Just in time for doomsday, Norway’s “Doomsday Vault” is getting an expansion. Officially known as the World Arctic Archive, the vault opened this week and has already taken submissions from two countries. This time, instead of storing seeds that will survive the apocalypse, the vault is archiving data using specially developed film.
Quantum physics is one of the most exciting and innovative areas of scientific research. By funding further research and development in quantum physics, great technological advancements will be made.
Think of every amazing future technology you’ve seen or read about in science fiction, or imagined yourself. Big innovations that change the world and cure disease or end war, and littler ones too, things that help us “think” a quick message to a friend without saying a word or share an experience from a distance. Quantum physics is enabling the creation of all of these futuristic technologies and some that didn’t even occur to most of us, making our sci-fi dreams part of our reality.
“This site has offered Shakespeare’s plays and poetry to the Internet community since 1993.”
“In this 21st century, war in Syria has irrevocably changed the ancient caravan city of Palmyra, famed as a meeting place of civilizations since its apogee in the mid-2nd to 3rd century CE.”
Scientists are proposing new methods of stabilizing the design of the first of its kind tiny and lightweight space probe.
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In fact, when speaking with many AI experts across academia and industry, the consensus was unanimous: the development of AI cannot benefit only the few.
Income inequality is a well recognized problem. The gap between the rich and poor has grown over the last few decades, but it became increasingly pronounced after the 2008 financial crisis. While economists debate the extent to which technology plays a role in global inequality, most agree that tech advances have exacerbated the problem.
In an interview with the MIT Tech Review, economist Erik Brynjolfsson said, “My reading of the data is that technology is the main driver of the recent increases in inequality. It’s the biggest factor.”
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The race is on to edit genes and prevent disease. But this technology is ripe for abuse.
Economic inequity already exists in the reproductive industry. IVF, for example, is not covered by insurance in most states (Massachusetts excepted), setting up a situation in which only infertile people with well-padded pockets can afford the treatment. And of course the well-off have easier access to good health care via quality private insurance — or their own bank accounts. Steve Jobs, for example, spent $100,000 in 2011 to sequence his genome and that of his pancreatic tumor — a bill not many could hope to afford.
“The beautiful thing about this [gene-editing] work is it offers an opportunity to intervene around the moment of birth,” says Katy Kozhimannil, an associate professor in the Division of Health Policy at University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health. “That said, as we pay attention to the opportunity of that moment, it’s important to bear in mind the value of liberty and justice for all.”
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