Can’t stand the sight of anything with eight legs? New technology could cure arachnophobes as scientists have worked out how to remove specific fears from the human brain.
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Justin Lin’s “The World of ‘The Jetsons,’ Reimagined”
Arconic (NYSE: ARNC), a global technology, engineering and advanced manufacturing company, launched a global campaign about the next world-changing innovations in the sky, on the road and in our cities–and how Arconic might help bring those technologies to life.
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AI to compose an original Rembrandt painting
Earlier this year there was an unprecedented collaboration between ING, Microsoft and TU Delft, with the willing participation of Dutch museums Mauritshuis and Rembrandthuis, to teach an artificial intelligence to paint a Rembrandt.
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DARPA is building a drone to provide surveillance anywhere in the world
DARPA is on track to unveil a working prototype of its “Tern” drone system in 2018 that could eventually give the Navy and Marines persistent surveillance and strike targeting “virtually anywhere in the world.”
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Light bulbs watch you buy groceries
In an enormous grocery store in northern France, the lights above the aisles aren’t all they seem to be. They look ordinary—more than a mile and a half of fixtures exuding bright light, folded into a grid overhead—but they’re actually flickering faster than the human eye can see. The unique patterns each individual section of lighting emits are a 21st-century twist on Morse code, meant not for people, but for the cameras on their phones.
Researchers invent the ‘perfect’ soap molecule
A team of researchers, led by the University of Minnesota, has invented a new soap molecule made from renewable sources that could dramatically reduce the number of chemicals in cleaning products and their impact on the environment. The soap molecules also worked better than some conventional soaps in challenging conditions such as cold water and hard water.
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Planetary Resources is mining Luxembourg for $28M in asteroid funds
The aspiring asteroid miners at Planetary Resources have struck pay dirt in Luxembourg, the tiny (but wealthy) European country positioning itself as an ally to commercial space. The country is directly investing €12 million, with another €13 million coming from public investment bank SNCI.
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Electrodes let you taste and chew in virtual reality
You’re having dinner in a virtual reality game. The banquet scene in front of you looks so real that your mouth is watering. Normally, you would be disappointed, but not this time. You approach the food, stick out your tongue – and taste the flavours on display. You move your jaw to chew – and feel the food’s texture between your teeth.
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Mercedes chief warns that humans ‘will bully robot cars’
Dietmar Exler, chief executive of Mercedes-Benz USA, believes that driverless cars are likely to be ‘bullied’ by human drivers when the two are sharing road space.
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Mixed reality and machine learning drive innovative farming
Farming is, by far, the most mature industry mankind has created. Dating back to the dawn of civilization, farming has been refined, adjusted and adapted — but never perfected. We, as a society, always worry over the future of farming. Today, we even apply terms usually reserved for the tech sector — digital, IoT, AI and so on. So why are we worrying?
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Hanging out with my past self in virtual reality
I checked out a replay of a Reggie Watts show and definitely felt like the energy and movement of his character came across. Since the show had been recorded before the capture feature was announced, however, AltspaceVR had erased all the avatars in the crowd, as those people had not consented to be filmed. I was alone in a room with a prerecorded avatar of Reggie Watts, and sea of emoji rising toward the ceiling, reactions from the ghost of an audience I could no longer see.
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Using Gene Editing to Transform Cancer
You may have heard of the gene-editing technique CRISPR-cas9, often simply called CRISPR. Introduced in 2012, CRISPR works like a pair of scissors to cut DNA, inserting or reordering bits of genetic code with remarkable, science-fiction-like results: CRISPR can help create mosquitoes that don’t transmit malaria, or be used to breed unusually muscular beagles, or even create mini pigs. In humans, the technology is being tested to battle cancer — by removing patients’ immune cells, editing them, and reinserting the weaponized cells into the body to hunt cancer.
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