2018 – Page 18 – Impact Lab

Elon Musk, Science & Technology News, Space, Space Flight, SpaceX

This crazy ambitious timeline shows when and how Elon Musk and Space X plan to colonize Mars

October 25, 2018

Elon Musk is hell-bent on colonizing Mars.

That’s the spirit with which he founded SpaceX, his rocket company, in 2002. Musk was frustrated that NASA wasn’t doing more to get people to the red planet – and concerned a backup plan for humanity wasn’t being developed (for when Earth becomes an uninhabitable wasteland).

Since then, SpaceX has developed several impressive aerospace systems: Falcon 1, SpaceX’s first orbital rocket; Grasshopper, a small self-landing test rocket; Falcon 9, a reusable orbital-class launcher; Dragona, a spaceship for cargo and soon NASA astronauts; and Falcon Heavy, a super-heavy-lift launcher.

But Mars is a cold, unforgiving, and almost airless rock located some 140 million miles (225 million kilometres) from the Sun.

Continue reading… “This crazy ambitious timeline shows when and how Elon Musk and Space X plan to colonize Mars”

Automation, Engineering, Robotics, Robots, Science & Technology News

Scientists built a terrifying robot snake that can climb ladders

October 24, 2018

Snakes and ladders used to be a board game, now it’s an integral part of our shared robot dystopian future. Can’t wait!

We tend to oversell the “scariness” of robots, right? The Boston Dynamics robot does a backflip or parkour and we’re cracking jokes about the revolution and our potential robot overlords. But honestly, how bad could it be?

Continue reading… “Scientists built a terrifying robot snake that can climb ladders”

Batteries, Big Problems, Breakthrough Thinking, Energy

Scientists turn nuclear waste into diamond batteries

October 26, 2018

They’ll reportedly last for thousands of years. This technology may someday power spacecraft, satellites, high-flying drones, and pacemakers.

Nuclear energy is carbon free, which makes it an attractive and practical alternative to fossil fuels, as it doesn’t contribute to global warming. We also have the infrastructure for it already in place. It’s nuclear waste that makes fission bad for the environment. And it lasts for so long, some isotopes for thousands of years. Nuclear fuel is comprised of ceramic pellets of uranium-235 placed within metal rods. After fission takes place, two radioactive isotopes are left over: cesium-137 and strontium-90.

These each have half-lives of 30 years, meaning the radiation will be half gone by that time. Transuranic wastes, such as Plutonium-239, are also created in the process. This has a half-life of 24,000 years. These materials are highly radioactive, making them extremely dangerous to handle, even with short-term exposure.

Continue reading… “Scientists turn nuclear waste into diamond batteries”

AI, Analysis, Automation, Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

Google AI claims 99% accuracy in metastatic breast cancer detection

October 25, 2018

Above: Left: a slide containing lymph nodes. Right: LYNA identifying the tumor region.

Metastatic tumors — cancerous cells which break away from their tissue of origin, travel through the body through the circulatory or lymph systems, and form new tumors in other parts of the body — are notoriously difficult to detect. A 2009 study of 102 breast cancer patients at two Boston health centers found that one in four were affected by the “process of care” failures such as inadequate physical examinations and incomplete diagnostic tests.

That’s one of the reasons that of the half a million deaths worldwide caused by breast cancer, an estimated 90 percent are the result of metastasis. But researchers at the Naval Medical Center San Diego and Google AI, a division within Google dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI) research, have developed a promising solution employing cancer-detecting algorithms that autonomously evaluate lymph node biopsies.

Continue reading… “Google AI claims 99% accuracy in metastatic breast cancer detection”

Alternative Transportation, China, Electric Vehicles, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News, Transportation

The electric future will run on two wheels

October 24, 2018

For much of the emerging world, the key to reducing pollution is making the transition to battery-powered motorcycles and scooters.

Even those who can afford cars often prefer two-wheelers.

Given recent market turmoil, it would easy to overlook the upcoming IPO of Niu Technologies, a Chinese manufacturer of electric mopeds. The $95 million the company plans to raise is a pittance compared to the billions burnt by Tesla Inc. But, the technologies developed by Niu and other pioneers of electric two-wheel vehicles will transform transportation as much as anything dreamed up by the likes of Elon Musk.

Continue reading… “The electric future will run on two wheels”

Analysis, Money Talk, Robots

The first ever fund managed by a robot is here. So far it’s beating the market

October 23, 2018

As if professional mutual fund managers didn’t have it hard enough.

Not only do they have to contend with the growing popularity of low-cost index funds, which simply buy and hold the entire market, but now here comes another threat: robot stock pickers.

That’s right.

The San Francisco firm EquBot has launched the first retail ETF to be managed using IBM’s Watson supercomputing artificial intelligence technology.

The use of computers to buy stocks isn’t new. So-called “quant funds” (short for quantitative analysis) have been around for years, relying on computer algorithms to identify short-term trading patterns and opportunities in the market.

Continue reading… “The first ever fund managed by a robot is here. So far it’s beating the market”

AI, Analysis, Employment, Robotics, Science & Technology News

Future of jobs 2018 – Reports- World Economic Forum

October 26, 2018

Strategic Drivers of New Business Models

As the Fourth Industrial Revolution unfolds, companies are seeking to harness new and emerging technologies to reach higher levels of efficiency of production and consumption, expand into new markets, and compete on new products for a global consumer base composed increasingly of digital natives. More and more, employers are therefore also seeking workers with new skills from further afield to retain a competitive edge for their enterprises and expand their workforce productivity. Some workers are experiencing rapidly expanding opportunities in a variety of new and emerging job roles, while others are experiencing a rapidly declining outlook in a range of job roles traditionally considered ‘safe bets’ and gateways to a lifetime career.

Even as technological advancements pose challenges to existing business models and practices, over the coming years, these same dynamics of technological change are set to become the primary drivers of opportunities for new growth. For example, based on one recent estimate, even a somewhat moderately paced rollout of new automation technologies over the next 10 to 20 years would lead to an investment surge of up to US$8 trillion in the United States alone.

Continue reading… “Future of jobs 2018 – Reports- World Economic Forum”

Children, Education, Employment, Future, Science & Technology News

These are the skills that your kids will need for the future (Hint: It’s not coding)

October 21, 2018

The jobs of the future will involve humans collaborating with other humans to design work for machines, and value will shift from cognitive to social skills.

An education is supposed to prepare you for the future. Traditionally, that meant learning certain facts and skills, like when Columbus discovered America or how to do multiplication and long division. Today, curriculums have shifted to focus on a more global and digital world, like cultural history, basic computer skills, and writing code.

Yet the challenges that our kids will face will be much different from those we faced growing up and many of the things a typical student learns in school today will no longer be relevant by the time he or she graduates college. In fact, a study at the University of Oxford found that 47 percent of today’s jobs will be eliminated over the next 20 years.

Continue reading… “These are the skills that your kids will need for the future (Hint: It’s not coding)”

Environment, government, Latest Trend, Mass Transit, Science & Technology News, Transportation

This country is the first in the world to offer free public transit

October 21, 2018

“There’s no doubt that we not only cover the costs, but also come out with a surplus.”

Estonia made waves in 2014 for becoming the first country to offer digital citizenship and for using blockchain technology to transform civic life.

Now the country is improving the physical experience of being a citizen by offering free public transportation.

After providing free public transportation for five years in the capital city of Tallinn, the Estonian government is ready to expand the service to the entire country, according to Pop-Up City.

Once that happens, anyone who has a “green card” can ride buses, trains, and ferries whenever and wherever — without charge.

The announcement makes Estonia the first country in the world to offer the service.

Continue reading… “This country is the first in the world to offer free public transit”

Analysis, Breakthrough Thinking, Crime, Internet, Law Enforcement

Meet the internet researchers unmasking Russian assassins

October 21, 2018

Aric Toler is part of Bellingcat, an international Internet research organization that has meticulously investigated conflicts around the world. This week, the online group outed one of two Russian agents believed to have been involved in poisonings in the U.K.

Aric Toler isn’t exactly sure what to call himself.

“Digital researcher, digital investigator, digital something probably works,” Toler says.

Toler, 30, is part of an Internet research organization known as Bellingcat. Formed in 2014, the group first got attention for its meticulous documentation of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Toler used posts to Russia’s equivalent of Facebook, VK, to track Russian soldiers as they slipped in and out of eastern Ukraine — where they covertly aided local rebels.

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cutting edge, Inventions, Record Breaker

At 10 trillion frames per second, this camera captures light in slow motion

October 21, 2018

Light is the fastest thing in the universe, so trying to catch it on the move is necessarily something of a challenge. We’ve had some success, but a new rig built by Caltech scientists pulls down a mind-boggling 10 trillion frames per second, meaning it can capture light as it travels along — and they have plans to make it a hundred times faster.

Understanding how light moves is fundamental to many fields, so it isn’t just idle curiosity driving the efforts of Jinyang Liang and his colleagues — not that there’d be anything wrong with that either. But there are potential applications in physics, engineering, and medicine that depend heavily on the behavior of light at scales so small, and so short, that they are at the very limit of what can be measured.

You may have heard about billion- and trillion-FPS cameras in the past, but those were likely “streak cameras” that do a bit of cheating to achieve those numbers.

Continue reading… “At 10 trillion frames per second, this camera captures light in slow motion”

Biotech, DNA, Medical Breakthrough, new technology, Parenting

Same-sex mouse parents give birth via gene editing

October 21, 2018

Scientists delivered pups with genetic material from two moms and two dads. But only pups with two moms survived to have babies themselves.

BIRDS DO IT, bees do it—even laboratory mice do it. But with science in the mix, actually creating new life may not always require a male and a female.

Using gene editing and stem cells, researchers in China have helped mice of the same sex bear pups. While this feat has been accomplished before with mouse moms, the new study marks the first time that pups from pairs of male mice were also carried to full term.

The technology is far from ready for the leap to humans. Though mice pups born from two females appeared healthy and bore their own young, pups with two papas died soon after birth. Of the 12 born, just two survived more than 48 hours.

Continue reading… “Same-sex mouse parents give birth via gene editing”