“Science, the pride of modernity, our one source of objective knowledge, is in deep trouble.” So begins “Saving Science,” an incisive and deeply disturbing essay by Daniel Sarewitz at The New Atlantis. As evidence, Sarewitz, a professor at Arizona State University’s School for Future Innovation and Society, points to reams of mistaken or simply useless research findings that have been generated over the past decades.
Continue reading… “Most Scientific Findings Are Either Wrong or Useless”
After generations of peering into a microscope to examine cells, scientists could simply stroll straight through one.
Calling his project the “stuff of science fiction,” director of the 3D Visualisation Aesthetics Lab at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) John McGhee is letting people come face-to-face with a breast cancer cell.
Continue reading… “Scientists explore cells in virtual reality”
A startup that uses drones to deliver medicine and blood to remote areas of Rwanda is launching a similar program in the US. California-based Zipline will bring its drone delivery program to rural and remote communities in Maryland, Nevada, and Washington, including some Native American reservations. Zipline will announce its expansion at a White House workshop on unpiloted aerial vehicles (UAVs) Tuesday morning.
Continue reading… “Drones to start delivering blood and medicine in the US”
Google is taking the next step in competing with mobile operators by extending its free Wifi alternative for voice and data “in the next few weeks”.
The service, called Wifi Assistant, will be available to all owners of Google Nexus phones in the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK and Nordic countries, said Google in a statement.
Continue reading… “Google to offer free Wifi mobile calling in North America and Europe”
Back in 1967, when Mike Nichols made the film The Graduate, plastics were the way of the future. Today, although much of our food is in fact wrapped in plastic films, we now know better. Plastics are most decidedly not the way of the future for several reasons: They create a massive amount of waste, they’re not actually that great at preventing spoilage, and they may very well be lousy for your health.
Continue reading… “Researchers Develop Edible Food Packaging Made of Milk”
We all know how to get pregnant or at least should know, but despite so many tips out there boosting the chances of conceiving, the actual first 2 weeks of pregnancy remain an undetectable mystery to science.
Continue reading… “The First Artificial Wombs: Researchers grow human embryos in a laboratory”
Silicon Valley, or the Greater Bay Area, is the 18th largest economy in the world, more than half the size of Canada’s economy and bigger than Switzerland, Saudi Arabia or Turkey. This is because the region has become the world leader in research and development of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, software and virtual reality.
Continue reading… “How robots, drones and artificial intelligence will change everything”
As we steadily march toward our own obsolescence by designing machines that are better than us at everything from surgery to driving Uber taxis, humans have had to take solace in the fact that, while the robo-apocalypse may be immanent, at least our robotic overlords would never be able to beat us at foosball.
Continue reading… “Foosball Robot Will Kick Your Ass”
PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 16, 2016 – Ford today announces its intent to have a high-volume, fully autonomous SAE level 4-capable vehicle in commercial operation in 2021 in a ride-hailing or ride-sharing service.
To get there, the company is investing in or collaborating with four startups to enhance its autonomous vehicle development, doubling its Silicon Valley team and more than doubling its Palo Alto campus.
Continue reading… “Ford Projects A Fully Autonomous Vehicle for Ride Sharing in 2021”
As robots get more advanced, they will likely take over many jobs in the future — including those of sushi chefs.
For a sneak peak at this impending automation, look no further than a new creation from robotics manufacturer Kawasaki. The robot can make sushi in under a minute.
First spotted by Gizmodo, the video shows a miraculous bot that assembles nigiri, the traditional type of sushi in which a piece of raw fish sits on a little ball of rice.
Continue reading… “This robot makes sushi in seconds”
Facebook’s gaming aspirations didn’t stop with Farmville and its $2 billion Oculus VR acquisition. Nope, the social network is also launching a dedicated PC gaming platform today. Said platform will lean heavily on developers using the ubiquitous Unity game engine, according to a release from the company. The partnership’s first project is admittedly developer-centric, but it has a direct impact on the folks playing games on Facebook. Zuckerberg and Co. describe it as a new export feature baked into Unity that allows a studio to publish directly to Facebook and the aforementioned Facebook PC gaming platform “with very little effort and few code changes.”
Continue reading… “Facebook launching PC gaming platform”
Near the end of 2014, Uber co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick flew to Pittsburgh on a mission: to hire dozens of the world’s experts in autonomous vehicles. The city is home to Carnegie Mellon University’s robotics department, which has produced many of the biggest names in the newly hot field. Sebastian Thrun, the creator of Google’s self-driving car project, spent seven years researching autonomous robots at CMU, and the project’s former director, Chris Urmson, was a CMU grad student.
Continue reading… “Uber’s First Self-Driving Fleet in Pittsburgh This Month”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.