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Will a Dutch discovery lead to understanding dark matter and a real quantum computer? UPDATE APR 17

April 16, 2012 by Amara D. Angelica

Indium Antemonide

UPDATE APR 17, 2012: “One, however, has to be cautious because while this experiment from Delft has provided the likely necessary evidence for the existence of the Majorana, the sufficient conditions are more difficult to achieve and may take more time.” — Sankar Das Sarma, University of Maryland (press release). Also see: “Zero bias conductance peak in Majorana wires made of semiconductor-superconductor hybrid structures” C.H. Lin, J.D. Sau, and… read more

Topics: Nanotech/Materials Science | Physics/Cosmology | Quantum

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Former president of India wants to beam energy from space

November 3, 2010 by Amara D. Angelica

SSP03

On Thursday November 4 at the National Press Club the National Space Society (NSS) will reveal a plan for solving the global energy crisis — along with the carbon crisis and America’s jobs crisis: the Kalam-NSS Energy Initiative (Dr. A.P.J. Kalam is the former President of India). This is a visionary, ambitious plan for harvesting solar power in space and beaming… read more

Topics: Energy | Space | Survival/Defense

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Another faster-than-light neutrinos challenge

October 1, 2011 by Amara D. Angelica

Cherenkov radiation (credit: Wikimedia Commons)

This just in: a new critique of the CERN OPERA finding of faster-than-light neutrinos. In “New Constraints on Neutrino Velocities,” Cohen and Glashow argue that the high-energy (17.5 GeV) superluminal muon neutrinos would actually lose energy rapidly (down to about 12.5GeV) on the 730km trip, long before arriving in Italy.

But that didn’t happen. Ergo, the neutrino weren’t really traveling faster than light, say Cohen… read more

Topics: Physics/Cosmology

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Tiny bugs are controlling your mind!

August 30, 2011 by Amara D. Angelica

probiotic

Before you take another probiotic cap, you may want to read this. Yet another study at McMaster University in Canada suggests that gut bacteria might be able to alter your brain chemistry and change your mood and behavior, reports Science NOW.

We reported on earlier research on gut bacteria at McMaster University and at Ohio State University. We also mentioned… read more

Topics: Biotech | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience

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Jeopardy!, IBM, and Wolfram|Alpha

February 2, 2011 by Stephen Wolfram

About a month before Wolfram|Alpha launched, I was on the phone with a group from IBM, talking about our vision for computable knowledge in Wolfram|Alpha. A few weeks later, the group announced that they were going to use what they had done in natural language processing to try to make a system to compete on Jeopardy!

I thought it was a brilliant way to showcase their work —… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Computers/Infotech/UI | Internet/Telecom

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book review | Science fiction bots becoming fact

March 3, 2011 by R.U. Sirius

We, Robot book cover

An interview with Mark Stephen Meadows, author of We, Robot: Skywalker’s Hand, Blade Runners, Iron Man, Slutbots, and How Fiction Became Fact.

 With We, Robot (Lyons Press, 2010), Mark Stephen Meadows explores the recent edges of robotic development in the context of some of our favorite fictional narratives.

It’s a smart, edgy read, written in a very hip, almost cyberpunk style (for one example, the author describes himself

… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Innovation/Entrepreneurship

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Robots invent spoken language, join Facebook

May 18, 2011 by Amara D. Angelica

Lingodroidsintro

OK, I just made up the Facebook part, but IEEE Spectrum reported Tuesday on two robots that communicate linguistically like humans and invent new words. Spooky.

They’re called “Lingodroids” (reminds me of Stephen King’s even spookier The Langoliers, which were robotic monsters dealing with a “time rip”).

Researchers at the University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology in Australia have designed… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Social Networking/Web

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Report on the fourth conference on artificial general intelligence

September 3, 2011 by Ben Goertzel

The Fourth Conference on Artificial General Intelligence (AGI-11) was held on Google’s campus in Mountain View (Silicon Valley), California, in the first week of August 2011. This was the largest AGI conference yet, with more than 200 people attending, and it had a markedly different tone from the prior conferences in the series.

A number of participants noted that there was less of an out-of-the-mainstream, wild-eyed maverick… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Cognitive Science/Neuroscience | Singularity/Futures

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Passing of the typewriter

April 27, 2011 by Amara D. Angelica

(Credit: iStockhphoto)

Sadly, one of the world’s last remaining typewriter factories, Godrej & Boyce in Mumbai, India, is closing down its typewriter production line, survived only by Moonachie, N.J.-based Swintec.

We may not know what we’ve lost. Despite its limitations, with a typewriter, you are pressed to think out the entirety of what you are trying to say in your head to avoid endless retyping (or using… read more

Topics: Social Networking/Web

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GLITCHES IN THE MATRIX . . . AND HOW TO FIX THEM

March 2, 2003 by Peter B. Lloyd

Why, exactly, do the rebels have to enter the Matrix via the phone system (which after all doesn’t physically exist)? And what really happens when Neo takes the red pill (which also doesn’t really exist)? And how does the Matrix know what fried chicken tastes like? Technologist and philosopher Peter Lloyd answers these questions and more.… read more

Topics: Quantum | Social Networking/Web | VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics

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Crowdfunded science projects

March 14, 2012 by Amara D. Angelica

Exomoon project (Harvard)

Got a cool idea for a research project, but need funding? Check out Petridish.org, which has just launched crowdfunded science and research projects. I think this is a really great idea that could open up funding for some amazing research ideas.

On Petridish.org, researchers post materials about themselves and their research, and the public can discover projects that are exciting to them. In exchange for contributing to… read more

Topics: Innovation/Entrepreneurship | Physics/Cosmology | Social Networking/Web | Social/Ethical/Legal | Space

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Future food for cities

September 10, 2010 by Derek Jacoby

8 25

Within the next decade you will be able to grow all of your vegetables in a box barely larger than your refrigerator. This surprising statement is the result of a class project at Singularity University this summer. Here’s how we came to believe that this is true.

In the first week at Singularity University, we were introduced to a team project called “Food for Cities.” The project… read more

Topics: Biotech | Energy | Social Networking/Web

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Singularity video game by Activision

February 8, 2011

(Image: Activision )

While the concept behind this video game is likely riffing on the various defintions of singularity from physics, as opposed to the metaphorical “technological Singularity,” it’s clear that the term has wormed its way into mainstream pop culture, and is having a strong impact on the cultural zeitgeist.

Wikipedia | Singularity is a video game developed by Raven Software, published by Activision Blizzard, Inc. and… read more

Related:
Singularity official website by Activision
Activision Blizzard, Inc.

Topics: Entertainment/New Media

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CERN physicists trap antimatter for 1,000 seconds — unlimited future energy?

June 6, 2011 by Amara D. Angelica

Antimatter Bottle

Geneva, Switzerland — CERN physicists have reported they created antimatter in the Large Hadron Collider and stored it in three vials. Unfortunately, one of the vials has been stolen and will explode ritualistically at the Vatican if the battery dies and the magnetic containment field fails.

Wait, that’s a scene from the Angels and Demons movie. Last I checked, Europe is still there. In the nonfiction world, an… read more

Topics: Physics/Cosmology

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Watson: supercharged search engine or prototype robot overlord?

February 17, 2011 by Ben Goertzel

watson

My initial reaction to reading about IBM’s “Watson” supercomputer and software was a big fat ho-hum. “OK,” I figured, “a program that plays “Jeopardy!” may be impressive to Joe Blow in the street, but I’m an AI guru so I know pretty much exactly what kind of specialized trickery they’re using under the hood. It’s not really a high-level mind, just a fancy database lookup system.”… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Computers/Infotech/UI

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