While some early adapters may not need convincing to join the cryptocurrency craze, others are left wondering, what exactly is it good for? I can’t put it in my bank, I can’t use it at (most) stores, what can I do with cryptocurrencies? Before we get into the ins and outs of cryptocurrency and how it can be used, first let’s look at some of the similarities and differences between fiat and cryptocurrency.
Continue reading… “Fiat vs Cryptocurrency: Pros and Cons”
So-called gene doping is banned in sports, but some philosophers argue that it’s the way of the future
Scientists first developed gene therapy techniques in the 1990s, exploring ways to treat disease by modifying malfunctioning cells. In 1997, a team at John Hopkins University edited genes to create what the media called “Schwarzenegger mice,” which had twice the normal amount of muscle.
The researchers’ goal was to develop treatments for muscle-wasting conditions, including old age, but the same technique could theoretically be used to add muscle bulk to athletes, a concept called gene doping. Doctors could, theoretically, inject cells with enhanced genes into the relevant body part or use a benign virus to deliver modified cells. These superhumans could be the elite athletes of the future — athletes who perform faster, higher, and stronger than any “natural” human ever could.
Continue reading… “Should athletes be allowed to enhance their genes?”
Sound artist Yuri Suzuki used AI to complete Raymond Scott’s Electronium vision.
If you’ve seen Looney Tunes or The Simpsons, you’ve probably heard Raymond Scott’s music — which was adapted for those and other cartoons. But there’s a good chance you haven’t heard of Scott himself. A musician and inventor, Scott was ahead of his time. As early as the 1950s, he began working on the Electronium, a kind of music synthesizer that he hoped would perform and compose music simultaneously. While Scott invested $1 million and more than a decade in Electronium, he died before it was complete. Now, Fast Company reports, Pentagram partner and sound artist Yuri Suzuki has picked up where Scott left off.
Suzuki worked in partnership with the design studio Counterpoint and used Google’s Magenta AI to generate music the way Scott envisioned. Like the Electronium, Suzuki’s version has three panels. First, a player taps a melody, or even a few notes, on the center panel. Then, the AI uses that to compose music, which is shown on the right. And finally, the player can use the panel on the left to manipulate the music by adding effects or beats. It’s the kind of human-computer collaboration Scott dreamed of but didn’t have the digital technology to complete.
Continue reading… “AI brought a 60-year old music-making machine to life”
Drone with organ delivery box.
Researchers from the University of Maryland attach a cooler containing a kidney to a DJI M600 Pro drone in preparation for a test flight.
When a patient who needs an organ transplantation is finally matched with a donor, every second matters. A longer wait between when an organ is removed from a donor and when it is placed into a recipient is associated with poorer organ function following transplantation. To maximize the chances of success, organs must be shipped from A to B as quickly and as safely as possible—and a recent test run suggests that drones are up to the task.
One transplant surgeon’s personal experience at the operating table, waiting for organs to arrive, prompted him to think of new forms of delivery. “I frequently encounter situations where there’s simply no way to get an organ to me fast enough to do a transplant, and then those life-saving organs do not get transplanted into my patient,” says Dr. Joseph Scalea of the University of Maryland Medical Center. “And that’s frustrating, so I wanted to develop a better system for doing that.”
Continue reading… “Maryland test confirms drones can safely deliver human organs”
With an average internet speed of 65.02 Mbps, Maryland has the best environment for multi-person streaming and gaming.
This map by HighSpeedInternet.com shows the states with the fastest and slowest internet connections across the United States.
If you wonder why you never have any time to do anything, you might want to look at the culprit that is causing the time suck: Your smartphone.
Almost everyone uses smartphones nowadays, they have become a major, vital part of our lives. They help us stay connected to everyone we need to. But how do our smartphone screen time habits vary across the US, and across different age groups?
A new study by St Louis-based senior living community provider Provision Living took a look at American’s smartphone habits.
Continue reading… “Americans spend far more time on their smartphones than they think”
The average job in the U.S. will expand its workforce by 7% through 2026, but not all industries will be lucky enough to be adding staff in the future.
About 17% of the 818 occupations the Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks will actually lose more workers than they add between 2016 and 2026. The number of metal and plastic machines workers is expected to drop 9% in that decade. While other careers, such as locomotive firers, typists and postmasters will suffer a worse fate.
The following 15 occupations will experience the biggest decline over the next seven years, losing more than a fifth of all their workers:
Continue reading… “Here are the 15 jobs disappearing the fastest in the US”
How machine learning and artificially generated images might replace photography as we know it.
When hearing the words ‘AI’, ‘Machine Learning’ or ‘bot’ most people tend to visualize a walking, talking android robot which looks like something out of a Sci-Fi movie and immediately assume about a time far away in the future.
Continue reading… “AI : The future of photography ?”
Uber, Lyft, Postmates, and Deliveroo. These words are now part of our everyday lexicon.
With Lyft and Uber going public, we need to face facts about their business model
The gig economy has changed the world. I find it hard to remember when I didn’t see hundreds of delivery scooters zipping around the city near our office. Nor do I easily recall when it was unusual to see somebody happily getting into an unmarked car driven by someone they didn’t know. From Beijing to London to San Francisco, our cities are bisected 24 hours a day by the journeys of bicycle couriers, delivery mopeds, and taxi drivers.
Continue reading… “The Gig Economy’s unhappy middle class”
Billions of dollars are being invested worldwide in the developing battery boom, involving research into storage techniques to use the growing surpluses of cheap renewable energy now becoming available. Recent developments in batteries are set to sweep aside the old arguments about renewables being intermittent, dismissing any need to continue building nuclear power plants and burning fossil fuels to act as a back-up when the wind does not blow, or the sun does not shine.
Batteries as large as the average family house and controlled by digital technology are being positioned across electricity networks. They are being charged when electricity is in surplus and therefore cheap, and the power they store is resold to the grid at a higher price during peak periods.
A view of a fetus in an artificial womb, 1965.
Researchers successfully nurture extremely preterm lamb fetuses outside a natural womb. Photo: Fritz Goro
If you live for about 80 years, your nine months in the womb will represent less than 1% of your time on Earth. But those nine months represent a crucial period for growth and development.
Sometimes, though, babies are born before they get those nine full months in utero. And while the accepted protocol is to place premature infants in an artificial incubator — protecting the baby from infection and maintaining temperature and humidity — soon there may be better options.
Continue reading… “The Artificial Womb moves forward”
Prediction is a tricky business.
It’s so easy to be wrong and so hard to be right.
But that’s exactly what we’ll do here. Since we’re rapidly approaching the ten year anniversary of Bitcoin’s whitepaper publication, I’ll attempt to project out twenty years to see the evolution of Bitcoin, blockchain, alternative cryptocurrencies and decentralization.
This is the type of article that will look unbelievably foolish or incredibly brilliant when I’m old and gray.
I don’t care. I’m going for it anyway.
Continue reading… “What will Bitcoin look like in twenty years?”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.