If the Singularity proponents are right, the world is going to get really weird–but not in the way they expect…
Click here for the entire article written by Jamais Cascio found on the Fast Company website.
Archive for September, 2009
Scientists inserted the modified core of a nanomotor, a microscopic biological machine, into a lipid membrane. The resulting channel enabled them to move both single- and double-stranded DNA through the membrane. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Cincinnati)
ScienceDaily (Sep. 30, 2009) — Using an RNA-powered nanomotor, University of Cincinnati (UC) biomedical engineering researchers have successfully developed an artificial pore able to transmit nanoscale material through a membrane. more>>>
30
09
2009
Physics world buzzing over faster-than-ever particles
Posted by: Chris Williamson in Scientific Research, PhysicsTom Spears
Ottawa Citizen
A major physics lab in the U.S. has found a particle, far smaller than any atom, that switches itself back and forth between being a piece of matter and a piece of anti-matter 17 trillion times each second.
It has taken 700 people in 20 countries, millions of dollars’ worth of custom equipment, vast amounts of energy, and 20 years of work to find this.
The back-and-forth switching appears to be one of the fastest processes in nature. One of the big mysteries in physics is why the universe is practically all matter, and not anti-matter. The universe once had equal amounts of both, scientists believe. more>>>
30
09
2009
Plutonium Shortage Could Stall Space Exploration
Posted by: Chris Williamson in Colonizing Space
NASA is running out of the special kind of plutonium needed to power deep space probes, worrying planetary scientists who say the U. S. urgently needs to restart production of plutonium-238.
But it’s unclear whether Congress will provide the $30 million that the administration requested earlier this year for the Department of Energy to get a new program going.
Nuclear weapons use plutonium-239, but NASA depends on something quite different: plutonium-238. A marshmallow-sized pellet of plutonium-238, encased in metal, gives off a lot of heat. more>>>
29
09
2009
How e-Portfolios Are Being Used at Missouri University
Posted by: Frank Whittemore in Accelerating ChangePersonal portfolios represent a student’s best work. They have been used for a long time in fine arts and design-based disciplines, and their pedagogical value is well understood. In today’s digital age, more and more disciplines are adopting the electronic portfolio (e-Portfolio): it’s easy to create, portable, and able to contain a vast array…
Click here for the full report on the University of Missouri website.
28
09
2009
The Challenge of Making Real ‘Surrogate’ Skin
Posted by: Chris Williamson in Featured Weblog, Cyborg, Scientific Research
The new movie “Surrogates,” starring Bruce Willis, depicts a world in which people live through “surries”, highly realistic humanoid robots. But without realistic skin, robots will never have that humanlike personal touch, and will not have the degree of social acceptance that robots would need to have to share the world with the rest of us.
A recent paper details research into this area. In “Towards Humanlike Social Touch for Sociable Robotics,” John Cabibihan and his fellow scientists detailed the reasons for testing and developing realistic skin for social robots.
“Touch is important in social interactions. Social touch are all those instances in which people touch each other, when shaking hands, when giving a pat in the back as a sign of congratulations and even in high-fives. Unless some form of alternative greetings are invented in the future, the typical social touches exchanged among humans may likely remain even with social robots… more>>>
28
09
2009
From peanuts to shellfish… Why are so many adults suddenly getting allergies?
Posted by: Chris Williamson in LongevityWhen Edwina Galloway started to feel a strange knot in her throat after eating some peanuts, she tried to ease it by drinking tea.
But within minutes her throat was constricting and she was struggling to breathe. Her husband bundled her into their car and rushed her to hospital.
Fortunately, it was only a mile from their home in Sevenoaks, Kent; had it been much further, Edwina could have died.
‘By the time I got there, I was shivering and shaking as my body was going into shock,’ says Edwina, 48, who runs her own administration business. ‘It was terribly frightening.’
Edwina was suffering from anaphylactic shock - an allergic reaction which causes puffy lips and eyes, other symptoms such as vomiting and breathing difficulties as the air passages swell. Untreated, it can prove fatal within minutes. more>>>
28
09
2009
‘Silicon ink’ for solar cells glides toward production
Posted by: Chris Williamson in Advanced Computing, Scientific Research, Accelerating Change
JA Solar, one of the big players in the solar industry, is working with Innovalight to commercialize the latter’s method for making silicon-ink-based, high-efficiency solar cells, the companies said this week.
Innovalight first got noticed in 2007 for perfecting a process in which it could essentially ink-jet-manufacture solar cells using a proprietary silicon ink it had developed. The solar cells are created by pouring an ink solution incorporated with silicon nanoparticles and then decanting the excess liquid to leave behind a crystalline silicon structure. more>>>
It can do just about everything a real dolphin can - dive, leap, roll and even hit speeds of up 20mph underwater.
The robot dolphin even looks very like its natural namesake. But what is it for?
Cartoon hero Tintin used a similar machine - his looked rather more like a shark - in one of his adventures.
But the New Zealand inventor behind the robot dolphin is not expecting his creation to be used to thwart villainy on the high seas. Instead Rob Innes expects it to sell for around £30,000 to film companies and others who need a ’stunt’ water craft.
The machine has a fibreglass skin, is fully submersible and can dive rapidly using its 110horsepower engine. It can do up to 30mph on the surface and 20mph below - only 2mph less than a real dolphin.
28
09
2009
Stumbling, Bumbling LittleDog Can Tiptoe Across Tops of Cylinders
Posted by: Chris Williamson in RoboticsVia BotJunkie:
Who says you can’t teach robots new tricks? In this new video, Boston Dynamics’ LittleDog delicately navigates a mini-forest of cylinders like a Chinese wuxia martial artist, but also shows plenty of clumsy pratfalls in the course of its training.
LittleDog is the little sibling of the much scarier and noisier BigDog. The latter has gone on to become a robot Sherpa and mule for U.S. Army troops in the mountainous regions of Afghanistan.
The latest footage comes courtesy of Katie Byl, a robotics researcher at Harvard University whose previous exploits include beating casinos with the MIT Blackjack Team. Keep an eye out for the adorable real-life dog that gives the camera a wide-eyed passing stare. more>>>
28
09
2009
Study: Unlicensed spectrum space worth $100 billion for wireless use
Posted by: Chris Williamson in Ethics/DangersA study commissioned by Microsoft Corp. estimates that the unlicensed “white spaces” spectrum coveted by the software giant and other technology companies could be worth more than $100 billion over the next 15 years. more>>>
Researchers at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Nanotechnology Center have found that exposing tomato seeds to carbon nanotubes makes tomato plants sprout earlier and grow more quickly. They write in the journal ACS Nano that these results, though preliminary, suggest that carbon nanotubes could be a boon for the agriculture and biofuel industries and lead to new types of fertilizers. more>>>
Scientists’ understanding of the moon could be all wet. Its surface is surprisingly dewy and its interior contains more water than previous analyses of moon rocks have indicated, according to new studies.
Observations from three spacecraft suggest that water is widely distributed over a thin layer of the lunar surface rather than locked up in icy enclaves predicted to lie at the moon’s poles. The results, detailed in a trio of papers to be posted online September 24 in Science, suggest that liquid water may be more available to future moon explorers than had been thought. Concentrations in sunlit soil might average about 1,000 parts per million, the equivalent of roughly a quart of water per ton of material. That water doesn’t remain on the moon, but comes and goes each lunar day. more>>>
28
09
2009
After You’re Gone (.com)
Posted by: Frank Whittemore in Singularity Commentary, Ethics/DangersHere are some things you most likely haven’t thought about.
Perhaps you should -
Click here for how your digital life may play out.
Warning - danger lurks in your digital bits!
Computers May Soon Be Thinking, Communicating for Us…
Click here for an article written by Michael S. Malone found on the ABC News website.
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