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Dec 7, 2018
Satellites may connect the entire world to the internet
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: business, internet, satellites
BREAKING: Humans have never before heard the sound of wind on Mars until now! Listen to #SoundsOfMars as recorded by NASA InSight as Martian winds swept over our lander. Best with headphones or a subwoofer. https://go.nasa.gov/2BWeong&h=AT2phR-fnwaC50oFKYLmQGoDEJ8_fV…fWhAfd9mNw
Dec 7, 2018
Gecko-inspired nanofiber ‘carpet’ could lead to superpower coatings
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: engineering, nanotechnology
A new way to make arrays of nanofibers that gets its inspiration from polar bear fur, lotus leaves, and gecko feet could lead to coatings that are sticky, repellant, insulating, or light emitting.
“This is so removed from anything I’ve ever seen that I would have thought it was impossible,” says Joerg Lahann, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Michigan and senior author of the paper, which appears in Science.
Polar bear hairs are structured to let light in while keeping heat from escaping. Water-repelling lotus leaves are coated with arrays of microscopic waxy tubules. And the nanoscale hairs on the bottoms of gravity-defying gecko feet get so close to other surfaces that atomic forces of attraction come into play.
Dec 7, 2018
Human Stem Cell Trial Successful Against Age-Related Frailty
Posted by Steve Hill in categories: biotech/medical, life extension
Today, we want to highlight results from human trials in which stem cell transplants have been shown to reduce age-related frailty.
Age-related frailty and stem cell transplants
Currently, there are no specific approved therapies to address age-related frailty, which can cause elderly people to suffer potentially fatal falls and injuries. There has been considerable interest in stem cell therapies to combat frailty in recent years, and the results we will discuss today are from one of the more advanced human clinical trials exploring mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) transplants [1].
Dec 7, 2018
First look at Tesla’s new Enhanced Anti-Theft system
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: security, sustainability, transportation
Tesla launched a new ‘Enhanced Anti-theft’ system as an aftermarket product last month and we now take a first look at one of the very first installations on a Model X.
There have been strings of Tesla thefts earlier this year that prompt the automaker to offer several new security features.
We reported on several Tesla vehicle thefts through relay attacks in Europe earlier this year.
Dec 7, 2018
Servicing Mission 1 from the Astronauts’ Perspective
Posted by Michael Lance in category: space
Learn about the historic space shuttle mission that saved the Hubble Space Telescope as described by veteran astronauts Jeffrey Hoffman and Kathryn Thornton, who conducted spacewalks to install the instruments and corrective optics that cured Hubble’s blurred vision.
Dec 7, 2018
Putting this journey into words will not be easy, but I will try
Posted by Michael Lance in category: space
Dec 7, 2018
Distributed, decentralized, and democratized artificial intelligence
Posted by Mike Ruban in categories: business, economics, robotics/AI, singularity
The accelerating investment in artificial intelligence has vast implications for economic and cognitive development globally. However, AI is currently dominated by an oligopoly of centralized mega-corporations, who focus on the interests of their stakeholders. There is a now universal need for AI services by businesses who lack access to capital to develop their own AI services, and independent AI developers lack visibility and a source of revenue. This uneven playing field has a high potential to lead to inequitable circumstances with negative implications for humanity. Furthermore, the potential of AI is hindered by the lack of interoperability standards. The authors herein propose an alternative path for the development of AI: a distributed, decentralized, and democratized market for AIs run on distributed ledger technology. We describe the features and ethical advantages of such a system using SingularityNET, a watershed project being developed by Ben Goertzel and colleagues, as a case study. We argue that decentralizing AI opens the doors for a more equitable development of AI and AGIt will also create the infrastructure for coordinated action between AIs that will significantly facilitate the evolution of AI into true AGI that is both highly capable and beneficial for humanity and beyond.