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Nov 18, 2015

Bioengineered Shark Fins Could Save 70 Million Sharks

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, food, information science, sustainability

Each year, an estimated 70 million sharks are killed for their fins. The brutal shark finning process involves cutting off a live shark’s fins and returning the debilitated animal back into the water to die a slow death. Highly valued in traditional Asian medicine and cuisine, the fins can sell for as much as $300 a pound on the black market.

What if an artificial shark fin could remove sharks from the equation completely?

New Wave Foods, a San Francisco-based sustainable seafood company, is developing a bioengineered fin product that could pull the rug out from underneath the shark trade.

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Nov 17, 2015

Rodney Brooks and his company are building robots to work in factories

Posted by in categories: employment, robotics/AI

Rodney Brooks and his company are building robots to work alongside humans in factories. But should workers be concerned for their jobs? :|]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34810552

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Nov 17, 2015

Quantum Super Computer Detects and Self-corrects its Errors

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

A team of quantum physicists in Martinis Lab have come a step closer in creating the circuitry that would allow them to process super computing done by quantum computers. The revolution is promised by the new quantum bits (qubits) compared to the previously done classical computing. Qubits infuse the system with high levels of reliability and speed, thus building foundations for large scale superconducting quantum computers.

Till now computing has been done by classical methods in which the bits were either in states 0 or 1, but qubits exist at all the positions simultaneously, in different dimensions. This special property of being omnipresent is called ‘superpositioning’. However, one of the difficulties is keeping the qubits stable to reproduce same result each time. This superpositioning characteristic makes qubits prone to ‘flipping’, therefore making it difficult to work with.

Julian Kelly, graduate student researcher and co-lead author of a research paper that was published in the journal Nature said:

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Nov 17, 2015

The largest airplane ever built has a wingspan that’s nearly the length of a football field

Posted by in category: transportation

VIDEO: “Gigantic” doesn’t do it justice.

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Nov 17, 2015

Scientists have created transparent solar panels that could replace windows

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability

Revolutionary.

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Nov 17, 2015

Apple might release 3 new iPhones next year

Posted by in category: mobile phones

Everyone is waiting for the iPhone 7, but reports suggest we might see more than two size options available for Apple’s next smartphone.

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Nov 17, 2015

Gigaclear will trial 5,000Mbps fibre Internet access in some UK towns

Posted by in category: internet

How would you even use 5Gbps of symmetrical bandwidth, anyway?

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Nov 17, 2015

Space Mining Bill Passes In Congress

Posted by in categories: business, geopolitics, policy, space, treaties

According to international treaties, no country is allowed to own things like moons or asteroids. But what about a company?

A new bill would allow space mining companies to own pieces of space. Although they couldn’t own a whole asteroid, for example, the bill would ensure that space mining businesses would legally own the resources they extract from that asteroid.

Last week the bill passed in the Senate with a few amendments, and yesterday those amendments were accepted in the House of Representatives. Now the bill is off to the Oval Office, where space policy experts predict President Obama will sign it into law.

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Nov 17, 2015

Intel will ship Xeon Phi-equipped workstations starting in 2016

Posted by in category: supercomputing

Intel’s new Xeon Phi won’t just power next-generation supercomputers — it’s going to make a debut in workstations as well.

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Nov 17, 2015

This drivable car was just 3D printed in 44 hours

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, transportation

Click on photo to start video.

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