Named after the insect that inspired its invention, the Cicada, was designed to be smaller, cheaper and simpler than any other robotic aircraft — but still able to carry out a mission in a remote battlefield.
“The idea was why can’t we make UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) that have the same sort of profile,” Aaron Kahn of the Naval Research Laboratory told AFP.
“We will put so many out there, it will be impossible for the enemy to pick them all up.”
read full news article in SpaceDaily
Then 10 years later, in 1975, Moore comments to an Intel publication: “40 years later? be true? – Of Course”. Amazing then as now.
In this rather satirical article, Tibor Blomhäll explores some differences one would not miss much in the fossil to electricity transition in cars.
Recent article from Chris Urmson – director of Google’s self-driving car program on the state of affairs of their effort in offering an alternative to human drivers.
So far, over a millin miles and 11 accidents.
in “Why Brain-to-Brain Communication Is No Longer Unthinkable”, published at Smithsonian.com, Jerry Adler guides you to the amazing ways science is throttling towards new ways brains can communicate with each other.
That is, on top of the already ingenious solutions humans developed over time, such as body, oral an then written languages to mention the most popular.
As in other developments, we rely greatly on our brains to find out how. Only it seems we may the skipping the instensive use of senses in the near future.
Instead of having a man embedded with spider, scientists thought of having spiders weave man-made material.
A group of scientists from Italian, British and Czech institutions published “Silk reinforced with graphene or carbon nanotubes spun by spiders” where they describe how the manage to sucessfully induce spiders to use added components into their webs composition.
For the first time astronomers were able to detect light bouncing off planets our of the solar system.
The new method developed by a group of Portuguese astronomers may give researchers more information on the atmospheres of exoplanets.
Radial Velocity is currently used to find planets. Starting in the ’90s t has been sucessfully applied to hundreds of planets now. It provides good information on the orbit and mass, but are not so good in providing evidence of atmosphere composition. We can see a bit more, now.
To be precise:
“Methods. Our method makes use of the cross-correlation function (CCF) of a binary mask with high-resolution spectra to amplify the minute planetary signal that is present in the spectra by a factor proportional to the number of spectral lines when performing the cross correlation. The resulting cross-correlation functions are then normalized by a stellar template to remove the stellar signal. Carefully selected sections of the resulting normalized CCFs are stacked to increase the planetary signal further. The recovered signal allows probing several of the planetary properties, including its real mass and albedo.
Results. We detect evidence for the reflected signal from planet 51 Peg…
Conclusions. We confirm that the method we perfected can be used to retrieve an exoplanet’s reflected signal, even with current observing facilities. The advent of next generation of instruments (e.g. VLT-ESO/ESPRESSO) and observing facilities (e.g. a new generation of ELT telescopes) will yield new opportunities for this type of technique to probe deeper into exoplanets and their atmospheres.”
“Could a smile be a useful signal for a computer? Might we be able to do something interesting with such a genuine, unfiltered bit of input? Probably. I would like to review every YouTube video that made me laugh in 2012. I’d be delighted if my computer pointed me to a Gchat conversation, long forgotten, that made me crack up in college.
Granted, in a world of presumed total surveillance, it’s upsetting to imagine our computers having access to something as intimate as our unmediated emotions. That’s our last stand against the bureaucrats and the brands, the unquantifiable inner sanctum of self.
But supposing some alternate arrangement in which we could actually trust our devices and the people making them, emotion could be a profoundly powerful principle to design around”… full story on wired
It’s been a while we know electroencephalograms give information on what is happening inside our brains. But it’s not something you’d want to be getting around in your head – or is it?
John Rogers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign led the team that built a flexible electronic skin that conforms to the body, which is so light that it sticks to the skin through van der Waals force – the same mechanism that lets geckos’ feet stick to surfaces. It only falls off when the build-up of dead skin beneath it makes it lose its grip.
Aceleradora opens new batches every 9 months. Each batch includes 3 to 5 startups. In a period from 3 to 6 months each participant develops its business model. Startups are supported by seed money in exchange of equity (5%-15%, mentorship, networking, training, coaching and business consulting.
To date they accelerated over 300 startups and have mentored over 2000 entrepreneurs.
Recent technique for genetic editing made possible by ‘knock-out’ targeted genes.
In this case, researches inacvtivated a single endogenous gene in potatoes that are deemed responsible for sugar accumulation at cold storaging.
Such potatoes, once fried, would produce lower levels of acrylamide, a suspected carcinogen.
From MIT Technology Review:
Neural probes that combine optics, electronics, and drugs could help unlock the secrets of the brain.
Various powerful new tools for exploring and manipulating the brain have been developed over the last few years. Some use electronics, while others use light or chemicals.
At one MIT lab, materials scientist Polina Anikeeva has hit on a way to manufacture what amounts to a brain-science Swiss Army knife. The neural probes she builds carry light while collecting and transmitting electricity, and they also have tiny channels through which to pump drugs…
DNA manipulation technique using CRISPR enzymes, binds to particular parts of the genome before splicing it, promissed nothing less than a revolution in genetics. Now it starts bearing fruits, and initial human-dna editing testing under way, even as many heed warnings on ethical issues.
Chinese researchers were cautious enough to select only non-viable embryos. While results were not consistent enough to indicate we mastered genetic altering, it stands as a clear statement that this fronteer is open for game. And that (some) researchers are not waiting until the ethical debate around it is settle – if such a thing is even possible.
A couple of recent articles about this on MIT Review, by Jason Pontin, and in Popular Science by Alexandra Ossola
…In today’s era of smartphones and cloud computing, HP’s core products could also look antiquated before long. Revenue and profit have slid significantly in recent years, pitching the company into crisis. HP is sustained mostly by sales of servers, printers, and ink (its PCs and laptops contribute less than one-fifth of total profits). But businesses have less need for servers now that they can turn to cloud services run by companies like Amazon—which buy their hardware from cheaper suppliers than HP….
HP has shed over 40,000 jobs since 2012, and it will split into two smaller but similarly troubled companies later this year (an operation that will itself cost almost $2 billion). HP Inc. will sell printers and PCs; Hewlett Packard Enterprise will offer servers and information technology services to corporations. That latter company will depend largely on a division whose annual revenue dropped by more than 6 percent between 2012 and 2014. Earnings shrank even faster, by over 20 percent. IBM, HP’s closest rival, sold off its server business to China’s Lenovo last year under similar pressures.
And yet, in the midst of this potentially existential crisis, HP Enterprise is working on a risky research project in hopes of driving a remarkable comeback. Nearly three-quarters of the people in HP’s research division are now dedicated to a single project: a powerful new kind of computer known as “the Machine.” It would fundamentally redesign the way computers function, making them simpler and more powerful. If it works, the project could dramatically upgrade everything from servers to smartphones—and save HP itself…. Read full story..
article from http://singularityhub.com/
“When I was in elementary school, about 50 years ago, teachers used to stand in front of a class of 40 or 50 children and write on a blackboard with chalk. To make sure the material was absorbed, the teacher asked occasional questions and assigned lots of homework. If students discussed their homework or helped each other in tests, it was called cheating, and they were punished.
Today, the blackboard has become a whiteboard; chalk has become a magic marker; the slates that students used have been replaced by notebooks; and classes have sometimes gotten smaller. Little else has changed. True, some schools are providing their students with laptops, and teachers are increasingly using technology and encouraging collaboration. But the methods are essentially the same—with the teacher dictating learning.
What is becoming possible, however, is a revolution in education. I am not talking about the much-hyped Massive Open Online Courses. To me, these are as imaginative as the first TV shows in which radio stars stood in front of a camera with a microphone in hand. I am talking about a complete transformation of the way teaching is done, with the computer taking the role of the lecturer, the teacher becoming a coach, and students taking responsibility for their own learning.
The digital tutor of the future will do knowledge transfer better than a human can. If the student likes reading and lectures, it will teach in a traditional way — through eBooks and videos. If not, it will teach through games, puzzles, and holographic simulations. What better way to learn history, culture, and geography than by being there virtually and experiencing it?
In the future I am talking about, the role of the human teacher is that of guru: to teach values such as integrity, teamwork, respect, caring and commitment; to be a guide and mentor. And students take ownership of their education. This future isn’t as far away as you think. I’ve already seen early signs of it in Silicon Valley.
Esther Wojcicki, who is a teacher at Palo Alto high school, has been pioneering a new method of learning for the past 30 years. She joined the faculty at Palo Alto in 1984 as a teacher of English and journalism. She had a Master of Arts in journalism from UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and had worked previously as a reporter. When she arrived, there were 19 students in the journalism program, publishing a bimonthly eight-page newspaper that they created on a typewriter, pasted up with hot wax, and printed using hot-metal typesetting.
In 1987, Wojcicki saw a demo of a Macintosh at a small store in Los Altos and got excited about the possibilities for her classroom. She applied for a grant from the state of California to buy seven Macs and was selected. When the computers arrived, though, she had no idea how to even turn them on. Not having anyone to help her, she turned to her students, admitted that she “had no idea what she was doing,” and asked for their help. Wojcicki says that this was the beginning of a collaborative learning model of teaching that she has since been refining.
Fast forward to 2015, when the country is adopting a pedagogy that focuses on personalization, collaboration, innovation, and creativity. Palo Alto High School has a 25,000-square-foot Media Arts Center, with 600 students who use media to learn critical-thinking skills, communication skills, and tech skills. And by the way, they are also perfecting Common Core State Standards skills. This is a program to teach students to think critically and be prepared for the unknown future; it is not focused on training journalists. The school has six publications: a 28-page full-sized student newspaper, The Campanile; a news magazine,Verde; a sports magazine, Viking; an arts and entertainment magazine, C Magazine; a broadcast television program, InFocus; and a website program,voice.paly.net.
In a new book, in which, with co-author Lance Izumi, she shares her experiences, Wojcicki says that Google-style moonshots are necessary to transform education. Wojcicki and Izumi advocate changing the culture of the classroom so that the teacher relinquishes some control of the learning to students and the lessons become more relevant to the real world. Here are some of the key lessons from their book, Moonshots in Education: Launching Blended Learning in the Classroom.
Giving students some control of their learning is the key to engagement. Whilst that sounds simple, in fact it requires a moonshot, because schools of education train teachers to always maintain control, so one of the scariest things for teachers is to give up any control to students. They are worried that they will be evaluated on “loss of control” in their classes, and that the test scores will fall, for which they will be blamed and lose their jobs. They do not want to take a risk.
If we want to train a generation of innovators, then we need to give them an opportunity to be innovative in school. If we want to train a group of people to obey orders and not think for themselves, then we should continue with traditional education. The old model was developed more than a 100 years ago to train workers for the factory.
Students do well in classrooms when they are treated with trust and respect. Everyone, especially a child, wants to feel important and empowered. All classrooms should treat students with kindness, trust, and respect, giving them an opportunity for innovation and collaboration. The culture of the classroom is the key to getting kids excited about learning.
Mastery of learning is also important. Children need an opportunity to redo assignments until they learn the material. Some people take longer than others to learn, but that does not mean that they are inferior or cannot learn. Grades can be an inhibiting factor: students who get a bad grade don’t want to do the assignment again; they get discouraged. But if they just get the corrections, with instructions to revise (the same instructions everyone else gets), they will do the work. They all want to succeed.
This methodology can be used in all subject areas. If students were given as little as 10 percent of the time to work on a project of their choosing, they would be more excited about learning the subject matter. Wojcicki says that 50 percent of the time should be dedicated to blended learning.
The digital tutor I described is probably five or 10 years away, but it is coming. In the meantime, there is nothing to stop us from adapting education to the modern era of creativity and innovation — and taking advantages of technologies that are already here.”
If only Thales of Miletus had this on…
Researchers from Universities of Hannover, Stuttgart and Munich in Germany propose a navigation system that remove intermediaries and goes straight to our muscles to tell them which way to move.
One way we can see this applied is on precise exercising or situations where our sensorial capabilities lack precision such as low visibility. And many other uses would come along, not the least for people whose health and safety would greaty benefit from it.
Yet in a world in growing competition of our limited visual awareness, this could well be a step towards freeing this highly demanded information channel. One would not need to loog to a map to find it’s way to the store. Stores would drive consummers to itself while consummers can watch their new favorite marketing embeded entertainment.
Stanford professor David Mazières published in a white paper on April 8th a system that proposes a new approach to consensus.
Federated Byzantine agreement (FBA) in general relies on quorum slices and individual trust decisions that together determine system-level quorums. Slices bind the system together much the way individual networks’ peering and transit decisions now unify the Internet.
The publication also presents the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP), a construction for FBA. SCP makes no rational behavior assumptions, yet unlike prior Byzantine agreement models, SCP enjoys open membership. Compared to decentralized proof of-work and proof-of-stake schemes, SCP has modest computing and financial requirements, lowering the barrier to entry and potentially opening up financial systems to new participants.
SCP’s four key properties are: Decentralized control; Low latency; Flexible trust; Asymptotic security.
Practical application and public acceptance of SCP as a currency platform is not clear, but it does show some progress over some reported issues with Bitcoin.
There is also a handy summary available if you wait and see how market embraces SCP before going through whole paper.
Interestingly, as pointed our by Business Insider’s Julie Bort, Ginni Rometty refers to Watson as ‘he’.
As pointed out, among others, by Daniel Dennet, such reference might imply in an upgrade in granted status of Artificial Intelligence and computer’s minds.
One would rather trust a phisician with a mind, no doubt. Whether Watson’s handwritting will keep tradition or raise the bar remains unclear…
Combining hardware, software and cloud services, the Aerial Information Platform purpose is to help companies to meet insurance and government compliance requirements, quickly customize, and safely operate commercial drones at scale.