2018 – Page 53 – Impact Lab

NASA’s ‘impossible ‘ space engine tested-here are the results

May 25, 2018

The first independent tests of the EmDrive suggest there’s a mundane explanation for the wildly controversial device.

Spaceflight is hard. Blasting heavy cargo, spacecraft, and maybe people to respectable speeds over interplanetary distances (not to mention the luxury of stopping at destinations) requires an amount of propellant too massive for current rockets to haul into the void.

That is, unless you have an engine that can generate thrust without fuel.

Continue reading… “NASA’s ‘impossible ‘ space engine tested-here are the results”

Batteries, Energy, Latest Trend

A 100% renewable grid isn’t just feasible, it’s already happening

May 25, 2018

New study debunks myths claiming renewables can’t be integrated into electric grid.

The ongoing debate around whether it’s feasible to have an electric grid running on 100 percent renewable power in the coming decades often misses a key point: many countries and regions are already at or close to 100 percent now.

Continue reading… “A 100% renewable grid isn’t just feasible, it’s already happening”

Automobiles, Electric Automobile, Latest Trend

Most of us will be driving electric SUVs

May 25, 2018

American and Chinese consumers are head over heels for SUVs — a mutual love affair that seems likely to expand in the coming years into growing demand for electric SUVs, according to a new report.

Continue reading… “Most of us will be driving electric SUVs”

Children, China, Education, Human Behavior

A school in China is monitoring students with facial-recognition technology that scans the classroom every 30 seconds

May 24, 2018

A Chinese high school in Hangzhou is using facial-recognition technology that scans students every 30 seconds.

The system is analyzing students’ emotions and actions in the classroom as well as replacing ID cards and wallets at the library and canteen.

Facial-recognition technology is widespread in China, where it is being used to predict crime.

Continue reading… “A school in China is monitoring students with facial-recognition technology that scans the classroom every 30 seconds”

Amazon.com, Business, China, Food, Latest Trend

Alibaba’s futuristic supermarket in China is way ahead of the US, with 30-minute deliveries and facial-recognition payment — and it shows where Amazon is likely to take Whole Foods

May 24, 2018

The Chinese tech giant Alibaba is expanding aggressively into physical retail through investments in a variety of product categories to push its “New Retail” strategy of combining online and offline shopping.

Its most critical New Retail venture has been Hema Xiansheng, a futuristic supermarket launched in 2015 that offers free 30-minute delivery and payment using facial-recognition technology.

Deeply integrated with Alibaba’s technology and services, Hema provides a window into where Amazon may try to take Whole Foods in the future.

Continue reading… “Alibaba’s futuristic supermarket in China is way ahead of the US, with 30-minute deliveries and facial-recognition payment — and it shows where Amazon is likely to take Whole Foods”

Analysis, Culture, Human Behavior, Life Skills, Science & Technology News

These professions attract the highest number of psychopaths

May 23, 2018

Psychopaths are difficult to spot most of the time. They’re not the “Jack the Ripper” caricatures you see in films or read about in books. Often, psychopaths appear normal, which makes them hard to identify.

In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-5, someone with a psychopathic personality type is defined as having an inflated, grandiose sense of themself, and a knack for manipulating other people. But a diagnosis is rarely simple.

One thing psychopaths tend to have in common is the careers they go for. For example, you’re likely to find a lot of them in leadership positions because of their ruthlessness, charisma, and fearlessness. They’re very good at making snap decisions, but not so good at the empathetic professions like nursing or therapy.

Continue reading… “These professions attract the highest number of psychopaths”

Alternative Transportation, Elon Musk, Engineering, Future, Hyperloop

New hyperloop photos show capsule’s sleek, windowless interior

May 23, 2018

Mock-up of a futuristic transportation pod looks a bit like the cabin of an airliner, but with a crucial difference.

The Virgin Hyperloop One mock-up has luxury touches but no windows.BMW Designworks.

If you’ve ever wondered what the inside of a hyperloop capsule might look like, you’re in luck.

Continue reading… “New hyperloop photos show capsule’s sleek, windowless interior”

Automation, Robotics, Stem cells

Robots can grow humanoid mini-organs from stem cells faster and better than people

May 23, 2018

Automated robots now have the tools to grow imitation, simplified human organs out of stem cells. Thankfully, we weren’t transported to a sci-fi dystopia where the machines have risen up and started to farm humans, but rather a world where pharmaceutical and other biomedical research just became much easier and faster.

Give these robots some pluripotent stem cells (stem cells that can become any type of cell), and 21 days later they’ll have finished a complicated experiment testing out the effects of a drug or genetic manipulation on some human-like, lab-grown kidneys. According to research published yesterday, May 17, in Cell: Stem Cell, the process is much faster and more reliable than when humans grow the same mini-organs.

Continue reading… “Robots can grow humanoid mini-organs from stem cells faster and better than people”

Bitcoin, Crypto-Technology, Environment

Bitcoin is going to use as much electricity as Austria by the year’s end

May 22, 2018

At this point, mining Bitcoin requires such intensive, specific hardware that the only way for most people to get in on the crypto game is to simply purchase the coin via an exchange. But that doesn’t mean mining has slowed down. Rather, the opposite has been happening, giving environmentalists (and anyone but the most adamant cryptobros) cause for concern.

Between cooling fans, manufacturing hardware, and the outrageous, ever-rising energy costs needed to operate a bitcoin mining rig, the world’s Bitcoin network is expected to use as much as 7.67 gigawatts of power by the end of 2018, according to new research and models. That’s one two-hundredth of all the electricity used on the planet. And that’s terrible.

Continue reading… “Bitcoin is going to use as much electricity as Austria by the year’s end”

China, Employment, government, Mass Transit

China’s social credit system has blocked people from taking 11 million flights and 4 million train trips

May 22, 2018

The social credit system in China has blocked people from taking more than 11 million flights and 4 million train trips.

The social credit system is used to punish citizens for bad behavior with numerous blacklists preventing them from traveling, getting loans or jobs, or staying in hotels, and even by limiting internet access.

Continue reading… “China’s social credit system has blocked people from taking 11 million flights and 4 million train trips”

China, Energy, Solar Energy, Solar Power

Breakthrough solar panel can harvest power from raindrops — day or night

May 22, 2018

In a truly remarkable feat of innovation, scientists have figured out how to create “hybrid” solar cells that generate power not just from sunlight but also from raindrops. This means we may soon see all-weather solar panels that work when it is cloudy and even at night, if it’s raining.

Solar has soared in recent years, as panel prices have dropped so fast that solar keeps crushing its own record for the cheapest power “ever, anywhere, by any technology” — even without a subsidy.

Continue reading… “Breakthrough solar panel can harvest power from raindrops — day or night”

AI, Big Problems, Business, Employment, Future

Will tech and AI take your job, or help you do it better?

May 21, 2018

We all know what happens when industrial revolutions come to town, right? Higher productivity as machines take over, coupled with job losses for the people whose jobs are now being done faster, more efficiently, and cheaper by machines.

At least, that’s one way of looking at it. But, as the following video from the WSJ makes clear, there’s another interpretation available for what will happen to the global workforce in light of the tidal wave of changes coming related to tech and AI.

Continue reading… “Will tech and AI take your job, or help you do it better?”