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Nov 26, 2018

Disruption is overrated in terms of innovation

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, employment

Innovation has real costs—monetary, psychological, intellectual and effort-based—that need to be addressed or mitigated if you want people to actually innovate.

There’s an archetype in media that destruction and upheaval brings out the best ideas and creates jobs. In literature and in society, upheaval, necessity and desperation are portrayed as the prime motivators of innovative behaviour. The problem is that outside of soap operas and medical dramas, people usually have something to lose.

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Nov 26, 2018

From Fog of War to Flames of Peace–Wildfires Surge in Post-FARC Colombia

Posted by in category: military

The end of guerrilla warfare has led to an increase in woodland conflagrations and deforestation.

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Nov 26, 2018

Environment turns molecule into a switch

Posted by in category: particle physics

It looks like a cross with four arms of equal length that have a central atom at their intersection. All atoms are arranged in one plane so that the molecule is absolutely planar – at least in the normal state.

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Nov 26, 2018

See Spectacular Lunar Mission Images in 3D (Photos)

Posted by in category: space

New book “Mission Moon: 3D” presents the history of NASA’s Apollo missions, with 3D photographs.

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Nov 26, 2018

Inside the Lab Training Genome Surgeons to Fight Disease

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

At the Gladstone Institutes, Crispr pioneer Jennifer Doudna is trying to make genome editing a routine procedure.

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Nov 26, 2018

Scientists Hunt for A Seeming Paradox: A Magnet With Only One Pole

Posted by in category: particle physics

For centuries, physicists have hunted for particles with a single north or south pole to help put together their theory of everything. They may be closer than ever.

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Nov 26, 2018

However Defined, AI is Transforming How Business Gets Done

Posted by in categories: business, robotics/AI

AI encompasses of a handful of cutting-edge techniques and methods. Over time, AI-powered solutions will likely enhance virtually all applications and business process.

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Nov 26, 2018

Dangerous Infection Tied To Hospitals Now Becoming Common Outside Them

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health

C. Diff Infections Crop Up Outside Hospitals And Nursing Homes : Shots — Health News Infections with Clostridium difficile can be difficult to treat and life-threatening. Once a problem seen mainly in health care facilities, the infections are now occurring often in the community.

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Nov 26, 2018

EXCLUSIVE: Chinese scientists are creating CRISPR babies

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical

A daring effort is under way to create the first children whose DNA has been tailored using gene editing.

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Nov 26, 2018

Engineers developing a HAL 9000-type AI system for monitoring planetary base stations

Posted by in categories: entertainment, robotics/AI, space

A team of engineers at TRACLabs Inc. in the U.S. is making inroads toward the creation of a planetary base station monitoring system similar in some respects to Hal 9000—the infamous AI system in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. In this case, it is called cognitive architecture for space agents (CASE) and is outlined in a Focus piece by Pete Bonasso, the primary engineer working on the project, in the journal Science Robotics.

Bonasso explains that he has had an interest in creating a real Hal 9000 ever since watching the movie as a college student—minus the human killing, of course. His system is designed to run a base situated on another planet, such as Mars. It is meant to take care of the more mundane, but critical tasks involved with maintaining a habitable planetary base, such as maintaining oxygen levels and taking care of waste. He notes that such a system needs to know what to do and how to do it, carrying out activities using such hardware as robot arms. To that end, CASE has been designed as a three-layered system. The first is in charge of controlling hardware, such as , life-support, etc.

The second layer is more brainy—it is in charge of running the software that controls the hardware. The third layer is even smarter, responsible for coming up with solutions to problems as they arise—if damage occurs to a module, for example, it must be sealed off from others modules as quickly as possible. The system also has what Bonasso describes as an ontological system—its job is to be self-aware so that the system can make judgment calls when comparing data from sensors with what it has learned in the past and with information received from human occupants. To that end, the system will be expected to interact with those humans in ways similar to those portrayed in the movie.

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