Previously nextbigfuture had noted the World Health Organizations increased estimate of deaths caused by air pollution. Regular commenter Goatguy looks at the future projection of warming and provides his own estimates to a chart provided by other climate researchers. Soot and particulates are still the best target for saving lives from air pollution and mitigating …
Google believes quantum computing may help solve some of the most challenging computer science problems, particularly in machine learning. Machine learning is all about building better models of the world to make more accurate predictions. If we want to cure diseases, we need better models of how they develop. If we want to create effective …
Inspired by natural materials such as bone — a matrix of minerals and other substances, including living cells — MIT engineers have coaxed bacterial cells to produce biofilms that can incorporate nonliving materials, such as gold nanoparticles and quantum dots. These “living materials” combine the advantages of live cells, which respond to their environment, produce …
Ramez Naam made a case against a technological Singularity will take longer. Ramez gives examples and problems to achieving an intelligence explosion * the complexity of important problems like computational chemistry have exponentially increasing complexity – if designing intelligence is an N^2 problem, an AI that is 2x as intelligent as the entire team that …
The Economist magazine looks a tChina’s accumulated more capital per worker versus other fast-growing countries had at a similar stage of development. But it also has many stages of development ahead of it. Its capital stock per worker is only about a quarter of South Korea’s, for example. As the economy grows, big problems tend …
In new estimates, WHO (World Health Organization) reports that in 2012 around 7 million people died – one in eight of total global deaths – as a result of air pollution exposure. This finding more than doubles previous estimates and confirms that air pollution is now the world’s largest single environmental health risk. Reducing air …
USA Today – workers wanting secure employment in coming decades will need skills that complement software applications, rather than compete with them. Those who don’t possess such skills face a nearly-50 percent chance of having their occupations replaced by automation, according to two University of Oxford professors who studied technology’s impact on employment over the …
Carlson and his company MegaBigPower has to keep expanding and upgrading his Bitcoin processing power to remain at seven to 10 percent of the world’s Bitcoin mining. Global hashing power is estimated at about 39.5 petahash, putting Carlson’s 2.2 petahash at about 5.6 percent of the world’s total. Carlson intends to add another petahash within …
Technology Review reports that scientists have synthesized an entire yeast chromosome, the first artificial chromosome for the kingdom of life that includes humans, plants, and fungi. Yeast with the artificial chromosome appeared to be just as happy as their “natural” counterparts, reports the team. The methods developed to create the designer genomic structure could help …
The Carnival of Nuclear Energy 201 is up at Hiroshima Syndrome (Mar 23rd entry) ANS Nuclear Café – Persistent Prejudice Against Nuclear—Can Anything Be Done? Part 3 Jim Hopf explores the prospects for challenging the biased and unfair treatment of nuclear energy under current policies and regulations—in court. Next Big Future – China targets new …
Lens-free camera are being made that are 200 micrometers across which is smaller than a pencil point. When you take a picture of a painting on a wall with a regular digital camera, a lens focuses each point of light it captures on a sensor, generating a digital file that a computer can show you …