Thursday, March 22, 2012
Scientists Warn of Ethical Battle Concerning Military Mind Control
A future of brain-controlled tanks, automated attack drones and mind-reading interrogation techniques may arrive sooner than later, but advances in neuroscience that will usher in a new era of combat come with tough ethical implications for both the military and scientists responsible for the technology, according to one of the country's leading bioethicists.
"Everybody agrees that conflict will be changed as new technologies are coming on," says Jonathan Moreno, author of Mind Wars: Brain Science and the Military in the 21st Century. "But nobody knows where that technology is going."
UFO information disappears from UK Ministry of Defense
UFO information disappears from UK Ministry of Defense - again: "One of the best poster-size images of a 1990 UFO mysteriously disappeared from the wall of Britain's Ministry of Defense somewhere between 1991 to 1994, along with other UFO originals and negatives."
8 Ways Magnetic Levitation Could Shape the Future - How Maglev Technology Works
8 Ways Magnetic Levitation Could Shape the Future - How Maglev Technology Works - Popular Mechanics: "Magnetic levitation (maglev) can create frictionless, efficient, far-out-sounding technologies. Here are some of the craziest uses that engineers and designers have dreamed up."
Could life 'spread' through solar systems? Scientists probe distant 'super Earth' to find if life can hop from world to world
Could life 'spread' through solar systems? Scientists probe distant 'super Earth' to find if life can hop from world to world | Mail Online: "Could life 'hop' between worlds in a solar system in the form of living microbes carried through space on rocks?
Scientists have simulated rocks hurtling through the distant Gliese 581 system - the solar system thought most likely to harbour life, due to its 'super Earth', planet D, which falls in a habitable zone where liquid water could exist.
‘One of the big scientific questions is how did life spread,’ says professor Jay Melosh. ‘In our solar system a lot of exchange that takes place - it's quite possible life started on Mars and came to Earth.'"
Scientists have simulated rocks hurtling through the distant Gliese 581 system - the solar system thought most likely to harbour life, due to its 'super Earth', planet D, which falls in a habitable zone where liquid water could exist.
‘One of the big scientific questions is how did life spread,’ says professor Jay Melosh. ‘In our solar system a lot of exchange that takes place - it's quite possible life started on Mars and came to Earth.'"
Unseen Titanic Pics –National Geographic
At 2:20 a.m. on April 15, 1912, the “unsinkable” R.M.S. Titanic disappeared beneath the waves, taking with her 1,500 souls. One hundred years later, new technologies have revealed the most complete—and most intimate—images of the famous wreck.
Read More: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/04/titanic/titanic-photography
World’s most powerful laser fires most powerful laser blast in history
World’s most powerful laser fires most powerful laser blast in history | Fox News: "The largest laser in the world was turned on for a fraction of a second last week -- and it unleashed the most powerful laser blast in history."
Is That a Rectangular (Borg-like) Galaxy?
Is That a Rectangular (Borg-like) Galaxy? : Discovery News: "In my eternal effort to link everything in space to a "Star Trek" storyline, when Discovery News Tech Producer Tracy Staedter emailed me this little cube-shaped nugget, I could barely keep my cool. "It's the Borg home galaxy!" I replied. (I'm certain Tracy was as excited as I was.)
Sure, I may have had one too many coffees, but the discovery of a galaxy that appears to be rectangular in shape not only kick-started my sci-fi geek, it contradicts what we know about the formation of large collections of stars."
Sure, I may have had one too many coffees, but the discovery of a galaxy that appears to be rectangular in shape not only kick-started my sci-fi geek, it contradicts what we know about the formation of large collections of stars."
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
We Just Built Skynet in the Desert, Now What?
We Just Built Skynet in the Desert, Now What? | Endless Innovation | Big Think: "Ten years after 9/11, the National Security Agency (NSA) is close to putting the finishing touches on what will be the single biggest spy center in the country. According to James Bamford of WIRED, this new one million-square foot spy complex in the Utah Desert will actually be capable of monitoring, intercepting and de-encrypting just about any message sent over any communication network in the country. It will be capable of keeping tabs on any civilian in the U.S. or any foreigner visiting the USA. And it will all be hooked up to federal computers in Washington, giving it access to the records and databases of the most powerful government agencies in the country. If all this is starting to sound a lot like Skynet in the Terminator movies, that’s because, well, it is - minus the Schwarzenegger robots, of course."
Military Wants to Implant Tiny 'Doctors' in Soldiers' Bodies
Military Wants to Implant Tiny 'Doctors' in Soldiers' Bodies | DARPA Nanosensors Medicine | LiveScience: "Disease has stalked battlefields since the dawn of war and continues to plague even the ranks of the modern U.S. military. That's why the Pengaton's scientists want to implant tiny particles inside the bodies of soldiers that could diagnose or even treat illness from within."
Pentagon’s Iran Buildup Call for Adding Laser Weapons - Bloomberg
Pentagon’s Iran Buildup Call for Adding Laser Weapons - Bloomberg: "The U.S. Central Command plans to bolster military capabilities against Iran by fielding new laser target-trackers for machine guns, enhanced sensors for underwater vehicles, improved protection against drone attacks and upgrades of U-2 spy planes."
Amazing 3D printer in action: Watch a working wrench being made from powder
We’re going to need a lot of tools as we expand into space – to build and maintain space stations and craft.
However, the problem of how to replace tools should they break has always been a worry. After all, it’s quite an undertaking to fly them into orbit.
But now scientists believe astronauts will be able to build unlimited replacements – simply by printing them.
Hi-tech: The Z Corporation's 3D printer can make just about anything
Image is everything: The wrench is scanned into a computer
It sounds like science fiction, but a YouTube video made by National Geographic shows that the remarkable process is actually science fact.
Theoretical physicist David Kaplan, from Johns Hopkins University, visits a company called Z Corporation in Burlington, Massachusetts, which specialises in 3D printers that can make almost anything – even with moving parts.
In the amazing film a huge adjustable wrench is first of all scanned into a computer, down to the accuracy of 40 microns – slightly less than the width of a human hair.
Remarkable: The finished wrench is pulled out of the powder tray
Robust: It's even strong enough to undo a nut
The image is then sent to a printer that doesn’t use ink, but a ‘specially engineered composite material’ that starts out as a powder and is then bound together with a type of resin.
This is what the printed wrench is made from.
Within 90 minutes Dr Kaplan is shown a fully working, robust copy of the original wrench that even features the adjustable head.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water: American scientists unleash robotic jellyfish
Its name is Robojelly - and the mass of carbon nanotubes and smart materials can swim under its own power, with a 'pulsing' movement that looks just like the real thing.
More worryingly for robophobes, the robot jellyfish also never runs out of batteries.
Thankfully, it's here to help mankind - at least in theory. The blob-like machine is designed to help with underwater rescues.
Diagrams of the robotic jellyfish as it was constructed: Robojelly is made from carbon nanotubes around a 'smart material' which pulses to send the fish through the water
The future home of 2025
The future home of 2025 | Fox News: "The domicile of the future won’t look much like our suburban abode of today: Every gadget, TV, appliance, and even broom closet will be outfitted with a wireless chip. Read on to see future innovations that will be coming soon to a front door near you."
Engineered Viruses Could Kill Cancer
Engineered Viruses Could Kill Cancer : Discovery News: "The last thing you need is a dangerous viral infection -- unless you have cancer. Cancer cells divide like mad, crowding out their neighbors and causing tumors, the complications from which eventually kill. But the vigor has a price: cancer cells aren't as good at fighting off viral infections, and theoretically a virus could kill cancer cells without harming the patient."
Neutrino Beam Sends Message Through Solid Rock
Neutrino Beam Sends Message Through Solid Rock : Discovery News: "Fermilab's Tevatron may have ceased operation, but the various other experiments on-site are still going strong. Case in point: a Fermilab team have made use of a pulsed neutrino beam source at the accelerator's Main Injector to transmit a coded digital message to a detector located about a kilometer away (0.6 miles)."
As Sweden Goes, So Goes the World: The Beginning of the End of Cash
As Sweden Goes, So Goes the World: The Beginning of the End of Cash - Megan Garber - Technology - The Atlantic: "Sweden could be pointing the way to a (nearly) cash-free economy."
Ancient sites spotted from space, say archaeologists
BBC News - Ancient sites spotted from space, say archaeologists: "Thousands of possible early human settlements have been discovered by archaeologists using computers to scour satellite images."
Area 51 Exhibit To Feature Russian Roswell UFO Artifact At National Atomic Testing Museum
Area 51 Exhibit To Feature Russian Roswell UFO Artifact At National Atomic Testing Museum: "Area 51 has been called the most secret place on Earth that never existed. And for a long time, that was true.
On March 26, the Smithsonian-affiliated National Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas plans to unveil the first-ever Area 51 exhibit, and it will be loaded with UFO and possible extraterrestrial-related items.
The exhibit, dubbed "Area 51: Myth or Reality," will present the historical records of a place that has long been shrouded in mystery."
On March 26, the Smithsonian-affiliated National Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas plans to unveil the first-ever Area 51 exhibit, and it will be loaded with UFO and possible extraterrestrial-related items.
The exhibit, dubbed "Area 51: Myth or Reality," will present the historical records of a place that has long been shrouded in mystery."
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