O.o.
The device’s maker says it could produce neutrons — a type of ionising radiation.
Circa 2015
As weapons get more sophisticated, researchers are trying to build defence systems that can keep pace, and what’s better than a force field?
Aerospace and defence giant Boeing has been awarded a patent to develop a force field-like system that could protect military vehicles from shockwaves following explosions from missiles or improvised explosive devices.
Boeing’s proposed system involves using a combination of lasers, electricity and microwaves to rapidly heat up the air between the vehicle and a blast. This heat creates a plasma shield that’s denser than the surrounding air and able to deflect or absorb the energy from the incoming shockwave.
Circa 2019
The brink of superintelligence could pose serious threats to the human race. This philosopher is attempting to fathom the future of AI so we can be ready.
Circa 2016
In a sign of the autonomous security of the future, a $2m contest wants teams to build a system that can exploit rivals’ vulnerabilities while fixing its own.
Circa 2015
A researcher at Ransselaer Polytechnic Institute in the US has given three Nao robots an updated version of the classic ‘wise men puzzle’ self-awareness test… and one of them has managed to pass.
In the classic test, a hypothetical King calls forward the three wisest men in the country and puts either a white or a blue hat on their heads. They can all see each other’s hats, but not their own, and they’re not allowed to talk to each other. The King promises that at least one of them is wearing a blue hat, and that the contest is fair, meaning that none of them have access to any information that the others don’t. Whoever is smart enough to work out which colour hat they’re wearing using that limited information will become the King’s new advisor.
In this updated AI version, the robots are each given a ‘pill’ (which is actually a tap on the head, because, you know, robots can’t swallow). Two of the pills will render the robots silent, and one is a placebo. The tester, Selmer Bringsjord, chair of Rensselaer’s cognitive science department, then asks the robots which pill they received.
A PROTOTYPE of a British-built plasma-powered rocket engine which could propel spacecraft at 100,000mph, thus halving journey times to Mars, has been tested successfully in the UK.
Could automatically find the coronavirus vaccine.
We research and build safe AI systems that learn how to solve problems and advance scientific discovery for all. Explore our work: deepmind.com/research
O.o.
New research has exploded the space of problems that quantum computers can efficiently verify, simultaneously knocking down milestone problems in quantum physics and math.
For example, less than an hour after CNBC first reported Gerstenmaier’s hiring, the head of Russian state space corporation Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, tweeted his congratulations: “I wish my friend success in his new job!”
In his new position, Gerstenmaier is reporting to Hans Koenigsmann, the vice president of mission assurance at SpaceX. Although the role is officially a consultancy, it is expected to become a full-time position. SpaceX is poised to launch the first crewed mission of its Dragon spacecraft by June of this year. Gerstenmaier will play a key role in ensuring the safety of those missions and helping SpaceX secure certification for the Crew Dragon vehicle.
The hiring could have longer-term implications as well. Few people in the global aerospace community have as much gravitas as Gerstenmaier or as much understanding of how to build coalitions to explore space. As SpaceX seeks partners—including NASA—to work with it on developing Starship to take humans to the Moon and Mars, Gerstenmaier is well-positioned to offer advice, stitch together mission plans, and open key doors.
From 2001… I wonder how much this how been studied since?
People who survived the Black Death could have passed on a mutation that prevents the human immunodeficiency virus entering cells.