==Topic: ICT/AI/Robotocs, Neuro-Info-Tech==
===Chip to function like the human brain ===
Newsflash: “An international team of scientists in Europe has created a silicon chip designed to function like a human brain. With 200,000 neurons linked up by 50 million synaptic connections, the chip is able to mimic the brain’s ability to learn more closely than any other machine.
Although the chip has a fraction of the number of neurons or connections found in a brain, its design allows it to be scaled up, says Karlheinz Meier, a physicist at Heidelberg University, in Germany, who has coordinated the Fast Analog Computing with Emergent Transient States project, or FACETS.”
Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/22339/?a=f
===Video surveillance system that reasons like a human brain ===
BRS Labs announced a video-surveillance technology called Behavioral Analytics, which leverages cognitive reasoning, and processes visual data on a level similar to the human brain.
It is impossible for humans to monitor the tens of millions of cameras deployed throughout the world, a fact long recognized by the international security community. Security video is either used for forensic analysis after an incident has occurred, or it employs a limited-capability technology known as Video Analytics – a video-motion and object-classification-based software technology that attempts to watch video streams and then sends an alarm on specific pre-programmed events. The problem is that this legacy solution generates a great number of false alarms that effectively renders it useless in the real world.
Source: Help net Security, 21.09.2009
===EU funding ‘Orwellian’ artificial intelligence plan to monitor public for “abnormal behaviour”===
A five-year research programme, called Project Indect, aims to develop computer programmes which act as “agents” to monitor and process information from web sites, discussion forums, file servers, peer-to-peer networks and even individual computers.
Its main objectives include the “automatic detection of threats and abnormal behaviour or violence”.
Source: Telegraph, 19.09.2009
===Exclusive: U.S. Spies Buy Stake in Firm That Monitors Blogs, Tweets===
America’s spy agencies want to read your blog posts, keep track of your Twitter updates — even check out your book reviews on Amazon.
In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the CIA and the wider intelligence community, is putting cash into Visible Technologies, a software firm that specializes in monitoring social media. It’s part of a larger movement within the spy services to get better at using ”open source intelligence” — information that’s publicly available, but often hidden in the flood of TV shows, newspaper articles, blog posts, online videos and radio reports generated every day.
Source: Wired, 19.10.2009
===SKA telescope to provide a billion PCs’ worth of processing ===
The company, which is part of a research consortium that includes Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Curtin University of Technology and the University of Western Australia, is currently working down a technology roadmap that leads to the development of exaflop machine — the processing equivalent of about a billion PCs. It is also developing a new form of solid state storage, ‘Racetrack Memory’, which may hold the key to enabling the storage of the SKA’s vast amount of astronomical data.
Source: http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/319128/ska_telescope_provide_billion_pcs_worth_processing Computer World, 18.09.2009]
===Text-to-Speech Technology Reaches an Inflection Point===
Kara Lynn, who was featured in a Times article because she was using an iPhone for text-to-speech service, offers her own comment about the technological curve.
Moore’s Law is a funny thing. Computing gear ticks along, getting faster and often cheaper at a steady rate. But, every now and then, we hit an inflection point where things change in a drastic fashion. Such is the case with the iPhone from Apple and with netbooks -– products that nailed the right recipe of horsepower, size and cost at the right time.
Source: New York Time, 19.09.2009
===New camera promises to capture your whole life===
“A camera you can wear as a pendant to record every moment of your life will soon be launched by a UK-based firm.
Originally invented to help jog the memories of people with Alzheimer’s disease, it might one day be used by consumers to create “lifelogs” that archive their entire lives.
Worn on a cord around the neck, the camera takes pictures automatically as often as once every 30 seconds. [1]“
Source: New Scientist, 16.10.2009
ML
===Robots get smarter by asking for help===
ASKING someone for help is second nature for humans, and now it could help robots overcome one of the thorniest problems in artificial intelligence.
That’s the thinking behind a project at Willow Garage, a robotics company in Palo Alto, California. Researchers there are training a robot to ask humans to identify objects it doesn’t recognise. If successful, it could be an important step in developing machines capable of operating with consistent autonomy.
Source: New Scientist, 17.09.2009
===Singularity Summit – Ben Goertzel on AGI, AI in Virtual Worlds, and AI in Bioinformatics===
Ben gave us some basic examples of how his system derives knowledge. For example, if you give it “I saw the man” and “he wore a red shirt,” the system could derive that “the man was dressed in red.” He explained how the Novamente and Open Cog cognition engines have a language understanding engine that conducts common sense inferencing using probablistic logic networks, and the concept of “symbol grounding,” wherein language is understood by association with things the AI agent has experienced in the world.
Next, Ben showed the audience a demonstration video of one of his virtual pet programs, providing thought bubbles to show how the virtual pets learn, and how the process converts text to knowledge and back. In the video, the dog is taught tricks using a combination of imitation and reinforcement learning.
Ben also announced a new collaboration with Xiamen university – thorugh a grant from the chinese national science foundation, to apply this virtual work to actual robots.
Source: hplusmagazine, 03.10.2009
===Singularity Summit – Anders Sandberg and Randal Keone On Whole Brain Emulation===
Anders Sandberg discussed whole brain emulation, and how we might perhaps accomplish it by mid-century, along with numerous examples of brain scanning and visualization technology.
[2]
Next, Randal Koene gave a differently focused presentation on whole brain emulation, and the benefits WBE will bring to mankind. He also discussed some of the more technical aspects of WBE, such as using phantom data sets for validation that can allow you to test your reconstruction algorighm.An audience member asked if Randal would give the emulated brains a choice about whether or not they wanted to participate in the experiments that had been created for, and he took the question very seriously. “Absolutely — if you’ve got something that thinks like we do, what’s the difference there.”
This immediately aroused the audience’s attention. Just what is it we are talking about creating here.[3]
Source: hplusmagazine, 03.10.2009
===Business Travel Declines With Telepresence Conference Calls===
Two leading systems, Halo from Hewlett Packard and Telepresence from Cisco, are feeding the transition from airports to broadband. Major airlines are reporting drops in business travel of close to 30% as companies look for ways to save money and avoid jetlag. Check out the demo videos for Telepresence and a CNET review of Halo after the break.
According to Mercury News, Silicon Valley companies have been leading the way with replacing expensive air travel with (relatively) cheaper video conferencing. Cisco trimmed its own travel budge from $740 million to $240 million. AMD executive Linda Starr went from logging a million air miles per year to just 100,000. Hewlett Packard cut travel expenses by 30% from 2007 to 2008, and is looking to do so again from 2008 to 2009. Higher quality video, crystal clear sound, and a lack of noticeable delay makes the current generation of corporate conferencing a viable substitution for face to face meetings. As remote presence technology improves, incorporating the ability to feel physical objects using haptics, we could see the business flight go the way of the dodo.
Source: Singularity Hub, ß2.10.2009
===Cool Video of ABB’s Smallest Industrial Robot===
The world of industrial robots has welcomed the next master manipulator, the IRB20. From ABB (NYSE: ABB), the people who brought you the Flexpicker, IRB20 is not only deft, it’s also small. Weighing just 25kg, it still has a reach of more than half a meter and will likely function as an assembly line sorter and assembler. [4] As robots move firmly into every aspect of manufacturing human concerns are being replaced by engineering restrictions. Look at a human worker and you have to consider experience, salary, and expectations. Look at a robotic worker and you have to consider space, weight, and versatility. In these realms the IRB20 really stands out. It has a small footprint, weighs little, and has a huge range of motion and applications. All that and it looks good dancing (check the video). It’s the robotic equivalent of a recent college graduate eager to please around the office. [5]
Source: Singularity Hub, 02.10.2009
===New Software Acts Like Human Brain to Find People in Videos===
Now that we can program a computer to reason somewhat like a human brain, it seems a little cruel to then set that artificial intelligence to one of the most mind-numbing tasks around: watching security footage. Jeff Hawkins and his company Numenta have developed hierarchical temporal memory (HTM) a means of solving information overload by helping a computer filter and sort the way a brain does. The latest application of HTM is Vitamin D Video, a new company that produces software that will allow you to convert hours of boring video into a shorter highlight reel. Vitamin D can track people and objects allowing you to find only those video segments that interest you. TV news interns and CCTV watchmen everywhere are rejoicing.
Source: Singularity Hub, 29.09.2009
===AcceleGlove Remotely Controls Objects With Hand Gestures===
Anthrotronix is letting your hands do the talking. Their new acceleglove is an input device that reads the smallest movements of the fingers to control robots, communicate in American Sign Language, or let soldiers give commands in the field. The intuitive motion capture glove is set to provide a more instinctual and light-weight alternative to traditional robot control mechanisms. Check out the brief demo video with Jack Vice (Anthrotronix founder) after the break.
Source: Singularity Hub, 19.08.2009
===Wolfram Alpha: Internet “answer engine” – A Force To Be Reckoned With===
Wolfram Alpha launched its question answering engine in one of the most eagerly anticipated product launches of the year. Although sensationalists wanted to call Wolfram Alpha a Google killer, here at the Hub we have consistently viewed Wolfram Alpha as a valuable complementary tool to Google rather than a direct competitor. Just a few weeks ago at sci foo 2009 I was able to sit in on a presentation from Wolfram Alpha Co-founder Theodore Gray in which he gave an update on the status of the service. My takeaway was the same as before: Wolfram Alpha is the real deal. This is a serious company backed by some really smart people and a formidable technology.
Source: Singularity Hub, 27.07.2009
===Commanding Military Drones – Now iPhone Has an App for That ===
If you’ve got drones in different area codes, iPhone has an app for that. MIT’s Human and Automation Lab (HAL) has been able to control an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) using everyone’s favorite smart phone. By utilizing the iPhone’s touch screen, tilting sensors, and high speed data transfer HAL is able to manually fly the drone or guide it to follow a prescribed path. In turn, the drone sends back video and snap shots as requested. MIT’s success shows how the controls for UAVs can get smaller, simpler, and easier to use. Watch the three demonstration videos after the break.
Source: Singularity Hub, 18.08.2009
===David Orban Interviews Itamar Arel on Artificial General Intelligence for Singularity Summit 2009===
Arel claims that AGI could be possible within 10 years if there were enough focus and funding on the problem. He also claims that the basic breakthroughs for AGI have already been made. I am highly skeptical myself, but I do agree with him that the effort necessary seems to be more in the millions of dollars range (tens of millions most likely) rather than the billions range.
In the comments, Vladimir Nesov points out, “The necessary disclaimers is that he’s very likely overconfident about the picture of how the construction of AGI is going to happen, and that when the effort succeeds, we all die.”
Source:
===Free-flying cyborg insects steered from a distance===
It’s tempting to call them lords of the flies. For the first time, researchers have controlled the movements of free-flying insects from afar, as if they were tiny remote-controlled aircraft.
By connecting electrodes and radio antennas to the nervous systems of beetles, the researchers were able to make them take off, dive and turn on command. The cyborg insects were created at the University of California, Berkeley, by engineers led by Hirotaka Sato and Michel Maharbiz as part of a programme funded by the Pentagon’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
The project’s goal is to create fully remote-controlled insects able to perform tasks such as looking for survivors after a disaster, or acting as the ultimate spy.
Source: New Scientist, 01.10.2009
===The Artificial Hippocampus ===
PESCOVITZ: Biomedical engineer Theodore Berger at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles has developed an artificial hippocampus: a silicon substitute for the part of the brain that scientists believe encodes experiences as long-term memories. To do this, Berger built mathematical models of neuronal activity in a rat’s hippocampus and then designed circuits that mimic those activities. The next step is to implant the devices in rats to see if they can process the electrical impulses associated with memory and then communicate them back to the brain for long-term storage. Joel Davis at the Office of Naval Research, a sponsor of Berger’s work, said, “Using implantables to enhance competency is down the road. It’s just a matter of time.” While Berger’s work is a far cry from a hard drive for the brain, I’m intrigued by the notion of being able to “back up” my memory just in case.
Source: hplusmagazine, 18.03.2009
===Plan to teach military robots the rules of war===
“Technology has always distanced the soldiers who use weapons from the people who get hit. But robotics engineer Ron Arkin at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, is working to imagine wars in which weapons make their own decisions about wielding lethal force.” [6]
Source: New Scientist, 18.06.2009
===Harnessing science to create the ultimate warrior===
“BATALLIONS of super-soldiers could be selected for specific duties on the basis of their genetic make-up and then constantly monitored for signs of weakness. So says a report by the US National Academies of Science (NAS). [7]“
Source: New Scientist, 20.05.2009
===Cheap Computer Chips===
Now that the “100 Dollar” Notebook is reality and I recently bought one Notebook computer for a little less than 200 Euro (without the special sales promotion it would have cost not more than 250 Euro) and it works just fine. Therefore I wonder how expensive these things really have to be.
One answer came from the chip producer ARM that questions the necessity of “Moore’s Law” for the future success of the computer industry:
“For 30 years, the PC industry has treated Moore’s Law with religious reverence. Its immutable commandment — “Thou shalt double the number of transistors on circuits every 18 months” — created an enviable business model with consumers spurred to buy new, more-powerful PCs every few years. [8] U.K.-based ARM Holdings PLC had modest financial success in 2007, with $518 million revenue and a $2.1 billion market cap. However, the chip maker is wildly successful in the mobile device market. ARM’s chips are used in devices such as Apple’s iPhone, RIM’s BlackBerry and virtually every other cell phone, as well Lego’s Mindstorm robots and Japanese toilet seats that talk and squirt [9] [10]rice estimates for upcoming ARM-based netbooks represent savings of up to half off compared with today’s cheapest Intel Atom-based netbooks, which range from $300 to $400. [11] Some of ARM’s most popular CPUs have as few as 15,000 to 20,000 transistors, said Drew. That number represents less than half that of Intel’s 8088 chip in 1979, which powered the original IBM PC. [12] ARM may have some chips today that eclipse the 1-GHz mark, but “it’s not just about raw megahertz; it’s about how effectively you use them,” Drew said, adding that’s why “we prefer to use different metrics, like megahertz per milliwatt of electricity.”
Sources:
* quote from Computerworld, April 3, 2009 )
Maybe cheaper and less powerful microchips will suffice for everyday necessities. So, how cheap can our computers and mobile devices become in the future? …And if you count in the growing number of free and open source software to run them?
Region: Global, esp. China
===Cracking The Brain’s Numerical Code: Researchers Can Tell What Number A Person Has Seen===
“By carefully observing and analyzing the pattern of activity in the brain, researchers have found that they can tell what number a person has just seen. They can similarly tell how many dots a person has been presented with, according to a report published online on September 24th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. [13] “With these codes, we are only beginning to access the most basic building blocks that symbolic math probably relies on,” Eger said. “We still have no clear idea of how these number representations interact and are combined in mathematical operations, but the fact that we can resolve them in humans gives hope that at some point we can come up with paradigms that let us address this.””
Source: Science Daily, 25.09.2009
===A Virtual Voyage Through the Brain of a Mouse===
“A Virtual Voyage Through the Brain of a Mouse
Mouse brain enthusiasts can finally relax. They have a place of their very own to hang out, swap stories and share information.Researchers from the University of California, San Diego, have released something they’re calling the Whole Brain Catalog. At its core, the catalog is meant to serve as a repository for data gathered about the mouse brain. Scientists around the globe can opt to pop their brain studies into the catalog and help create a richer, shared set of information than what’s available at each individual research institution. [14]“
Source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/a-virtual-voyage-through-the-brain-of-a-mouse/?ref=technology New York Times, 27.10.2009]
===Super slow-motion camera can follow firing neurons===
“Slow motion just got a whole lot slower, with a camera sensor able to film action at 1 million frames per second.
The black and white device is quick enough to capture impulses hurtling through firing nerve cells, and its resolution is good enough to film the microsecond-long pulse-like nerve signals that speed through networks of neurons at up to 180 kilometres per hour.
Capturing frames that last one-millionth of a second requires great sensitivity to light, as well as precise timing. The device uses an array of single-photon detectors, or SPADs, each hooked up to a tiny stopwatch. The stopwatch records when the SPAD is hit by an incoming photon, with an accuracy of around 100 picoseconds. [15]“
Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18051-super-slowmotion-camera-can-follow-firing-neurons.html New Scientist, 28.10.2009]
===Brain scanners can tell what you’re thinking about===
“WHAT are you thinking about? Which memory are you reliving right now? You may think that only you can answer, but by combining brain scans with pattern-detection software, neuroscientists are prying open a window into the human mind.
In the last few years, patterns in brain activity have been used to successfully predict what pictures people are looking at, their location in a virtual environment or a decision they are poised to make. The most recent results show that researchers can now recreate moving images that volunteers are viewing – and even make educated guesses at which event they are remembering.
Last week at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago, Jack Gallant, a leading “neural decoder” at the University of California, Berkeley, presented one of the field’s most impressive results yet. He and colleague Shinji Nishimoto showed that they could create a crude reproduction of a movie clip that someone was watching just by viewing their brain activity. Others at the same meeting claimed that such neural decoding could be used to read memories and future plans – and even to diagnose eating disorders.
Understandably, such developments are raising concerns about “mind reading” technologies, which might be exploited by advertisers or oppressive governments (see “The risks of open-mindedness”). Yet despite – or perhaps because of – the recent progress in the field, most researchers are wary of calling their work mind-reading. Emphasising its limitations, they call it neural decoding. [16]“
Source: New Scientist, 28.10.2009
===By 2040 you will be able to upload your brain…===
“[17] Just when will this ultimate life-affirming feat be possible? In Kurzweil’s estimation, we will be able to upload the human brain to a computer, capturing “a person’s entire personality, memory, skills and history”, by the end of the 2030s; humans and non-biological machines will then merge so effectively that the differences between them will no longer matter; and, after that, human intelligence, transformed for the better, will start to expand outward into the universe, around about 2045. With this last prediction, Kurzweil is referring not to any recognisable type of space travel, but to a kind of space infusion. “Intelligence,” he writes, “will begin to saturate the matter and energy in its midst [18] spread out from its origin on Earth.” [19]“
Source: The Independent, 27.09.2009
===Scientist: Human brain could be replicated in 10 years===
“A model that replicates the functions of the human brain is feasible in 10 years according to neuroscientist Professor Henry Markram of the Brain Mind Institute in Switzerland. ‘I absolutely believe it is technically and biologically possible. The only uncertainty is financial. It is an extremely expensive project and not all is yet secured.’ [20]“
Source: PhysOrg, 07.09.2009
===Software for Neurosimulations===
…I have got this list aggregated by a friend with software for neuro-simulations. Since I found out that the information is also on the public domain, I will share this with you:
* http://netmorph.org/
- http://nerve.bsd.uchicago.edu/nerve1.html
- http://snnap.uth.tmc.edu/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/genesis-sim/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/pysces/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/synbioss/
- http://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/
- http://synaptic-modeling.com/
- http://www.ra.cs.uni-tuebingen.de/SNNS/
- http://leenissen.dk/fann/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/brian/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/stochsim/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/neurofitter/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/pcsim/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/pcsim/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/spikestream/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/snaiu/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/tezeract/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/cervelletto/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/neuralsyns/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/isns/
- http://topographica.org
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/elysia/
- http://elysia.sourceforge.net/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/barney/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/opengenetics/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/techiebrain/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/lifeform/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/bbrain/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/bdv-cell/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/becca/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/cycells/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/geneusim/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/synapsenn/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/four-dices/4-Dimensional
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/ecmojo/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/brams/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/gensim/Gene-Environment
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/steps/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnuvallesfam/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/spikingneurons/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/bgneuron/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/brainlab/
- http://sourceforge.net/projects/pybrainsim/
ML
===Moving Data around the Clouds===
“A startup hopes to make it easier to hop between cloud-computing services.
In recent years, companies led by Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have helped usher in the era of cloud computing, in which businesses and individuals lease access to computing on demand, paying only for as much processing power as they need. And as often happens when a new industry emerges, there’s been a flurry of startup activity in the cloud-computing industry over the past year or so. [21]“
Source: Technology Review, 05.05.2009
ML
===Touchable Hologram Becomes Reality===
“Researchers from the University of Tokyo have developed 3D holograms that can be touched with bare hands. Generally, holograms can’t be felt because they’re made only of light. But the new technology adds tactile feedback to holograms hovering in 3D space. [22]“
Source: PhysOrg, 06.08.2009
ML
===Scientists create first electronic quantum processor===
“A team led by Yale University researchers has created the first rudimentary solid-state quantum processor, taking another step toward the ultimate dream of building a quantum computer. [23]“
Source: PhysOrg, 22.06.2009
ML
===Two New Apps Superimpose Wikipedia Over Your iPhone Camera View of the World ===
What is that mountain you’re driving past? Just point your iPhone at it and you can read its Wikipedia entry. Science fiction? Not anymore. Two new apps for viewing Wikipedia entries about physical locations you look at through your iPhone camera are now available in the iTunes store.
Wikitude and Cyclopedia are the names of the apps and both require the new iPhone 3GS. That’s because the 3GS is the first iPhone with an internal compass – Augmented Reality (AR) apps use your phone’s GPS to know where you are and the compass to know which direction you’re looking at. Then these two apps can tell you what you’re looking at that’s written up in Wikipedia. Here’s how the two different apps compare.
Source: NY Times, 02.10.2009
===Brain-Computer Interface Allows Person-to-person Communication Through Power Of Thought ===
“New research from the University of Southampton has demonstrated that it is possible for communication from person to person through the power of thought — with the help of electrodes, a computer and Internet connection. [24]
[25] Dr James comments: “Whilst BCI is no longer a new thing and person to person communication via the nervous system was shown previously in work by Professor Kevin Warwick from the University of Reading, here we show, for the first time, true brain to brain interfacing. We have yet to grasp the full implications of this but there are various scenarios where B2B could be of benefit such as helping people with severe debilitating muscle wasting diseases, or with the so-called ‘locked-in’ syndrome, to communicate and it also has applications for gaming.” [26]
Source: Science Daily, 06.10.2009
===‘Spiderbots’ talk amongst themselves inside active volcano (o)===
“A squadron of ’spiderbots’ inside Mount St Helens is the first network of volcano sensors that can automatically communicate with each other and with satellites, rather than sending data to a base station first. [27]“
Source: New Scientist, 11.08.2009
ML
===Boffins ‘write directly to memory’ of living brains Implant false memories by ‘seizing control of circuits’===
An alliance of boffins from Oxford University and Virginia, America say they
have developed a technique for “writing directly to memory” in a living
brain, “seizing control of brain circuits” to create a memory of an
experience which had never actually happened.Thus far, according to the research, the technique works reliably only on
flies.“Flies have the ability to learn, but the circuits that instruct memory
formation were unknown,” says Oxford insect-brain expert Gero Miesenböck.
“We were able to pin the essential component down to 12 cells. It’s really
remarkable resolution.”The boffins were able to map the hapless dipterines’ brains using a
technique invented by themselves called “optogenetics”. In optogenetics, “a
simple flash of light is used to release caged-molecules present in
selective neurons that then stimulate the activity of those neurons”, so
allowing one to find out what exactly those neurons do.
Source: Page http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/16/boffins_program_fly_brains/
===Smart Rat ‘Hobbie-J’ Produced By Over-expressing A Gene That Helps Brain Cells Communicate (h)===
“Over-expressing a gene that lets brain cells communicate just a fraction of a second longer makes a smarter rat, report researchers from the Medical College of Georgia and East China Normal University. [28]“
Source: Science daily, 20.10.2009
==Topic: Societal Developments==
===College for $99 a Month===
September/October 2009
“[29] She went online looking for something that fit her wallet and her time horizon, and an ad caught her eye: a company called StraighterLine was offering online courses in subjects like accounting, statistics, and math. This was hardly unusual—hundreds of institutions are online hawking degrees. But one thing about StraighterLine stood out: it offered as many courses as she wanted for a flat rate of $99 a month. “It sounds like a scam,” Solvig thought—she’d run into a lot of shady companies and hard-sell tactics on the Internet. But for $99, why not take a risk? [30]“
===DIY transhumans===
DIYh+ is inspired by DIYbio and H+, and attempts to collect projects that allow willing individuals to experiment with practical enhancement in the transhumanist spirit. Example projects include supplement/exercise regimens, DIY-tDCS, DIY-EEG, and harvesting your own stem cells. It would also be possible to focus on longer term research projects, since some of us work in professional research laboratories on related problems.
This group is a friendly cross between DIYbio and Open Source Medicine, with a dash of the ImmInst forums. It’s the slightly edgier half of OSM. The community, ideally, should strive to foster an open and safe way for responsible adults to learn about do-it-yourself human enhancement. We do not believe in limiting the use of medical technology to therapy.
http://groups.google.com/group/diytranshumanist
- Bryan
http://heybryan.org/
===Britain is ‘designer drugs’ capital of Europe, says EU agency===
”’Potent synthetic drugs proving hard to control as chemists produce alternatives quicker than authorities can ban them”’
Britain has become the online “designer drugs” capital of Europe with more than a third of all internet retailers that sell “legal highs” based in the UK, according to a report from the European Union’s drug agency.
This new generation of online “head shops” is at the centre of a rapidly growing market in highly potent synthetic drugs, such as Spice, that mimic the effects of illegal substances such as cannabis and ecstasy.
European drug agency officials are also alarmed by the way the online retailers are reacting to moves to ban individual “legal highs” by rapidly marketing alternatives. Officials say it is like trying to hit a moving target.
Source: The Giuardian, 05.11.2009
===NPD’s Racist Election Campaign Flops===
Germany’s far-right NPD party saw its support slip to 1.5 percent in Sunday’s federal election from 1.6 percent in 2005 as its overtly xenophobic campaign failed to attract new voters. But that won’t stop it getting millions of euros in public funding.
Germany’s far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) failed to win over new supporters with a blatantly xenophobic election campaign ahead of Sunday’s federal election.
However, it still attracted enough votes to secure more than €1 million of taxpayers’ money in party funding. Meanwhile, its decision to take part in a regional election in the eastern state of Brandenburg on Sunday seems to have all but killed off a rival extreme-right party.
Source: Spiegel Online, 29.09.2009
===Pirate Party Wins EU Parliament Seat===
Sweden’s Pirate Party won a seat in the European Union Parliament, swept in Sunday amid outrage over a new copyright law and the convictions of the four founders of The Pirate Bay.
The party, formed to protest copyright law, took 7.1 percent of votes in Sweden and one of that country’s 18 seats in the European Parliament. The party stands for radical reform of copyright legislation, abolition of the patent system and guaranteed online-privacy rights.
Source: Wired, 09.06.2009
===The population delusion – is population growth going to be a problem?===
THINK of the biggest crowd you’ve ever been in – perhaps 50,000 in a sports stadium. Just 6 hours from now there will be that many more people in the world, and another 50,000 in the following 6 hours, and on and on… No wonder that the burgeoning human population is often seen as is the single biggest problem facing our world.
There are nearly 7 billion humans alive today, twice as many as there were in 1965, with 75 million more being added each year. UN predictions say there could be an extra 2 to 4 billion of us by 2050. The planet has never experienced anything like it.
Can the world sustain this growing horde? It’s a contentious question. While it is clear that the population cannot go on increasing forever, history is littered with dire but failed predictions of famine and death resulting from over-population. Most famously, Thomas Malthus warned more than two centuries ago that population would be held in check by rising mortality. What he failed to anticipate was the ability of newly industrialised societies to support large numbers of people.
Source: New Scientist, 25.09.2009
===The transgender rights deficit===
The human rights situation of transgender persons has long been ignored and neglected, although the problems they face are serious and often specific to this group alone. Transgender people experience a high degree of discrimination, intolerance and outright violence. Their basic human rights are often violated, including the right to life, the right to physical integrity and the right to health.
During my official visits to the 47 member States of the Council of Europe, I have been struck by the lack of knowledge about the human rights issues at stake for transgender persons, even among political decision-makers.
In a number of countries, the problem starts at the level of official recognition. Transgender people who no longer identify with their birth gender – as highlighted in last night’s Channel 4 documentary, The Boy Who Was Born a Girl – and who seek changes to their birth certificates, passports and other documents, often encounter difficulties. This in turn leads to a number of very concrete problems in daily life when showing one’s ID – in the bank or the post office, when using a credit card, or crossing borders.
Source: Guardian, 05.09.2009
===China mulls urbanization of 140m migrant workers===
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planner, together with other departments, is studying new urbanization policies in hopes of helping rural migrant workers settle down in cities.
“There are 140 million migrant workers nationwide, and that figure can increase to 300 million, taking their families into account. If these people can afford to buy or rent an apartment to settle down in cities, the potential for expanding consumption is huge,” an official with the NDRC told the newspaper.
“In the long run, some system and policy restrictions need to be lifted in order to urbanize migrant workers and expand consumption,” the official said.
Source: China Org, July 2009
===21.12.2012 Prophecy (o)===
21.12.2012. End of time. End of the world. The end of Mayan Long Count. The apocalypse. The end of Kali Yuga. The winter solstice 2012 is not just any solstice but the solstice of all solstices. It is the Great Solstice – a solstice of the precessional or Platonic year. It is the fountain of all solstices and all equinoxes from which the life flows and cascades from a season to season. It is the source from which the time to which we owe our existence gushes out. And it is also a payback time when such existence must be justified. Did the gift of life, which was bestowed the last time around, fulfill its purpose? What does the end date of Mayan Long count indicate? What will happen on 21.12.2012? Will it be what Tom, Harry or Sally thought and put forward in their theories or will it be what it must be? What does this date truly indicate? Is it negotiable? It indicates the end of the present order and it is NOT negotiable. 21.12.2012 is an appointment with destiny. It is an apocalypse and ascension. It is the end of the world, as we know it – nothing more and nothing less.
Source: Endoftime 2012
”’UPDATE:”’
Maybe they have calculated wrong and the date is in 2020:
208 Jahre verschoben
Dieses und die im Kodex aufgelisteten Ereignisse ließen sich mit seiner Methode eindeutig in der unserer Zeitrechnung festmachen, allerdings 208 Jahre später als in der gängigen Datierung. Die klassische Phase der Maya-Geschichte würde demnach im fünften Jahrhundert beginnen und ihr Niedergang etwa ab dem Jahr 1100 n. Chr. Die Frage, warum die Maya ihre Zentren aufgaben und ihre Kultur unterging, müsste folglich neu aufgerollt werden.Neue Interpretation umstritten
Die häufigste Reaktion anderer Maya-Forscher auf die neue Datierung sei bisher jedoch „totale Ablehnung“ berichtet Fuls. Doch es gibt auch ihn bestärkende Reaktionen. Beispielsweise spricht die Datierung von Obsidian, einem vulkanischen Gestein in Mexiko, für seine Datierung. Außerdem hat sich ein spanischer Epigraphiker bei ihm gemeldet, der bei seinen Untersuchungen der Maya-Schriften, wenn er der alten Zeitrechnung folgte, immer auf eine Lücke von rund 200 Jahren stieß. Die wäre nach den neuen Erkenntnissen geschlossen.
Source: Scinexx
…this could lead to interpretations in the context of ‘converging technologies’???
Comment: 2020 may open the door for even other interpretations, e.g. related to emerging/converging technologies or variations of “Moore’s Law”.
===Atheist Bus Campaigns===
thanks to many Cif readers, the overall total raised for the Atheist Bus Campaign stands at a truly overwhelming £135,000, breaking our original target of £5,500 by over 2400%. Given this unexpected amount, I’m very excited to tell you that 800 buses – instead of the 30 we were initially aiming for – are now rolling out across the UK with the slogan, “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life”, in locations all over England, Scotland and Wales, including Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, York, Cardiff, Devon, Leeds, Bristol and Aberdeen.
From today’s launch, two hundred of the buses will run in London, because the campaign was originally started as a positive counter-response to the Jesus Said ads running on London buses in June 2008.
Source: The Guardian, 06.01.2009
More Atheist Campaigns:
- http://friendlyatheist.com/category/atheist-bus-ads/ (USA)
- http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,612908,00.html (Germany)
===DNA evidence can be fabricated===
“Scientists in Israel have demonstrated that it is possible to fabricateDNA evidence, undermining the credibility of what has been considered the gold standard of proof in criminal cases. [31]”
Source: New York Times
Since it has been demonstrated that it is possible, changes in crime investigation might become necessary if this ‘evidence fabrication’ will be widely performed. These results also pose a problem to DNA analysis as the standard method in forensic investigation, thought to be reliable.
==Topic: Environment, Building, Construction, Transport==
===Cities 2.0===
Urbanization is ultimately heading towards about 85-90%. If population levels out at 9.5 billion then that would be about 8.5 billion in cities in about 2080.
There is an opportunity for countries like China to reinvent cities that are more productive and efficient. Design and prototyping of cities could be done from now to 2020. A radically different from scratch city could be developed and built out starting in 2020-2030.
Doming cities could be re-examined as well as factory production of cities with more compact footprints and arcology features. Multi-level structures with 20-30 foot high levels could use less area while still providing a feeling of openness.
Source: Next Big Future, 03.10.2009
===Personal Rapid Transit Startup===
A novel kind of transit system, in which cars are replaced by a network of automated electric vehicles, is about to get its first large-scale testing and deployment. Two of these Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) systems are being installed this year, one at Heathrow International Airport, near London, and one in the United Arab Emirates, where it will be the primary source of transportation in Masdar City, a development that will eventually accommodate 50,000 people and 1,500 businesses and is designed to emit no carbon dioxide.
[32] The concept isn’t new–the basic idea goes back at least to the 1950s. But it hasn’t caught on for a variety of reasons, including the cost of the initial systems and the difficulty of integrating them into existing cities. A number of small test systems have been installed, and one system that is similar to a PRT has been in operation in Morgantown, WV, since the 1970s. But the systems at Heathrow and in the UAE will be the first real-world demonstrations of a true PRT
[33] While Heathrow and Masdar could provide the demonstrations necessary to convince other cities to adopt PRT, they are special cases with controlled environments, says Luca Guala, a transportation planner at Systematica, a company planning the layout of the PRT system at Masdar. In both cases, cars are banned, so there’s no competition. What’s more, at Masdar, the organization of buildings within the city has been modified to accommodate the system. Indeed, the city will be constructed so that the main level is several meters above the ground, primarily to make room for the PRT. It will be more challenging to incorporate PRT systems into existing cities. However, he says that the projects at Heathrow and Masdar will help drive down costs, and that could make them feasible elsewhere.
Source: Technology Review
Region: UK
===Tiny Houses===
In general we would rather think that people prefer big houses and small ones are only for the people who cannot afford larger ones. But recently I have come across a growing number of comments (on the internet and within futurist discussion groups) that people are getting attracted towards tiny houses (between 5 and 70 m2) because they like them. People associate with them things like ecological friendliness, energy efficiency and cosiness as well as a feeling of self-chosen simplicity. Some are even quite designer pieces: http://www.designboom.com/contemporary/tiny_houses.html
“Tiny houses” have been around for some while, but the trend seems to be growing. And since houses are rather long-term objects, their growing number may have long-term effects on landscapes, cities, villages, population density, prices, energy infrastructure (they can be better powered with renewables) and social structures. However the trend still represents an although growing minority.
Sources:
- http://activerain.com/blogsview/56298/if-i-had-a-real-estate-niche-tiny-houses-and-trends (2007)
- http://tinyhouseblog.com/tiny-house/building-trend-has-people-thinking-small/ (2009)
- http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=13107727 (some historical information)
- http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/ (housing company)
===Sea level rise: It’s worse than we thought===
“FOR a few minutes David Holland forgets about his work and screams like a kid on a roller coaster. The small helicopter he’s riding in is slaloming between towering cliffs of ice – the sheer sides of gigantic icebergs that had calved off Greenland’s Jakobshavn glacier. “It was like in a James Bond movie,” Holland says afterwards. “It’s the most exciting thing I have ever done.”” [34]
Source: New Scientist, July, 2009
ML
===Nanotechnik für Mensch und Umwelt – Chancen fördern und Risiken mindern ===
Dies sind nur zwei Beispiele aus einer rasch wachsenden Zahl von Produkten, die auf den Markt kommen und sich vermutlich positiv auf Umwelt und Wirtschaft auswirken. Der zunehmende Einsatz synthetischer Nanomaterialien in Produkten führt jedoch auch zu einem vermehrten Eintrag dieser Materialien in die Umweltmedien Boden, Wasser und Luft. Die Wirkungen der Nanomaterialien in der Umwelt und mögliche gesundheitliche Risiken für den Menschen sind derzeit noch unzureichend erforscht. Das Umweltbundesamt (UBA) fasst in einem Hintergrundpapier relevante Aspekte über Umweltentlastungspotentiale zusammen, benennt Risiken für Mensch und Umwelt und formuliert Handlungsempfehlungen.
Source: UBA, 21.10.2009
I have to look for a German version
==Topic: Economy, Industry, Production/Manufacturing, Innovation Process==
===Alternative Currencies===
“Futurist Douglas Rushkoff, famous for correctly predicting the rise of social media, is trying to convince Craigslist’s Craig Newmark to create “craigbucks.” He thinks it’s the obvious next step in the evolution of money. “People could buy and sell things exclusively on Craigslist using craigbucks,” Rushkoff enthuses. [35] The idea is not as far-fetched as it may seem. Economists already have a term for this kind of community-specific money; they’re called “complimentary currencies” and they naturally take root when conditions are right. For example, in 2006, a Chinese online social network called QQ produced “QQ coins[36] An even more popular form of complimentary currency has grown up around cell-phone minutes. Today Kenyans use a service called M-PESA that helps people swap mobile-phone minutes as cash— you can literally pay for something at the store by transferring mobile minutes to the clerk’s phone. Today the M-PESA is used for $10 million worth of trades a day, a figure that translates out to $3.6 billion a year, or about 10 percent of the Kenyan GDP.”[37] There are some small examples of people of this future here now. In Japan, people trade “elder-care units,” which are measured in time spent caring for elders in the community [38]
Source: http://www.portfolio.com/views/columns/dual-perspectives/2009/04/13/DIY-Currencies
===DIY: Rockets===
Team FREDNET attempts to do several things that no organization has successfully done before, and that requires some innovation. Innovation often starts in chaos. The chaos makes us aware of needs, which in turn spark ideas of how to meet those needs with various solutions. Those solutions in turn generate opportunities. Not every solution is the best solution, because (among other things) not every need was expressed correctly in the first place. That is when we go back to the drawing board, and work to better understand the need, and thereby better understand the problem, which leads to a better solution.
* sugar propellant rocket makers
- exrocketry arocket mailing list - lots of NewSpace business folks and DIY tinkerers
- open source Google Lunar X Prize team, Team FREDNET
- Bryan
http://heybryan.org/
===New P2P trends===
peer-to-peer
http://p2pfoundation.net/ “We study the impact of Peer to Peer technology and thought on society.”
- Franz Nahrada GIVE – Global Villages Lab, Austria:
“The Peer to Peer Foundation is the one organisation that brings toghether knowledge about the emerging cooperative economy and society from all walks of life. Be it new products based on collective imagination and testing, be it participatory forms of decisionmaking, be it good practises of strengthening the cultural commons – P2P foundation spans it all and provides us with knowledge resources essential for our daily work in harnessing the power of local community and global networking.”
- Sam Rose
“How will humans solve the problem of working together to create new and better working systems for technology production, energy, knowledge creation, education, conflict resolution, media production, health care, design, research and development, finance and natural resource management? If you are interested in engaging these questions, P2P Foundation is one of the few entities that gives those interested access to explore, develop, contribute and benefit from the largest knowledge base in the world of people trying to set right what is really abundant, what is really scarce, and act accordingly. Trying to help create a better world? Start here!”
- Natalie Pang
“In a world dominated by market relations, the Peer to Peer (P2P) Foundation provides a solid insight on how alternative structural mechanisms i.e. peer-to-peer and collaborative production can be applied to all aspects of everyday life. This includes technological developments, the economy, cultural and social development, research and development, and the sustainability of natural resources. While grounded in theory, the P2P Foundation also offers ongoing dialogue with interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners to explore pragmatic solutions to contemporary issues and problems.”
- Kevin Carson
“The quality of writing on the P2P Foundation blog is incomparable, and I have relied heavily on material in the P2P Wiki on peer production, open source manufacturing, and desktop manufacturing, in writing Chapters Fourteen and Fifteen of my org theory manuscript.
I highly recommend Bauwens’ extended essay “P2P and Human Evolution,” and his shorter introductory essay “The Political Economy of Peer Production.”
===tentative: FOSS (free and open source software)===
http://www.fsf.org/
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a 501(c)3 donor supported charity founded in 1985 and based in Boston, MA, USA. The FSF has a worldwide mission to promote computer user freedom and to defend the rights of all free software users.
It has been around for almost 25 years now. There’s hundreds of thousands of software packages on the internet that wouldn’t be there otherwise. There’s some anthropology behind this community too, see for instance:
* Evolution of Volunteer Participation in Libre Software Projects - Evidence from Debian
- Software libraries and their reuse - Entropy, Kolmogorov complexity, Zipf's law - Veldhuizen
- Debian rides the space shuttle
Also, it’s widely known that GNU/Linux powers the vast majority of web servers. etc.
===DIY DNA synthesis===
This is from the diybio “DNA synthesis mini FAQ”.
* DIY DNA synthesis and bibliography
- DLP projector based gene synthesizer proposal
- Some ranting notes on schemes for microfluidic DNA synthesizers
- Sequencing and synthesis predictions for 2010 from 2003
- Synthesis of unnatural nucleic acids (like GNA)
- Short bibliography of DIY-friendly DNA synthesis techniques
- Notes towards DIY DNA synthesis and the synthesis of photolabile protecting groups from kitchen household products
- Origins of oligonucleotide impurities and errors
Of course, machines have been doing it for a few decades now. There were even predictions for 2010 from 2003 about DNA synthesis:
http://groups.google.com/group/diybio/msg/52b93a96a4927e45
===DIY Rapid Prototyper: reprap===
But Bowyer told CNN the RepRap’s ability to copy itself could put rapid prototyping technology within reach of the world’s poorest communities by alleviating the need for the sort of large-scale industrial infrastructure common across the developed world.
CNN: A machine that can copy anything
===fablabs and personal fabrication===
We’ve already had a digital revolution; we don’t need to keep having it. The next big thing in computers will be literally outside the box, as we bring the programmability of the digital world to the rest of the world. With the benefit of hindsight, there’s a tremendous historical parallel between the transition from mainframes to PCs and now from machine tools to personal fabrication. By personal fabrication I mean not just making mechanical structures, but fully functioning systems including sensing, logic, actuation, and displays.
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/gershenfeld03/gershenfeld_index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fab_lab
* Gershenfeld, Neil A.; Fab : the coming revolution on your desktop–from personal computers to personal fabrication, Basic Books, New York, 2005, ISBN 0-465-02745-8
===Laser-Triggered Chemical Reactions===
“Ordinarily chemists can’t mix together their reactants until the instant they’re ready for the reaction to proceed. But now researchers have developed a way to encapsulate highly reactive chemicals with carbon nanotubes inside nylon microshells, place them in a mixture with other reactants, store the mixture as long as they wish, and then use laser light to burst the capsules, initiating the chemical reaction when and where it’s needed. The system could be used for printing, for controlled drug delivery inside the body, or in industrial chemical synthesis [39]”
Source: Technology Review, 21.09.2009
===Sending science down the phone: New technology will map research across the world===
” New mobile phone software will help epidemiologists and ecologists working in the field to analyse their data remotely and map findings across the world, without having to return to the lab, according to research published in PLoS One today. The authors of the study, from Imperial College London, say the software will also enable members of the public to act as ‘citizen scientists’ and help collect data for community projects. [40]
Source: [http://www.physorg.com/news172299682.html Physorg, 16.09.2009
===Claytronics or Gershenfeld: Why You’ll Be Able to Make Almost Anything===
“you can be anything when you grow up.” It’s time to start telling them “you’re going to be able to make anything…right now.” Similar work at MIT and Carnegie Mellon is pointing towards the next revolution in computers and manufacturing: programmable matter. In the future you won’t use computers to design a car, the car will form from billions of tiny computers that arrange themselves into anything you want. The physical and computational world will merge. Hope you’re ready.
At Carnegie Mellon, with support from Intel, the project is called Claytronics. The idea is simple: make basic computers housed in tiny spheres that can connect to each other and rearrange themselves. It’s the same concept as we saw with Modular Robotics, only on a smaller scale. Each particle, called a Claytronics atom or Catom, is less than a millimeter in diameter. With billions you could make almost any object you wanted. See the concept video after the break.
Source: Singularity Hub, 23.07.2009
===Pain-free animals could take suffering out of farming===
WITH “hormone-free”, “cage-free” and “antibiotic-free” becoming common labels on our supermarket shelves, might “pain-free” be the next sticker slapped onto a rump roast?
As unlikely as that may seem, progress in neuroscience and genetics in recent years makes it a very real possibility. In fact, according to one philosopher, we have an ethical duty to consider the option.
“If we can’t do away with factory farming, we should at least take steps to minimise the amount of suffering that is caused,” says Adam Shriver, a philosopher at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri. In a provocative paper published this month, Shriver contends that genetically engineered pain-free animals are the most acceptable alternative (Neuroethics, DOI: 10.1007/s12152-009-9048-6). “I’m offering a solution where you could still eat meat but avoid animal suffering.”
Source: New Scientist, 02.09.2009
===In-vitro meat: Would lab-burgers be better for us and the planet?===
A pioneering group of scientists are working to grow real animal protein in the laboratory, which they not only claim is better for animal welfare, but actually healthier, both for people and the planet. It may sound like science fiction, but this technology to create in-vitro meat could be changing global diets within ten years.
“Cultured meat would have a lot of advantages,” said Jason Matheny of research group New Harvest. “We could precisely control the amount of fat in meat. We could make ground beef with an ideal fatty acid ratio — a hamburger that prevents heart attacks instead of causing them.”
But it isn’t just the possibility of creating designer ground beef with the fat profile of salmon that drives Matheny’s work. Meat and livestock farming is also the source of many human diseases, which he claims would be far less common when the product is raised in laboratory conditions.
Source: CNN, 08.08.2009
===Greenhouse Designed to Grow Veggies on Moon===
Astronauts’ meals have come a long way from the freeze-dried powders and semi-liquid pastes of decades ago: now U.S. scientists want to grow vegetables in mini-greenhouses on the moon.
Although space fare has steadily improved over time, a team of scientists says the best is yet to come.
They look forward to when residents of future lunar or even Martian outposts can dine on luxuries such as fresh vegetables.
Paragon Space Development Corporation has unveiled what it called the first step toward growing flowers — and eventually food — on the moon.
Paragon, an Arizona company that has partnered with NASA in previous experiments on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station, calls it a “Lunar Oasis.”
Source: Discovery, 15.04.2009
===Frankenfood Gets Supersized===
For the first time, scientists have used genetic modification to increase the levels of multiple, rather than single, nutrients in a crop.
The first corn produced through the technique hasn’t yet been tested for dinner-table safety, but if it succeeds, it may signal the development of a new, super-nutritious generation of GM foods.
“The major message of the paper is that it’s possible to engineer crops with multiple nutrients,” said study co-author Paul Christou, a plant biochemist at Spain’s University of Lleida. “If you look at other nutritionally enhanced GM crops, up until now people have only been able to increase levels of one nutrient or vitamin.”
Source: Wired, 27.04.2009
===Where Have You Gone, Bell Labs?===
“America needs good jobs, soon. We need 6.7 million just to replace losses from the current recession, then another 10 million to spark demand over the next decade. That’s 15 million to 17 million new jobs. In the 1990s, the U.S. economy created a net 22 million jobs (a rate of 2.2 million per year), so we know it can be done. Between 2000 and the end of 2007 (the beginning of the current recession), however, the economy created new jobs at a rate of 900,000 a year, so we know it isn’t doing it now. The pipeline is dry because the U.S. business model is broken. Our growth engine has run out of a key source of fuel—critical mass, basic scientific research. [41]“
Source: Business Week, 17.08.2009
===Singularity University===
“Singularity University (SU) is an interdisciplinary university whose mission is to assemble, educate and inspire a cadre of leaders who strive to understand and facilitate the development of exponentially advancing technologies in order to address humanity’s grand challenges. With the support of a broad range of leaders in academia, business and government, SU hopes to stimulate groundbreaking, disruptive thinking and solutions aimed at solving some of the planet’s most pressing challenges. SU is based at the NASA Ames campus in Silicon Valley. [42]“
Source: Singularity University, 2009
===3D Printing and Self Replicating Machines In Your Living Room – Seriously!===
“Imagine having a machine for $500 in your living room that can take your computer based specification for a 3D object and print out a plastic replica of the object in a matter of minutes. Imagine furthermore that all of the specifications for the machine are completely open source, completely shareable and modifiable by anyone in the world, and that there is a worldwide community of volunteers working feverishly to support you and anyone else to troubleshoot and improve the machine. Imagine no longer…this machine, called aReprap, is reality! [43]“
Source: Singularity Hub, 09.04.2009
===Expert panel urges NASA to revive futuristic think tank===
“NASA should revive its Institute for Advanced Concepts, a blue-skies idea mill that closed in 2007, says an expert panel – but it says the new incarnation should have its feet a little closer to the ground.
NASA’s Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) was founded in 1998 to harvest innovative ideas for spaceflight and aeronautics from outside the NASA community. [44]“
Source: New Scientist, 07.08.2009
ML
===Researchers call for more support for basic research at synthetic biotech workshop===
At an FP7 workshop about ELSI issies about synthetic biology, several researchers have stressed the importance of basic research and fear that basic research may get neglected due to more attention being paid to research for industrial application.
Source: at workshop I participated
ML
===The Singularity Summit 2009 – (October 03/04, 2009)===
The first Singularity Summit was held at Stanford in 2006 to further understanding and discussion about the Singularity concept and the future of human technological progress. It was founded as a venue for leading thinkers to explore the subject, whether scientist, enthusiast, or skeptic.
Since 2006, the scope of this dialog has expanded dramatically. In 2008, the Singularity entered mainstream consideration. IEEE Spectrum, a sober and mainstream technology publication, issued a special report on the Singularity, and Intel CTO Justin Rattner remarked that “we’re making steady progress toward the Singularity” during his keynote to 2,000 people at the Intel Developer Forum. What was once a relatively unknown concept is now being discussed in corporate board rooms.
We invite you to join our extraordinary group of visionaries in business, science, technology, design, and the arts, as our community explores this exciting topic. Your participation offers a world of powerful ideas, a unique networking opportunity, and access to an exclusive directory of your peers.
Source: Singularity Summit HP, October 2009
===Food around the world is likely to become scarcer and more expensive===
Food around the world is likely to become scarcer and more expensive if the United States and other developing countries do not bolster their investment in agricultural research, warns a team of economists from UC Davis and the University of Minnesota.
In a Policy Forum paper published this month in the journal Science, the researchers documented a slowdown since 1990 in the growth rate of general agricultural productivity and in the growth rates of yields of specific crops including corn, rice, wheat and soybeans — the world’s major food and feed crops.
“The long-term consequences of a continuing slowdown in agricultural productivity growth could be dire, with more than 1 billion people around the world already suffering from malnutrition,” said UC Davis agricultural economist Julian Alston, an authority on the economic impact of government policy on agriculture.
Source: UC Davis, 02.10.2009
===A Superlens That Assembles Itself (o)===
“Korean researchers have created nanoscale lenses with superhigh resolution using a novel self-assembly method. So far, they’ve demonstrated that the tiny lenses can be used for ultraviolet lithography, for imaging objects too tiny for conventional lenses, and for capturing individual photons from a light-emitting nanostructure called a quantum dot. [45]“
Source: Technology Review, 22.07.2009
ML
===Self-Propelling Bacteria Harnessed to Turn Gears (o)===
“Last year, we looked at an idea for a bacteria-powered motor dreamt up by Luca Angelani and pals from the University of Rome in Italy. Their idea was to place a cog with asymmetric teeth into a bath of moving bacteria and wait for them to start it spinning for you, like carthorses pushing a millstone.
We said at the time that the idea sounds a bit like extracting kinetic energy from the random motion of particles, which is impossible because the motion is symmetric in time.
But Angelani and co say there is in important difference between Brownian and bacterial motion: the former is in equilibrium but the latter is an open system with a net income of energy provided by nutrients. This breaks the time symmetry allowing energy to be extracted in the form of directed motion.
Now Angelani and co have built one these asymmetric and persuaded a bath full of E. Coli to push it round at a of 1rpm. Interestingly, Angelani and co report that most of the work is done by just a few bacteria, saying that only 2 out of 10 bacteria attached to a single tooth seem to be contributing to the torque. [46]
Source: Technology Review, 19.10.2009
==Other Topics==
===Bacteria Engineered to Trace Faces, Images ===
29.09.2009
“Engineered E. coli bacteria can now trace the outline of an image on an agar plate in a feat that shows how manipulating small organisms could lead to synthetic biological devices useful to technology and medicine. [47]”
Source: Discovery Channel
===Nanotech Researchers Develop Artificial Pore===
28.09.2009
“CINCINNATI—Using an RNA-powered nanomotor, University of Cincinnati (UC) biomedical engineering researchers have successfully developed an artificial pore able to transmit nanoscale material through a membrane. [48] ”
Source: Health News
===Plasmobot’: Scientists To Design First Robot Using Mould===
“[49] Researchers have received a Leverhulme Trust grant worth £228,000 to develop the amorphous non-silicon biological robot, plasmobot, using plasmodium, the vegetative stage of the slime mouldPhysarum polycephalum, a commonly occurring mould which lives in forests, gardens and most damp places in the UK. The Leverhulme Trust funded research project aims to design the first every fully biological (no silicon components) amorphous massively-parallel robot [50]“
Source: Science Daily, 27.08.2009
ML
===Eduardo Kac – ‘Edunia’ genetically engineered plant as art===
The central work in the “Natural History of the Enigma” series is a plantimal, a new life form I created and that I call “Edunia”, a genetically-engineered flower that is a hybrid of myself and Petunia. The Edunia expresses my DNA exclusively in its red veins.
Developed between 2003 and 2008, and first exhibited from April 17 to June 21, 2009 at the Weisman Art Museum [51], in Minneapolis, “Natural History of the Enigma” also encompasses a large-scale public sculpture, a print suite, photographs, and other works.
The new flower is a Petunia strain that I invented and produced through molecular biology. It is not found in nature. The Edunia has red veins on light pink petals and a gene of mine is expressed on every cell of its red veins, i.e., my gene produces a protein in the veins only [52]. The gene was isolated and sequenced from my blood. The petal pink background, against which the red veins are seen, is evocative of my own pinkish white skin tone. The result of this molecular manipulation is a bloom that creates the living image of human blood rushing through the veins of a flower.
Source: EKAC.org, 2009
===How to Create Quantum Superpositions of Living Things===
“First photons, atoms and molecules. Now physicists want to create a quantum superposition of a virus, which will allow them to perform Schrodinger’s Cat experiment for real. [53] The experiment will first involve storing a virus in a vacuum and then cooling it to its quantum mechanical ground state in a microcavity. Zapping the virus with a laser then leaves it in a superposition of the ground state and an excited one. [54]“
Source: Technology Review, 10.09.2009
This page is a Wiki! Log in or register an account to edit.