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Jun 7, 2017

Our galaxy exists in a cosmic void, study shows

Posted by in category: space

June 6 (UPI) — Our galaxy and its neighbors exist in a sort of cosmic void, research suggests. The latest analysis supports the conclusion of a 2013 study which showed the Milky Way exists in a region of the universe sparsely populated by galaxies, stars and planets.

The new research — presented this week at the annual American Astronomical Society meeting — also helps bridge the divide between astronomers torn by competing measurements of the Hubble Constant, the rate at which the universe is expanding.

Different groups of astronomers have developed different techniques for measuring the Hubble Constant, with each method yielding different numbers.

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Jun 7, 2017

Friday June 9th 13:00 EST/18:00 UK “How to Promote Longevity?”

Posted by in category: life extension

Due technical issues the Longevity Panel with Aubrey de Grey, Alexandra Stolzing and Oliver Medvedik + guests will be airing on Friday 9th June at 13:00 on the MMTP Facebook page. Apologies for the delay.


We are teaming up with LEAF/Lifespan.io for our Longevity Panel with Dr. Alexandra Stolzing, Dr. Aubrey de Grey, Dr. Oliver Medvedik and a number of other guests. We will be streaming the panel live to this page and we invite you to join us. It will also be made available later to view on Youtube.

This was originally scheduled for the 6th June but had to be rescheduled due to technical problems. We apologize for the inconvenience.

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Jun 6, 2017

Elon Musk says robots will beat humans at everything by 2030

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, robotics/AI

The performance of humans’ puny brains will be outmatched by computers within just 13 years, billionaire Elon Musk has claimed.

The Tesla and SpaceX founder said that artificial intelligence will beat us at just about everything by 2030.

He made the comments on Twitter, where he was responding to a new study which claims our race will be overtaken by 2060.

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Jun 6, 2017

Solar System Map: Surprisingly deceptive

Posted by in categories: astronomy, cosmology, gravity, lifeboat, mapping, physics, space, space travel

What’s wrong with this illustration of the planets in our solar system? »

For one thing, it suggests that the planets line up for photos on the same solar ray, just like baby ducks in a row. That’s a pretty rare occurrence—perhaps once in several billion years. In fact, Pluto doesn’t even orbit on the same plane as the planets. Its orbit is tilted 17 degrees. So, forget it lining up with anything, except on rare occasions, when it crosses the equatorial plane. On that day, you might get it to line up with one or two planets.

But what about scale? Space is so vast. Perhaps our solar system looks like this ↓

No such luck! Stars and planets do not fill a significant volume of the void. They are lonely specs in the great enveloping cosmic dark.* Space is mostly filled with—well—space! Lots and lots of it. In fact, if Pluto and our own moon were represented by just a single pixel on your computer screen, you wouldn’t see anything around it. Even if you daisy chain a few hundred computer screens, you will not discern the outer planets. They are just too far away.

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Jun 6, 2017

Germany unveils zero-emissions train that only emits steam

Posted by in category: transportation

Germany is set to introduce the world’s first zero-emission passenger train to be powered by hydrogen.

The Coradia iLint only emits excess steam into the atmosphere, and provides an alternative to the country’s 4,000 diesel trains.

Lower Saxony has already ordered 14 of them from French company Alstom, and more are likely to be seen around the country if they are judged a success, reports Die Welt.

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Jun 6, 2017

The Spacesuit Designed For A New Generation

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel

Clement Balavoine might just be what Elon Musk ordered. The Frenchman is still only 25 years old, passionate about design, traveled the (fashion) world and gravitates towards his own Mars experience with his new company Neuro. In his own words, he wants to create a label that reflects the future of the industry.

SpaceX on the other hand, is looking for innovation on so many levels on their ongoing mission to establish our first Mars colony. To get there, Elon Musk proposed the so-called Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) that combines our latest rocket technology with a space-carrier able to ship at least 100 but hopefully close to 200 passengers on each flight.

Of course, getting to Mars is an adventure that needs problem-solving skills and technology that we might not even think of yet. To better be safe than sorry, Balavoine’s new kind of spacesuit comes in handy, destined to protect our pioneering crew from bone loss, muscle atrophy and, hopefully, radiation.

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Jun 6, 2017

The Toronto Transhumanism Meetup Group

Posted by in categories: genetics, geopolitics, transhumanism

Join me today for this! https://www.meetup.com/transhumanism-78/events/240040904/ #transhumanism


The Transhumanist Party presidential candidate and a Libertarian candidate for California governor, Zoltan Istvan, will join Agah Bahari in a 45-minute conversation for the live recording of an episode of “NEOHUMAN with Agah Bahari” podcast, following by 30-mins of Q&A (predetermined based on prior submissions).

With his wildly popular US Presidential run as a science candidate, bestselling book The Transhumanist Wager, and powerful speeches at institutions like the World Bank, Zoltan Istvan has literally transformed transhumanism into a thriving worldwide phenomenon. He is often cited as the global leader of the radical science movement. A humanitarian activist and former journalist for National Geographic, Zoltan has been compared in major media to a young Al Gore and described as a modern-day Ayn Rand.

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Jun 6, 2017

What Happens When Cyborg Tech Goes Beyond Medicine?

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, robotics/AI, wearables

The age of the cyborg may be closer than we think. Rapidly improving medical robotics, wearables, and implants means many humans are already part machine, and this trend is only likely to continue.

It is most noticeable in the field of medical prosthetics where high-performance titanium and carbon fiber replacements for limbs have become commonplace. The use of “blades” by Paralympians has even raised questions over whether they actually offer an advantage over biological limbs.

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Jun 6, 2017

Top Companies in Genomics

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

From portable genome sequencers until genetic tests revealing distant relations with Thomas Jefferson, genomics represents a fascinatingly innovative area of healthcare. As the price of genome sequencing has been in free fall for years, the start-up scene is bursting from transformative power. Let’s look at some of the most amazing ventures in genomics!

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Jun 6, 2017

Extracting Insight from the Data Deluge is a Hard-to-Do Must-Do

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, economics, health

A mantra of these data-rife times is that within the vast and growing volumes of diverse data types, such as sensor feeds, economic indicators, and scientific and environmental measurements, are dots of significance that can tell important stories, if only those dots could be identified and connected in authentically meaningful ways. Getting good at that exercise of data synthesis and interpretation ought to open new, quicker routes to identifying threats, tracking disease outbreaks, and otherwise answering questions and solving problems that previously were intractable.

Now for a reality check. “Today’s hardware is ill-suited to handle such data challenges, and these challenges are only going to get harder as the amount of data continues to grow exponentially,” said Trung Tran, a program manager in DARPA’s Microsystems Technology Office (MTO). To take on that technology shortfall, MTO last summer unveiled its Hierarchical Identify Verify Exploit (HIVE) program, which has now signed on five performers to carry out HIVE’s mandate: to develop a powerful new data-handling and computing platform specialized for analyzing and interpreting huge amounts of data with unprecedented deftness. “It will be a privilege to work with this innovative team of performers to develop a new category of server processors specifically designed to handle the data workloads of today and tomorrow,” said Tran, who is overseeing HIVE.

The quintet of performers includes a mix of large commercial electronics firms, a national laboratory, a university, and a veteran defense-industry company: Intel Corporation (Santa Clara, California), Qualcomm Intelligent Solutions (San Diego, California), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Richland, Washington), Georgia Tech (Atlanta, Georgia), and Northrop Grumman (Falls Church, Virginia).

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