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Aug 18, 2018

At Asteroid Ryugu, Japan’s Hayabusa 2 Spacecraft Preps for Exploration

Posted by in category: space

The probe will map the surface, deploy rovers and collect pristine samples that could contain clues about the origins of life on Earth.

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Aug 18, 2018

A supermassive black hole used its powerful gravity to rip apart a star that wandered too close to the massive monster

Posted by in category: cosmology

Astronomers used radio & infrared telescopes to image the distant eruption of this cosmic duel. Details: https://go.nasa.gov/2JMkZWF

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Aug 18, 2018

How AI can bring on a second Industrial Revolution | Kevin Kelly

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

“The actual path of a raindrop as it goes down the valley is unpredictable, but the general direction is inevitable,” says digital visionary Kevin Kelly — and technology is much the same, driven by patterns that are surprising but inevitable. Over the next 20 years, he says, our penchant for making things smarter and smarter will have a profound impact on nearly everything we do. Kelly explores three trends in AI we need to understand in order to embrace it and steer its development. “The most popular AI product 20 years from now that everyone uses has not been invented yet,” Kelly says. “That means that you’re not late.”

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design — plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more.

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Aug 18, 2018

President Trump directs Defense Department to ‘immediately begin the process’ of establishing ’space force‘ as sixth military branch

Posted by in categories: military, space

Based on posts I’ve seen from techies, militarizing space is a total fail. However, space is already militarized — Nothing goes into air space without Air Force approval… ANY organization developed to “regulate” Space has the potential for corruption whether that be collaborative, international entities which always panders to herd think, or stale governmental organizations. I’m undecided on this.


The White House, Air Force and Defense Secretary James Mattis had disapproved of creating a sixth branch of the military last year.

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Aug 18, 2018

What does running do to your brain?

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Neuroscientists have studied treadmill runners, ultramarathon athletes – and a number of lab animals – to investigate the effects of running on grey matter.

Ben Martynoga

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Aug 18, 2018

Apple AirPods can sub for a hearing aid if you’re running iOS 12

Posted by in category: mobile phones

IOS 12 lets people wearing Apple’s wireless $159 AirPods hear better using the microphone on a nearby iPhone. The feature is called Live Listen.

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Aug 18, 2018

34 Vintage Illustrations From The 1800s And 1900s Of What They Thought The Future Would Look Like

Posted by in category: futurism

From family flying saucer rides to domestic living on the lunar surface, these gorgeous retrofuturism illustrations reveal how our ancestors thought their future might look.

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Aug 18, 2018

Humorous take on Space Force (Video)

Posted by in category: futurism

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Aug 18, 2018

The State of Brain-Machine Interfaces — Prof. Maryam Shanechi

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, neuroscience

Maryam shanechi, university of southern california.

With recent technological advances, we can now record neural activity from the brain, and manipulate this activity with electrical or optogenetic stimulation in real time. These capabilities have brought the concept of brain-machine interfaces (BMI) closer to clinical viability than ever before. BMIs are systems that monitor and interact with the brain to restore lost function, treat neurological disorders, or enhance human performance.

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Aug 18, 2018

A review and implications for aging research

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

The effects of donor age on organ transplants: A review and implications for aging research.


Despite the considerable amount of data available on the effect of donor age upon the outcomes of organ transplantation, these still represent an underutilized resource in aging research. In this review, we have compiled relevant studies that analyze the effect of donor age in graft and patient survival following liver, kidney, pancreas, heart, lung and cornea transplantation, with the aim of deriving insights into possible differential aging rates between the different organs. Overall, older donor age is associated with worse outcomes for all the organs studied. Nonetheless, the donor age from which the negative effects upon graft or patient survival starts to be significant varies between organs. In kidney transplantation, this age is within the third decade of life while the data for heart transplantation suggest a significant effect starting from donors over age 40. This threshold was less defined in liver transplantation where it ranges between 30 and 50 years. The results for the pancreas are also suggestive of a detrimental effect starting at a donor age of around 40, although these are mainly derived from simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplantation data. In lung transplantation, a clear effect was only seen for donors over 65, with negative effects of donor age upon transplantation outcomes likely beginning after age 50. Corneal transplants appear to be less affected by donor age as the majority of studies were unable to find any effect of donor age during the first few years posttransplantation. Overall, patterns of the effect of donor age in patient and graft survival were observed for several organ types and placed in the context of knowledge on aging.

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