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Jul 17, 2018

Genetically modified babies given go ahead

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics says changing the DNA of a human embryo could be ‘morally permissable’ if it is in the child’s best interests.

Science editor.

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Jul 17, 2018

Enough with the excuses

Posted by in category: life extension

Excuses for age-related death are just that: excuses.


The knowledge that every ambition is doomed to frustration at the hands of a skeleton has never prevented the majority of human beings from behaving as though death were no more than an unfounded rumor.

The quote above is by Aldous Huxley. It sums up very well humanity’s attitude towards death, and interestingly, it can be interpreted in two opposite ways: praise for the human ability to soldier on, even in the face of inevitable demise, or a short, withering remark on how delusional we can be that, if we just ignore it really hard, maybe we don’t need to worry about death.

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Jul 17, 2018

Interesting Facts About Gravity

Posted by in category: physics

Physics

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Jul 17, 2018

What happens when stars wander around black holes?

Posted by in category: cosmology

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Jul 17, 2018

Transhumanism Trouble? Could Happen. Here’s How To Save The World

Posted by in categories: economics, robotics/AI, transhumanism

What we need to do, to prevent global wealth inequality and advanced technology from adding up to produce global catastrophe, is increase equitability of opportunity. We need to enable everyone in the world to have the opportunity to really play the modern global economic-social game.


AI scientist BEN GOERTZEL believes that advanced technologies will change the world and transform our species in the process — unless tragedy strikes. Here’s how we ought to save the world if it does …

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Jul 16, 2018

Pentagon sees quantum computing as key weapon for war in space

Posted by in categories: computing, military, quantum physics, space

The military wants to apply quantum computing to secure communications and inertial navigation in GPS denied environments.

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Jul 16, 2018

First driverless, electric, off-road logging truck rolls into Goodwood

Posted by in categories: employment, robotics/AI, transportation

https://youtube.com/watch?v=m5HGUY3xxf8

Full automation of things like Logging, and Mining is not that far off. A humanoid robot that can do all the tasks of those sorts of jobs is already really close, the main issue right now is copying Human Hands, and it is almost there. Then, having vehicles like this to haul the stuff out of there. And, then those jobs are gone for good.


It might not be the quickest vehicle at the event, but Swedish transport company Einride has chosen the Goodwood Festival of Speed to reveal the T-log, an autonomous, electric logging truck. Incorporating some unusual purpose-built design for the niche logging market, the vehicle is designed to go off-road and to navigate forest roads with and without loads.

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Jul 16, 2018

Ionic materials could achieve 50% higher energy density while costing less than $100 per kwh

Posted by in categories: energy, materials

Ionic Materials received an investment from Hyundai Cradle. Ionic Materials has a polymer electrolyte that can make higher performing and safer solid-state batteries. Prototype batteries with Ionic Materials’ solid plastic electrolyte can enable higher energy densities at low cost.

Properties of Ionic Materials polymer

Up to 1.3 mS/cm at room temperature Lithium transference number of 0.7 High voltage capability (5 volts) Can accommodate high loadings in the cathode High elastic modulus Low cost precursors Stable against Lithium Conducts multiple ions.

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Jul 16, 2018

Extremely Real Looking Robot

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

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Jul 16, 2018

Plutonium Was Stolen From the Back of a Van at a Texas Marriott

Posted by in categories: energy, government, military

Their task was to ensure that the radioactive materials did not fall into the wrong hands on the way back to Idaho, where the government maintains a stockpile of nuclear explosive materials for the military and others.

To ensure they got the right items, the specialists from Idaho brought radiation detectors and small samples of dangerous materials to calibrate them: specifically, a plastic-covered disk of plutonium, a material that can be used to fuel nuclear weapons, and another of cesium, a highly radioactive isotope that could potentially be used in a so-called “dirty” radioactive bomb.

But when they stopped at a Marriott hotel just off Highway 410, in a high-crime neighborhood filled with temp agencies and ranch homes, they left those sensors on the back seat of their rented Ford Expedition. When they awoke the next morning, the window had been smashed and the special valises holding these sensors and nuclear materials had vanished.

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