Menu

Blog

Page 10702

Sep 1, 2016

Keep the human in the machine – secrets of successful robotic relationships

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, robotics/AI

As mankind grows ever closer to technology, we need machines to better understand humans and arguably vice versa. This is the vital challenge for communications, tech and creativity in the 21st century – as we advance, how can we keep the human in the machine?

The pointed end of this relationship is reflected by a recent UN report that recommended “Autonomous lethal weapons systems that require no meaningful human control should be prohibited.” And anyone who is anyone – Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk for example – think AI could spell the end of the world, be that at the hand of Terminators or through some other machine instigated apocalypse.

Dystopian visions aside (for now), the reality is probably more mundane, but no less breathtaking in potential. In a recent response to the White House on AI, IBM, creators of world-beating (and magazine-editing) AI ‘Watson’ had this to say: “We believe that many of the ambiguities and inefficiencies of the critical systems that facilitate life on this planet can be eliminated. And we believe that AI systems are the tools that will help us accomplish these ambitious goals.”

Continue reading “Keep the human in the machine – secrets of successful robotic relationships” »

Sep 1, 2016

Technology Looks to Stop a Dirty Bomb Before It Happens

Posted by in categories: mobile phones, robotics/AI, terrorism, transportation

Using tech to stop terrorists dirty bombs.


DARPA’s SIGMA program undergoes real-world testing with state, federal and international partners to defend against radiological threats.

Continue reading “Technology Looks to Stop a Dirty Bomb Before It Happens” »

Sep 1, 2016

Vint Cerf’s Outlook for the Internet He Helped Create

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, engineering, internet

Internet pioneer Vint Cerf sees a secure future for the network of networks he helped create four decades ago as the co-developer of TCP/IP, the protocol that facilitates internet communications.

“We’re much more conscious of the need to make the system more secure than it has been,” Cerf, Google’s chief internet evangelist, says in an interview with Information Security Media Group. “And there’s a lot going on in the Internet Engineering Task Force [an international community of network designers, operators, vendors and researchers] to achieve that objective. And I anticipate in the course of the next decade or so that we will actually see a lot more mechanisms in place in order to enhance security and privacy and safety.”

But if internet security isn’t improved, Cerf says, “people will decide it’s not an environment they find worthy of trust, in which case they’ll look for something else. Maybe, something will replace the internet that’s more secure than it is today.”

Continue reading “Vint Cerf’s Outlook for the Internet He Helped Create” »

Sep 1, 2016

Earth Is Outside Our Delivery Zone

Posted by in category: space

Something different.


“The real task with dealing with extraterrestrials is to know when you’ve got one.

Continue reading “Earth Is Outside Our Delivery Zone” »

Sep 1, 2016

Regulation of cancer epigenomes with a histone-binding synthetic transcription factor

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics

Chromatin proteins have expanded the mammalian synthetic biology toolbox by enabling control of active and silenced states at endogenous genes. Others have reported synthetic proteins that bind DNA and regulate genes by altering chromatin marks, such as histone modifications. Previously we reported the first synthetic transcriptional activator, the “Polycomb-based transcription factor” (PcTF), that reads histone modifications through a protein-protein interaction between the PCD motif and trimethylated lysine 27 of histone H3 (H3K27me3). Here, we describe the genome-wide behavior of PcTF. Transcriptome and chromatin profiling revealed PcTF-sensitive promoter regions marked by proximal PcTF and distal H3K27me3 binding. These results illuminate a mechanism in which PcTF interactions bridge epigenetic marks with the transcription initiation complex. In three cancer-derived human cell lines tested here, many PcTF-sensitive genes encode developmental regulators and tumor suppressors. Thus, PcTF represents a powerful new fusion-protein-based method for cancer research and treatment where silencing marks are translated into direct gene activation.

Read more

Sep 1, 2016

Genetic ‘Extinction’ Technology Rejected

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biological, existential risks, genetics

OAHU, HAWAI’I —(ENEWSPF)–September 1, 2016. As thousands of government representatives and conservationists convene in Oahu this week for the 2016 World Conservation Congress, international conservation and environmental leaders are raising awareness about the potentially dangerous use of gene drives — a controversial new synthetic biology technology intended to deliberately cause targeted species to become extinct.

Members of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), including NGOs, government representatives, and scientific and academic institutions, overwhelmingly voted to adopt a de facto moratorium on supporting or endorsing research into gene drives for conservation or other purposes until the IUCN has fully assessed their impacts. News of the August 26 digital vote comes as an important open letter to the group is being delivered.

Scientists and environmental experts and organizations from around the globe have advocated for a halt to proposals for the use of gene drive technologies in conservation. Announced today, a long list of environmental leaders, including Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, genetics professor and broadcaster Dr. David Suzuki, Dr. Fritjof Capra, entomologist Dr. Angelika Hilbeck, Indian environmental activist Dr. Vandana Shiva and organic pioneer and biologist Nell Newman, have lent their support to the open letter: “A Call for Conservation with a Conscience: No Place for Gene Drives in Conservation.” The letter states, in part: “Gene drives, which have not been tested for unintended consequences, nor fully evaluated for ethical and social impacts, should not be promoted as conservation tools.”

Read more

Sep 1, 2016

Ready for 3D-printed wood?

Posted by in category: 3D printing

For all my tree loving friends.


A University of Canterbury professor is researching ways we can 3D print wood. Could this be how we save our trees?

Read more

Sep 1, 2016

Oak Ridge Just Entered Record Books With The Largest 3D-Printed Object in the World

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, materials

My friends at ORN setting records again.


Researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory broke a world record for the largest solid 3D-printed item with its trim-and-drill tool. The item, which is practically the size of a large SUV, took 30 hours to print using carbon fiber and composite plastic materials.

Continue reading “Oak Ridge Just Entered Record Books With The Largest 3D-Printed Object in the World” »

Sep 1, 2016

8 Amazing 3D Artworks created in Cinema 4D R18

Posted by in category: entertainment

Art 3D style.


See what some talented artists have created using C4D R18 – from sci-fi art a very real-looking Rolleiflex.

Read more

Sep 1, 2016

How You Discover the Passion to Pursue Entrepreneurship

Posted by in category: lifeboat

Latest article chronicling my entrepreneurial journey and how anyone can be successful and change the world. You need only look at the Lifeboat Foundation to see that entrepreneurs can turn their wealth into instigators for change!


YawLife is an embodiment of my life… All of my struggles, all of my mistakes, all of my pain, and all of my perseverance through in-fortitude to reach the pinnacle I’m at now, where the fruits of my labour are finally beginning to flourish, and where the seeds sowed in the past have begun to grown roots, which shall outlast even my own passing. To me, YawLife is not about just building a company and selling instantaneously. It’s about endowing my life’s work to make it successful. To reward those who believed in me early once I’ve succeeded, to reward the world for their choice to use our service, and to reward myself with, at the very least, the pride in creating something from nothing… Because, to do such a thing, is not a simple task. You can try as much as possible, and for all that effort, nothing may arise from it, but…

It is in the journey of creation that brings true elation to one’s soul — an inner fulfilment beyond what any odd job or person can spark within.

Continue reading “How You Discover the Passion to Pursue Entrepreneurship” »