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Nov 19, 2017

Pope to lawmakers: Protect all people with health care laws

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health, sustainability

“Increasingly, sophisticated and costly treatment are available to ever more limited and privileged segments of the population, and this raises questions about the sustainability of health care delivery and about what might be called a systemic tendency toward growing inequality in health care,” the pope said.


VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Thursday urged lawmakers to ensure that health care laws protect the “common good,” decrying the fact that in many places only the privileged can afford sophisticated medical treatments.

The comments came as U.S. lawmakers in Washington, D.C., have been debating how to overhaul the nation’s health insurance laws.

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Nov 19, 2017

Chinese robot becomes world’s first machine to pass medical exam

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, robotics/AI

Its developer iFlytek Co Ltd, a leading Chinese artificial intelligence company, said on Thursday that the robot scored 456 points, 96 points higher than the required marks.

The artificial-intelligence-enabled robot can automatically capture and analyze patient information and make initial diagnosis. It will be used to assist doctors to improve efficiency in future treatments, iFlytek said.

This is part of broader efforts by China to accelerate the application of AI in healthcare, consumer electronics, and other industries.

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Nov 19, 2017

First-of-Its-Kind Satellite Launches to Track Earth’s Weather Like Never Before

Posted by in category: satellites

The first in a series of four advanced polar-orbiting satellites launched to space on its third try early Saturday (Nov. 18), turning its watchful eye to improving the accuracy of weather forecasts and Earth observations.

The new Joint Polar Satellite System-1 satellite, or JPSS-1, launched into orbit atop a United Launch Alliance-built Delta II rocket at 4:47 a.m. EST (0947 GMT), lighting up the predawn sky over its Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The successful liftoff came after two scrubbed launch attempts earlier this week due to high winds and boats inside the launch range restriction zone offshore.

“Things went absolutely perfect today,” NASA launch manager Omar Baez said after the JPSS-1 launch. “The nation’s got another wonderful weather asset up in space.” [The JPSS-1 Weather Satellite’s Mission in Pictures].

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Nov 18, 2017

Transforming Education through Imagination — even for Tech Execs

Posted by in categories: architecture, education, environmental, human trajectories

Why do Silicon Valley technology executives send their children to an almost tech-free school? Several authors have explored this question, including New York University professor Adam Alter. In his book “Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked” Alter explores the case of a San Francisco Steiner-Waldorf school where 75% of students are the children of Silicon Valley tech execs. How ironic.

In this piece I propose some additional reasons why imaginative education is becoming an approach of choice for parents wanting their children to become innovative, ecologically aware and even, as Whitehead suggests, to develop genius.

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Nov 18, 2017

New Video Shows a Creepily Human-Like Robot Doing a Backflip

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, singularity

And with an apparently adequate battery too! None of the power lines are visible anymore!

Welcome to the NINJA-singularity!

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Nov 18, 2017

Eugenics 2.0: We’re at the Dawn of Choosing Embryos

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing

Nathan Treff was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 24. It’s a disease that runs in families, but it has complex causes. More than one gene is involved. And the environment plays a role too.

So you don’t know who will get it. Treff’s grandfather had it, and lost a leg. But Treff’s three young kids are fine, so far. He’s crossing his fingers they won’t develop it later.

Now Treff, an in vitro fertilization specialist, is working on a radical way to change the odds. Using a combination of computer models and DNA tests, the startup company he’s working with, Genomic Prediction, thinks it has a way of predicting which IVF embryos in a laboratory dish would be most likely to develop type 1 diabetes or other complex diseases. Armed with such statistical scorecards, doctors and parents could huddle and choose to avoid embryos with failing grades.

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Nov 18, 2017

Why Waiting for Perfect Autonomous Vehicles May Cost Lives

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

Some people think autonomous vehicles must be nearly flawless before humans take their hands off the wheel. But RAND research shows that putting AVs on the road before they’re perfect improves the technology more quickly—and could save hundreds of thousands of lives over time.

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Nov 18, 2017

Waiting for Perfect Autonomous Vehicles May Cost Lives

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

Putting autonomous vehicles on the road when they perform just better than human drivers could save hundreds of thousands of lives over time. This article explains: r.rand.org/5y4v

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Nov 18, 2017

Scientists invent the world’s first microchip powered by biological systems

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing

Researchers at Columbia University have successfully created the world’s first computer chip powered by an isolated chemical biological process. Natural systems emit enormous amounts of energy that is often underutilized. This new bio-chip represents a high-tech version of “working with nature” and is producing promising results in the laboratory.

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Nov 18, 2017

Russia to go to the moon in new £30m spaceship

Posted by in category: space travel

Russia is building a £30million space ship to explore the moon as part of its ambitious plan to become a superpower in space.

The Luna-25 will explore its south pole and collect soil samples to be sent back to earth for analysis.

No astronauts will travel in the lunar orbiter, which comes 40 years since Moscow’s last mission to the moon in the Luna-24.

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