a Jewish woman. Her story is a sad one.

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Mar 1, 2019

The tallest building in California will be a 77-story ‘supertall’ skyscraper in Los Angeles

Posted by in categories: futurism, space

  • Los Angeles could be getting a brand-new skyscraper that’s taller than the Wilshire Grand — the tallest tower in California.
  • The planned skyscraper is 77 stories high and features a mixture of condos, hotel rooms, and commercial space.
  • The future development represents a growing trend of supertall construction as cities compete to have the most impressive skylines.

Los Angeles has endured endless criticism for its low-lying slab buildings, flat-topped towers, and mismatched design aesthetics.

In 2013, the former architecture critic at Los Angeles magazine, Greg Goldin, lamented the city’s “dull” and “mediocre” landscape.

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Mar 1, 2019

China bans 23m from buying travel tickets as part of ‘social credit’ system

Posted by in category: transportation

China is expanding its insane implementation of a The Orville and Black Mirror episode.


People accused of social offences blocked from booking flights and train journeys.

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Mar 1, 2019

Introduction to Machine Learning

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Products Machine Learning Crash Course Courses Crash Course Introduction to Machine Learning This module introduces Machine Learning (ML). Estimated Time: 3 minutesLearning Objectives Recognize the practical benefits of mastering machine learning Understand the philosophy behind machine learning Int…

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Mar 1, 2019

Here are the world’s top 5 healthiest countries

Posted by in category: futurism

Surprise, surprise: The U.S. isn’t even close to the top of the list.

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Mar 1, 2019

CNBC — Combating Aging

Posted by in category: life extension

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UsUTzo2xRI&feature=share

Channel t-shirt: https://teespring.com/aging-reversed

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Mar 1, 2019

NASA Will Flight Test a Nuclear Rocket by 2024 and Other High Tech NASA Projects

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, space travel

A portion of NASA’s $21.5 billion 2019 budget is for developing advanced space power and propulsion technology. NASA will spend $176 to $217 million on maturing new technology. There are projects that NASA has already been working on and others that NASA will start and try to complete. There will be propulsion, robotics, materials and other capabilities. Space technology received $926.9 million in NASA’s 2019 budget.

NASA’s space technology projects look interesting but ten times more resources devoted to advancing technological capability if the NASA budget and priorities were changed.

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