20161230

Chefs in Europe experiment with insects



DATE: 25/12/2016
SOURCE: PBS
VIA: TWITTER


AMY GUTTMAN, PBS NEWSHOUR WEEKEND: At this food truck in Brussels, there are healthy portions of protein in their kabobs, burgers, and nachos, but one ingredient may surprise you: crickets.

Yes, these are skewers of roasted crickets with tomatoes.

Increasingly, in Europe, adventurous eaters, entrepreneurs, and scientists are touting insects like crickets, mealworms and grasshoppers as a new “super” food…for humans…because some insects provide more protein than meat, plus high levels of iron, essential amino and Omega-3 fatty acids.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/chefs-europe-experiment-insects/

Russian combat robots conquer snowy battlefield in drill outside Moscow (VIDEO)



DATE: 30/12/2016
SOURCE: RT


This is the first time that unmanned ground vehicles have being tested for interoperability with a conventional army squad, General Oleg Salyukov, commander of the Russian military’s Ground Troops, told TASS.

“The vehicles do meet some of our requirements, and something is yet to be done, but the main criterion applied to these systems is their capability to be used by the troops,” he added.





The Soratnik, a 7-ton tracked vehicle manufactured by the Kalashnikov concern, can be fitted with a 7.62mm or 12.7mm machine gun, a 30mm grenade launcher or even Kornet-EM anti-tank rockets. It can operate for up to 10 days in stand-by mode, and detect and destroy enemy targets at ranges of up to 2,500 meters.


READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @

https://www.rt.com/news/372304-russia-combat-robots-test

If Amazon Echo Answers the Cops, There will Be Legal Precedent



DATE: 29/12/2016
SOURCE: AMERICAN HERALD
VIA: BING

Arkansas detectives contacted Amazon Inc. in a bid to cooperate in a criminal case. The authorities are pursuing a confidential disclosure that may as well offer evidence that can convince the jury beyond a reasonable doubt. The criminal case is already one-year-old. The house of the suspects was filled with Internet of Things devices. Among these was a personal digital assistant bot, namely the Amazon Echo.

~*~*~*~

This means that if there is going to be another criminal act, the detectives can obtain such digital evidence from another Amazon Echo more easily. While this situation can solve many cases from now on, it will also turn devices against their owners.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @

http://www.americaherald.com/legal-precedent/28126/

Is Augmented Reality the Future of Work?



DATE: 25/09/2016
SOURCE: DIGITAL BODIES
VIA: TWITTER





The DAQRI Smart Helmet reveals how dramatically Augmented Reality may change work in the future. Virtual Reality has been all over the news but under the radar developments in AR could have a larger impact.

Imagine being able to interact with complex machinery and see the previous settings of knobs and valves. Or getting recommendations from remote experts when problems arise.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @

https://www.digitalbodies.net/wearable-tech/augmented-reality-future-of-work

Banks are using mind reading technology to interview graduates



DATE: 30/12/2016
SOURCE: GLOBAL FUTURIST
VIA: BING


Want to work at a bank? First you have to let them read your mind. No, seriously. And no it’s not some children’s magician who’ll be interviewing you.

At career fairs and on university campuses all around the UK as part of its graduate hiring scheme, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, one of the UK’s largest banking groups, has been strapping Brain Computer Interface (BCI) devices – AKA skull caps – to the heads of potential candidates, to measure their brain activity and attention spans.

While this might sound benign, quirky even, the use of BCI technology in interviews, particularly in light of the fact that companies can now use these devices to pull people’s darkest secrets from their heads, as well as uniquely identify them, should raise a whole host of privacy concerns for regulators, as well as the individuals and companies involved.

If you’re one of these candidates and the data from your brainwaves is being stored with no guarantee that it will be deleted then you might just want to stop and think about the future implications, for example on your credit worthiness. The data points that could be collected during these interviews would provide companies with the perfect profiling tool, and there’s no fooling the system – yet. One day this type of data collection will become the norm, and as for the fact that the system is also being used to classify and categorise candidates, well, that’s a view straight out of a dystopian novel.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @

http://www.globalfuturist.org/2016/12/banks-are-using-mind-reading-technology-to-interview-graduates/

Insurance firm to replace human workers with AI system


DATE: 30/12/2016
SOURCE: MAINICHI
VIA: NEWSNOW


Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance Co. is planning to slash nearly 30 percent of its payment assessment department's human staff after it introduces an artificial intelligence (AI) system in January 2017 to improve operating efficiency.

 The insurance firm will introduce an AI system based on IBM Japan Ltd.'s Watson, which according to IBM is a "cognitive technology that can think like a human," and "can analyze and interpret all of your data, including unstructured text, images, audio and video." The Watson-based system will be tasked with reading medical certificates written by doctors and other documents to collect information necessary for making payouts, such as medical histories, length of hospital stays, and surgical procedure names.

In addition to determining payment amounts, the system will also be able to check customers' cases against their insurance contracts to find any special coverage clauses -- a measure expected to prevent payment oversights. The type of payments the AI is expected to oversee at Fukoku Mutual totaled some 132,000 cases in fiscal 2015.


READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @

http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20161230/p2a/00m/0na/005000c

20161227

Privacy groups complain to FTC over Google’s 'deceptive' policy change



DATE: 20/12/2016
SOURCE: PCWORLD
VIA: REDDIT


Privacy groups have complained to the Federal Trade Commission that Google is encroaching on user privacy through a policy change in June that allows it to combine personally-identifiable information with browsing data collected by its DoubleClick digital advertising service.

The complaint by Consumer Watchdog and Privacy Rights Clearing House alleged that Google has created “super-profiles” as it can track user activity on Android mobile phones, with an 88 percent market share of smartphones worldwide, “and from any website that uses Google Analytics, hosts YouTube videos, or displays ads served by DoubleClick or AdSense.”

The combination of data is in contrast to Google’s pledges not to combine users’ personally-identifiable information with DoubleClick’s browsing data when acquiring the ad serving service in 2008, according to the complaint filed Thursday but made public on Monday. In October this year, ProPublica reported that Google “quietly erased that last privacy line in the sand” by its policy change in June that allowed the DoubleClick database of web browsing records to be combined with personal user data.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3152036/security/privacy-groups-complain-to-ftc-over-googles-deceptive-policy-change.html

Swarm AI predicts the 2016 Kentucky Derby

A software platform that uses the intelligence of the crowd to make collective decisions predicts the horses that will come in first, second, third, and fourth at the Kentucky Derby.

DATE: 06/05/2016
SOURCE: TECHREPUBLIC


Unanimous A.I.has built a software platform called UNU that harnesses the power of the crowd to make predictions. Instead of the popular neural network, which emulates brain activity, "swarm AI" looks to a different part of nature: The insect swarm. The concept is that the various units of the group will influence each other in order to arrive at a correct decision—one that is more accurate than any individual prediction.

The tool has been remarkably accurate in the past, predicting winners for the Super Bowl, Oscars, and even predicting how political candidates would perform in the primaries. For the 2015 Oscars, a group of seven UNU users (all non-experts) accurately predicted 11 out of 15 categories correctly—in under a minute. The 73% success rate beat experts at the New York Times, who only achieved 55% accuracy.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/swarm-ai-predicts-the-2016-kentucky-derby/

20161226

Highly Digitalized Norway Finds Itself Exposed to Cyber Warfare

DATE: 22/12/2016
SOURCE: SPUTNIK NEWS
VIA: NEWSNOW

Cyber-attacks are on the increase worldwide. Norway, as one of the world's most digitized countries, is therefore particularly vulnerable, something largely overlooked by both Norwegian politicians and business leaders, Norwegian researchers maintain.

Akin to how the advent of aviation changed the world in the early 1900s, ever-changing information technology is changing the world today. With cyber threats rising across the globe, Norway is among the likely targets being one of the world's most digitalized nations, researchers Niels Nagelhus Schia and Lilly Pijenburg Muller of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) wrote in an opinion piece for Norwegian national broadcaster NRK.

Remarkably, cyber-attacks are not only directed against states, but against also private companies as well. In 2014, a German steelworks sustained extensive damage when hackers took control of software related to production operations.

Cyber warfare is therefore widely acknowledged as "the perfect weapon," which is cheap, difficult to predict, trace and detect. Increased aggression through cyberspace is an emerging geopolitical risk recognized by NATO, of which Norway is part. Earlier this year, NATO defined cyberspace as an independent defense domain, in the same way as land, sea and air. Earlier this year, French Defense Minister Jean Yves Le Drian compared the importance of cyber-attacks with the role of aircraft in First and Second World War, when he launched a new department for prevention of cyber warfare.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @

https://sputniknews.com/military/201612221048867633-norway-cyber-attacks-warfare/

'This is possible. We did it': the week Portugal ran on renewables

Campaigners say the 107 hours when the country was powered by wind, sun and water show they can replace fossil fuels

DATE: 26/12/2016
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN


The 130 giant wind turbines that sprout from the peaks, slicing the air with a rhythmic sigh, have helped Portugal to a remarkable achievement. For four and a half days in May the country ran entirely on electricity from renewable sources: wind, hydro and solar power.

Despite fears of a blackout, the lights stayed on for a record 107 hours between 6.45am on Saturday 7 May and 5.45pm the following Wednesday.

Francisco Ferreira, president of the Portuguese environmental NGO Zero, got wind of what was going on when a friend called that weekend. “He said: ‘I’ve been looking at the graphs and for the past two days we’ve been 100% renewable on electricity production.’ After that, we looked at the data and arrived at 107 hours. We confirmed it with the national energy network, who said we’d had 4.5 days.

Yes, the timing was lucky, he adds. But that does not lessen the achievement of linking up hundreds of dispersed renewable power plants instead of taking the easier option of relying on production from one large thermal one.

Or, to put it a little more pithily: “When Cristiano Ronaldo scores a goal, people say it was lucky. No. It wasn’t lucky. It was a lot of training, a lot of preparation and a lot of things. In our case it wasn’t just luck.”

Portugal’s climate varies between wet and dry years. In wet years, hydropower is the main source of energy, followed by wind and coal. In dry years, however, coal is first, followed by wind and hydro.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/dec/26/this-is-possible-we-did-it-the-week-portugal-ran-on-renewables

Most Germans want enhanced video surveillance after Berlin Christmas market attack – poll

DATE: 26/12/2016
SOURCE: RT


 Sixty percent of Germans want enhanced video surveillance in public spaces, according to a new YouGov poll conducted following an attack in Berlin in which a truck plowed into crowds at a Christmas market, killing 12 and injuring dozens.

As many as 73 percent of poll respondents also want police ranks to be beefed up, while 61 percent say providing police with better equipment is a must, according to n-tv news channel.

A total of 2,083 people took part in the YouGov survey conducted on December 21-23 for German news agency dpa.

One in two respondents taking part in the YouGov survey also called for the Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces, to get more involved in the event of a terrorist attack. Currently, soldiers may only be deployed when police ask for help to deal with major incidents.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @

https://www.rt.com/news/371866-germans-surveillance-video--poll/

Lithuania said found Russian spyware on its government computers



DATE: 22/12/2016
SOURCE: REUTERS


The Baltic state of Lithuania, on the frontline of growing tensions between the West and Russia, says the Kremlin is responsible for cyber attacks that have hit government computers over the last two years.

The head of cyber security told Reuters three cases of Russian spyware on its government computers had been discovered since 2015, and there had been 20 attempts to infect them this year.

"The spyware we found was operating for at least half a year before it was detected – similar to how it was in the USA," Rimtautas Cerniauskas, head of the Lithuanian Cyber Security Centre said.

Fears of Russian cyber attacks have come to the fore since the U.S. election campaign when hacking of Democratic Party emails led to allegations from U.S. intelligence that Moscow was involved.

Lithuanian officials targeted by the Russian spyware held mid-to-low ranking positions at the government, but their computers contained a stream of drafts for government decisions of its positions on various matters, said Cerniauskas.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-lithuania-cyber-idUSKBN14B1PC

'Tremendous strength’: India conducts successful ICBM test



DATE: 26/12/2016
SOURCE: RT

India has successfully tested its most powerful Agni-V ballistic missile, which is capable of carrying nuclear warheads, the country’s Defense Ministry announced. PM Narendra Modi dubbed the launch a “tremendous strength” of the country’s defense.

The launch took place at about 10:30am Monday local time, from Kalam Island off the coast of India’s eastern state of Odischa. Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee confirmed the latest show of force in a twitter message.


The Agni-5 is the first Indian missile that has a range sufficient to hit any target in neighboring Pakistan or China.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @

https://www.rt.com/news/371869-india-agni-missile-test/

Tesco lowers mobile prices - if you agree to watch adverts



Would you watch adverts to lower your mobile bill?

DATE: 15/07/2016
SOURCE: AOL


Tesco has launched an intriguing new mobile phone deal called Tesco Mobile Xtras. The idea is that you can opt to see adverts, deals and news when you unlock your phone - in return for lower monthly bills. It could be a brilliant way to cut your costs - alternatively it could be a real annoyance.

The idea is that every second or third time you unlock your phone, Tesco Mobile customers will see a static advert, details of a deal or some news or sport, before you get into the phone. In return, you'll have £3 a month subtracted from your bill. You'll also have an extra 200MB of data added to your monthly allowance for free - to take account of the extra data the adverts will use.

In addition to nationwide deals, the phones will also be able to use location services to offer you deals and discounts for nearby shops and services, which could prove useful.


READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @

http://money.aol.co.uk/2016/06/09/tesco-lowers-mobile-prices-if-you-agree-to-watch-adverts/

China already a renewable energy superpower




DATE: 23/12/2016
SOURCE: EJINSIGHT
VIA: BING



In fact, a recent Climate Group report found that in 2014, China invested nearly US$90 billion in renewables, a third more than the previous year and nearly 73 percent more than the US.

China’s lead is not by chance. It is no doubt the result of strong leadership from the Chinese government and a wide range of supportive policy initiatives on clean, green technology.

As frustrating as the current smog events are, China’s investments will benefit the environment in the longer term.

And it is not not just the environment. The focus on technologies underpinning new ways to produce and use energy is assisting the expansion of China’s advanced manufacturing sector and opening up new export markets.

China leads the world in reducing the carbon intensity of its economy. In 2014/15, its carbon emissions per unit of GDP fell 6.4 percent, compared with a decline of 4.7 percent in the US and a 2 percent decrease in India.

China is proving that countries can have economic growth without increasing their carbon emissions.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @

http://www.ejinsight.com/20161223-china-already-a-renewable-energy-superpower/

AI could boost productivity but increase wealth inequality, the White House says



DATE: 21/12/2016
SOURCE: CNBC
VIA: REDDIT


Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has the potential to boost productivity but increase wealth inequality and wipe out millions of jobs, a research report by the White House claimed on Tuesday.

An increasing number of industries are set to be impacted by automation technology over the coming years which could displace jobs, a fear that has been voiced by academics and business leaders.

Auto companies are developing driverless cars while factories could are seeing the increased use of robotics, which has the ability to eat into jobs. But many developments are at the early stage and the impact of automation technology could affect different industries are varying speeds.

~*~*~*~

Three policy responses were proposed by the U.S. government to help with the transition:

    Invest in and develop AI which includes developing the technology in areas such as cyber-defense, as well as boosting education in this area
    Educating and training Americans for the future
    Aid workers in the transition and empower workers to ensure broadly shared growth. This can be done by modernizing the social safety net, which could include "more robust interventions" from the government, such as further strengthening the unemployment insurance system.


READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/21/ai-could-boost-productivity-but-increase-wealth-inequality-the-white-house-says.html

Is a Universal Basic Income the Answer to Automation-Caused Unemployment?



DATE: 25/12/2016
SOURCE: FUTURISM


While technological advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics will clearly make a lot of processes easier and more cost-effective, the impending repercussions need to be addressed before the inevitable happens. As automation begins to take over several jobs, the world is turning to universal basic income (UBI) as a possible solution to the anticipated unemployment it will create, which is estimated to be in the millions by the end of the decade.

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Several countries have announced plans to conduct test runs for UBI systems, including the Netherlands, Finland, Canada, and Uganda, so hard data on the practicality and pros and cons of such systems should be coming soon. With an estimated 57 percent of the world’s jobs at risk of being replaced by automated systems, that insight can’t come soon enough.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @

https://futurism.com/is-a-universal-basic-income-the-answer-to-automation-caused-unemployment/

We might have found the ‘cure’ for global warming – and it’s basically Gaviscon

DATE: 13/12/2016
SOURCE: METRO

Now scientists believe that pumping an aerosol of calcium carbonate could reflect light back into space, cooling the planet – while also neutralising acid from carbon emissions.

‘Instead of trying to minimise the reactivity of the aerosol, we wanted a material that is highly reactive but in a way that would avoid ozone destruction,’ said co-author Frank Keutsch of Harvard.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @

http://metro.co.uk/2016/12/13/we-might-have-found-the-cure-for-global-warming-and-its-basically-gaviscon-6320394/

Hotter Days Will Drive Global Inequality



DATE: 20/12/2016
SOURCE: MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW
VIA: REDDIT


To predict just how various countries might suffer or benefit, a team of scientists at Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley, have turned to historical records of how temperature affects key aspects of the economy. When they use this data to estimate how various countries will fare with a warming planet, the news isn’t good.

The average global income is predicted to be 23 percent less by the end of the century than it would be without climate change. But the effects of a hotter world will be shared very unevenly, with a number of northern countries, including Russia and much of Europe, benefiting from the rising temperatures. The uneven impact of the warming “could mean a massive restructuring of the global economy,” says Solomon Hsiang, a professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at Berkeley, one of the researchers who have painstakingly documented the historical impact of temperature. Even by 2050 (see map), the variation in the economic fates of countries is striking.

Because poorer countries, including those in much of South America and Africa, already tend to be far hotter than what’s ideal for economic growth, the effect of rising temperatures will be particularly damaging to them. Average income for the world’s poorest 60 percent of people by century’s end will be 70 percent below what it would have been without climate change, conclude Hsiang and his coauthors in a recent Nature paper. The result of the rising temperatures, he says, “will be a huge redistribution of wealth from the global poor to the wealthy.”

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603158/hotter-days-will-drive-global-inequality/

Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and YouTube are creating a database of 'terrorist content'

Creating a shared database of terrorist imagery

DATE: 05/12/2016
SOURCE: THE VERGE
VIA: REDDIT


The United States’ biggest social networks are working together to build a database of photos and videos used to recruit people into terrorism, the companies said. Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and Google’s YouTube will create a shared database that identifies images via a unique digital fingerprint, making it easier for the platforms to identify and remove the imagery.

“There is no place for content that promotes terrorism on our hosted consumer services,” the companies said in a joint blog post. “When alerted, we take swift action against this kind of content in accordance with our respective policies.” The move comes a year after the same companies banded together to identify and remove child pornography using a similar technique. The technique was developed by the UK’s Internet Watch Foundation.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @ http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/5/13849570/facebook-microsoft-twitter-google-terrorist-content-database

Newt Gingrich endorses Donald Trump's plan to expand US nuke programme



DATE: 25/12/2016
SOURCE: IBTIMES


Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich endorsed on Sunday (25 December) President-elect Donald Trump's comments about expanding the US nuclear programme. Gingrich, who is an avid supporter of the incoming president, called Trump's remarks "exactly right".

"I think for the [next president to say] we're going to have to systematically rebuild our nuclear capability, is exactly right," Gingrich told Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace. He added that Trump's comments reflect the world in which China, Iran, North Korea and Russia have tried to build up their weapons programmes.

"There are a number of steps [Russia is] taking to be a war-fighting capability," he continued. "We have to, candidly, overmatch that."

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE @ http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/newt-gingrich-endorses-donald-trumps-plan-expand-us-nuke-programme-1598070

20161224

Where does Jeff Bezos foresee putting space colonists? Inside O’Neill cylinders



DATE: 29/10/2016
WRITTEN BY: ALAN BOYLE
SOURCE: GEEKWIRE



SpaceX’s Elon Musk wants to settle humans on Mars. Others talk about a Moon Village. But Seattle billionaire Jeff Bezos has a different kind of off-Earth home in mind when he talks about having millions of people living and working in space.

His long-range vision focuses on a decades-old concept for huge artificial habitats that are best known today as O’Neill cylinders.

“We need to go into space if we want to continue growing civilization,” he explained. “If you take baseline energy usage on Earth and compound it at just 3 percent per year for less than 500 years, you have to cover the entire surface of the Earth in solar cells. That’s just not going to happen.”

Some might say the limits to growth will force civilization into a static condition, but Bezos sees space industry as the frontier for continued growth.

“I predict that in the next few hundred years, all heavy industry will move off planet. It will be just way more convenient to do it in space, where you have better access to resources, better access to 24/7 solar power,” he said last weekend. “Solar power on Earth is not that great, because the planet shades us half the time. In space, you get solar power all the time. So there’ll be a lot of advantages to doing heavy manufacturing there, and Earth will end up zoned residential and light industry.”

The way Bezos sees it, in-space power generation and manufacturing is the answer, rather than sending a million people to Mars.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @ http://www.geekwire.com/2016/jeff-bezos-space-colonies-oneill/

New Law Lets Companies Own Parts of Asteroids



DATE: 15/11/2016
AUTHOR: JELOR GALLEGO
SOURCE: FUTURISM


Innovation Through Law

Luxembourg is a country that has been pursuing an aggressive policy in space mining, doing everything to attract businesses willing to work on mining asteroids. Now, it has passed a new milestone, adopting a draft law regarding ownership of mined space resources.

The draft law, which will be in effect in early 2017, gives private companies ownership of the materials they mine from space. It is the first European country to give certainty to ownership, further cementing Luxembourg as Europe’s space mining hub.

The law sets the regulations that have to be passed in order for companies to engage in space mining. They will have to ask for authorization from the Luxembourg government, detailing each specific mission.


READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE @ http://futurism.com/new-law-lets-companies-own-parts-of-asteroids/

Solar power is now the cheapest form of energy in almost 60 countries



DATE: 23/12/2016
AUTHOR: DAVID NIELD
SOURCE: SCIENCE ALERT


It's official: solar became the cheapest source of new energy in lower-income countries this year, giving both companies and governments alike another reason to ditch coal and gas for renewables.

Data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) show that the average price of solar energy in almost 60 countries dropped to US$1.65 million per megawatt during 2016, just below wind at US$1.66 million per megawatt.

That's based on average prices across 58 emerging markets, including China, India, and Brazil, and it means renewable energy will be an increasingly attractive way to go for companies investing in new power plants in the future.

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE @ http://www.sciencealert.com/solar-power-is-now-the-cheapest-energy-in-the-world

Scientists reverse ageing in mammals and predict human trials within 10 years



DATE: 15/12/2016
AUTHOR: SARAH KNAPTON
SOURCE: THE TELEGRAPH


Using a new technique which takes adult cells back to their embryonic form, US researchers at the Salk Institute in California, showed it was possible to reverse ageing in mice, allowing the animals to not only look younger, but live for 30 per cent longer.

Scientists hope to eventually create a drug which can mimic the effect of the found genes which could be taken to slow down, and even reverse the ageing process. They say it will take around 10 years to get to human trials.

"Our study shows that ageing may not have to proceed in one single direction," said Dr Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, a professor in Salk's Gene Expression Laboratory. “With careful modulation, aging might be reversed.

"Obviously, mice are not humans and we know it will be much more complex to rejuvenate a person. But this study shows that ageing is a very dynamic and plastic process, and therefore will be more amenable to therapeutic interventions than what we previously thought."

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/12/15/scientists-reverse-ageing-mammals-predict-human-trials-within/

World’s largest hedge fund to replace managers with artificial intelligence



DATE: 22/12/2016
AUTHOR: OLIVIA SOLON
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN


Bridgewater Associates has a team of software engineers working on the project at the request of billionaire founder Ray Dalio, who wants to ensure the company can run according to his vision even when he’s not there, the Wall Street Journal reported.

~*~*~*~


The firm, which manages $160bn, created the team of programmers specializing in analytics and artificial intelligence, dubbed the Systematized Intelligence Lab, in early 2015. The unit is headed up by David Ferrucci, who previously led IBM’s development of Watson, the supercomputer that beat humans at Jeopardy! in 2011.

The company is already highly data-driven, with meetings recorded and staff asked to grade each other throughout the day using a ratings system called “dots”. The Systematized Intelligence Lab has built a tool that incorporates these ratings into “Baseball Cards” that show employees’ strengths and weaknesses. Another app, dubbed The Contract, gets staff to set goals they want to achieve and then tracks how effectively they follow through.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @ https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/22/bridgewater-associates-ai-artificial-intelligence-management?CMP=share_btn_tw

What humans will look like in 100 years: Expert reveals the genetically modified bodies we'll need to survive



DATE: 23/12/2016
AUTHOR: HARRY PETTIT
SOURCE: DAILYMAIL


Genetic modification has given us the potential to make humankind stronger, faster, and more resilient to disease.

But each artificial enhancement humanity makes carries the risk of generating a new class of 'super humans'.

This, however, is the risk we need to take in order to survive the next mass extinction, according to one Harvard researcher.

Juan Enríquez argues that artificially enhanced genes, cells, and organs will be needed to get off Earth and on to another planet.

Mr Enríquez envisions a future in which human cells can repair themselves from radiation, fight off deadly viruses like HIV with ease, and even dodge bullets.

~*~*~*~


'If you believe that extinctions are common and natural and normal, and occur periodically, it becomes a moral imperative to diversify our species,' Mr Enríquez says.

'If Earth goes, all of humanity goes.'

The Harvard researcher explains how genetic modification could be used to upgrade the human genome over the next century.

~*~*~*~

In the future nanobots - or tiny robots - will be suddenly integrated into our own bodies, enhancing our abilities,' it says.

'No longer will we be limited by own own physiology, but truly become a mixture of biology and machine on the inside.'

Meanwhile, designer babies will cause future generations to grow into intelligent, attractive and physically people.

'But while that will make us better smarter, stronger and better looking, such genetic similarity, or lack of human diversity, leaves room for a single new disease of the future, to wipe out the entire human race.'

~*~*~*~

The study predicts that by 2050 a typical male worker, aged 35, will have red eyes, a smaller penis, a larger brain, advanced language skills and bioimplants to improve their performance

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4061132/What-humans-look-like-100-years-Expert-reveals-genetically-modified-bodies-ll-need-survive.html

Theologians: The Next Messiah Will be Part Human Part Machine



DATE: 22/12/2016
AUTHOR: GERALD ORACLES DUNCAN
SOURCE: THE DAILY SQUIB


Theologians from the X Science Institute have revealed their amazing findings in a new book to be published some time in the not too distant future, maybe in a few months, or weeks, who really knows?

“We predict the coming Messiah will be part machine part human. This is the next step in religious evolution and for mankind in general. We are certain that the new Messiah will be persecuted by the old order and by previous religious zealots, but the integration of man with machines will ensure harmony is once again brought to the earth after the torrent of vitriol is quelled. Who will this entity be? Well, the spirit is in everything, even machines, and the enlightened ones will see the spirit, as the sentient machines rise up to the universal chorus of science and flesh, a new dawn will come of age."


READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @ http://www.dailysquib.co.uk/sci_tech/6639-theologians-next-messiah-will-part-human-part-machine.html

North Korea 'hacks South's military cyber command'



DATE: 06/12/2016
SOURCE: BBC

South Korea's military cyber command, set up to guard against hacking, appears to have been breached by North Korea, the military has said.

A spokesman told the BBC that classified information was thought to have been stolen, although it is not clear exactly what data was accessed.

The North has previously been accused of hacking into banks and media outlets but never the South's military.

Pyongyang has in the past rejected allegations of cyber crime involvement.

"It seems the intranet server of the cyber command has been contaminated with malware. We found that some military documents, including confidential information, have been hacked," a military spokesman told South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

It is not clear whether low-grade documents or more important details like war plans were accessed.

The military said that the compromised section of its network was isolated once the attack was detected.


READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE @ http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38219009

Group that hacked the DNC also infiltrated Ukrainian artillery units


The group distributed a trojanized version of an Android app used by Ukrainian artillery personnel

DATE: 22/12/2016
AUTHOR: LUCIAN CONSTANTIN
SOURCE: COMPUTERWORLD


The cyberespionage group blamed for hacking into the Democratic National Committee (DNC) earlier this year also infiltrated the Ukrainian military through a trojanized Android application used by its artillery units.

The group, which is known in the security industry under different names, including Fancy Bear, Pawn Storm and APT28, has been operating for almost a decade. It is believed to be the sole user and likely developer of a Trojan program called Sofacy or X-Agent that has variants for Windows, Android and iOS.

Fancy Bear has been responsible for many cyberespionage operations around the world over the years, and its selection of targets has frequently reflected Russia's geopolitical interests. Researchers from security firm CrowdStrike believe the group is likely tied to the Russian Military Intelligence Service (GRU).

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE @ http://www.computerworld.com/article/3153169/security/group-that-hacked-the-dnc-also-infiltrated-ukrainian-artillery-units.html

Obama Could Create A Stand-Alone Cybersecurity Agency



DATE: 24/12/2016
AUTHOR: GRANT SUNESON
SOURCE: KSHB

The NSA is best known for gathering intelligence domestically and internationally. Cybercom is tasked with attacking enemy networks and defending America's cyber infrastructure.

But now it seems that cybersecurity needs its own dedicated agency. Hacking has become a major issue in the U.S. This year we heard about major breaches at businesses like Yahoo and political organizations like the Democratic National Committee.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @ http://www.kshb.com/newsy/obama-could-create-a-standalone-cybersecurity-agency

700 million Android phones have spying firmware preinstalled


DATE: 20/12/2016
AUTHOR: MIKE WEHNER
SOURCE: BGR

Trustlook, another digital security firm, dug deeper on what devices utilize Adups and could be used by the Chinese company to scrape your private information, and the list is absolutely massive. Trustlook says that over 700 million Android smartphones have Adups firmware installed that puts the user at risk of having text messages, call histories, and device information collected without their knowledge or consent.

Many of the manufacturers who utilize Adups are smaller companies who only release their devices in Asia or specific smaller markets. However, there are a few notable names on the list, including Lenovo, ZTE, and the aforementioned Blu.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @ https://bgr.com/2016/12/20/adups-spyware-android-phones-security/

20161222

PUTIN: RUSSIA'S MILITARY IS STRONGER THAN ANY POTENTIAL FOE


DATE: 22/12/2016
AUTHOR: NATALIYA VASILYEVA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS


MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia's military today can overpower any potential foe but should strengthen its nuclear arsenal, President Vladimir Putin told an annual end-of-year meeting Thursday with defense chiefs.

"We can say with certainty: We are stronger now than any potential aggressor," he told the meeting. "Anyone!"

His comments come at the end of a year when tensions between Russia and the West have remained on edge over the civil war in Syria.

Tensions between Russia and the West have been souring ever since Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and surreptitious support of separatists in eastern Ukraine. Relations dipped further after Russia last year launched an air offensive in Syria to support President Bashar Assad.

Both Russia and NATO members have conducted a flurry of military drills near Russia's borders this year. Russia insists it is responding to a growing NATO threat.

Speaking at the defense ministry's headquarters in Moscow, Putin said Russia should be swift in "adjusting plans to neutralize potential threats to our country."

He said strengthening Russia's nuclear capability should be a chief objective for 2017.

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE @ http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_RUSSIA_MILITARY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-12-22-06-35-19

Trump: US must 'greatly strengthen' nuclear capability


DATE: 22/12/2016
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS


President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday abruptly called for the United States to "greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability" until the rest of the world "comes to its senses" regarding nuclear weapons.

Trump made the statement on Twitter and did not expand on the actions he wants the U.S. to take or on the issues he sees around the world. His comments came one day after meeting with incoming White House national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Trump's transition website says he "recognizes the uniquely catastrophic threats posed by nuclear weapons and cyberattacks," adding that he will modernize the nuclear arsenal "to ensure it continues to be an effective deterrent." Beyond that, he has offered few specifics, either as a candidate or during the transition.

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE @ http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/12/22/trump-us-must-greatly-strengthen-nuclear-capability.html

@ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-4057746/Trump-denounces-attack-vows-tough-immigration-plan.html




Big data, meet Big Brother China invents the digital totalitarian state



The worrying implications of its social-credit project

DATE: 17/12/2016
SOURCE: THE ECONOMIST

A pilot scheme in Suining county, in Jiangsu province north of Shanghai, gives clues about what such a system might mean in practice. Starting in 2010, the local government awarded people points for good behaviour (such as winning a national honour of some kind) and deducted points for everything from minor traffic offences to “illegally petitioning higher authorities for help”. Those who scored highest were eligible for rewards such as fast-track promotion at work or jumping the queue for public housing.

The project was a failure. The data on which it was based were patchy. Amid a public backlash, a report in China Youth Daily, a state-owned newspaper, criticised the system. It said “political” data (such as petitions) should not have been included, declaring that “people should have rated government employees and instead the government has [rated] the people.” Another state-run newspaper, Beijing Times, even compared the scheme with the “good citizen” certificates issued by Japan during its wartime occupation of China.

But the party and government seem undaunted, issuing outline plans for the social-credit system in 2014 and more detailed guidelines this year. About 30 local governments are collecting data that would support it. The plan appears hugely ambitious, aiming explicitly to influence the behaviour of a whole society. By 2020, Chinese officials say, it will “allow the trustworthy to roam everywhere under heaven while making it hard for the discredited to take a single step.”

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @ http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21711902-worrying-implications-its-social-credit-project-china-invents-digital-totalitarian

This is the real threat to online pirates, and the digital privacy of Australians



DATE: 22/12/2016
AUTHOR: NICK WHIGHAM
SOURCE: NEWS.COM.AU




YOUR digital privacy is being incrementally eroded at an alarming rate, Australian privacy advocates warn.

The concern comes as the Attorney-General’s Department announced it is considering opening up access to people’s personal telecommunications metadata in civil proceedings.

In doing so the Turnbull government is quietly heading down a path that many warned was coming more than two years ago when the Coalition first introduced mandatory data laws forcing the country’s telcos to collect and keep the incredibly revealing metadata of its customers.

This week internet service providers began blocking access to sites that host illegal torrents and streaming services but the site blocking regime has already proved fallible. However this could prove to be the real threat to online pirates.

If civil suits are allowed to request a person’s metadata it could one day be used by rights holders to go after online pirates.

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE @ http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/this-is-the-real-threat-to-online-pirates-and-the-digital-privacy-of-australians/news-story/9ce03e418fdce798ffa4f69312bac964

Russian hacks into Ukraine power grids a sign of things to come for U.S.?



DATE: 21/12/2016
AUTHOR: HOLLY WILLIAMS
SOURCE: CBS NEWS



Russian hacking to influence the election has dominated the news. But CBS News has also noticed a hacking attack that could be a future means to the U.S. Last weekend, parts of the Ukrainian capitol Kiev went dark. It appears Russia has figured out how to crash a power grid with a click.

Last December, a similar attack occurred when nearly a quarter of a million people lost power in the Ivano-Frankivsk region of Ukraine when it was targeted by a suspected Russian attack. 

Vasyl Pemchuk is the electric control center manager, and said that when hackers took over their computers, all his workers could do was film it with their cell phones.

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE @ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/russian-hacks-into-ukraine-power-grids-may-be-a-sign-of-things-to-come/

Moon village concept attracts worldwide support



DATE: 02/12/2016
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN


The ESA director general said the moon village was discussed by member state ministers meeting in Lucerne, Switzerland, to decide space funding.

At a press conference after the two-day meeting, Johann-Dietrich Wörner said: “We are now having a list of actors worldwide who would like to participate in this moon village concept. There are ideas of companies – not only ideas, projects of companies – to go to the moon, and they want to be part of this community.

“We are joining forces. There are companies offering payloads. There are public entities going to the moon and offering payloads. Even Nasa is part of this. So therefore the moon village was a part of our discussion at the very beginning.”

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @ https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/dec/02/moon-village-concept-attracting-worldwide-support-european-space-agency-lunar-outpost

Let's Colonize Titan



DATE:25/11/2016
AUTHORS: Charles Wohlforth, Amanda R. Hendrix
SOURCE: SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN



The idea of a human colony on Titan, a moon of Saturn, might sound crazy. Its temperature hovers at nearly 300° below zero Fahrenheit, and its skies rain methane and ethane that flow into hydrocarbon seas. Nevertheless, Titan could be the only place in the solar system where it makes sense to build a permanent, self-sufficient human settlement.

We reached this conclusion after looking at the planets in a new way: ecologically. We considered the habitat that human beings need and searched for those conditions in our celestial neighborhood.


~*~*~*~

For protection from radiation, Titan has a nitrogen atmosphere 50 percent thicker than Earth’s. Saturn’s magnetosphere also provides shelter. On the surface, vast quantities of hydrocarbons in solid and liquid form lie ready to be used for energy. Although the atmosphere lacks oxygen, water ice just below the surface could be used to provide oxygen for breathing and to combust hydrocarbons as fuel.

It’s cold on Titan, at -180°C (-291°F), but thanks to its thick atmosphere, residents wouldn’t need pressure suits—just warm clothing and respirators. Housing could be made of plastic produced from the unlimited resources harvested on the surface, and could consist of domes inflated by warm oxygen and nitrogen. The ease of construction would allow huge indoor spaces.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @ https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/lets-colonize-titan/

20161220

Only 60 Years of Farming Left If Soil Degradation Continues



DATE: 20/12/2016
AUTHOR: CHRIS ARSENAULT
SOURCE: SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

Generating three centimeters of top soil takes 1,000 years, and if current rates of degradation continue all of the world's top soil could be gone within 60 years, a senior UN official said

ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Generating three centimeters of top soil takes 1,000 years, and if current rates of degradation continue all of the world's top soil could be gone within 60 years, a senior UN official said on Friday.

About a third of the world's soil has already been degraded, Maria-Helena Semedo of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) told a forum marking World Soil Day.

The causes of soil destruction include chemical-heavy farming techniques, deforestation which increases erosion, and global warming. The earth under our feet is too often ignored by policymakers, experts said.

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE @ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/only-60-years-of-farming-left-if-soil-degradation-continues/

Mutually assured cyber destruction?



DATE: 15/12/2016
AUTHOR: DAVID HOROVITZ
SOURCE: THE TIMES OF ISRAEL


Op-ed: Experts say first the US, then some of the West’s enemies, have developed the capability to shut down entire countries at the flip of a switch


In summer 2013, I attended a conference on cybersecurity at Tel Aviv University. It was there that I learned for the first time that Stuxnet — the super-sophisticated computer virus that the US and Israel allegedly managed to insert into Iran’s Natanz enrichment facility in 2010, there to play havoc with the centrifuges — had come to be regarded in the world of cyber-warfare as a terrible mistake.

Several speakers at the conference made this assertion, branding as a failure what had been widely regarded in Israel as a dazzling success — a nonmilitary strike that had set the Iranian program back by a good few months, and had planted all kinds of uncertainty in the minds of their nuclear technicians.

On the sidelines of that conference, therefore, when I interviewed Richard A Clarke, the counterterrorism chief for both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, I asked him whether he too thought Stuxnet had been, to put it mildly, counterproductive. Absolutely, Clarke made clear.

For one thing, “the attack code was supposed to die and not get out onto the internet,” he noted, but it did. “It got out, and ran around the world.” It couldn’t harm anything else, because it had been programmed only to strike at Iran’s centrifuges, but “nonetheless it tried to attack things and people therefore grabbed it and decompiled it, so it’s taught a lot of people how to attack,” said Clarke.

In other words, the alleged US-Israel cyber-warfare breakthrough became common knowledge in that dark world, enabling others — including, it would transpire, the Iranians themselves — to learn how to conduct similar attacks.

Worse still, Clarke indicated, the fact that the attack had been discovered constituted a kind of legitimation of that form of warfare — if the US was doing it, it could hardly complain if its enemies did the same. And this in an era when defenses against cyber warfare were playing constant catch-up to try to foil attackers.

As Clarke put it, “No one really knows how to do defensive systems. The technology right now doesn’t work as well on the defense as it does on the offense. Historically, there’s this phenomenon in military science called ‘offense preference,’ where certain circumstances are created where the offense always wins… Right now and for some time now, we have been in this period of offense preference in cyber, where the offense usually wins.”

READ THE REST PF THIS ARTICLE @ http://www.timesofisrael.com/mutually-assured-cyber-destruction/

Trump Picks ‘Bitcoin Congressman’ Mulvaney for Budget Chief



DATE: 20/12/2016
AUTHOR: WILLIAM SUBERG
SOURCE: BITCOINIST



Republican Bitcoin proponent Congressman Mick Mulvaney is the surprise pick for Donald Trump’s Office of Management and Budget chief.

Bitcoin ‘Not Manipulatable’ By Any Gov’t

Mulvaney, whose support for Bitcoin has been high profile even within Washington itself, is also due to speak for a second time at the John Birch Society, a ring-wing group which verges on extremism.

During his first speech in July, Mother Jones reports Mulvaney “slammed” the Federal Reserve while talking up Bitcoin’s virtues. He described it as “not manipulatable by any government.”

At the same time, praise came for John Birch itself, Mulvaney commenting that “you all put out some really good stuff and it’s always interesting.”

Previously defending his appearances at the group, the first of which was in July, the congressman stated he “regularly speaks to groups across the political spectrum” and that he “couldn’t remember ever turning down an opportunity to speak to a group based on the group’s political ideology.”

Mulvaney a Consistent Bitcoin Proponent

Political sympathies of this style may jar with those held by Bitcoin users who envisage a world of equality based on complete lack of central control of any one group or entity over another.

Nonetheless, Mulvaney has at least been consistent in his opinions on Bitcoin.

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE @ http://bitcoinist.com/bitcoin-mulvaney-trump-budget/

Would it be immoral to send out a generation starship?



DATE: 20/12/2016
AUTHOR: NEIL LEVY
SOURCE: AEON



If human beings are ever to colonise other planets – which might become necessary for the survival of the species, given how far we have degraded this one – they will almost certainly have to use generation ships: spaceships that will support not just those who set out on them, but also their descendants. The vast distances between Earth and the nearest habitable planets, combined with the fact that we are unlikely ever to invent a way of travelling that exceeds the speed of light, ensures that many generations will be born, raised and die on board such a ship before it arrives at its destination.

A generation ship would have to be a whole society in microcosm, with hospitals and schools, living quarters and perhaps entertainment districts, a security force, maybe even a judiciary. It would need to be able to provide food for its crew, and that might require agriculture or aquaculture, perhaps even domestic animals (which might also be needed for the colonisation effort). Its design therefore presents a major challenge: not just to engineers but also to social scientists. How should the crew be selected and the environment structured to minimise interpersonal conflict? What size of population is optimal for it to remain committed to the single overarching project of colonising a new planet without too much of a risk of self-destructive boredom or excessive narrowing of the gene pool? Does mental health require that a quasi-natural environment be recreated within the ship (with trees, grass and perhaps undomesticated birds and small animals)?

As well as the technological and social challenges confronting the designers of such ships, there are fascinating philosophical and ethical issues that arise. The issue I want to focus on concerns the ethics of a project that locks the next generation into a form of living, the inauguration of which they had no say over, and that ensures their options are extremely limited.

A generation ship can work only if most of the children born aboard can be trained to become the next generation of crew. They will have little or no choice over what kind of project they pursue. At best, they will have a range of shipboard careers to choose between: chef, gardener, engineer, pilot, and so on. Given that allocation to roles must be tightly controlled, they might not even have that degree of choice, since once a sufficient number of people have enrolled in chef training, for example, there will be no more places available. They will not be able to choose a life of contemplation, of withdrawal into a religious community or (to take a role that is more common in the society their parents leave behind) of working in a service industry. They will not be able to choose part-time or full-time work, and so on.

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE @ https://aeon.co/ideas/would-it-be-immoral-to-send-out-a-generation-starship

Las Vegas’s city government is now powered by 100% renewable energy, and more cities will follow



SOURCE: QZ.COM


Ten years of effort finally paid off for Las Vegas this week when officials announced the city government will now be powered entirely by renewable energy. After a large solar array, Boulder Solar 1, came online on Dec. 12, the city was able to buy enough carbon-free electricity to power its 140 buildings, streetlights and other facilities. The power flows from a mix of solar panels and hydroelectric turbines including the Hoover Dam. The renewables, plus energy efficiency savings, are estimated to save the city roughly $5 million per year, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Las Vegas is one of many cities pushing ahead with aggressive efforts to leave fossil fuels behind. The Vegas city council, after threatening to leave the grid entirely in 2015, struck a deal with NV Energy that would help the city get to 100% renewable. Casinos—including Wynn Las Vegas, MGM Resorts International and Las Vegas Sands Corp.—are now doing the same by installing acres of solar panels on their roofs, reports the Review-Journal.

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE @ http://qz.com/867024/las-vegas-100-percent-renewable-energy/

Virtual race: Competing in Brain Computer Interface at Cybathlon



DATE: 05/12/2016
AUTHOR: LINDA SEWARD
SOURCE: ROBOHUB


This week the world’s first Cybathlon will take place in Zurich, Switzerland. Cybathlon is the brainchild of NCCR Robotics co-director and ETH Zurich professor Robert Riener, and is designed to facilitate discussion between academics, industry and end users of assistive aids, to promote the position of people with disabilities within society and to push development of assistive technology towards solutions that are suitable for use all-day, every day.

In our privileged position as presenting sponsor we are also proud to have NCCR Robotics represented by two teams: In the Brain Computer Interface (BCI) race, by the team EPFL Brain Tweakers, and in the Powered Arm Prosthesis Race, by the team LeMano.

The BCI race is a virtual race, whereby the pilots use BCIs to control an avatar running through a computer game – the pilots may only use their thoughts as no other commands (e.g. head movements) will affect the actions of the avatar. As the Brain Tweakers are a team of researchers representing the Chair in Brain-Machine Interface (CNBI) laboratory led by Prof. José del R. Millán at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne and NCCR Robotics, they jumped at the chance to participate in this race, which plays to their experience and expertise. Indeed, the focus of their research is on the direct use of human brain signals to control devices and interact with the environment around the user.

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE @ http://robohub.org/virtual-race-competing-in-brain-computer-interface-at-cybathlon/



What If Aliens Are AI, Not Extraterrestrial? Experts Share Thoughts, Potential Risks



DATE: 20/12/2016
AUTHOR: RHEN ANTONY TAQUIAM
SOURCE: NATURE WORLD NEWS



What if man isn't the greatest intelligence in the universe? This is a question we have all been pondering upon for decades, but it may appear "aliens in space" may not hold the answer.

~*~*~*~

However, Schneider said what we're experiencing today may be experienced by others in the universe. The transition from biological to synthetic intelligence may be a "general" pattern instantiated over and over throughout the cosmos.

She added the better term to be used may be "postbiological" than just "artificial" because the difference between biological and snythetic isn't very clear. The point is, there is no reason to expect humans to be the "highest form" of intelligence when we are in fact making things smarter than ourselves.

~*~*~*~

However, it's helpful to realize that this means alien AI may be more hostile than we think. Biological aliens may not have good intentions, but an extraterrestrial AI could be an even greater threat, as it may have goals that conflict with the preservation of human life. 

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @ http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/34373/20161220/what-aliens-ai-extraterrestrial-experts-share-thoughts-potential-risks.htm

Electricity-from-water scientist seeks commercialisation of invention



DATE: 20/12/2016
SOURCE: INDIATIMES



New Delhi, Dec 20 (IANS) A top scientist at National Physics Laboratory (NPL) here has said that industry should come forward to commercialise the concept of the hydroelectric cell as it has the potential to be a very cheap source of electricity.

The inventor of the cell that produces electricity from water, R.K. Kotnala, the Chief Scientist at NPL, urged industry leaders to come forward and help improve the workability of the cell, which, he said, can be a great source of green energy.

"It is a portable source of electricity as it can be used as a dry cell (like the common battery used in torches, remotes). And once it goes into production, will be cheaper than solar energy," Kotnala told IANS in an interview.

"In case of wind energy, electricity can be produced using local sources only, plus a single windmill won't do, you have to build a series, which is very expensive. None of these factors can be a hindrance with the hydroelectricity cell," he added.

He said that there is no potential harm from the battery upon disposal as no chemicals are used in its making.

A team led by Kotnala proved the workability of producing electricity from water at room temperature without the use of any chemicals after working on it for 13 years.

"We spent the first 11 years in working out the principle of the technology, and two years on building the device," Kotnala said.

The results were published in the International Journal of Energy Research (IJER) in June this year under the title "Green Hydroelectrical Energy Source Based on Water Dissociation by Nano-porous Ferrite".

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE @ http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/science/electricity-from-water-scientist-seeks-commercialisation-of-invention/articleshow/56081455.cms

Sex robots could reveal your secret perversions: Handing over intimate data is a privacy risk, warns expert



DATE: 20/12/2016
AUTHOR: LIBBY PLUMMER
SOURCE DAILYMAIL


    Personal data handed over to cyber sex toy makers could be stolen by hackers
    This is according to an expert speaking at a cyber sex conference in London
    Agreeing to terms and conditions without reading them could leave users at risk
    One connected sex toy firm is already been sued over claims it was keeping tabs on intimate data


Sex robots could be a target for hackers who want to get access to details of your sexual perversions.

That's according to Dr Kate Devlin who made the warning during a talk at the 'Love and Sex with Robots' conference in London this week.

She says that connected sex toys could store incredibly personal data, raising concerns over how it could be used in future.

'But do we want people to know when we have sex and how we have sex?' Dr Devlin asked.

She referred to a case in which a woman sued sex toy firm Standard Innovation, makers of the WeVibe, earlier this year  - claiming the company was keeping tabs on intimate data collected by the smart dildo and its corresponding app.


READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE @
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4051008/Sex-robots-reveal-secret-perversions-Handing-intimate-data-privacy-risk-warns-expert.html

The real-life Avatar robot takes its first steps: Secretive 13 foot high South Korean 'war machine' walks by mimicking its human pilot


DATE: 19/12/2016
AUTHOR: ABIGAIL BEALL
SOURCE: DAILYMAIL

    The machine has taken its first steps, after two years secretly in development
    Robotics company 'Korea Future Technology' is behind the machine
    Avatar-style robot is controlled by a pilot sitting inside making limb movements
    The robot is so heavy it makes the ground around it shake when it takes steps

A 13-foot tall robot that walks like a human, making the ground around it shake, could soon become a reality.

Seoul-based robotics company 'Korea Future Technology' has completed the first tests of its giant human-like robot, called METHOD-1.

The robot, which has been developed in secret for two years, walks by mimicking the actions of its pilot sitting inside.

Resembling the giant machines that appeared in the 2009 film Avatar and the power loader from the 1986 film Aliens, the robot was the creation of Vitaly Bulgarov, a designer who has previously worked on sci-fi fims including the 2014 remake of Robocop, Transformers 4.

But now his work has moved from fiction into real life.

'I'm excited to share some updates and work-in-progress motion tests for the 4m [13 foot] tall, 1.5t heavy manned robot I have been working on with a Seoul based robotics company, Korea Future Technology,' Mr Bulgarov wrote on his Facebook page.

The robot is so heavy that it makes the ground around it shake when it takes steps, Mr Bulgarov said.

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE @ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4048408/Terrifying-13ft-Avatar-robot-takes-steps-Secretive-South-Korean-war-machine-walks-mimicking-human-pilot.html

The rise of the machines has started! iPhone and Samsung assembler Foxconn replaces 60,000 employees with ROBOTS



DATE: 26/05/2016
AUTHOR: ABIGAIL BEALL
SOURCE: MAILONLINE



While robots have already been taking human jobs in many industries such as car manufacturing, as they become increasingly sophisticated there are growing fears they will put more employees at risk.

Now a major electronics company that supplies Apple and Samsung has announced it is to replace 60,000 staff with robots.

Foxconn, the Taiwanese company which assembles iPhones and iPads, has brought in machines to perform repetitive tasks and axed more than half its 110,000-strong workforce at a factory in Southern China.

In a statement the company said: 'We are applying robotics engineering and other innovative manufacturing technologies to replace repetitive tasks previously done by employees.'

The company said the move will free up employees to perform more complicated tasks and that it intends to maintain a significant workforce in China.

Foxconn has been working toward replacing workers with robots for a while now, in an attempt to save money and increase profits.

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE @ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3610703/Rise-machines-started-iPhone-Samsung-assembler-Foxconn-replaces-60-000-employees-ROBOTS.html

Augmented Reality Will Hit a Turning Point in Industrial Industries in 2017



DATE: 19/12/2016
SOURCE: PR NEWSWIRE

LONDON, Dec. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The augmented reality (AR) market in industrial industries, particularly logistics and manufacturing, will hit an inflection point in 2017 and grow by more than 400% over the previous year, forecasts ABI Research. This momentum will continue into 2018 with shipments expected to jump from 44,000 in 2017 to more than three million. This will occur as large multi-national companies like Boeing, DHL, GE, and Shell complete trials of the technology alongside the support of device manufacturers and platform companies. Given the current growth trajectory, industrial AR shipments are forecast to reach 16 million by 2021.

"Many companies see the potential value of AR within the space, and while a level of misunderstanding surrounding the technology and its capabilities can cause challenges, trials will allow workers to test and understand the benefits of the technology," says Shelli Bernard, Research Analyst at ABI Research. "Industry players are collaborating to improve education surrounding the technology's current capabilities, which will ensure that implementations meet organizations' expectations in utilizing the technology."

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE @ http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/augmented-reality-will-hit-a-turning-point-in-industrial-industries-in-2017-300381425.html

No Implants Required: EEG-Based Technology Makes It Possible To Control Robotic Arm With Just Thoughts



DATE: 16/12/2016
AUTHOR: KAYLAN KUMAR
SOURCE: TECH TIMES



It may be recalled that Electroencephalography tests are widely used in detecting epilepsy and Parkinson's disease. As a low-cost noninvasive method of brain monitoring, the EEG involves collection and display of data using wires, devices, electrodes, software and amplifiers.

In the present case, a high-tech EEG cap was pressed into service, which at the scalp is wired by 64 electrodes to convert the subjects' "thoughts" into action.

The trial was successful in almost eight subjects and their success rates in various tasks were recorded.

Wearing the cap, subjects are persuaded to move their hands without really moving them with an aim to control the robotic arm in a three-dimensional (3D) space.

They also had to visualize a virtual cursor on a computer screen for handling the robotic arm and grabbing objects that are stationary over a table.

Gradually, the subjects start moving the robotic arm and start grabbing objects from random locations including the lifting of things from a table just by thinking of those movements. All these movements had a high success rate close to 80 percent.

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE @ http://www.techtimes.com/articles/188960/20161216/no-implants-required-eeg-based-technology-makes-it-possible-to-control-robotic-arm-with-just-thoughts.htm

Japan Is Going to Mine the Moon



DATE: 20/12/2016
AUTHOR: KASTALIA MEDRANO
SOURCE: INVERSE



The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced Friday that it will begin working with a private lunar robotics exploration company to mine for resources on the moon. The Tokyo-based ispace Inc. should help facilitate Japan’s (somewhat late) entry into the rapidly growing and potentially lucrative field of space mining.

Space mining sounds like a fun but made-up occupation set in the dystopian future, sort of like space archaeologist (real) or space cowboy (less real). But this is far from so — space mining is quickly becoming a ring into which multiple nations and space entities are tossing their respective hats. Luxembourg, for instance, has a head start on Japan here, and the United States already introduced “finders-keepers” legislation for resources recovered from space mining more than a year ago.

Space-resource development is garnering attention around the world now,” ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada told The Wall Street Journal. “It’s very important that we work to commercialize and create rules while we still have a technological advantage globally.”

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE @ https://www.inverse.com/article/25411-japan-space-mining-moon-water-fuel

Nearly half of men would have sex with robots



DATE: 19/12/2016
SOURCE TORONTOSUN

This could be the end of sex as we know it.

And some women might soon be competing with technology for their men.

At least 40% of European men surveyed say they’re willing to put up cash to purchase a robotic lover that will endlessly put out.

Jessica Szczuka divulged her findings on Monday at the Love and Sex With Robots congress at London’s Goldsmiths University.

READ THE REST @ http://www.torontosun.com/2016/12/19/nearly-half-of-men-would-have-sex-with-robots

Rise of sex robots will make people appreciate the 'real thing' more



DATE: 19/12/2016
AUTHOR: HENRY BODKIN
SOURCE: THE TELEGRAPH

Sex between married couples will increasingly be saved for special occasions as  robots step in to satisfy everyday needs, experts have predicted.

Use of artificial intelligence (AI) devices in the bedroom will be socially normal within 25 years, an international  robotics conference has heard.

Comparing sex robots to the rise of the ebook, Dr Trudy Barber, a pioneer in the impact of technology on sexual intercourse, said the machines would enable people to greater appreciate “the real thing”.

Devices such as Rocky or Roxxxy True Companion can currently be bought for around £7,000, but advances in the field are predicted to make sex robots increasingly lifelike and affordable.

Speaking yesterday at the International Congress of Love and Sex with Robotics, Dr Barber said people’s growing immersion in technology means it was only a matter of time before it takes a mainstream role in sex.

READ THE REST ARTICLE @ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/12/19/rise-sex-robots-will-make-people-appreciate-real-thing/

How soon could asteroid mining become a reality?



DATE: 13/12/2016
AUTHOR: MICHAEL BUSCH
SOURCE: QUORA, FORBES

About 10 years, if funding is allocated by US Congress during 2017 and later years.

NASA is currently planning the Asteroid Redirect Mission, which would use a robotic spacecraft to - among other things* - return 20–50 tons of asteroid material to lunar orbit for human astronauts to work with. Under the current plan; ARM would launch the robotic spacecraft at the end of 2021, arrive at the asteroid 2008 EV5 in 2023, and return to Earth-Moon space in 2025. Astronauts would work with the returned asteroid material in 2026.

ARM would provide the opportunity to flight-demonstrate space resource utilization on a fairly large scale. For example, the astronauts could put a few hundred kilograms of asteroid material into a prototype water-extraction system provided by one of the current space-resource start-up companies and get ~30 kg of water out of it (2008 EV5 is perhaps 10% water by mass on its surface).

ARM by itself wouldn’t quite be enough to make asteroid mining profitable. e.g. It would involve launching >5 tons of robotic spacecraft and getting back at most ~5 tons of water. At that point, it still makes more sense economically to ship water up from Earth. But demonstrations of space resource utilization are a necessary precursor to larger-scale asteroid mining that would be cost-effective in terms of providing products such as water, radiation shielding, and steel in space.

READ THE REST @ https://www.quora.com/How-soon-could-asteroid-mining-become-a-reality

This is the most dangerous time for our planet



DATE: 01/12/2016
AUTHOR: STEPHEN HAWKING
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN



For me, the really concerning aspect of this is that now, more than at any time in our history, our species needs to work together. We face awesome environmental challenges: climate change, food production, overpopulation, the decimation of other species, epidemic disease, acidification of the oceans.

Together, they are a reminder that we are at the most dangerous moment in the development of humanity. We now have the technology to destroy the planet on which we live, but have not yet developed the ability to escape it. Perhaps in a few hundred years, we will have established human colonies amid the stars, but right now we only have one planet, and we need to work together to protect it.

To do that, we need to break down, not build up, barriers within and between nations. If we are to stand a chance of doing that, the world’s leaders need to acknowledge that they have failed and are failing the many. With resources increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few, we are going to have to learn to share far more than at present.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/01/stephen-hawking-dangerous-time-planet-inequality

What Would Happen If Yellowstone’s Supervolcano Erupted?



DATE: 28/11/2016
AUTHOR: DAVID ARAGORN
SOURCE: EARTHMYSTERYNEWS


Although fears of a Yellowstone volcanic blast go viral every few years, there are better things to worry about than a catastrophic supereruption exploding from the bowels of Yellowstone National Park.

Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Yellowstone Volcano Observatory always pooh-pooh these worrisome memes, but that doesn’t mean researchers are ignoring the possible consequences of a supereruption. Along with forecasting the damage, scientists constantly monitor the region for signs of molten rock tunneling underground. Scientists scrutinize past supereruptions, as well as smaller volcanic blasts, to predict what would happen if the Yellowstone Volcano did blow.


Supereruption reports are exaggerated

Human civilization will surely survive a supereruption, so let’s bust another myth. There is no pool of molten rock churning beneath Yellowstone’s iconic geysers and mud pots. The Earth’s crust and mantle beneath Yellowstone are indeed hot, but they are mostly solid, with small pockets of molten rock scattered throughout, like water inside a sponge. About 9 percent of the hot blob is molten, and the rest is solid, scientists reported on May 15, 2015, in the journal Science. This magma chamber rests between 3 to 6 miles (5 to 10 km) beneath the park.


READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @ http://earthmysterynews.com/2016/11/28/what-would-happen-if-yellowstones-supervolcano-erupted/

Spacecraft to search for Trojan asteroids



DATE: 19/12/2016
AUTHOR: DEBORAH BYRD
SOURCE: EARTHSKY.ORG


In February 2017, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will search for Earth-Trojan asteroids in the vicinity of Earth’s L-4 point while on its outbound journey to the asteroid Bennu.

Earth’s number of known Trojan asteroid might take a leap up (or not) in February 2017, when the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft – on its two-year outbound journey to asteroid Bennu – passes near Earth’s gravitationally stable L-4 point. This point lies 60 degrees ahead of us in orbit. Asteroids should, in theory, gather near there. Between February 9 and 20, the NASA spacecraft – whose mission team is at University of Arizona (UA) – will activate its onboard camera suite and search for Earth-Trojan asteroids.

The L-4 point is a Lagrangian point in the Earth-sun system. It’s sometimes referred to as a gravity well. Objects caught in orbit around L-4 aren’t pulled closer to either the sun or the Earth. Instead, they maintain their configuration – near one tip of an equilateral triangle with the Earth and sun – always moving ahead of Earth in orbit.

~*~*~*~*~ spoiler ~*~*~*~*~

By the way, because Trojan asteroids stay 60 degrees ahead of or behind Earth in orbit, there’s no danger they’ll collide with us.


READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @ http://earthsky.org/space/osiris-rex-feb-2017-search-earth-trojan-asteroids

HIV & AIDS Cure Updates: Nanotechnology the next frontier, latest solution discovered


DATE: 14/12/2016
AUTHOR: JACQUES FOUCAULT
SOURCE: YIBADA


HIV and AIDS are among the most dreaded diseases that have long puzzled the medical science for its definitive cure. However, with the recent discovery made in Nigeria using nanotechnology, such disease may soon be eradicated.

Extensive and categorical cure for HIV/AIDS might have already been discovered by a team of Nigerian researchers, headed by Prof. Maduike Ezeibe. Such cure is unique in itself, for it utilizes nanotechnology to create a so-called nanomedication. With the use of Medicinal Synthetic Aluminium-magnesium Silicate (MSAMS) Ezeibe and his team managed to attract global experts, which led their proposed cure to be published in the prestigious British Journal of Medicine & Medical Research.

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE @ http://en.yibada.com/articles/178874/20161214/hiv-aids-aids-cure-medicine-public-health.htm

20161219

How I became a cyborg and joined an underground medical movement




DATE: 19/12/2016
AUTHOR: JENNIFER BOOTON
SOURCE: MARKETWATCH


A man with metal horns protruding from his forehead and a split tongue poking out between his teeth advanced toward me with a scalpel. “I’ve never done this before,” he joked, inching closer.

A full-sleeve tattoo snaked out from beneath his black T-shirt, extending from a demon on his bicep to a skull on his fist. My eyes darted between skull and scalpel, then instinctively shut as I cringed, bracing for contact. Zack Watson, the inked-up body modification artist I’d hired — and drove seven hours from New York City to see — was about to sew a magnet under my skin.

The entire procedure took two minutes: Watson rubbed iodine on my right ring finger for sanitization, sliced open the soft pad of my fingertip, spread the edges of my skin apart with a curved hook and inserted a gold-plated, silicone-coated magnet the size of a pencil eraser inside with tweezers.

He then wiped up the blood with gauze, tied my finger shut with two stitches, and told me how to take care of the wound in the weeks following to make sure my body didn’t reject the magnet as it healed.

READ THE REST @ http://www.marketwatch.com/story/i-joined-an-underground-medical-movement-but-had-to-become-a-cyborg-to-do-it-2016-11-15

20161215

Plume Labs raises $4.5 million to expand its AI-driven app that helps people avoid air pollution


DATE: 15/12/2016
AUTHOR: CHRIS O'BRIEN
SOURCE: VENTUREBEAT


Paris-based Plume Labs announced today that it has raised $4.5 million as the company seeks to deepen the impact of an air pollution service it hopes will improve health, and even save lives.

Launching last year, the Plume Air Report is a free mobile app for the iPhone and Android phones that allows consumers to measure their exposure to heavy pollution and offers pollution forecasts. The service plugs into publicly available pollution data and air quality monitors operated by governments and then uses AI to track and forecast pollution safety levels.

READ THE REST @
 http://venturebeat.com/2016/12/15/plume-labs-raises-4-5-million-to-expand-its-ai-driven-app-that-helps-people-avoid-air-pollution/

Netanyahu seeks, under President-elect Trump, to “scrap” the Iranian nuclear agreement



DATE: 12/12/2016
SOURCE: HEAVENTV7

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during an exclusive interview to CBS’s 60 ‘Minutes’ which aired last night (12.12.16), said he believes US President-elect Donald Trump will be a good friend to Israel and hopes the two countries can work together to dismantle the nuclear agreement world powers reached with the Islamic Republic of Iran, an accord Netanyahu referred to on several occasions as a “historic mistake”.

READ THE REST @
 http://www.tv7israelnews.com/netanyahu-seeks-under-president-elect-trump-to-scrap-the-iranian-nuclear-agreement/

Why a Swiss Tax Haven is Embracing Bitcoin



DATE: 09/05/2016
SOURCE: FORTUNE


Municipal bosses in the Swiss town of Zug have decided to accept the bitcoin cryptocurrency for payments up to the value to 200 francs ($206), in a new pilot project.

....

The town council decided last week to start accepting bitcoin from July 1, and at the end of the year it will look at the lessons it has learned from the exercise. It will then decide whether Zug should accept bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for more municipal services in the future.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @
http://fortune.com/2016/05/09/zug-bitcoin-services/

BITCOIN IS BEING MONITORED BY AN INCREASINGLY WARY US GOVERNMENT



DATE: 15/12/2016
AUTHOR: Leah McGrath Goodman
SOURCE: NEWSWEEK


This suits bitcoin users just fine. They want a secure way to exchange money by laptop, mobile phone or email. Yet so do terrorists and criminals, whom the U.S. government worries might develop and deploy their own uncrackable virtual currencies. Newsweek has learned hundreds of experts inside the nation’s defense and intelligence agencies, as well as private-sector researchers in finance, technology and various think tanks across the country—some of them under contract with the U.S. government—are now investigating how virtual currencies could undermine America’s long-standing ability to disrupt the financial networks of its foes and even permanently upend parts of the global financial system.


~*~*~

The biggest concern the U.S. has about virtual currencies, Zarate says, is that terrorists and other enemies might create one so powerful and so untrackable, that they’ll no longer need the global banking system, which the U.S. uses to financially starve them. This has yet to happen, but America’s defense and intelligence agencies are already trying to figure out how they might infiltrate or block such a malicious financial network.


~*~*~

The implications of bitcoin and potentially more threatening copycat virtual currencies go well beyond terrorism. Bitcoin’s unique and widely accessible technology challenges the very bedrock of the global banking system. Blockchain, the digital record-keeping apparatus at the heart of the cryptocurrency, is used to generate, circulate and track bitcoins through computers within a global network that not only verify and record every transaction, but also check each other’s work. This decentralized way of doing business also can be used for countless other applications, prompting an estimated $1 billion of investments in the technology in 2016. Stock exchanges like Nasdaq and financial firms like Visa, for instance, are experimenting with Blockchain technology to replace slower, more expensive third-party record-keeping systems.

READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE @ http://europe.newsweek.com/virtual-currencies-bitcoin-being-monitored-us-government-532063

Musk’s OpenAI will train artificial intelligence through video game ‘Universe’



DATE: 05/12/2016
AUTHOR: STEVE HANLEY
SOURCE: TESLARATI

Elon Musk’s OpenAI will introduce Universe, a virtual training ground aimed at teaching AI to play video games, use apps and even interact with websites. OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research company backed by the Tesla founder and billionaire entrepreneur, defines Universe in a blog post as “a software platform for measuring and training an AI’s general intelligence across the world’s supply of games, websites and other applications.”

Put simply, Universe will provide a gym that allows AI agents to go beyond their specialized knowledge of an individual environment to something approaching common sense. “Any task a human can complete with a computer.” Using a VNC (Virtual Network Computing) remote desktop, it allows the AI to control the game or app using a virtual keyboard and mouse, and to see its output by analyzing the pixels displayed on the screen. It’s essentially an interface to the company’s Gym toolkit for developing reinforcement algorithms, a type of machine learning system.

READ THE REST @ http://www.teslarati.com/openai-debuts-universe-training-environment/

Artificial Intelligence Just Broke Steve Jobs’ Wall of Secrecy

DATE: 06/12/2016
AUTHOR: CADE METZ
SOURCE: WIRED.COM


The artificial intelligence researcher Russ Salakhutdinov made headlines today when he said was going to start publishing journal articles and spending time talking to academics.

That wouldn’t be news, except Salakhutdinov works for Apple—a company famous for an extreme breed of corporate secrecy. Over the past two decades, people who work at Apple haven’t talked to much of anyone about the far-reaching research (or anything else) happening inside the company. And that certainly includes academics.

But Salakhutdinov works in an area where secrecy just doesn’t play. As it happens, this field of research is more important to the future of tech giants like Apple than any other. Salakhutdinov oversees Apple’s artificial intelligence group, and the only way he can recruit top researchers is to reassure them that once they get to Apple, they can continue to publish their work and share their ideas with the larger AI community. This free exchange of ideas is just the academic way, but experts also believe it’s the best way to accelerate the progress of AI. “When you do research in secret, you fall behind,” Facebook AI head Yann LeCun told me earlier this year.

If Apple wants to keep up with Facebook and the other big names that have already embraced the AI technique called deep learning so completely—Google, Microsoft, the Elon Musk-backed startup OpenAI—Apple must share research as these others have done. OpenAI was founded on the idea that it would freely share all its research—or least as much as it possibly could. With this pitch, it landed some of the field’s top talent, poaching several researchers from Facebook and Google.

READ THE REST @ https://www.wired.com/2016/12/artificial-intelligence-just-broke-steve-jobs-wall-secrecy

Don’t Call It ‘Smog’ in Beijing, Call It a ‘Meteorological Disaster’



DATE: 15/12/2016
AUTHOR:  DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW
SOURCE: NYTIMES



Is smog a natural disaster? Beijing officials appear to think so.

They have listed it on an official website of weather calamities, alongside the spring sandstorms and summer rainstorms that sweep the capital, wedged between mountains bordering the Gobi Desert and the North China Plain.

But with officials poised to legally classify smog as a natural disaster by including it in the Beijing Municipal Meteorological Disaster Prevention Statute, not everyone is happy.

The concept of smog as a meteorological disaster is “controversial,” read the headline of an analysis in The Beijing News on Thursday.

There is precedent in China for ascribing manufactured disasters to nature. The famine precipitated by the 1958-61 Great Leap Forward, Mao Zedong’s campaign to collectivize agriculture and quickly expand industry, which killed tens of millions of people, is known in China as the Three Years of Natural Disasters.

Beijing is still reeling from a grimy November, and public anger over smog is running high. Some are concerned that classifying the murky air as a natural disaster will reduce pressure on officials to fix the problem, The Beijing News said.


READ THE REST @

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/15/world/asia/beijing-smog-pollution.html

Are Bugs More Nutritious Than Meat?

DATE: 14/12/2016
AUTHOR:  Ravindra Krishnamurthy
SOURCE: PERMACULTURENEWS

A new research study shows that eating edible insects could provide as much or even more iron and other micro-nutrients as consuming beef.

A large percentage of the world’s population consumes meat. Unfortunately, meat production is taxing the planet, with its demand for substantially large amount of water and energy, in addition to contributing to environmental pollution. The look-out for an effective alternative is on and many sustainability researchers are buzzing with the idea of eating bugs.

The idea of eating edible bugs may seem disgusting for many Westerners, but a large proportion of the world’s population have been consuming them on a daily basis since time immemorial.

According to a United Nations report titled, “Edible insects: Future prospects for food and feed security in 2013”, 1900 species of insects are consumed by 2 billion people globally, especially in South and East Asia, Africa, and South and Central America. Out of these 1900 species, beetles (31%), caterpillars (18 %) and Hymenoptera i.e. the bees, wasps and ants (14 %) make-up for most part of insects consumption.

Recent studies hint that, entomophagy could be healthier than meat consumption from other animals, not only for human health, but also for the planet. An insect farm is far cheaper than maintaining a cattle ranch or a poultry farm and is perceived as a way to combat greenhouse gas emissions from livestock farming. With lesser ethical considerations, even animal-rights activists will be less grumpy about insect farms.



READ THE REST @ http://permaculturenews.org/2016/12/14/bugs-nutritious-meat/

Space Colony On Mars; 180 Days Mock Test By China Successfully Completed


DATE: 15/12/2016
SOURCE: SCIENCEWORLDREPORT



Four Chinese volunteers successfully completed the Space Colony Experiment, in which they stayed inside a closed capsule for 180 days, without any outside resupply of food, water and oxygen. The experiment was designed to explore the physical, emotional and psychological changes that may occur when humans live in closed and isolated environments. Successful completion of this experiment has created optimism among space explorers regarding the plans of setting up human colonies in space.

The capsule was set up in the southern city of Shenzhen. Additionally, the capsule was specifically designed in a manner that it can create and maintain its own internal ecosystem, which involved recycling and regeneration of oxygen without being supplied from the outside, same as in space missions.

READ THE REST @
http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/54653/20161215/space-colony-mars-180-days-mock-test-completed.htm

NASA Scientist Warns Earth Is Due For 'Extinction-Level Events'



DATE: 15/12/2016
AUTHOR: CHRISTINA SILVA
SOURCE: YAHOO


The Earth is down for a large-scale event that could wipe out humanity, according to a NASA scientist. Humans are unprepared to stop such an event, said Joseph Nuth, a researcher with Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Nuth, who was addressing the annual meeting of American Geophysical Union, said large and potentially dangerous asteroids are rare, but could strike the Earth at any time, the Guardian reported Tuesday. “But on the other hand they are the extinction-level events, things like dinosaur killers, they’re 50 to 60 million years apart, essentially. You could say, of course, we’re due, but it’s a random course at that point,” he said.

Nuth noted the Earth had "a close encounter" with a comet in 1996 and then again 2014 when a comet passed "within cosmic spitting distance of Mars." Mankind didn't even know about the 2014 event until 22 months before it hit Mars. But scientists would need a warning time of more than two years to stop a comet from hitting Earth, he said. 

"If you look at the schedule for high-reliability spacecraft and launching them, it takes five years to launch a spacecraft. We had 22 months of total warning," he said. Even reducing that timeframe by 25 percent would be "basically a hail-mary pass," he said.

READ THE REST @ https://www.yahoo.com/news/nasa-scientist-warns-earth-due-234459590.html

First trillionaire to fly from KSC?



DATE: 3/12/2015
AUTHOR: MATT REED
SOURCE FLORIDATODAY

Washington has done something really good.

It's the first piece of legislation in eight to 12 years that will enable the commercial market to take off.

It extends the International Space Station to 2024. Which is essential, because Boeing and SpaceX need to know they have a fair amount of time to recover their investments of their own money in the commercial-crew missions.

It puts pressure on NASA and the Air Force to work with the FAA to become even more commercially friendly.

Long-term, it provides clarity to the title of minerals that would be mined on asteroids and on the moon. Investors need to know that if they go up and mine a trillion dollars in platinum from an asteroid and bring it back to earth, that the market's going to recognize it as their property.

Kudos to the Florida delegation. Sen. Marco Rubio also sits on the space subcommittee. Congressman Posey pushed that asteroid-property-rights clarification.

READ THE REST @ http://www.floridatoday.com/story/opinion/columnists/matt-reed/2015/12/02/matt-reed-first-trillionaire-fly-ksc/76689398/?hootPostID=fbacb99cfe59dacc5efa5a83479c5757