An open-access report published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society last week details China’s advances in creating a next-generation Internet that is on a national level and on a larger scale than anything in the West, New Scientist reports.
At the root of the problem are “two major gaps in the architecture of the Internet”, according to a report from the… read more
Humans’ closest animal relatives, chimpanzees, have metacognition — knowing what one knows, according to new research by scientists at Georgia State University and the University at Buffalo.
“The demonstration of metacognition in nonhuman primates has important implications regarding the emergence of self-reflective mind during humans’ cognitive evolution,” the research team noted.
Metacognition is the ability to recognize one’s own cognitive states. For example, a game show… read more
Will 3D printing make global supply chains unnecessary? That’s a real possibility, according to a recent report from Transport Intelligence, Smart Planet reports.
3D printing (or “additive manufacturing,” as it’s called in industrial circles) takes offshore manufacturing and brings it back close to the consumer. It has enormous potential to shift the trade balance. Goods will be cheaper to reproduce within the domestic market, versus manufacturing and then shipping them… read more
Researchers have electronically linked the brains of pairs of rats for the first time, enabling them to communicate directly to solve simple behavioral puzzles.
They even brain-linked two animals thousands of miles apart — one in Durham, North Carolina and one in Natal, Brazil.
The researchers think linking multiple brains could form the first “organic computer.”
“Our previous studies with brain-machine interfaces had convinced us… read more
From the Internet of Things (IoT), where we are today, we are just beginning to enter a new realm: the Internet of Everything (IoE), where things will gain context awareness, increased processing power, and greater sensing abilities, says Cisco in their blog.
Add people and information into the mix and you get a network of networks where billions or even trillions of connections create unprecedented opportunities and… read more
IBM announced today the seventh annual “IBM 5 in 5” — a list of innovations that have the potential to change the way people work, live and interact during the next five years, based on market and societal trends as well as emerging technologies from IBM’s R&D labs. This one is focused on cognitive systems.
In the next five years, industries… read more
The National Intelligence Council has issued Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds, “intended to stimulate thinking about the rapid and vast geopolitical changes characterizing the world today and possible global trajectories during the next 15-20 years.”
The report sees four megatrends:
Individual empowerment will accelerate substantially during the next 15-20 years owing to poverty reduction and a huge growth of the global middle class, greater educational attainment,… read more
The report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization says that eating insects could help boost nutrition and reduce pollution, BBC News reports.
It notes than over 2 billion people worldwide already supplement their diet with insects.
Wasps, beetles and other insects are currently “underutilized” as food for people and livestock, the report says.
The authors point out that insects are nutritious, with… read more
What’s the number one reason we riot? Hunger — food becoming too scarce or too expensive. So argues a group of complex systems theorists in Cambridge, and it makes sense, Motherboard reports.
In a 2011 paper, researchers at the Complex Systems Institute (CSI) unveiled a model that accurately explained why the waves of unrest that swept the world in 2008 and 2011 crashed when they… read more
What is the BRAIN* Project about? What are its goals?
“Well, nobody knows, actually. I certainly don’t know. But it appears that no one else knows either.” So says Scicurious, a PhD in Physiology and currently a postdoc in biomedical research, on her The Scicurious Brain blog on Scientific American.
“Basically, BRAIN is a very fancy initiative, with a fancy name … and so far,… read more
The Singularity Is Near: a True Story About the Future movie will be available to the public this Summer, KurzweilAI announced today (June 16, 2012).
The movie will be available for downloading and via DVD.
A new website, singularity.com/themovie, launched today, includes a movie teaser and links to Facebook and Twitter. You can also sign up to be notified when… read more
“Only humans can be self-aware.”
Another myth bites the dust. Yale roboticists have programmed Nico, a robot, to be able to recognize itself in a mirror.
Why is this important? Because robots will need to learn about themselves and how they affect the world around them — especially people.
Using knowledge that it has learned about itself, Nico is able to use a mirror as an instrument… read more
Life as we know it is based primarily on the elements carbon and oxygen.
Now a team of physicists, including one from North Carolina State University, is looking at the conditions necessary to the formation of those two elements in the universe.
They’ve found that when it comes to supporting life, the universe leaves very little margin for error.
Both carbon and oxygen… read more
The devices are less than 100 microns thick, the average diameter of a human hair. They consist of circuitry embedded in a layer or rubbery polyester that allow them to stretch, bend and wrinkle. They are barely visible when placed on skin, making them easy to conceal from others.
The devices can detect electrical signals linked with brain waves, and incorporate solar cells for power and antennas that allow… read more
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center is using ”selective laser melting” (SLM) to create intricate metal parts for America’s Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket, saving millions in manufacturing costs.
SLM is similar to 3-D printing (additive printing) and is the future of manufacturing, says Ken Cooper, advanced manufacturing team lead at the Marshall Center.
“This machine takes metal powder and uses a high-energy laser to… read more