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Jul 25, 2017

‘Substantial’ ocean of water beneath moon’s surface could help create human colony

Posted by in category: space travel

Scientists who retested mineral samples collected during the Apollo moon missions now believe there’s a massive amount of water under the lunar surface – a discovery which may make manned missions to the moon easier than previously thought.

Researchers at Brown University in the US examined glass beads, a type of volcanic crystal gathered during the Apollo 15 and 17 missions in the 1970s, and found they contained similar volumes of water to Earth’s basalt rock.

The leaders of the study, which has been published in Nature Geoscience, cite the parallels as evidence that parts of the moon contain a similarly large amount of water. This, they believe, could be useful for future lunar missions as it means water could potentially be extracted rather than carried from home.

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Jul 25, 2017

The real cost of life extension advocacy

Posted by in category: life extension

There is a persistent view that life extension advocacy is something that does not require any investments and can be done in your spare time. Fundraising for overheads is like an elephant in the room: it is hard not to notice it is there, but people try to avoid talking about it.

The truth is, it all depends on how ambitious the goal of that advocacy is. Without a doubt, talking to friends about the promise of rejuvenation technologies or reposting research news on your Facebook feed is useful and it can be done for free.

But what if the goal is more ambitious – to change local legislation to make it more longevity-friendly, to convert decisionmakers of the state grant system to allocate more money to rejuvenation research, or to reach out to wealthy individuals able to fund more studies? These activities require money. In this article we will help you become more familiar with the notion of advocacy and the expenditures behind it.

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Jul 25, 2017

Unleashing the true potential of AI

Posted by in categories: automation, disruptive technology, economics, ethics, robotics/AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) represents both the biggest opportunity and potentially the greatest threat to the legal profession in history.

This is part of a bigger global revolution – where society, business and government are likely to experience more change in the next 20–30 years than in the last 500.

This large-scale disruption is being driven by the combined effects of AI and other disruptive technologies whose speed, power and capability are growing exponentially – or faster.

Continue reading “Unleashing the true potential of AI” »

Jul 25, 2017

Billionaire space prospectors are racing to mine the moon, and that’s a good thing

Posted by in categories: law, space

“Think of these planets as international waters,” says Jain. “Nobody gets to own the underlying things, but they can use the private resources,” “They [can] own the fish and the oil … we as a private company are flying under the U.S. flag, in some sense then, we are a ship in international waters.”

With the legal framework in place to determine who owns the rights to any resources recovered on the moon and beyond, the doors of opportunity have been flung wide open. There’s a massive hoard of loot floating over our heads, and whoever gets there first basically has carte blanche to mine it — we just have to make the trip.

Continue reading “Billionaire space prospectors are racing to mine the moon, and that’s a good thing” »

Jul 24, 2017

How to Design Cities on Mars? A New Think Tank Has Some Awesome Ideas

Posted by in category: space

Mars City Design differentiates itself from those other initiatives by encouraging proposals that put aeshetics, well-being, and urban-thinking first.

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Jul 24, 2017

For The First Time, a US Company Is Implanting Microchips in Its Employees

Posted by in categories: cyborgs, employment, robotics/AI

We’re always hearing how robots are going to take our jobs, but there might be a way of preventing that grim future from happening: by becoming workplace cyborgs first.

A company in Wisconsin has become the first in the US to roll out microchip implants for all its employees, and says it’s expecting over 50 of its staff members to be voluntarily ‘chipped’ next week.

The initiative, which is entirely optional for employees at snack stall supplier Three Square Market (32M), will implant radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips in staff members’ hands in between their thumb and forefinger.

Continue reading “For The First Time, a US Company Is Implanting Microchips in Its Employees” »

Jul 24, 2017

Google’s AI-enhanced spreadsheets are a taste of white-collar automation

Posted by in categories: information science, robotics/AI

Intelligent Machines

Google sprinkles AI on its spreadsheets to automate away some office work.

Want to turn boring numbers into a cool chart? Just ask, and Google’s algorithm will do the rest.

Continue reading “Google’s AI-enhanced spreadsheets are a taste of white-collar automation” »

Jul 24, 2017

This device can 3D-scan your body in 0.1 seconds 👀

Posted by in category: futurism

Jul 24, 2017

Moon’s interior may hold way more water than we thought

Posted by in categories: materials, space

Previously, scientists from Brown detected trace amounts of water in similar volcanic samples — which are composed of loose material or “glass beads” — brought back to Earth from the Apollo 15 and 17 missions. However, the Apollo samples were not collected from the large pyroclastic deposits mapped using the satellite data in the recent study. This brought into question whether the Apollo samples represent a large portion of the moon’s “wet” interior or if they represent only a small water-rich region within an otherwise “dry” mantle.

Related: Moon Express Reveals Bold New Plan to Explore Solar System

“Our work shows that nearly all of the large pyroclastic deposits also contain water, so this seems to be a common characteristic of magmas that come from the deep lunar interior,” Milliken said. “That is, most of the mantle of the moon may be ‘wet.’”.

Continue reading “Moon’s interior may hold way more water than we thought” »

Jul 24, 2017

This robot saved a little girl

Posted by in category: robotics/AI