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Mar 16, 2021

Microscopic Robots, Remotely Driven by Magnetic Fields, Coax Particles Into Position Using Capillary Forces

Posted by in categories: nanotechnology, particle physics, robotics/AI

At microscopic scales, picking, placing, collecting, and arranging objects is a persistent challenge. Advances in nanotechnology mean that there are ever more complex things we’d like to build at those sizes, but tools for moving their component parts are lacking.

Now, new research from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science shows how simple, microscopic robots, remotely driven by magnetic fields, can use capillary forces to manipulate objects floating at an oil-water interface.

This system was demonstrated in a study published in the journal Applied Physics Letters on January 28, 2020.

Mar 16, 2021

Artificial intelligence leads NATO’s new strategy for emerging and disruptive tech

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, quantum physics, robotics/AI, security

STUTTGART, Germany — NATO and its member nations have formally agreed upon how the alliance should target and coordinate investments in emerging and disruptive technology, or EDT, with plans to release artificial intelligence and data strategies by the summer of 2021.

In recent years the alliance has publicly declared its need to focus on so-called EDTs, and identified seven science and technology areas that are of direct interest. Now, the NATO enterprise and representatives of its 30 member states have endorsed a strategy that shows how the alliance can both foster these technologies — through stronger relationships with innovation hubs and specific funding mechanisms — and protect EDT investments from outside influence and export issues.

NATO will eventually develop individual strategies for each of the seven science and technology areas — artificial intelligence, data and computing, autonomy, quantum-enabled technologies, biotechnology, hypersonic technology, and space. But for the near future, the priority is AI and data, said David van Weel, NATO’s assistant secretary general for emerging security challenges.

Mar 16, 2021

Pentagon has new research center to link networks, communications

Posted by in categories: futurism, military

The $7.5 million investment for a new networked systems center of excellence comes as the Defense Department looks to advance its future joint war-fighting concept.

Mar 16, 2021

Reaction Engines chases the elusive prospect of a hypersonic fighter jet

Posted by in category: military

After successful tests of three subcomponents by the British company, now comes the hardest part: putting it all together.

Mar 16, 2021

Elon Musk Says He’s Selling a Techno Song About NFTs as an NFT

Posted by in category: Elon Musk

We’ve officially come full circle.

Mar 16, 2021

Hackers Are Already Stealing NFTs

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

But the site’s cybersecurity measures appear to be lacking.

Several other Nifty Gateway users reported that their accounts had been hacked. “My entire account was just hacked and the person who got in wasn’t even booted after changing my password?!” one user wrote in a tweet.

According to a Nifty spokesperson who spoke to Motherboard, the company was aware of the fraudulent activity. The company claims the affected users didn’t have two-factor authentication turned on and that “access was obtained via valid account credentials.”

Mar 16, 2021

Satellites Are Stranded on the ISS Because of a Military Coup

Posted by in categories: food, government, military, satellites, surveillance

Japan’s space agency wants to keep the satellite’s cameras out of military hands.


An unusual geopolitical situation is brewing aboard the International Space Station. Prior to the military coup in Myanmar earlier this year, Japan’s space agency JAXA had been collaborating with the country to build microsatellites that it planned to deploy in partnership with Myanmar’s government.

Now, JAXA has no idea what to do with the pair of 50-kilogram satellites, according to SlashGear. And while Japanese scientists hope to bring the agriculture and fishery-monitoring satellites to life, they’re currently holding them on the ISS instead of deploying them out of fear they might be misused for military purposes — a striking example of real-world geopolitics spilling over into space.

Continue reading “Satellites Are Stranded on the ISS Because of a Military Coup” »

Mar 16, 2021

Neuralink Co-Founder: “We’re Gonna Need a Better Term Than ‘Video Game‘”

Posted by in categories: computing, entertainment, neuroscience

With powerful engines, near-photorealistic graphics, and the ability to build incredible, immersive worlds, it’s hard to imagine what the next big technological advance in gaming might be.

Based on a recent tweet by Neuralink co-founder and President Max Hodak, the word might not even apply. In it, he hinted — vaguely, to be fair — that whatever forms of entertainment get programmed into neural implants and brain-computer interfaces will represent a paradigm shift that moves beyond the current terminology.

“We’re gonna need a better term than ‘video game’ once we start programming for more of the sensorium,” Hodak tweeted.

Mar 16, 2021

NASA Using Navajo Language to Name New Mars Discoveries

Posted by in category: space

Working with the Navajo Nation NASA is naming landmarks and discoveries by the Perseverance rover using the Native American language.

Mar 16, 2021

This Chip for AI Works Using Light, Not Electrons

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

The idea of using light for computation is far from new, dating back to the 1950s. But electronic computing proved more practical to develop and commercialize. In the 1980s, Bell Labs tried to create a general purpose light-based chip, but it failed due to the difficulty of building a working optical transistor.

Lightmatter says its chips can be dropped into an existing data center and work with most major AI software. Later this year the company plans to launch a new technology for connecting chips, including those made by other companies, using its photonic technology. Light is widely used to shuttle information between computers, using fiber-optic cables.

Harris argues that AI will hit a wall in the next few years because of rising costs and energy use, and because of engineering constraints on the horizon. As engineers try to cram more transistors into a chip to speed up performance, chips may get too hot to manage.