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Nov 18, 2017
Waiting for Perfect Autonomous Vehicles May Cost Lives
Posted by Dan Kummer 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
Nov 18, 2017
Scientists invent the world’s first microchip powered by biological systems
Posted by Klaus Baldauf 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.
Nov 18, 2017
Russia to go to the moon in new £30m spaceship
Posted by Carse Peel 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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Nov 18, 2017
UN panel agrees to move ahead with debate on ‘killer robots’
Posted by Carse Peel in categories: government, robotics/AI
A U.N. panel agreed Friday to move ahead with talks to define and possibly set limits on weapons that can kill without human involvement, as human rights groups said governments are moving too slowly to keep up with advances in artificial intelligence that could put computers in control one day.
Advocacy groups warned about the threats posed by such ‘killer robots’ and aired a chilling video illustrating their possible uses on the sidelines of the first formal U.N. meeting of government experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems this week.
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Nov 18, 2017
Hopping ‘R2D2’ bot to blast off to the lunar surface in 2019
Posted by Carse Peel in categories: robotics/AI, space travel
The MX-1E spacecraft is slated to fly before the end of the year aboard a Rocket Lab Electron booster, which launches from New Zealand and will attempt to win the $20M Google Lunar XPRIZE
The firm is is developing a fleet of low-cost robotic spacecraft that can be assembled like Legos to handle increasingly complex missions.
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Nov 18, 2017
15,000 Scientists Just Gave a Catastrophic Warning About The Fate of Humanity
Posted by John Gallagher in category: futurism
Is this accurate?
A new, dire “warning to humanity” about the dangers to all of us has been written by 15,000 scientists from around the world.
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Nov 18, 2017
US Missile Defenses Need Better Sensors, and Soon
Posted by John Gallagher in categories: electronics, security
Gaps in coverage leave interceptors less-equipped to defeat the threats of tomorrow.
No missile defense is better than the sensors that tell the interceptors where to go and what to kill. The Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, or GMD, draws upon considerably more sensors for homeland defense than when operations began in 2004, but shortfalls remain. The North Korean and other missile threats are not diminishing, and it’s time to get this right.
In a forthcoming report, we recommend that the Defense Department and Missile Defense Agency take several steps to improve the sensor backbone of America’s homeland missile defenses, including fielding a space layer, filling radar gaps, adding omnidirectional focus, and improving command and control. Unfortunately, the budget for missile defense sensors has fallen considerably over the past decade, exactly the wrong trend for our changing security environment.
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Nov 18, 2017
German Regulators Ban Smartwatches for Kids, Urge Parents to Destroy Them
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: futurism
There is almost no privacy anymore.
Saying the technology more closely resembles a “spying device” than a toy, Germany regulators have banned the sale of smartwatches designed for kids, urging the parents who were dumb enough to buy them in the first place to destroy them.
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