Watch an experimental space shield shred a speeding bullet

BY 

LISA GROSSMAN 

 

PACKS A PUNCH  Engineers are testing a new spacecraft shield by slamming a bullet into it at 7 kilometers per second.   

FRAUNHOFER INSTITUTE FOR HIGH-SPEED DYNAMICS

Engineers are taking a counterintuitive approach to protecting future spacecraft: shooting at their experiments. The image above and high-speed video below capture a 2.8-millimeter aluminum bullet plowing through a test material for a space shield at 7 kilometers per second. The work is an effort to find structures that could stand up to the impact of space debris.

Earth is surrounded by a cloud of debris, both natural — such as micrometeorites and comet dust, which create meteor showers — and unnatural, including dead satellites and the cast-off detritus of space launches. Those pieces of flotsam can damage other spacecraft if they collide at high speeds, and bits smaller than about a centimeter are hard to track and avoid, says ESA materials engineer Benoit Bonvoisin in a statement.

FLASH BANG Watch as a bullet slams through the first layer of a new, experimental space shield, and a second layer deflects the shrapnel.

To defend future spacecraft from taking a hit, Bonvoisin and colleagues are developing armor made from fiber metal laminates, or several thin metal layers bonded together. The laminates are arranged in multiple layers separated by 10 to 30 centimeters, a configuration called a Whipple shield.

In this experiment at the Fraunhofer Institute for High-Speed Dynamics in Germany, the first layer shatters the aluminum bullet into a cloud of smaller pieces, which the second layer is able to deflect. This configuration has been used for decades, but the materials are new. The next step is to test the shield in orbit with a small CubeSat, Bonvoisin says.

{ https://www.sciencenews.org/ }

04-03-2018 om 19:03 geschreven door peter  

A.I.'s Rapid Advance Should Be Truly Scary If You're Paying Attention

By Kevin Litman-Navarro

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

22-02-2018 om 22:40 geschreven door peter  

Dying sucks. It’s a sad fact of human existence. When you’re young, the inevitability and permanence of death are hard to conceptualize, but experiencing the deaths of loved ones sure makes it real in a heartbeat – or lack thereof. Despite our impotence in the face of what is surely an inescapable fate, humans have been trying to find ways to avoid death since time immemorial. Modern medicine and digital media have come a long way, but the fact remains that we’re all just going to rot in the ground someday – that is, unless one of these kooky scientists proclaiming the advent of human immortality turns out to be right. This week, yet another self-proclaimed “futurologist” has issued his prediction for the strange, immortal future humanity likely has in store. Will we really soon be able to cheat death with the help of technology?

The bigger question is why the future is always depicted in blue and orange.

These latest predictions were made by engineer and futurologist Ian Pearson who has been a Chartered Fellow of the British Computer Society and a fellow of both the World Academy for Arts and Science and the World innovation Foundation. He claims his predictions have been shown to have “about 85% accuracy when looking 10-15 years ahead.” In an interview with The Sun, predicts humans will be able to cheat death by the year 2050. Well some humans, anyway. The rich ones. The really, really rich ones:

One day your body dies – maybe you get hit by a bus or a nasty disease – but it doesn’t matter, because your mind will still be there. You’ll be able to use an android body instead of the organic one you just lost. For normal people on everyday salaries, it’s more likely that you’ll have to wait a little longer. By 2060, people like you or I will be able to buy it, and by 2070 people in poor countries on modest incomes will be able to buy it.

In his prediction about human immortality, Pearson cites three emerging technological trends which have the potential to indefinitely extend the human lifespan, or at least the lifespan of human consciousnesses: rejuvenating body parts with anti-aging gene therapies or swapping out body parts for lab-grown replacements; digitizing the human consciousness and downloading it into biohybrid android sleeves à la Altered Carbon; or developing technologies which will allow our consciousnesses to exist forever in virtual realities. I don’t know about you, but that last one sounds the best to me.

We might one day look at swapping out body parts the same way we look at getting a haircut.

While these kinds of transhumanist predictions are great material for sci-fi and surely have led to some generous research grants, I can’t help but wonder if these are merely some kind of new techno-religious belief system emerging. These kinds of technological immortality sound a lot like concepts of the afterlife, reincarnation, or the soul tossed around by many world religions. Will we really ever be able to digitize the human consciousness? Do we really want to? Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

{ http://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

21-02-2018 om 23:15 geschreven door peter  

AI Expert Claims Artificial Intelligence Will Become ‘Billions Of Times’ Smarter Than Humans

According to an expert in Artificial Intelligence, machines will become billions of times smarter than humans, and mankind needs to fuse with machines in order to survive.

Artificial intelligence could evolve to become “billions of times smarter” than humans according to Ian Pearson, a futurist at Futurizon who says people will need to merge with machines to survive.

The fact is that AI can go further than humans, it could be billions of times smarter than humans at this point,” said Pearson during a panel hosted by CNBC at the World Government Summit in Dubai.

“So we really do need to make sure that we have some means of keeping up.”

Will AI destroy the human race?

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Pearson continued, “The way to protect against that is to link that AI to your brain so you have the same IQ… as the computer. I don’t actually think it’s safe, just like Elon Musk… to develop these superhuman computers until we have a direct link to the human brain… and then don’t get way ahead.”

Pearson’s comments echo the ex-engineer of Uber and Google, Anthony Levandowski, who formed the first church that worships an artificially intelligent being.

The futuristic religion, known as the “Way of the Future,” states that our species can improve itself by following the instructions of a robot that is “a billion times smarter than humans.”

WOTF will eventually have a gospel called ‘The Manual’, as well as rituals and even a physical place of worship.

Levandowski named himself “WOTF” dean, giving him total control until his death or resignation.

Interestingly, Pearson’s comments echo those made by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk who spoke about Artificial Intelligence saying: “Over time I think we will probably see a closer merger of biological intelligence and digital intelligence.”

Musk continued, “It’s mostly about the bandwidth, the speed of the connection between your brain and the digital version of yourself, particularly output.” Musk has since founded a startup company called Neuralink which aims to explore linking human brains to computers.

Numerous experts have spoken out about the dangers of Artificial Intelligence, as well as its benefits.

Should we be worried about AI?

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Professor Stephen Hawking, for example, says how we should be very careful when dealing and developing AI. The world-renowned scientist has said that Artificial Intelligence could become the worst event in the history of our civilization, urging experts to “employ best practice and effective management.”

In 2017, during a talk at the Web Summit technology conference, Hawking said that AI can in theory not only emulate human intelligence but greatly exceed it. Hawking also said that there is a danger that Artificial Intelligence could become so advanced that it may develop a will of its own.

Despite the fact that many people welcome AI into society, experts in the subject remain worried.

Elon Musk seems to agree with Hawking when it comes to AI. Mr. Musk warns we must tread carefully when it comes to AI, and called for companies developing AI systems to slow down in order to ensure they don’t unintentionally create something extremely dangerous for humans.

{ https://www.ancient-code.com/ }

16-02-2018 om 00:27 geschreven door peter  

Raven

'Time Traveler Who Visited The Year 8973' Shares Vision Of Future

Being able to travel in time is something that has often been discussed, and it has been the focus of many movies. So far it has been seen as nothing more than a theory but would anyone believe a person if they said that they had traveled to a different time and come back?

Time Travel proof: 'British intelligence worker' reveals truth behind Mandela effect

Time travel is something that has fascinated many people for decades, and now a man from England by the name of William Taylor has come forward to say that he has been to the future on many different occasions and come back to tell the tale.

"Time travel was first successfully accomplished in 1981," Taylor claims. "There is an infinite number of alternate universes, it's possible every one of these universes exist and it's possible to move between these universes. We developed a machine to not only time travel, but move between these parallel universes."

Here is what Taylor - the time traveler - has to say to the world:

Taylor has realized that not everyone believes his story about being able to travel into the future and this does not seem to bother him. What bothers him more is fear of reprisal for telling his story. This is because he claims to have worked for the government in Britain along with the British Intelligence agency.

Taylor said that there are many advanced technologies being kept secret. He went on to say that in time they will be released to the public but for the time being, they are highly classified. He claimed that “they” would be coming after him for releasing the video and telling the truth and that he was putting himself at risk for speaking up. According to Taylor time travel was first accomplished in 1981, and there is an infinite number of alternate universes out there. He went on to say that it is possible that the universes exist and they can be moved between. Taylor claims that a machine was developed for time traveling and to allow people to move between the parallel universes.

In The Year 3000 Humans Live Underwater

Taylor spoke out above visiting the year 3000 and said that not a great deal had changed, other than humans lived under the water and he talked in detail about the things that he had seen during his time in the future. Taylor described looking up and seeing flying transportation in the sky above but only being able to see lights through what he claimed was thick smog. He went on to talk about going to 8973 and said that this was when the British government thought that machines and men would fuse together as one.

The video goes on and the longer that Taylor speaks about his time in the future and time travel the stranger it seems to get. He starts by talking about going into the future and time traveling and then goes on to talk about parallel universes and to travel to them. He then goes on to talk about invisibility and more. Whether you believe what Taylor has to say or you are skeptical about it, the video is rather entertaining to watch, and it may have some people wondering.

{ https://www.disclose.tv/ }

15-02-2018 om 22:33 geschreven door peter  

Self-healing and fully recyclable electronic skin will help robots feel touch

BY TIBI PUIU 

Scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder devised an electronic skin, or e-skin, which mimics the mechanical and functional properties of natural human skin. The artificial skin is stretchable and bendable, but also capable of measuring pressure, temperature, and vibration. In the future, this upgrade will enable robots to sense their environment, making human-robot interactions less creepy. E-skin will also be helpful for disabled humans who are forced to wear a prosthesis.

Robo-touch

Electronic skin isn’t a novel concept. For the last decade, scientists all over the world have demonstrated functional artificial skin that possesses the ability to feel and touch objects. However, this is the first time that we’re shown an e-skin that can both heal itself and is fully recyclable.

“This particular device … won’t produce any waste,” said study co-author Jianliang Xiao, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. “We want to make electronics to be environmentally friendly.”

Xiao and colleagues made their e-skin out of polymer and silver nanoparticles, the latter being responsible for the device’s self-healing properties. If for some reason the e-skin is torn in half, the two sides can come back together in the presence of a rehealing agent and heat pressing, which restores the broken chemical bonds. If the damage is irreparable, the device can be put into a solution that separates and recovers the silver nanoparticles, thereby allowing the material to be recycled for a new e-skin.

“What is unique here is that the chemical bonding of polyimine we use allows the e-skin to be both self-healing and fully recyclable at room temperature,” Xiao said.

Schematic of e-skin and its uses.

Credit: University of Colorado Boulder .

Xiao envisions the e-skin being fundamental to improving interactions between human beings and robots. For instance, the scientist imagines babysitting robots equipped with fingers covered in e-skin that can tell what the temperature of the baby is or can measure pressure so the robot doesn’t press too hard.

Similarly, prostheses wrapped in e-skin can enable people who have lost a limb to regain control not only of their dexterity — at least in part — but also sensing ability, as reported in the journal Science Advances.   

But this e-skin isn’t perfect. Unlike our own natural skin, the e-skin isn’t very flexible or stretchable. Worse of all, the device isn’t easily reproducible, which is why Xiao and colleagues are working on a solution that might enable them to scale down the e-skin’s manufacturing.

“We are facing pollution issues every day,” Xiao noted. “It’s important to preserve our environment and make sure that nature can be very safe for ourselves and for our kids.”

{ https://www.zmescience.com/ }

12-02-2018 om 22:23 geschreven door peter  

U.S. Department of Defense Study Successfully Zaps Brains to Improve Memory

A well-placed jolt of electricity can improve memory recall by up to 15 percent.

By Peter Hess

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

07-02-2018 om 22:15 geschreven door peter  

Worm uploaded to a computer and trained to balance a pole

Vienna University of Technology

Is it a computer program or a living being? At TU Wien (Vienna), the boundaries have become blurred. The neural system of a nematode was translated into computer code – and then the virtual worm was taught amazing tricks.

C. elegans worms.
Image credits PROZEISS Microscopy / Flickr.

It is not much to look at: the nematode C. elegans is about one millimetre in length and is a very simple organism. But for science, it is extremely interesting. C. elegans is the only living being whose neural system has been analysed completely. It can be drawn as a circuit diagram or reproduced by computer software, so that the neural activity of the worm is simulated by a computer program.

Such an artificial C. elegans has now been trained at TU Wien (Vienna) to perform a remarkable trick: The computer worm has learned to balance a pole at the tip of its tail.

C. elegans has to get by with only 300 neurons. But they are enough to make sure that the worm can find its way, eat bacteria and react to certain external stimuli. It can, for example, react to a touch on its body. A reflexive response is triggered and the worm squirms away.

This behaviour is determined by the worm's nerve cells and the strength of the connections between them. When this simple reflex network is recreated on a computer, the simulated worm reacts in exactly the same way to a virtual stimulation – not because anybody programmed it to do so, but because this kind of behaviour is hard-wired in its neural network.

"This reflexive response of such a neural circuit, is very similar to the reaction of a control agent balancing a pole," says Ramin Hasani (Institute of Computer Engineering, TU Wien). This is a typical control problem that can be solved quite well by standard controllers. A pole is fixed on its lower end on a moving object, and it is supposed to stay in a vertical position. Whenever it starts tilting, the lower end has to move slightly to keep the pole from tipping over. Much like the worm has to change its direction whenever it is stimulated by a touch, the pole must be moved whenever it tilts.

Mathias Lechner, Radu Grosu and Ramin Hasani wanted to find out whether the neural system of C. elegans, uploaded to a computer, could solve this problem – without adding any nerve cells, just by tuning the strength of the synaptic connections. This basic idea (tuning the connections between nerve cells) is also the characteristic feature of any natural learning process

The worm’s natural behavior is very similar to that required in this test.
Image credits TU Wien.

A Program without a Programmer

"With the help of reinforcement learning, a method also known as 'learning based on experiment and reward,' the artificial reflex network was trained and optimized on the computer," Mathias Lechner explains. The team succeeded in teaching the virtual nerve system to balance a pole. "The result is a controller, which can solve a standard technology problem – stabilizing a pole, balanced on its tip. But no human being has written even one line of code for this controller, it just emerged by training a biological nerve system," says Radu Grosu.

The team is going to explore the capabilities of such control circuits further. The project raises the question whether there is a fundamental difference between living nerve systems and computer code. Is machine learning and the activity of our brain the same on a fundamental level? At least we can be pretty sure that the simple nematode C. elegans does not care whether it lives as a worm in the ground or as a virtual worm on a computer hard drive.

 Explore further: 

• A brain chemical blamed for mental decline in old age could hold key to its reversal

More information: Worm-level Control through Search-based Reinforcement Learning:

•  docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid … Q3YjZhZTZiYWJiNDI5NA 

{ https://phys.org/ }

07-02-2018 om 21:15 geschreven door peter  

A new book explores how AI may change people’s lives

BY 

MARIA TEMMING 

 

FORWARD THINKING  Toby Walsh cuts through the hype to give a critical assessment of how much we should welcome or worry about a future full of “thinking” machines.

PHONLAMAIPHOTO/ISTOCKPHOTO

Machines That Think
Toby Walsh
Prometheus Books, $16

Movies and other media are full of mixed messages about the risks and rewards of building machines with minds of their own. For every manipulative automaton like Ex Machina’s Ava (SN: 5/16/15, p. 26), there’s a helpful Star Wars droid. And while some tech titans such as Elon Musk warn of the threats artificial intelligence presents, others, including Mark Zuckerberg, dismiss the doomsayers.

AI researcher Toby Walsh’s Machines That Think is for anyone who has heard the hype and is seeking a critical assessment of what the technology can do — and what it might do in the future. Walsh’s conversational style is welcoming to nonexperts while his endnotes point readers to opportunities for deeper dives into specific aspects of AI.

Walsh begins with a history of AI, from Aristotle’s foundation of formal logic to modern facial-recognition systems. Excerpts from computer-composed poetry and tales of computers trouncing humans at strategy games (SN: 11/11/17, p. 13) are a testament to how far AI has come. But Walsh also highlights weaknesses, such as machine-learning algorithms’ reliance on so much data to master a single task.

This 30,000-foot view of AI research packs a lot of history, as well as philosophical and technical explanation. Walsh personalizes the account with stories of his own programming experiences, anecdotes about AI in daily life — like his daughter’s use of Siri — and his absolute, unapologetic love of puns.

Later in the book, Walsh speculates about technical hurdles that may curb further AI development and legal limits that society may want to impose. He also explores the societal impact that increasingly intelligent computers may have.

For instance, Walsh evaluates how likely various jobs are to be outsourced to AI. Some occupations, like journalist, will almost certainly be automated, he argues. Others, like oral surgeon, are probably safe. For future job security, Walsh recommends pursuing careers that require programming acumen, emotional intelligence or creativity.

AI also has the potential to revolutionize warfare. “Like Moore’s law, we are likely to see exponential growth in the capabilities of autonomous weapons,” Walsh writes. “I have named this ‘Schwarzenegger’s law’ to remind us of where it will end.” Walsh isn’t resigned to a Terminator-like future, though. If governments ban killer robots and arms developers use automation to enhance defensive equipment, he believes military AI could actually save many lives.

In fact, Walsh argues, all aspects of AI’s future impacts are in our hands. “Artificial intelligence can lead us down many different paths, some good and some bad,” he writes. “Society must choose which path to take.” 

Buy Machines That Think from Amazon.com. Science News is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. Please see our FAQ for more details.

{ https://www.sciencenews.org/ }

06-02-2018 om 12:18 geschreven door peter  

5D Crystals Can Store Data Virtually Forever, Scientists Say -- Crystal Skulls Connections

Researchers at the University of Southampton have recently announced that they are able to store and retrieve huge amounts of five dimensional data on quartz crystals.

The technology has immediately received a cool nickname: the "Superman memory crystal" — after the "memory crystals" used as storing devices in the Superman films.

I. How does it work? 

“…the data is recorded via self-assembled nanostructures created in fused quartz, which is able to store vast quantities of data for over a million years,” explains a press release. “The information encoding is realized in five dimensions: the size and orientation in addition to the three dimensional position of these nanostructures.” [1]

Image Credit: Warner Bros;

That sounds complicated, but what it basically means is that, using ultra-fast lasers, we can now encode a piece of quartz with 5D information in the form of nanostructured dots separated by only one millionth of a meter.

“The self-assembled nanostructures change the way light travels through glass, modifying polarization of light that can then be read by combination of optical microscope and a polarizer, similar to that found in Polaroid sunglasses,” states the release. [2]

The storage allows unprecedented parameters including 360 TB/disc data capacity, thermal stability up to 1000°C and practically unlimited lifetime.

"We are developing a very stable and safe form of portable memory using glass, which could be highly useful for organisations with big archives. At the moment companies have to back up their archives every five to ten years because hard-drive memory has a relatively short lifespan. (...) Museums who want to preserve information or places like the national archives where they have huge numbers of documents, would really benefit," stated the ORC leading researcher, Jingyu Zhang. [2]

II. In case of mankind's extinction, the 5D memory crystals will "survive" to tell our story

5D Crystals Can Store Data Virtually Forever, Scientists Say

The team's supervisor, Professor Peter Kazansky, explained:

"It is thrilling to think that we have created the first document which will likely survive the human race. This technology can secure the last evidence of civilisation: all we've learnt will not be forgotten." [3]

It's interesting that preserving mankind's history is considered by scientists to be the most important thing we can achieve with this technology.

If others before us discovered this technology, then it is very probable that they have reached to the same conclusions.

Back in 2010 I wrote about David, a child who allegedly incarnated on Earth from a planet called Inua. He explained that all of the evolved extraterrestrial species store data on crystals for aeons - including their history.

In conclusion, if we are to look for solid evidence about the existence of lost ancient civilizations (e.g. Lemurians, Atlanteans, ET visitors), then we should also consider looking for "memory crystals".

If we are to leave our history recorded for posterity - just in case our species doesn't make by the end of the century — then a disc-shaped (or icicle-shaped, as depicted in Superman) crystal may not be the best shape for such an important library.

No! The crystal needs to be solid enough not to shatter with ease, beautiful enough for others to preserve it, and awe-inspiring so that it is treated with respect... maybe even feared.

Why? Because the ones who find it, may not be able to read its message, so it needs to survive in one piece until someone figures out what it is and/or has the technology to decode the encrypted message.

And just one crystal may not be enough... so the more we make, the better.

It should be crystal-clear (pun intended) by now that I am making a reference to something. Do you know what I am talking about?

I am, of course, talking about the famous ancient crystal skulls. And there are - at least - about a dozen of original crystal skulls in private and public collections.

III. The Mysterious Ancient Crystal Skulls of Mesoamerica

These mysterious crystal skulls reunite all the needed features (solid, beautiful, numerous and awe inspiring) for them to survive long enough so that their possible message could be decoded by an advanced species.

Photograph by AFP/Getty Images

According to National Geographic,

"Some are crystal clear, others of smoky or colored quartz. Some are actual human size and of very fine detail, while others are smaller and less refined. All are believed to originate from Mexico and Central America.

Many believe these skulls were carved thousands or even tens of thousands of years ago by an ancient Mesoamerican civilization. Others think they may be relics from the legendary island of Atlantis or proof that extraterrestrials visited the Aztec sometime before the Spanish conquest." [4]

Unfortunately, according to the same source cited above, the British Museum and the Smithsonian Institution declared their original skulls to be fake:

"Recent electron microscope analyses of skulls by the British Museum and the Smithsonian Institution revealed markings that could only have been made with modern carving implements."

Firstly, the original skulls could have been easily replaced with fakes by now. Those who control the world have access anywhere they desire.

Secondly, just because the skulls have modern-looking carving marks on them is not evidence that the skulls are fake. There are plenty of monuments drilled, carved and stacked together so perfectly that it would be challenging to replicate even today (e.g Puma Punku, or the Great Pyramids of Egypt- just to name a couple of sites).

Revolutionary "Superman" Memory Crystals Can Store Data Virtually Forever | Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building

Interesting times await us just around the corner, so - who knows?! - maybe one day, soon, I will be able to report to you that an ancient crystal skull has been discovered to contain the real history of our planet and its inhabitants.

By Alexander Light, HumansAreFree.com; |

Sources: [1] Inhabitat, [2] Eureka Alert, [3] Dvice; [4] National Geographic;

{ http://humansarefree.com/ }

04-02-2018 om 23:27 geschreven door peter  

BY GLENN MCDONALD

Take two robots and call me in the morning.

That may well be a legitimate prescription for future medical patients, thanks to a new kind of radically miniaturized soft robot that can be swallowed, injected, or inserted under the skin. The robot can then move around inside the body to target specific tissues or deliver precise doses of medicine.

Researchers with Germany's Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems unveiled last week details of the tiny robot in a paper published in the journal Nature. Unofficially dubbed the millirobot, it's a flexible, fabric-like robot that can walk, swim, and even carry cargo, despite having no mechanical elements or batteries.

The secret is magnetism. The millirobot, which resembles a very small rectangle of paper about four millimeters in length, is made of an elastic polymer threaded through with magnetic particles. Using existing magnetic-resonance technology, such as an ultrasound machine, doctors can control the movement of the bot inside the human body.

That means the robot can potentially be deployed anywhere that physicians need to deliver a particular drug or other medical material — in the digestive tract, say, or even within the blood stream.

Emailing from the Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart, Germany, lead author Metin Sitti said the tiny soft robot can be used in different ways depending on where it's needed inside the body for drug delivery or other therapeutic use.

“In the case of digestive or urinary systems, where the current robot could get in with its current size, the robot would be swallowed,” Sitti told Seeker. “For internal organ applications, we would deploy the robot through a small incision, like in the case of laparoscopy. In vascular system applications, we could inject it omto the blood vessels.”

While other ingestible robots have been developed, the millirobot has several advantages over other techniques, according to the research team. Most importantly, the robot is very versatile in its modes of locomotion. Thanks to its biologically inspired design, the millirobot can easily transition from swimming in a liquid to scooting over a solid surface.

“We looked at the physical mechanism of locomotion of soft-bodied caterpillars and jellyfishes and took inspiration from them,” Sitti said. “The result is that our millirobot is a mix of small-scale soft-bodied animals, such as a beetle larva, a caterpillar, a spermatozoid, and a jellyfish.”

RELATED: New and Improved RoboBee Flies, Dives, Swims, Then Flies Again

Thanks to its biomimetic design, the millirobot has multiple ways to get around, Sitti said. In a video released with the research publication the millirobot is shown inching along like a worm, swimming like a manta ray, and carrying cargo by encircling small objects then rolling them into place.

“After the robot is deployed inside the body, it can be navigated using seven different locomotion methods to reach to the target disease area,” Sitti said. “Then, the robot can deliver drug locally in a controlled dose by using its shape-change control. This can remove possible side effects that some drugs could have and can also improve the drug delivery efficiency and amount control.”

Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems

Sitti and his research team have further plans for the millirobot, including possible cancer treatment options and a novel cauterization technique.

“As another medical use very soon, we could heat the robot in the target location remotely — using electromagnetic waves — and the heated robot could stop bleeding in a wound or kill cancer cells locally,” Sitti said.

The researchers hope that their soft robot will some day become a standard option for health care providers, offering a space-age option for non-invasive access to hard-to-reach places.

“Currently it is not possible to access many small regions inside the human body without surgery,” Sitti said. “But our target is to reach such regions non-invasively and conduct diagnostic and therapeutic operations with our soft robots.”

{ https://www.seeker.com/ }

31-01-2018 om 00:18 geschreven door peter  

By: Marshall Smith 

Little Ripper Life Saver

The Little Ripper Drone has gotten a good bit of publicity for its potential as a lifesaving drone. Yet, up until now, it really was all about potential.

Now, the lifeguard drone has lived up to the hype, saving two people stranded in rough seas off the coast of New South Wales state, Australia.

Two teenage boys who were caught 0.4 miles offshore at Lennox Head in a swell of nearly 9.8 ft., were able to grab hold of a floatation device after the Little Ripper dropped it from above.

Incredible aerial footage shows how it all went down. Watch it below:

Marshall Smith

Technology, engineering, and design enthusiast.

 

{ http://www.industrytap.com/ }

30-01-2018 om 22:48 geschreven door peter  

If You Had a Human Head Transplant, Would You Still Be You?

by Dom Galeon

 

{ ,https://futurism.com/ }

29-01-2018 om 01:13 geschreven door peter  

Michio Kaku’s Biggest Predictions About the Future

by Chelsea Gohd 

 

Wiki Commons

{https://futurism.com/ }

29-01-2018 om 00:55 geschreven door peter  

Physicists Just Made Star Wars-Style 3D Projections a Reality

 

Smalley Holography Group

27-01-2018 om 23:20 geschreven door peter  

Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua result from decades of trying to make somatic cell nuclear transfer work in monkeys

BY 

DAN GARISTO 

 

DOUBLE TROUBLE  Cloned macaque sisters Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua, the first primates successfully cloned via somatic cell nuclear transfer, are just 8 and 7 weeks old, respectively.

QIANG SUN, MU-MING POO/CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Meet Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua, the first primates cloned by reprogramming adult cells.

Two decades after Dolly the Sheep was successfully cloned(SN: 3/1/97, p. 132), Chinese researchers have used the same technique — somatic cell nuclear transfer — to clone two healthy baby macaque monkeys. The results, reported January 24 in Cell, could lead to more efficient cloning and a better way to study genetic diseases in primates.

“This could be it — the next step in cloning,” says Jose Cibelli, a geneticist at Michigan State University in East Lansing not involved with the study.

Over 20 species of mammals have been cloned via somatic cell nuclear transfer — including cats, dogs, rats and even a camel (SN: 3/23/02, p. 189). This cloning technology has improved since Dolly’s birth in 1996. Back then, she was the only sheep born from 277 attempts. By 2014, the cloning technique had an 80 percent success rate in pigs. Despite these gradual advances (SN: 3/8/14, p. 7), cloning of nonhuman primates has long eluded researchers.

A rhesus monkey “clone” was created through embryo splitting, a technique that divides a single embryo into genetically identical embryos, in 1999. But this type of cloning has little in common with somatic cell nuclear transfer.

In somatic cell nuclear transfer, a nucleus from a mature body cell is transplanted into an egg cell without a nucleus. The egg cell must then reprogram the nucleus’s DNA, basically stripping the body cell of its identity and returning it to an embryonic state. With no set identity, it can become any kind of cell in the body.  

TWICE THE FUN Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua, the first primates successfully cloned via somatic cell nuclear transfer, are healthy, playful and, so far, completely normal for baby macaques. The sisters will spend the next few months in an incubator together.

Previous failures in reprogramming primate cells probably happened because the egg ran into roadblocks — portions of the body cell’s DNA known as reprogramming-resistant regions, say study coauthor Mu-ming Poo, director of the Institute of Neuroscience at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai, and his colleagues. In these regions, DNA is so tightly wrapped around proteins called histones that the egg can’t reprogram those bits. So the researchers added two molecules aimed at loosening the DNA’s packaging.

The team tried this method with two types of body cells: ovarian cells from an adult and connective tissue cells from a fetus. Although 22 out of 42 monkeys became pregnant with embryos cloned from ovarian cells, only two babies were born and neither survived long past birth. Efforts with embryos made with the fetal cells resulted in six pregnancies among 21 surrogate monkey moms and two healthy babies.

 “After 20 years of trying from the most talented groups, and nothing working, finally this works,” Cibelli says. “This research is going to help cloning of all species.”

Cloned primates could help researchers better understand diseases in humans. Macaques are close genetic relatives to humans, making the monkeys better analogs than other lab animals. And clones make it easier to weed out the complications of different genetics when studying diseases or testing drugs.

The sisters are just a few weeks old, but they hold a lifetime of promise for researchers. Poo says the scientists will watch for any abnormalities as Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua grow and play.

“The monkeys are in good health and very active,” he says. “There are no signs they are unhealthy.”

Citations

• Z. Liu et al. Cloning of macaque monkeys by somatic cell nuclear transfer. Cell. Vol. 172, January 24, 2018, p. 1. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.01.020.

Further Reading

• T.H. Saey. Bones show Dolly’s arthritis was normal for a sheep her age. Science News Online, November 23, 2017.
• T.H. Saey. Monkeys born with edited genes. Science News. Vol. 185, March 8, 2014, p. 7.
• J. Travis. Clones face uncertain future. Science News. Vol. 161, March 23, 2002, p. 189.
• Science News Staff. Ewe again? Cloning from adult DNA. Science News. Vol. 151, March 1, 1997, p. 132.

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25-01-2018 om 15:09 geschreven door peter  

Unlike 3-D images of old, these high-res pictures are visible from almost any direction

BY 

MARIA TEMMING 

SCI-FI GRAPHICS GET REAL  A new laser system renders 3-D images in thin air, and could pave the way for futuristic displays akin to the iconic Princess Leia scene in Star Wars. Here, the system displays a researcher imitating the scene.

D.E. SMALLEY ET AL/NATURE 201

The 3-D displays seen in such sci-fi movies as Star Wars may not be so far, far away.

A new laser system renders full-color 3-D images in thin air, researchers report in the Jan. 25 Nature. This technology could someday make futuristic, free-floating visuals for everything from air traffic control to surgical planning.

With this new technology, “you really can, in principle, achieve what everyone hopes to achieve, which is the image of Princess Leia in that scene in Star Wars,” says Curtis Broadbent, a physicist at the University of Rochester in New York who was not involved in the work.

Whereas holograms are images on flat surfaces that only appear three-dimensional because of how the light bounces off the material, the newly created images actually take up 3-D space (SN: 12/4/10, p. 8). Two-dimensional images of virtual performers can also be made to appear 3-D through stage tricks that involve carefully placed projectors and reflective surfaces. But like holograms, these seemingly 3-D images can only be viewed from certain angles. The new technique creates 3-D images that can be seen from almost any direction.

Using a nearly invisible laser, researchers can steer a tiny glowing particle through a path in 3-D space to create images that can be seen from almost any angle. Here, the team draws a butterfly (left), a portrait of Princess Leia (middle) and a squiggle (right).

This system works by trapping a cellulose particle that’s mere micrometers across in a beam of nearly invisible laser light. That laser repeatedly moves the particle along a specific path through the air, for example, in the shape of a corkscrew or the outline of a butterfly. At each point on the particle’s path, other lasers illuminate it with red, green or blue light, which the particle scatters in all directions. This creates a single image pixel that can be viewed from all sides.

Because the particle whizzes through the air so quickly and loops through the same path over and over again, all these pixels blur together — like the tip of a sparkler waved so fast that it seemingly smears into a solid line. This creates what appears to be a still image floating in the air.

Daniel Smalley, an electrical engineer at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and his colleagues used this method to produce graphics about the size of a postage stamp. Because the technology draws a picture with a single particle, the researchers could create only small images, including a high-resolution picture of Earth about one centimeter in diameter.

“Scaling that up to even something about the size of a computer monitor would be pretty challenging,” Broadbent says. Researchers would have to refine their prototype to make pictures using many particles.

Smalley says he is already imagining a system that manipulates 100 or even 1,000 particles at once. With those improvements, “the sky becomes the limit,” he says.

PARTICLE PAINTING Researchers created a one-centimeter-wide image of Earth (photographed hovering above a fingertip) by using a nearly invisible laser to drag a glowing 10-micrometer particle back and forth.

D.E. SMALLEY ET AL/NATURE 2018

Free-floating images could help doctors practice surgery before the patient goes under the knife, says physicist Barry Blundell, of the University of Derby in England, whose commentary appears in the same issue of Nature. This technology could also be used for physical therapy or improving athletic performance. People could record themselves performing various activities, like swinging a golf club, and then view the footage on 3-D displays to carefully study their bodily motion, explains Blundell. And if the images can be continually updated with real-time data, such 3-D visuals could provide air traffic controllers with dynamic maps of planes in the air, or help researchers track satellites to ensure they don’t collide.

The possibilities for advertising, education and entertainment systems are endless, Broadbent says. The world may someday be full of pop-up images like those imagined in the film Jurassic World, where museum patrons walk through a hall where a projected dinosaur image stands on display, or like the free-standing visuals used by the character Tony Stark in designing his metal suits in the Iron Man films. And unlike virtual reality systems, these new laser-drawn pictures can be seen with the naked eye: No headgear required. (SN: 3/18/17, p. 24)

Large Sized 3D Holographic Projection at Medical Conference

7D Holographic Technology - A once not considered advertiser friendly video

Amazing Hologram Technology Is Transforming Our World ''Virtueel Zoo''

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25-01-2018 om 14:53 geschreven door peter  

Scientists levitate largest object yet with an acoustic tractor beam, might one day work for humans

BY TIBI PUIU

Tractor beams, not too long ago a staple of science fiction, have made the jump into reality. Previously, scientists used acoustic waves to make objects magically levitate — but only if these were very small. Now, a new breakthrough reported by British researchers opens the door for levitating much bigger objects, perhaps even humans one day.

Researchers create a sonic tractor beam with loudspeakers

Fooling gravity

There are a couple of ways to trap objects mid-air, essentially making them levitate. Maglev trains, for instance, literally float on train tracks thanks to powerful electromagnets. There also optic methods (lasers) and even thermal levitation that exploits a temperature difference to lift particles. However, scientists have found that using acoustic waves is more appealing since you can grab non-metals, be they liquid or solid — and the result can be quite breathtaking.

Credit: Youtube / Smarter Every Day.

The way acoustic levitation works is by blasting ultrasound waves from a transducer, which bounce off a reflector. The interaction between the bounced-off compressions creates a standing wave which shifts back and forth or vibrates in segments rather than traveling from place to place. Essentially, the standing wave cancels gravity and the object between the transducer and reflector appears to float.

Credit: Sonic Levitation.

The problem with acoustic levitation is that previous research had always found that the size of the object was limited to the size of the wavelength of sound used. But now University of Bristol researchers may have a way to overcome this limitation.

“Acoustic researchers had been frustrated by the size limit for years, so it’s satisfying to find a way to overcome it. I think it opens the door to many new applications,” Asier Marzo from Bristol’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, said in a statement.

Previously, when scientists tried to acoustically levitate larger objects, these became unstable and spun uncontrollably, instead of floating, until they ultimately were ejected like debris in a tornado. By lowering the frequency of the acoustic wave to audible ranges (below 20kHz), it’s possible to levitate larger objects since the wavelength increases. However, this can also become dangerous for humans whose ears would now be exposed to the lower pitches.

Writing in the Physical Review Letters, the researchers showed how rapidly fluctuating acoustic vortices – or ‘tornados of sound’ – can be controlled by changing the twisting direction of the vortices, thus stabilizing the tractor beam. Using this approach, the team fired ultrasonic waves at a pitch of 40kHz, allowing the tractor beam to suspend a 2cm polystyrene sphere in mid-air. That might not sound like a lot, but this is now the largest object ever levitated.

Besides being incredibly cool, applications include touchless control of drug capsules or micro-surgical implements inside the human body. Touchless control is particularly exciting since it means that now fragile objects can be assembled without touching them. What’s more, the researchers say they can use this method to levitate even larger objects, perhaps even humans.

“In the future, with more acoustic power it will be possible to hold even larger objects,” said senior research associate Mihai Caleap.

Ultrasonic Levitation

Harvard Natural Sciences Lecture Demonstrations

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22-01-2018 om 22:23 geschreven door peter  

Brain implant boosts memory for first time ever

New memory prosthesis could be a game-changer for dementia care.

by Kristin Houser, Futurism

Image: Brain activity

SCIEPRO / Getty Images

A BIONIC MEMORY BOOST

With everyone from Elon Musk to MIT to the U.S. Department of Defense researching brain implants, it seems only a matter of time before such devices are ready to help humans extend their natural capabilities. Now, a professor from the University of Southern California (USC) has demonstrated the use of a brain implant to improve the human memory, and the device could have major implications for the treatment of one of the U.S.’s deadliest diseases.

Dong Song is a research associate professor of biomedical engineering at USC, and he recently presented his findings on a “memory prosthesis” during a meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Washington D.C. According to a New Scientist report, the device is the first to effectively improve the human memory.

To test his device, Song’s team enlisted the help of 20 volunteers who were having brain electrodes implanted for the treatment of epilepsy.

Once implanted in the volunteers, Song’s device could collect data on their brain activity during tests designed to stimulate either short-term memory or working memory. The researchers then determined the pattern associated with optimal memory performance and used the device’s electrodes to stimulate the brain following that pattern during later tests.

Based on their research, such stimulation improved short-term memory by roughly 15 percent and working memory by about 25 percent. When the researchers stimulated the brain randomly, performance worsened.

As Song told New Scientist, “We are writing the neural code to enhance memory function. This has never been done before.”

A GROWING PROBLEM

While a better memory could be useful for students cramming for tests or those of us with trouble remembering names, it could be absolutely life-changing for people affected by dementia and Alzheimer’s.

As Bill Gates noted when announcing plans to invest $100 million of his own money into dementia and Alzheimer’s research, the disease is a multi-level problem that’s positioned to get even worse.

Age is the greatest risk factor for Alzheimer’s, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, with the vast majority of sufferers over the age of 65. With advances in medicine and healthcare continuously increasing how long we live, that segment of the population is growing dramatically, and by 2030, 20 percent of U.S. citizens are expected to be older than 65.

This increase in the number of potential dementia sufferers can be costly in both a financial and emotional sense. In 2016, the total cost of healthcare and long-term care for those suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease was an estimated $236 billion, and according to the Alzheimer’s Association, the more severe a person’s cognitive impairment, the higher the rates of depression in their familial caregivers.

Of course, further testing is required before Song’s device could be approved as a treatment for dementia or Alzheimer’s, but if it is able to help those patients regain even part of their lost memory function, the impact would be felt not only by the patients themselves, but their families and even the economy at large.

A Robotics Set That Lets Kids Bring Their Lego Creations to Life

{ https://www.nbcnews.com/mach }

22-01-2018 om 17:26 geschreven door peter  

Chinese AI outperforms humans in language comprehension test — the first time a machine ever has

BY ALEXANDRU MICU

A new artificial intelligence (AI) developed by the Alibaba Group has humans beaten on their own turf — the software has outperformed humans in a global reading comprehension test.

Image credits herval / Flickr.

China’s biggest online commerce company is making big strides in the field of artificial intelligence. The Alibaba Group has developed a machine-learning model which scored higher than human users on the Stanford Question Answering Dataset (SQAD), a large-scale reading comprehension test with more than 100,000 questions. On January 11, the AI scored 82.44 on the test, compared to 82.304 scored by humans.

It’s the first time an AI has outperformed people in this task and has done so in style — SQAD is considered one of the world’s most authoritative machine-reading gauges.

Computer speak good now

Computers have shown they can gain the upper hand against human players in all sort of complex tasks now — most strikingly in games such as chess. However, all these tasks had one common feature: they were all structured in such a way that a sharp memory and awesome computing capability represented huge assets.

Up to now, however, languages were always seen as a human field par excellence. So this win might be a bit more nerve-wracking than those before. Looking towards the future, the win has huge implications in society, especially in the customer service sector.

These jobs were traditionally insulated from the effects of automation, relying on armies of call-center employees even while factories swapped workers for robots. As someone who has had the distinct misfortune of working in a call center, I can only wish the robots good luck, endless patience, and a blanket apology. However, the advent of this AI points to profound shifts to come in the sector, and many people, unlike me, actually like/need those jobs — for them, this does not bode well.

It’s also a nerve-wracking to see AIs make such huge strides since, just two months ago, another Chinese AI passed the medical exam.

The Alibaba Group has worked closely with Ali Xiaomi, a mobile customer service chatbot which can be customised by retailers on Alibaba’s online market platform to suit their needs. Si Luo, a chief scientist at Alibaba’s research arm, said that the result means simple questions, such as “why does it rain?”, can be answered with a high degree of accuracy by machines.

“We believe the underlying technology can be gradually applied to numerous applications such as customer service, museum tutorials, and online response to inquiries from patients, freeing up human efforts in an unprecedented way,” Si said.

Ali Xiaomi was designed to identify the questions raised by customers and then look for the most relevant answers from pre-prepared documents. This made it a suitable platform for the new AI, as the processes that Ali Xiaomi uses are, in broad lines, the same ones that underpin the Stanford test.

Still, despite its superhuman result, Alibaba researchers say that the system is still somewhat limited. It works best with questions that have clear-cut answers; if the language is too vague, or the expression too ungrammatical, the bot likely won’t work properly. Similarly, if there’s no prepared answer, the bot will likely malfunction.

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15-01-2018 om 21:32 geschreven door peter