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U.S. considers encoding data on driver’s licenses

January 9, 2002

The government is taking its first steps with the states to develop driver’s licenses that can electronically store information — such as fingerprints — for the 184 million Americans who carry the cards.
Privacy experts fear the effort may lead to de facto national identification cards that would allow authorities to track citizens electronically, circumventing the intense debate over federal ID cards.

Supporters said it was predictable after Sept.… read more

Topics: Survival/Defense

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‘Alien’ message tests human decoders

January 9, 2002

A message that will be broadcast into space later in 2002 has been released to scientists worldwide, to test that it can be decoded easily. The researchers who devised the message eventually hope to design a system that could automatically decode an alien reply.

The new binary message can be downloaded from the CETI home page. The project leaders hope that it will be transmitted by… read more

Topics: Singularity/Futures

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As Chips Reach Speed Limit, Makers Tap Into ‘Clockless’ Logic

January 9, 2002

A worldwide community of private and academic researchers are perfecting a kind of lateral-thinking, anarchic method of chipmaking based on asynchronous logic, which does away with the clock altogether. Clockless chips, in addition to being more energy efficient, can also work faster, more quietly and more securely than synchronous chips. All of which makes them perfect for applications such as computer networks, mobile phones, smart cards and embedded medical devices.… read more

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI

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Solid stops light

January 8, 2002

A crystal that holds light could facilitate quantum computing.
Researchers in the United States and Korea have brought light to a complete standstill in a crystal. The pulse is effectively held within the solid, ready to be released at a later stage.

This trick could be used to store information in a quantum computer.

Normal computers store information in simple binary form (1′s and 0′s) in electronic and… read more

Topics: Computers/Infotech/UI | Quantum

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20 factors that will change PCs in 2002

January 8, 2002

PC World picked 20 trends and technologies that will have the greatest impact on personal computing for business and home use in the coming year or more.
They include 400GB hard drives, the 1-GHz palmtop, organic-light-emitting diodes to replace LCDs, multimedia instant messaging, high-speed wireless networks in office and home, markup languages for everything, hyper-threading (a more efficient way to use processing power), a third-generation bus that’s ten times… read more

Topics: Singularity/Futures

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Injectable chip opens door to ‘human bar code’

January 7, 2002

The VeriChip, a controversial radio-frequency identification chip (RFID), injected through a syringe, could be used as a sort of “human bar code” in security and medical applications.

Applied Digital Solutions initially plans to sell the chips in South America and Europe for use with pacemakers and defibrillators. Medical personnel could identify and monitor a patient’s implanted devices merely by running a handheld scanner over the patient’s chest.… read more

Topics: Biotech | Computers/Infotech/UI | Human Enhancement

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Bionic Eyes

January 5, 2002

Using space technology, scientists have developed extraordinary ceramic photocells that could repair malfunctioning human eyes.

Scientists at the NASA-sponsored Space Vacuum Epitaxy Center (SVEC) in Houston are experimenting with thin, photosensitive ceramic films that respond to light much as rods and cones do. Arrays of such films, they believe, could be implanted in human eyes to restore lost vision by serving as substitutes for bad rods and cones.… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Human Enhancement

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Scientists build DNA nano-devices

January 4, 2002

New York University researchers claim to have taken a major step in building more controllable machines from DNA. The researchers say that the new device may help build the foundation for the development of sophisticated machines at a molecular scale, ultimately evolving to the development of nano-robots that might some day build new molecules, computer circuits or fight infectious diseases.
The research team was led by NYU chemistry professor Nadrian… read more

Topics: Nanotech/Materials Science

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Top KurzweilAI.net News of 2001

January 3, 2002

In its first year of operation, KurzweilAI.net has chronicled the notable news stories on accelerating intelligence. And now we’ve selected the most important of these 724 news stories.

These serve to document the key breakthroughs for 2001 in continued exponential growth of computation, communication, and other information-based technologies; comparable acceleration in efforts to reverse-engineer the human brain and other sources of the templates of intelligence; similar growth in… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics | Biotech | Computers/Infotech/UI | Internet/Telecom | Nanotech/Materials Science | Singularity/Futures | VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics

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The Brain in Winter

January 2, 2002

Although some neural functioning is lost from aging, the biggest recent surprise in neuroscience is the discovery of neurogenesis: as the brain ages it creates new neurons.

Topics: AI/Robotics | Human Enhancement

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Arthur C. Clarke teleports to L.A.

January 2, 2002

Sir Arthur C. Clarke, author of “2001, a Space Odyssey,” was teleported from his home in Sri Lanka to the Arthur C. Clarke 2001 Gala on November 15 in Los Angeles, sponsored by The Space Frontier Foundation.

Travel restrictions prevented Clarke from actually attending but Teleportec’s technology allowed him to join the party and interact with the audience as if he were actually there.… read more

Topics: VR/Augmented Reality/Computer Graphics

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Cancer: Is a cure within reach?

January 2, 2002

The field of cancer is undergoing a sea change, thanks to the genetics revolution that has uncovered many of the defects responsible for causing the disease. Using the latest molecular biology techniques to home in on cancer’s genetic roots, doctors are starting to halt precancerous growths before tumors ever develop and to target cancers that have already started to grow with a precision unimaginable just a decade ago.Some of the… read more

Topics: Biotech

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Robo Lobster to Sniff Out Mines

January 2, 2002

Teams of sniffer robots may someday scour land and sea, using their artificial snouts to root out mines in places and situations humans would rather avoid.At least this is the goal of a team studying the lobster–a creature considered a paragon of odor analysis–in order to create a robotic version of the lobster’s snout.

“The idea is that evolution has developed the lobster antennule (nose) to do the job… read more

Topics: Biotech

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Hearing debates decentralized trading

December 20, 2001

On Sept. 11, alternative stock-trading networks stayed active via the Internet and redundant systems even after the New York Stock Exchange closed because of the terrorist attacks on the nearby World Trade Center, witnesses told a House subcommittee Wednesday.The House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection looked into the post-Sept. 11 experience of these “electronic communications networks”–operations with names such as Instinet and Archipelago.

These ECNs bring stock… read more

Topics: Internet/Telecom

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Computer crack funnier than many human jokes

December 20, 2001

An experiment to uncover the world’s funniest jokes has found that some computer-generated gags can be more amusing than those thought up by humans.

The Laugh Lab survey is being conducted through a web site, on which members of the public are invited to submit favourite jokes and rate other submissions. They are also asked to contribute information about themselves.

Five computer-generated gags were contributed by researchers at… read more

Topics: AI/Robotics

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