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Dec 11, 2021

These cyborg cockroaches can be commanded by a human pilot to perform basic tasks

Posted by in category: cyborgs

Dec 11, 2021

Don’t mean to alarm you, but robots are now able to reproduce

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Don’t mean to alarm you, but robots are now able to reproduce. Terrific.

Dec 11, 2021

Baidu, Pony AI granted China’s first licences to charge passengers for self-driving taxis in Beijing

Posted by in categories: internet, robotics/AI

Two operators including Chinese internet search giant Baidu have been given the green light to start charging passengers to use their autonomous taxis in Beijing.

Baidu and Pony AI became the first companies to be granted licences by mainland Chinese authorities to launch their driverless cab services commercially following successful trial periods.

On Thursday, the Beijing High-level Automated Driving Demonstration Area gave permission for Baidu and Pony AI to charge fees for their so-called robotaxis in a designated area of the capital covering 60 square kilometres.

Dec 11, 2021

Nuclear fusion startup test fires plastic waste-powered rocket

Posted by in categories: nuclear energy, space travel, sustainability

A UK company with lofty aspirations around sustainable space travel has test-fired a rocket engine powered in part by plastic waste. Pulsar Fusion’s hybrid rocket engine is part of an ambitious journey that also involves the development of nuclear fusion technology for high-speed propulsion, which could cut travel times to Mars in half.

The idea of incorporating recycled plastic waste into hybrid rocket fuels is something we have seen explored before. Virgin Galactic flirted with the idea back in 2014 through the use of a rocket powered by a fuel based on a class of thermoset plastics, though this was swiftly abandoned after a failed test flight. Scottish company Skyrora is another outfit working on such a technology, having successfully tested out its Ecosene fuel made from converted plastic waste.

Continue reading “Nuclear fusion startup test fires plastic waste-powered rocket” »

Dec 11, 2021

Raymond Kurzweil — What is the Far Far Future of Humans in the Universe?

Posted by in categories: futurism, Ray Kurzweil

Consider humanity’s astounding progress in science during the past three hundred years. Now take a deep breath and project forward three billion years. Assuming humans survive, can we even conceive of what our progeny might be like?

For all of our video interviews please visit us at www.closertotruth.com

Dec 11, 2021

Global metals giant plans massive renewable hydrogen project at Port Pirie smelter

Posted by in category: futurism

World’s biggest metals trader plans huge renewable hydrogen facility at Port Pirie to help improve the competitiveness of the local smelter.


Microsoft has released Windows 11 build 22504.1010 (KB5008697) to Insiders in the Dev Channel. It does not add anything new and is a cumulative update to test the servicing pipeline.

Dec 11, 2021

New Windows 11 build 22518.1012 (KB5009380) released to test Dev channel servicing pipeline

Posted by in category: futurism

Microsoft has released Windows 11 build 22504.1010 (KB5008697) to Insiders in the Dev Channel. It does not add anything new and is a cumulative update to test the servicing pipeline.

Dec 10, 2021

Top Space Force official: China is developing space capabilities at ‘twice the rate’ of US

Posted by in category: space

Gen. David Thompson, vice chief of space operations for the US Space Force, said Saturday China is developing its space capabilities at “twice the rate” of the US.

On a panel of US space experts and leaders speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum in a panel moderated by CNN’s Kristin Fisher, Gen. Thompson warned China could overtake the US in space capabilities by the end of the decade.

“The fact, that in essence, on average, they are building and fielding and updating their space capabilities at twice the rate we are means that very soon, if we don’t start accelerating our development and delivery capabilities, they will exceed us,” Gen. Thompson said, adding, “2030 is not an unreasonable estimate.”

Dec 10, 2021

Neural network analyzes gravitational waves in real time

Posted by in categories: cosmology, information science, physics, robotics/AI

Black holes are one of the greatest mysteries of the universe—for example, a black hole with the mass of our sun has a radius of only 3 kilometers. Black holes in orbit around each other emit gravitational radiation—oscillations of space and time predicted by Albert Einstein in 1916. This causes the orbit to become faster and tighter, and eventually, the black holes merge in a final burst of radiation. These gravitational waves propagate through the universe at the speed of light, and are detected by observatories in the U.S. (LIGO) and Italy (Virgo). Scientists compare the data collected by the observatories against theoretical predictions to estimate the properties of the source, including how large the black holes are and how fast they are spinning. Currently, this procedure takes at least hours, often months.

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) in Tübingen and the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute/AEI) in Potsdam is using state-of-the-art machine learning methods to speed up this process. They developed an algorithm using a , a complex computer code built from a sequence of simpler operations, inspired by the human brain. Within seconds, the system infers all properties of the binary black-hole source. Their research results are published today in Physical Review Letters.

“Our method can make very accurate statements in a few seconds about how big and massive the two were that generated the gravitational waves when they merged. How fast do the black holes rotate, how far away are they from Earth and from which direction is the gravitational wave coming? We can deduce all this from the observed data and even make statements about the accuracy of this calculation,” explains Maximilian Dax, first author of the study Real-Time Gravitational Wave Science with Neural Posterior Estimation and Ph.D. student in the Empirical Inference Department at MPI-IS.

Dec 10, 2021

AI models microprocessor performance in real-time

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Computer engineers at Duke University have developed a new AI method for accurately predicting the power consumption of any type of computer processor more than a trillion times per second while barely using any computational power itself. Dubbed APOLLO, the technique has been validated on real-world, high-performance microprocessors and could help improve the efficiency and inform the development of new microprocessors.

The approach is detailed in a paper published at MICRO-54: 54th Annual IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Microarchitecture, one of the top-tier conferences in computer architecture, where it was selected the conference’s best publication.

“This is an intensively studied problem that has traditionally relied on extra circuitry to address,” said Zhiyao Xie, first author of the paper and a Ph.D. candidate in the laboratory of Yiran Chen, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke. “But our approach runs directly on the microprocessor in the background, which opens many new opportunities. I think that’s why people are excited about it.”