Science & Technology News – Page 312

Human Behavior, Latest Trend, Parenting, Science & Technology News

Millennial parents: TV becomes the ‘good screen’

November 3, 2018

As millennials become parents, the family dynamic is completely shifting again.

The first shift happened when millennials were kids and, for the first time, they became “the boss.” The “baby on board” generation was the rising sun of their parents.

So what happens when the boss child becomes a parent? They want to give their kids what their parents gave them, while maintaining command. So we find a new dynamic: “We’re in this together,” where “me time” means spending time with the kids while still pursuing their own passions.

Continue reading… “Millennial parents: TV becomes the ‘good screen’”

Engineering, Inventions, Science & Technology News, Software Development

The next tech talent shortage: Quantum computing researchers

October 31, 2018

Christopher Savoie, founder and chief executive of a start-up called Zapata, offered jobs this year to three scientists who specialize in an increasingly important technology called quantum computing. They accepted.

Several months later, the Cambridge, Mass., company was still waiting for the State Department to approve visas for the specialists. All three are foreigners, born in Europe and Asia.

Whether the delays were the result of tougher immigration policy or just red tape, Mr. Savoie’s predicament was typical of a growing concern among American businesses and universities: Unless policies and priorities change, they will have trouble attracting the talent needed to build quantum technology, which could make today’s computers look like toys.

Continue reading… “The next tech talent shortage: Quantum computing researchers”

Latest Trend, New Viewpoints, Science & Technology News, Tourism, Travel

Tented camps are fast becoming the world’s best resorts

October 30, 2018

They’re popping up everywhere, from Mexico to Laos—and luxury travelers can’t get enough. Here’s why.

At one point in the mid-2010s, “glamping” became a four-letter word.

A sudden boom in upscale tented accommodations—which ultimately felt neither glamorous nor like camping—saw the trend go from boom to bust as quickly as spaghetti donuts and ramen burgers.

But now, glamping is back, and the glamour factor is through the canvas roof.

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Aviation, Engineering, Science & Technology News, Transportation

GE unveils new supersonic commercial jet engine

October 28, 2018

GE Aviation engineers have unveiled Affinity, a new family of supersonic jet engines for civilian aircraft.

GE Aviation has given impetus to the revival of civilian supersonic flight by revealing a new family of engines designed to fly faster than the speed of sound. Called the Affinity, the new engine will be incorporated into the Aerion AS2 supersonic business jet, which is being developed in partnership with Lockheed Martin, GE Aviation and Honeywell, and could cut the time of a transatlantic flight by three hours.

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Climate Change, Inventions, People Making a Difference, Science & Technology News

How a team of innovators overcame the odds to create water from thin air

October 28, 2018

Today, 790 million people — 11 percent of the world’s population — live without access to clean water.

Two years ago, XPrize, an international nonprofit organization, announced a global competition enticing innovators to find a sustainable and affordable way to bring potable water to those who aren’t privileged enough to have it now.

Skeptics told the competition organizers that it was impossible.

Nearly 100 submissions later, and XPrize found precisely what they were looking for — entrepreneurs who could design a minimalistic device that could reliably extract 2,000 liters of water from the atmosphere per day for no more than two cents per liter all using 100 percent renewable energy.

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Amazon.com, Science & Technology News, Space, Space Flight

Jeff Bezos predicts we’ll have 1 trillion humans in the solar system, and Blue Origin wants to help get us there

October 26, 2018

Blue Origin’s aim is to lower the cost of access to space, Jeff Bezos said during a surprise appearance at Wired’s 25th anniversary conference.

Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos provides the keynote address at the Air Force Association’s Annual Air, Space & Cyber Conference in Oxen Hill, MD, on September 19, 2018.

Blue Origin founder and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos predicts we’ll have 1 trillion humans in the solar system one day — and he laid out Monday how the rocket company plans to help get there.

“I won’t be alive to see the fulfillment of that long-term mission,” Bezos said at the Wired 25th anniversary summit in San Francisco. “We are starting to bump up against the absolute true fact that Earth is finite.”

Blue Origin’s aim is to lower the cost of access to space, Bezos said. He will spend a “little more” than $1 billion next year to support Blue Origin, he said.

Continue reading… “Jeff Bezos predicts we’ll have 1 trillion humans in the solar system, and Blue Origin wants to help get us there”

Employment, Human Behavior, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

The employer-surveillance state

October 25, 2018

The more bosses try to keep track of their workers, the more precious time employees waste trying to evade them.

Jason Edward Harrington spent six years working the luggage-screening checkpoint at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. A college graduate and freelance writer, he initially took the job as a stopgap, but found that he enjoyed meeting passengers from all over the world, some of whom showed a real interest in him. But while working for the TSA, Harrington noticed that his bosses were following and video-recording his every move, a practice they said was at least in part for his protection: If, perchance, a traveler’s iPad went missing, the videotapes would prove that Harrington was not to blame. Harrington was on board with that. His problem, he told me, was that supervisors would also view the tapes to search for the slightest infraction—anything from gum chewing to unauthorized trips to the bathroom. Eventually, these intrusions led him to quit. “If they trusted us, respected us, you could really enjoy the job,” Harrington told me. “But they didn’t.”

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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”

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.

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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”