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Thinking With X ~ David Orban


We are convinced, through the collective narrative leveraging our scientific understanding, that we think with our brains. While that is true, there is much more: some of us think with our stomach, an sculptor will think with her hands, a ballet dancer with her entire body. Our proprioception extends feedback loops outside of the body, extending what we are, how we think and decide, to to tips of an airplane we are piloting. As we are going to be more and more thinking with AI systems, that will support us in interpreting and acting on the world, the responsibility of user interaction designers is huge. They are shaping the systems that are going to shape what we are.

India’s space programme has thus far been a government-backed effort. But now that is changing, with the emergence of a clutch of space technology startups. From propulsion and rocket technology ventures such as Bellatrix, to satellite makers such as Dhruva Space and Team Indus that aspire to bid for entire programmes rather than supply piece-meal components, there are now about two dozen startups in this field compared to only a handful three years ago.


India’s space programme has, so far, been a government backed effort with Isro. With new technology and falling costs, a clutch of space technology startups are garnering domestic and global clients.

Researchers at the University of Helsinki in collaboration with researchers from Åbo Akademi University (Finland) and Huazhong University of Science and Technology (China) have developed a new anti-cancer nanomedicine for targeted cancer chemotherapy. This new nano-tool provides a new approach to use cell-based nanomedicines for efficient cancer chemotherapy.

Galaxies come in all shapes and sizes, and the galaxies most pleasing to the eye are always in the most recognizable shapes. Dramatic spirals with outstretched arms, bursting with newborn stars are always a jaw-dropping sight, after all. Messier 110 is most definitely not in that group.

Messier 110 is what is known as an elliptical galaxy. It doesn’t have well-formed features, and it’s not a swirling mass of eye candy. It’s just a big blob of stars hanging out around the nearby Andromeda galaxy. As far as galaxies go, it’s rather small, but NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has a certain knack for making even “small” destinations in space look larger than life.

As NASA explains, this photo of Messier 110 reveals the galaxy’s true personality. It’s not particularly flashy or fun, but it is absolutely packed with stars, and while there are no obvious star nurseries to be seen, scientists think new stars are still being born here.

SCIENTISTS have created a “shrink ray” that can reduce objects to one-thousandth of their original size.

The mind-blowing gizmo could one day be used to create nano-robots that are smaller that we can physically produce today.

This brings us a step closer to making 1989 sci-fi comedy Honey, I Shrunk the Kids a reality.

What could we do to stop our Sun from eventually expanding and burning out? In this Cosmic Query, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson explains how we can prolong the life of a star. Co-host Chuck Nice offers his sci-fi option for Earth’s future.

This “Behind the Scenes” video was shot during the recording of our episode, “Cosmic Queries: The Sun and other Stars.” If you’d like to listen to the full podcast, click here: http://www.startalkradio.net/show/cosmic-queries-the-sun-and-other-stars/.

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For more information on Jay Tuck, please visit our website www.tedxhamburg.de

US defense expert Jay Tuck was news director of the daily news program ARD-Tagesthemen and combat correspondent for GermanTelevision in two Gulf Wars. He has produced over 500 segments for the network. His investigative reports on security policy, espionage activities and weapons technology appear in leading newspapers, television networks and magazines throughout Europe, including Cicero, Focus, PC-Welt, Playboy, Stern, Welt am Sonntag and ZEITmagazin. He is author of a widely acclaimed book on electronic intelligence activities, “High-Tech Espionage” (St. Martin’s Press), published in fourteen countries. He is Executive Producer for a weekly technology magazine on international television in the Arab world. For his latest book “Evolution without us – Will AI kill us?” he researched at US drone bases, the Pentagon, intelligence agencies and AI research institutions. His lively talks are accompanied by exclusive video and photographs.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.