Source: Seeker.com, January 11, 2018 This robot has the digitized brain of a worm in it and it functions autonomously. Here’s what it means for the future of AI. Worms are weird, primitive creatures that seem to just squirm around senselessly. However, this simplistic behavior is exactly what we are looking for in our endeavours… Continue reading Scientists Put the Brain of a Worm Into a Robot… and It MOVED
Category: Curious Oddities
The Future of Green Offices May Be Rewritable Paper
Source: Dave Roos, Seeker.com, January 9, 2018 Scientists hacked a standard inkjet printer to create multicolor images that can be erased and reprinted eight times on the same sheet of paper. Even as workplaces go increasingly digital, we still use an alarming amount of paper. By one estimate, every office worker in the United States… Continue reading The Future of Green Offices May Be Rewritable Paper
Space Is Dangerous! Just Look at What It Does to Astronauts’ Brains…
Source: Seeker.com, December 28, 2017 We’re learning about what space does to our bodies, but what about our brains? MRI scans of astronauts revealed some worrying results. Spaceflight does a number on our bodies. We lose muscle mass and density, fluids shift in strange ways, there’s even evidence that radiation exposure in space increases risk… Continue reading Space Is Dangerous! Just Look at What It Does to Astronauts’ Brains…
Flexible Graphene Turns Hard as Diamonds When Struck by a Bullet
Source: Glenn McDonald, Seeker.com, December 19, 2017 Physicists at the City University of New York have developed a material called diamene, which could become a new class of armor for people, vehicles, and spacecraft. How’s this for a science fiction premise: Scientists develop an ultralight material thinner than aluminum foil that morphs instantly into diamond… Continue reading Flexible Graphene Turns Hard as Diamonds When Struck by a Bullet
WITH A WHOOSH, THE HYPERLOOP SETS A NEW SPEED RECORD
Source: Alex Davies, Wired.com, December 18, 2017 IF YOU’VE BEEN dying to know what it’s like to ride in a hyperloop at hundreds of miles per hour, watch this video. Last week, Virgin Hyperloop One, one of the leading companies in the budding industry dedicated to realizing Elon Musk’s vision of flinging people and stuff through tubes in a near-vacuum… Continue reading WITH A WHOOSH, THE HYPERLOOP SETS A NEW SPEED RECORD
ARE EXOSKELETONS THE FUTURE OF PHYSICAL LABOR?
Source: Lauren Goodie, TheVerge.com, December 5, 2017 Ford and others are experimenting with wearable robotics There are 3,500 people working in Ford’s final assembly plant in Wayne, Michigan, where a steady stream of car husks are transformed into drivable vehicles hundreds of times a day. Paul Collins sticks out along the final assembly line because… Continue reading ARE EXOSKELETONS THE FUTURE OF PHYSICAL LABOR?
THESE SHAPESHIFTING METALS COULD BE THE FUTURE OF FLIGHT
Source: Nick Stockton, Wired.com, December 3, 2017 HUMANITY MAY BE divided on a great many issues, but most would agree that it would be very cool to have airplane wings made of shapeshifting metal. The geometry of those fabulous foils affects virtually every aspect of flight, and making them from metal that can change its shape… Continue reading THESE SHAPESHIFTING METALS COULD BE THE FUTURE OF FLIGHT
HOW CUBISM PROTECTED WARSHIPS IN WORLD WAR I
Source: Marty Graham, Wired.com, November 29, 2017 World War I-era camouflage technique During World War I, artists protected massive warships by hand-painting them with eye-popping monochrome shapes that fooled enemies aboard German U-boat submarines. The distracting patterns made it hard for periscope-peering targeters to be sure which part of the ship they were looking at,… Continue reading HOW CUBISM PROTECTED WARSHIPS IN WORLD WAR I
One small backflip for a robot is one giant leaping backflip for humankind
Source: Paul Miller, TheVerge.com, November 17, 2017 It’s a barely-believable jump forward for the state of the art. It’s astonishing. It’s a moon landing, basically, except instead of all of the people of Earth gathering around tube televisions to witness it, it just popped up on our social feeds yesterday afternoon without warning. Read full… Continue reading One small backflip for a robot is one giant leaping backflip for humankind
THE MOON EXPRESS MX-1E LANDER IS HEADING FOR THE MOON OR BUST
Source: Justice Namaste Science, Wired.com, November 17, 2017 GOOGLE CAN’T RESIST a moon shot, but this one is literal: A decade ago, the company announced the Google Lunar X Prize—$20 million for the first private firm to build a robot that can soft-land on the surface of the moon, travel 500 meters, and beam hi-def video back… Continue reading THE MOON EXPRESS MX-1E LANDER IS HEADING FOR THE MOON OR BUST