Lifeboat Foundation

Are robots coming for your job?

Although technology has long affected the labor force, recent advances in artificial intelligence and robotics are heightening concerns about automation replacing a growing number of occupations, including highly skilled or “knowledge-based” jobs.

Just a few examples: self-driving technology may eliminate the need for taxi, Uber and truck drivers, algorithms are playing a growing role in journalism, robots are informing consumers as mall greeters, and medicine is adapting robotic surgery and artificial intelligence to detect cancer and heart conditions.

Maria Konovalenko in the news talking about the science of life extension.

Maria Konovalenko is in the news today in this interesting article about life extension. Good to see the subject is getting more popular press than ever these days.

Will we land on Mars? Discover other life forms? Usher in the age of artificial intelligence Before his New Zealand talk tonight, celebrity scientist Professor Brian Greene talked to Jamie Morton about five big developments we can expect in the next 20 years.

When will the universe end? — New Zealand Herald.

The ‘factory of the future’ will result in… a very significant change in business models for both manufacturers and equipment makers. — Daniela Costa.

U.S. Alliance in Robotics for Manufacturing Means Innovation, Education, More Jobs…

Robotics Online is the premier resource from RIA, Robotic Industries Association, for industrial robotics and automation. Call (734) 994‑6088 to join RIA.

“Technophobes”—people who fear robots, artificial intelligence and new technology that they don’t understand—are much more likely to be afraid of losing their jobs to technology and to suffer anxiety-related mental health issues, a Baylor University study found.

More than a third of those in the study fit its definition of “technophobe” and are more fearful of automation that could lead to job displacement than they are of potentially threatening or dangerous circumstances such as romantic rejection, public speaking and police brutality, according to the study.

“If you’re afraid of losing your job to a robot, you’re not alone,” said researcher Paul McClure, a sociologist in Baylor’s College of Arts & Sciences. “This is a real concern among a substantial portion of the American population. They are not simply a subgroup of generally fearful people.”

Illustration of 3D-printed sensory composite (credit: Subramanian Sundaram)

MIT researchers have designed a radical new method of creating flexible, printable electronics that combine sensors and processing circuitry.

Covering a robot — or an airplane or a bridge, for example — with sensors will require a technology that is both flexible and cost-effective to manufacture in bulk. To demonstrate the feasibility of their new method, the researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have designed and built a 3D-printed device that responds to mechanical stresses by changing the color of a spot on its surface.

Continue reading “A printable, sensor-laden ‘skin’ for robots (or an airplane)” »

Researchers long believed that the cerebellum did little more than process our senses and control our muscles. New techniques to study the most densely packed neurons in our brains reveal that it may do much more.

More than 45 million couples worldwide grapple with infertility, but current standard methods for diagnosing male infertility can be expensive, labor-intensive, and require testing in a clinical setting.

Cultural and social stigma, and lack of access in resource-limited countries, may prevent men from seeking an evaluation. Investigators at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) set out to develop a home-based diagnostic test that could be used to measure semen quality with a smartphone-based device. New findings by the team indicating that the analyzer can identify abnormal semen samples based on sperm concentration and motility criteria with approximately 98 percent accuracy are published online in today’s Science Translational Medicine.

Continue reading “A smartphone app can screen for male infertility” »