Menu

Blog

Page 9193

Jun 18, 2017

Behind The Scenes at AeroFarms

Posted by in categories: food, sustainability

This large-scale farm is in the middle of a big city! The future of farming is here. (via AeroFarms)

Read more

Jun 18, 2017

The key to better wireless charging lies in quantum mechanics

Posted by in categories: mobile phones, quantum physics

Wireless charging is a great idea in theory: You can just place your device on a charging mat without having to mess with any wires. But it still doesn’t solve the main hassle of charging in the first place, which is the requirement to leave your device in one place. But now, scientists may have found the answer to that problem using principles from quantum mechanics.

Currently, wireless, or inductive, charging uses an electromagnetic field to transmit energy over very short distances. That’s why your phone, or whatever device you’re charging wirelessly, must remain near a wireless pad in order to actually charge. But Shanhui Fan and his team at Stanford University have published an article in Nature that details a wireless charging system that works even when the charger and device are a meter apart. You can also move around the device while it’s being charged without interrupting the power transfer.

It works by using a principle of quantum mechanics called parity-time symmetry to create a charger with a self-adjusting power flow. A connected amplifier automatically controls the flow of power between the transmitter and receiver. As a device moves further away from the charger, the power levels adjust automatically to ensure an even and uninterrupted flow of current.

Continue reading “The key to better wireless charging lies in quantum mechanics” »

Jun 18, 2017

This Artificially Intelligent Robot Composes and Performs Its Own Music

Posted by in categories: information science, media & arts, robotics/AI

Shimon—a four-armed marimba playing robot—has been around for years, but its developers at Georgia Tech have recently taken this futuristic musical machine to the next level. Using deep learning, the robot can now study large datasets from well-known musicians, and then produce and perform its own original compositions.

Shimon was originally developed by Gil Weinberg, director of Georgia Tech’s Center for Music Technology. Under its original programming, the robot was capable of improvising music as it played alongside human performers, using an “interestingness” algorithm to make sure it wasn’t just copying its bandmates. But now, thanks to the efforts of Ph.D. student Mason Bretan, Shimon has become an accomplished composer, capable of autonomously generating the melodic and harmonic structure of a song. And you know what? Shimon’s songs are actually quite good!

Continue reading “This Artificially Intelligent Robot Composes and Performs Its Own Music” »

Jun 18, 2017

Building the Public Goods of the Twenty-First Century

Posted by in categories: information science, internet

Meanwhile there was a Big New Development. The Internet and digital technology came of age. And here’s the thing. Digital artefacts – whether they’re an algorithm, a website, an app or a coding language – are always and everywhere potential public goods. Once produced digital artefacts are essentially costless to replicate which raises the question of whether they can or should be made freely available to all.


Digital public goods in the age of the data revolution.

Read more

Jun 18, 2017

China’s Hypersonic Spaceplane Could Be Available By 2030

Posted by in category: space travel

The CASTC is beginning advanced research on combined cycle engines that can takeoff from an airport’s landing strip and fly straight into orbit. Claimed to have operating status by 2030, this pace plane could enable space tourism.

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASTC) wants to re-invent how we travel in space.

Read more

Jun 17, 2017

Quantum entanglement, science’s ‘spookiest’ phenomenon, achieved in space

Posted by in categories: particle physics, quantum physics, science, space

Scientists beamed particles from a satellite to two locations on Earth 750 miles apart — and the particles were still mysteriously connected.

Read more

Jun 17, 2017

3D Printed Bionic Skin Will Help Humans and Machines Merge

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, cyborgs, transhumanism

This could lead to a small 3D printer used by soldiers to quickly make anything needed in the field.

Read more

Jun 17, 2017

This Self-Flying Drone Is a Taxi That Can Fly 30 Miles

Posted by in category: drones

We’re about to enter the age of flying drone taxis.

Read more

Jun 17, 2017

India Plans to Only be Using Electric Cars by 2030

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transportation

The move is aimed to curb the toxic air quality where India has 13 of the most air polluted cities out of the global 20.

Read more

Jun 17, 2017

This Tattoo Changes Colors As Your Blood Sugar Levels Change

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, futurism

Whether or not you like tattoos (or have one yourself), you’ll have to admit—these are pretty cool. Scientists have developed something called a “biosensing” tattoo that could help change the lives of people living with types 1 or 2 diabetes. How could a tattoo do this, you ask? Well, by changing color along with the person’s blood sugar levels.

This new tattoo is the hard work of a team of researchers from Harvard and MIT who call the project Dermal Abyss. The researchers replaced traditional tattoo ink with color-changing “biosensors” that react to variations in the interstitial fluid, which surrounds tissue cells in the human body.

“It blends advances in biotechnology with traditional methods in tattoo artistry,” the team writes on their website. “Currently… diabetics need to monitor their glucose levels by piercing the skin, 3 to 10 times per day. With Dermal Abyss, we imagine the future where the painful procedure is replaced with a tattoo. Thus, the user could monitor the color changes and the need of insulin.”

Continue reading “This Tattoo Changes Colors As Your Blood Sugar Levels Change” »