1. Atomic Insights – Cure climate crisis by shifting to Fission, Fast! Randy Olson, author of “Don’t be Such a Scientist, recently wrote about the contribution of a short, alliterative slogan to the mass attraction of the No Nukes movement. That post inspired Rod Adams to create a new pronuclear slogan: Fission Fast! Olson has …
Kurzweil’s AI will be designed to analyze the vast quantities of information Google collects and to then serve as a super-intelligent personal assistant. He suggests it could eavesdrop on your every phone conversation and email exchange and then provide interesting and important information before you ever knew you wanted it. It sounds like a scary-smart …
Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a menu of 61 new strains of genetically engineered bacteria that may improve the efficacy of vaccines for diseases such as flu, pertussis, cholera and HPV. “For 70 years the only adjuvants being used were aluminum salts,” said Stephen Trent, associate professor of biology in …
Arxiv – Quantum Secured Imaging (10 pages) ABSTRACT – We have built an imaging system that uses a photon’s position or time-of-flight information to image an object, while using the photon’s polarization for security. This ability allows us to obtain an image which is secure against an attack in which the object being imaged intercepts …
Physicists in Spain have calculated that substantial amounts of energy could be transmitted through air by using special materials to shape the magnetic fields around conductors. Although the concept has yet to be verified in the lab, the researchers say that it could lead to a viable method of transmitting electrical power, as well as …
New Scientist – The US Congress has charged the Federal Aviation Administration with opening airspace to UAVs by the end of 2015. Personal drones will be given a boost in the next year, when the FAA is due to pass a rule that will allow bigger UAVs, weighing up to 25 kilograms, to fly. It’s …
Chips made at the 14-nm process node may deliver as little as half the typical 30 percent performance increase—and still carry a hefty cost premium–due to the lack of next-generation lithography needed to make them efficiently, according to experts speaking at the International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) here on Monday (Dec. 10) Chip makers must …
Technology Review – GeneXpert resembles a high-end espresso maker. The device is simple to use. A technician squirts a sputum sample from a patient into what looks like a printer cartridge and then clicks that into the machine, which performs a reaction that amplifies specific bits of M. tuberculosis DNA if they are present. Fluorescent …
Arxiv – ABSTRACT – We report on the superior vortex pinning of single and multilayer Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 thin films with self-assembled c-axis and artificially introduced ab-plane pins. Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 can accept a very high density of pins (15-20 vol%) without Tc suppression. The matching field is greater than 12 T, producing a significant enhancement of the critical …
stewart armstrong talked about how we are predicting AGI (he worked with Kaj Sotala) Bottom line – we are bad at predicting AGI. (artificial general intelligence) He just says we should expand error bars. instead of 2040 say 2017 to 2113. I think we need to work better at defining what we mean by AGI. …
NY Times – the National Ignition Facility, uses 192 lasers to fire light beams at tiny targets, smaller than peppercorns, filled with hydrogen atoms. After spending more than $5 billion to build and operate a giant laser installation the size of a football stadium, the Energy Department has not achieved its goal of igniting a …