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May 9, 2018

Neuroscientists Strongly Recommend That You Visit The Beach Regularly. Here’s Why

Posted by in categories: neuroscience, space

We all know that spending time outdoors is good for you on both a physical and mental level, but the benefits of spending time specifically at the beach have just been revealed.

That incredible feeling of peace and calmness that you experience at the beach is now being referred to as “blue space.” That’s what scientists have dubbed the effect that the combination of soothing smells and sounds of water have on your brain. The blue space is enough to make you feel at ease in a hypnotic sort of way.

When you notice how relaxed you feel at the beach, it’s not just all in your head. Science says that it’s a change in the way your brain reacts to its environment leaving you feeling happy, relaxed and reenergized.

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May 9, 2018

California to become first U.S. state mandating solar on new homes

Posted by in categories: habitats, solar power, sustainability

California is about to become the only state in the nation mandating that virtually every new home have solar panels by 2020.

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May 9, 2018

Baldness cure could come from side-effect of cancer drug

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

A cure for baldness could be on the horizon after British scientists discovered that an osteoporosis drug stimulates hair growth three times quicker than other drugs.

Around four in 10 men suffer male pattern baldness by the age of 45 and two thirds by the age of 60.

At the moment only two drugs, minoxidil and finasteride, are available for the treatment of male pattern baldness (androgenetic alopecia) — the classic type of receding hair loss in men.

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May 9, 2018

All systems are go for SpaceX’s BFR rocket facility at Port of Los Angeles after City Council OKs plan

Posted by in category: space travel

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved a plan allowing SpaceX to build and operate a facility at the Port of L.A., where the Hawthorne space company will produce its next-generation BFR rockets and spacecraft.

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May 9, 2018

Google goes all-in on artificial intelligence, renames research division Google AI

Posted by in categories: business, robotics/AI

With Google’s I/O developer conference kicking off later today, Google is setting the scene for what it expects to be one of the big themes of the event: artificial intelligence. Today, the company rebranded the whole of its Google Research division as Google AI, with the old Google Research site now directing to a newly expanded Google AI site.

Google has over the years worked on a wide variety of other computing pursuits beyond AI, and all of that content will continue to exist within that new site, the company said. But the move signals how Google has increasingly focused a lot of its R&D on breaking new ground across the many facets of AI specifically, from technologies like computer vision, natural language processing, and neural networks, through to applications across virtually any and every business that Google currently and potentially touches, such as video, search and mobile apps, but also healthcare, automotive applications and other verticals.

That’s not just Google reflecting how the wider world of tech is evolving; it’s also a measure of how much Google has influenced it.

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May 9, 2018

Mining asteroids could unlock untold wealth – here’s how to get started

Posted by in category: space

The first step to mining an asteroid is finding a suitable candidate. Scientists estimate there should be some ten nearby targets.

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May 9, 2018

Uber teams up with U.S. Army, NASA to develop flying taxis

Posted by in category: drones

UberAir will fly electric passenger drones on short trips, the U.S. Army is researching Uber’s tech, and NASA has forged an agreement with the flying taxis.

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May 9, 2018

Uber shows off its vision for future ‘flying taxi’

Posted by in categories: drones, futurism

It’s not a bird, nor a plane. But Uber’s new prototype vehicle unveiled Tuesday shows off its vision of the future of transportation—a “flying taxi” that aims to alleviate urban congestion.

A model of Uber’s electric vertical take-off and landing concept (eVTOL)—a cross between a helicopter and a drone—was displayed at the second annual Uber Elevate Summit in Los Angeles.

“Our goal is to radically improve global mobility,” said Uber Aviation product chief Nikhil Goel.

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May 9, 2018

A stealthy Harvard startup wants to reverse aging in dogs, and humans could be next

Posted by in category: life extension

Biologist George Church says the idea is to live to 130 in the body of a 22-year-old.

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May 9, 2018

Life Extension Technology in Science Fiction

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension, robotics/AI

Today we take an amusing look at how science fiction is often portrayed in a jarring way especially when dealing with the topic of life extension.

Those of us who fancy science fiction stories are used to all sorts of technological miracles taking place in them; some are plausible and might become reality at some point in the future, while others are mere fantasies, artistic liberties that are taken to tell a better story and will likely never translate into real-life technologies—or, if they will, they will do so at the cost of rethinking fundamental principles that we’ve thus far considered to be fully established.

In science fiction, we’ve seen faster-than-light travel, teleportation, portals, energy weapons, strong AI, telepathic powers, and radiation-induced superpowers of all kinds; unfortunately, the only “superpower” known to be actually induced by radiation thus far is cancer. Entire imaginary worlds have revolved around the existence of one or more of these marvels, and series and shows have assumed that they’re possible and imagined what our society would be like with them, but one particular possibility has been neglected or relegated to one or two episodes and then forgotten, as if it was of no importance whatsoever: the defeat of aging.

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