You can use Wolfram Alpha in all kinds if ways, and it’s often a better idea to load up the computational knowledge engine rather than your search portal of choice. Here are 16 of the most useful queries that Wolfram Alpha can handle but leave Google stumped.
Futurist Thomas Frey: A few weeks ago I was asked to appear on CCTV, the Chinese-American television channel for an interview about the topic of border walls.
With the crisis in Syria deepening, affecting bordering countries and virtually all of the European Union, the show’s moderator asked me a series of tough questions about immigration trends and whether border walls, like the one proposed in Hungary, would become a growing trend.
In retrospect, the thoughts I conveyed on-air to this complex situation were not as crystallized as they could have been, forcing me to rethink my responses.
Continue reading… “Five-Part Sharing-Economy Solution to the Refugee Crisis”
There seems to be no end to the benefits of electronic brain stimulation. Focused thinking, better memory, deeper sleep, relief from depression, reduced stress are among some of the benefits you read about on the internet. In particular, a technique called transcranial direct current stimulation is getting loads of attention from early adopters who rave about its potential and scientists who are trying to unravel what it can and cannot do.
Continue reading… “Why electronic brain stimulation is trending right now”
At the Port of Oakland there are massive cranes sitting there that are veritable money-printing machines. As ships coming from Asia dock in the San Francisco Bay, these industrial behemoths quickly usher goods-bearing containers off the deck and onto land. Modern container ships are filled with thousands of containers. At peak efficiency, a single crane can remove about 40 of these per hour — and for each one they unload, companies moving containerized cargo are charged a terminal handling fee of around $300.
Continue reading… “Why America’s shipping ports aren’t automated”
People rarely bring their houses with them when they move from one city to another — they just rent, buy or build a new one. Astronauts don’t have the luxury of a realtor on other planets, or even a hardware store in space.
Cybercriminals stealing our biometric information is very unsettling. Passwords, credit cards and even Social Security numbers can be changed to guard against identify theft and fraud. Fingerprints, however, cannot. At least, not permanently. Perhaps the only silver lining to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s announcement last week that criminals had stolen 5.6 million fingerprint files, up from the 1.1 million files originally reported missing, is that it would be extremely difficult to use such biometric data to commit fraud or theft.
Continue reading… “Hackers steal 5.6M fingerprint files: What can criminals do with the data?”
A home battery that is cheap, durable, safe and as big as you like that could store solar or wind power is closer to reality. Harvard University researchers report that they have tested a “flow battery” that uses cheap and abundant chemical elements, can be operated with plastic components, will not catch fire and can operate at 99 percent efficiency.
Over the past year you might have noticed all of the attention media is giving artificial intelligence. You might get the impression from the media that it’s only a matter of time before the threat of artificial intelligence comes to destroy us all.
Continue reading… “How AI will change our lives, should we be afraid?”
In March, Bank of America (BoA) filed a patent application titled “System and Method for Wire Transfers Using Cryptocurrency .” The application was published on September 17 by the U.S. Patents and Trademarks Office.
Continue reading… “Bank of America has filed patent application for cryptocurrency wire transfers”
The Tesla Model S surpasses any other electric vehicle on the market with its 265-mile driving range. The automaker isn’t stopping there, though. Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk recently announced that Tesla may be able to increase that range to 600 miles as soon as 2017 and by 2020, the driving range could climb even higher to around 725 miles on a single charge.
Continue reading… “Tesla could have a 600-mile range electric car by 2017”
There’s a mountain of research on what makes people truly happy at work. What would make you happier at work? It’s not necessarily free meals and massages (though those are nice, as companies on Fortune’s list of the Best Companies To Work For have figured out). And it’s not even necessarily lots more money. We’ve scoured the research and identified five science-backed attributes that make people happy at their jobs.
NOTE: For anyone looking to transition into a high impact work environment, check out the private offices and coworking spaces currently available at the DaVinci Institute.
Continue reading… “Top 5 things you need to be happy at work”
In the 2002 Steven Spielberg movie, Minority Report, Chief John Anderton (played by Tom Cruise) says, “No doubt the precogs have already seen this.” In the movie Cruise plays the head of Washington, D.C.’s experimental “Precrime” crime-prediction department. The movie is based on Philip K. Dick’s 1956 short story (which is also now a new Fox TV series).
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.