Lockheed Martin uses graphene to purify water

Helping to eliminate 99% of disease-related deaths in the developing world:

http://www.nationofchange.org/weapon-maker-finds-cheap-way-desalinize-sea-water-1388415840

Why is Google snapping up robotics firms?

To become Skynet? To colonize the moon? To beat everyone to the technological singularity punch? Inevitably, robots and AI will massively dominate (not necessarily the negative connotation) our future. Google appears to recognize this and is going balls-to-the-wall to be the one that makes it happen:

http://www.dailytech.com/Google+Wins+DARPA+Challenge+to+Produce+TerminatorLike+Robot/article33995.htm

RIKEN to build exascale computer by 2020

http://www.riken.jp/en/pr/topics/2013/20131226_1/

30 times faster than the current fastest supercomputer, China’s Tianhe-2.

The Navy is now working on a fleet of underwater drones

http://swampland.time.com/2013/12/22/navy-underwater-drone/?xid=newsletter-weekly

Google's Schaft robot wins Darpa rescue challenge trial

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25493584

http://www.kurzweilai.net/time-meet-the-google-robot-that-won-darpa-robotics-challenge-trials?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=0a6751537c-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-0a6751537c-281903081

Breakthrough in Creating Fuel From Algae

http://www.nationofchange.org/us-scientists-convert-algae-crude-oil-less-hour-1387812791

It still takes more energy to produce than you get out of the process, but at least it's carbon-neutral and simple.

Morphing micro-muscular motor is 1,000 times more powerful than a same-size human muscle

http://www.kurzweilai.net/morphing-micro-muscular-motor-is-1000-times-more-powerful-than-a-same-size-human-muscle?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=14b7da7bbb-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-14b7da7bbb-281903081

Restoring Your NADs May Reverse Aging!

Not THOSE 'nads...

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-new-and-reversible-cause-of-aging?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=2aa099345b-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-2aa099345b-281903081

Another story on the same topic:

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/20/anti-ageing-human-trials

And another:

http://io9.com/scientists-develop-an-elixir-that-reverses-a-known-ca-1487149703?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_facebook&utm_source=io9_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

How to Communicate With Nanobots

Radio transmissions don't work well enough to communicate with nanobots that might inhabit your cells, so there has to be a different system. Here's a way to digitally communicate with chemicals:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/worlds-first-text-message-via-molecular-communication-sent?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=2aa099345b-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-2aa099345b-281903081

Phone Robot Who Claims She's a Real Person

Unless you're paying attention, you would likely be fooled by her:

http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/12/10/meet-the-robot-telemarketer-who-denies-shes-a-robot/?xid=newsletter-weekly (listen to the audio files)

How much longer before she passes the Turing test?

MetaPro Augmented Reality Glasses

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuMv29nKo2k

Cellulose Nanocrystals are as Stiff as Steel

http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2013/Q4/cellulose-nanocrystals-possible-green-wonder-material.html

Google's Road Map to Global Domination

Long but insightful:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/magazine/googles-plan-for-global-domination-dont-ask-why-ask-where.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Promising Trends in Renewable Energy Technologies

http://m.theweek.com/article.php?id=254215

The Beginning of Personalized Learning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLaFe0BJiho2qpq9gHIT-PvfaD9D2WvWDL&v=hTA5GyWamR0

Producing Hydrogen From Just Water, Nanoparticles and Sunlight

http://www.kurzweilai.net/researchers-split-water-into-hydrogen-oxygen-using-light-nanoparticles?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=7fb0bbf631-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-7fb0bbf631-281903081

Conflicts Between Solar and The Grid

http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-clouds-over-hawaii-39-rooftop-solar-growth-121006876--finance.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory

Moving Away From a Centralized Grid

Boulder is moving in the direction of local green energy production, something Drexler's "Engines of Creation" predicted would become a common development:

http://truth-out.org/news/item/20564-the-transformation-of-americas-energy-economy

Google Has Bought 8 Robot Companies

Sounds to me like the best way to hurry the arrival of personal robots:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/14/technology/google-adds-to-its-menagerie-of-robots.html?_r=0

Super Hydrophobic Treatment

Applied to electronics, boat hulls and even ordinary windows, I would think this could save a lot of money:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcbIjqkLjMg

The Environment Over the Next 100 Years

Ugh:

http://www.upworthy.com/the-future-of-the-earth-s-next-100-years-visualized?c=bl3

I think nanotech may be the only way out.

NASA's New Valkyrie Robot

Watch the video:

http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/11/5198124/nasas-valkyrie-robot-made-for-darpa-robotics-challenge

It's speed is not impressive. Yet. But I can't wait to see how the challenge works out.

Solar Power Small But Growing Fast

Projected to go from less than 1% of the market now to 5% by 2020 and 20% by 2035 (I'm hoping for much faster than that, if nanotech takes off in the mid-20s as projected):

http://news.yahoo.com/us-solar-power-sector-small-growing-115605453.html

DARPA Robotics Challenge Entries

I am really excited to see what will come from this:

http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/teamlist

Thin, Efficient, Flexible Solar Cell Manufacturing Process

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-new-way-to-make-solar-cells-thin-efficient-and-flexible?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=c4fd6f5a6e-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-c4fd6f5a6e-281903081

New Technique Can Improve Fiber Optic Throughput Ten Fold

http://actu.epfl.ch/news/ten-times-more-throughput-on-optic-fibers/

Scientists Sequence DNA of 400,000-Year-Old Human Relative

http://news.yahoo.com/39-pit-bones-39-yields-oldest-known-human-203310093.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory

Inflatable Solar Energy Chimney More Efficient Than Photovoltaic

http://www.theengineer.co.uk/energy-and-environment/news/per-lindstrand-plans-1km-high-inflatable-solar-energy-chimney/1017508.article

Documentary on Advances in Robotics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zP7yP8hdLE#t=94

I especially like the giant mech with dual Gatling cannons. The Japanese will ensure society is destroyed by giant robots before anything else does. :-)

And Asimo can take everyone's orders at once. Whoa, I hadn't been aware of that one!

A Variety of the Latest Robot Types

http://www.kurzweilai.net/googles-droids-take-on-amazons-drones?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=4eaf9434a0-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-4eaf9434a0-281903081

Scientists build a low-cost, open-source 3-D metal printer

http://news.yahoo.com/3d-metal-printer-open-source-affordable-182234682.html

and

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-12/mtu-sba112613.php

Printing metal objects is the most critical step for universal 3D printing.

Amazon Looking to Deliver Packages by Autonomous Robot Drones

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazons-jeff-bezos-looks-to-the-future/

Turn off the ad video, then watch the "Amazon Unveils Futuristic Plan" video.

Here's a shorter version of the process:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98BIu9dpwHU#t=30

Getting to 100% Renewable Energy Sources

https://medium.com/armchair-economics/47a04ab0450d

Another Kurzweil Interview

Nothing really new here, but he's still drawing media buzz:

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/11/ray_kurzweil_s_singularity_what_it_s_like_to_pursue_immortality.html

A side note about the video: The reason why most future fiction about life extension is dystopian is not because it's been out of reach for us, but because of the nature of fiction. Fiction is about conflict, and the easiest way to generate conflict in stories about the future is to make it dystopian. It's something to fight against. The reason we don't see much in the way of utopian futures is because they would be boring stories. Really, the only way to have utopian stories with real conflict and tension is to have the utopian society ultimately be or become dystopian, drop a character from a utopian society into a dystopia, make the utopian society a goal, that sort of thing. Which means that even if/when these technologies arrive, stories about the future will continue to be dystopian.

Alzheimer's May Be Caused By Diabetes

You can't really extend the life of a person if their mind is gone, and one way to avoid losing your mind may be to avoid getting type 2 diabetes:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22029453.400-are-alzheimers-and-diabetes-the-same-disease.html?full=true#.UpehjMSsjvY

Go Wilford, go Wilford...

Kepler Planet Finder May Still Find More Planets

http://www.universetoday.com/106765/kepler-may-go-planet-hunting-again-infographic-shows-how-that-would-work/

Amazing iPad 3D Scanner

http://www.bitrebels.com/technology/structure-sensor-ipad-3d-scanner/

Combine this with a 3D printer to recreate any object you can walk around. Create virtual environments of any building interior for everything from games to business meetings to real estate tours. Huge potential!

Will 2D Tin be the Next Supermaterial?

Might this be a room-temperature superconductor?

https://www6.slac.stanford.edu/news/2013-11-21-tin-super-material-stanene.aspx

Qubits survive at room temperature for a world-record 39 minutes

http://www.kurzweilai.net/quantum-world-record-smashed?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=daa44f702e-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-daa44f702e-281903081

First Sustainable Single-Atom Bit Created

Only for 10 seconds...but that's still a billion times longer than before:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/scientists-create-single-atom-bit-smallest-memory-in-the-world?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=8ba5fae05a-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-8ba5fae05a-281903081

Inexpensive and Corrosion-Free Method For Extracting Hydrogen From Water

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-durable-low-cost-water-splitter-made-of-silicon-and-nickel?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=8ba5fae05a-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-8ba5fae05a-281903081

Google's "Moon Shot" to Defeat Death by Aging

Now this is a good use for a few spare $ billion to play with:

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2152422,00.html

Using Viruses to Grow Nanowires to Improve Battery Energy Density By Up to 3x

http://www.kurzweilai.net/better-batteries-through-biology?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=d1598a1ce9-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-d1598a1ce9-281903081

Watson Doubles in Power and Becomes Available Over the Web!

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/14/technology/ibm-to-announce-more-powerful-watson-via-the-internet.html?ref=science&_r=1&

“The next generation will look back and see 2013 as a year of monumental change,” said Stephen Gold, vice president of the Watson project at IBM. “This is the start of a shift in the way people interact with computers.”

Very exciting!

Wolfram/Alpha Creates a New Technology That Actualizes a New Computational View of the World

http://blog.stephenwolfram.com/2013/11/something-very-big-is-coming-our-most-important-technology-project-yet/

Rock Music Boosts Solar Cell Efficiency 40%

Now I've seen everything....

http://www.nanomagazine.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2337:rock-music-bolsters-nanotechnology-solar-cell-efficiency&catid=38:nano-news&Itemid=159

Self-assembling Transport Networks Powered by Nanoscale Motors and Controlled by DNA Developed

http://www.nanomagazine.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2340:all-aboard-the-nanotrain-network&catid=38:nano-news&Itemid=159

What Solar Power Still Needs

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304520704579129211308141046

I don't think the small projected increase in solar power by 2040 takes into account a tipping point boom, but we'll see.

Solar Power Successes in Europe

Solar Power Begins to Shine as Environmental Benefits Pay Off

By DIANA S. POWERS

PARIS — Amid polemics over rising electricity prices in Europe and the level of green energy subsidies in various countries, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that the growth in clean-energy generation is a huge success story.

Solar photovoltaic generation, known as PV, like wind power before it, is coming into the mainstream — at great environmental benefit.

Based on comparative life-cycle analyses of power sources, “PV electricity contributes 96 percent to 98 percent less greenhouse gases than electricity generated from 100 percent coal and 92 percent to 96 percent less greenhouse gases than the European electricity mix,” said Carol Olson, a researcher at the Energy Research Center of the Netherlands.

Photovoltaic generation offers several additional environmental advantages, Ms. Olson said in an interview.

“Compared with electricity from coal, PV electricity over its lifetime uses 86 to 89 percent less water, occupies or transforms over 80 percent less land, presents approximately 95 percent lower toxicity to humans, contributes 92 to 97 percent less to acid rain, and 97 to 98 percent less to marine eutrophication,” she said. Eutrophication is the discharge of excess nutrients that causes algal blooms.

Toward the end of last year, installed global photovoltaic generating capacity passed the milestone of 100 gigawatts — enough to meet the energy needs of 30 million households and save more than 53 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, according to a recent report by the European Photovoltaic Industry Association, E.P.I.A., a solar power industry lobby group.

“Right now, today, the world has installed 130 gigawatts of PV, up from 1.4 gigawatts in 2000,” Wolfgang Palz, a former manager of the European Commission’s development program for renewable energies, told a conference organized by France’s National Center for Scientific Research, CNRS, in Paris last month.

Europe alone now has 80 gigawatts of installed photovoltaic capacity, of which 35 gigawatts is in Germany, the European Union leader, providing about 7 percent of the country’s electricity, he said.

Some regions of Germany are even further ahead: “If you buy an Audi today, manufactured in Bavaria, 10 percent of the electricity used to produce it is PV,” Mr. Palz said in an interview.

With large-volume installation, economies of scale have substantially reduced unit costs.

According to a report by the E.P.I.A., the European solar industry’s lobby group, photovoltaic costs have dropped 22 percent with every doubling of production capacity.

Going back 10 to 15 years, “we had to fight to find some crazy people who would install solar panels for $70 per watt on the rooftop,” said Eicke Weber, director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, in Freiburg, Germany.

“We had to find some market support systems for the first thousand-roof program,” Mr. Weber said. “That became the 100,000-roof program — and then the million-roof program.”

Now, “the number that should be broadcast is that, in Germany now, we are able to put PV systems on the rooftop for one euro per watt,” or $1.34, “with the back-up system, with the inverter, and with the cost of installation,” Mr. Weber said. An inverter is a device that converts the direct current electricity produced by solar generation into alternating current that can be fed into the electrical grid.

“In other countries, in the United States, it’s about a factor of two to three more expensive,” he added.

The rapid expansion of renewable energy generation in Europe has been driven by policy, and specifically by the provision of relatively high guaranteed prices for renewable energy sold into the transmission grid — known as feed-in tariffs.

Ahead of the 2009 United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen, the European Union adopted a set of targets committing it to a 20 percent reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels; an increase in the renewables’ share of E.U. energy consumption to 20 percent; and a 20 percent improvement in energy efficiency — all by 2020.

Since then, feed-in tariffs have been one of the main drivers of cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. The other has been reduced industrial activity resulting from economic recession. Between them, they appear to have been remarkably effective.

In Germany, Spain, Italy and France, for example, renewable energy investment boomed after the introduction of feed-in tariffs, though it has since slowed abruptly as governments have backed off to avoid a glut in supply.

According to the European Environment Agency, Europe had already achieved an emissions reduction of 18 percent by last year, putting it on course to overshoot the 2020 target, even if the E.U. economy recovers by then.

According to the E.P.I.A., the photovoltaic industry lobby group, 10 of the 27 E.U. member states had already achieved their 2020 photovoltaic targets by 2012, and most of the others were close.

With many European consumers squeezed between stagnant or falling incomes and soaring power bills, and governments desperately trying to cut back on public sector spending liabilities, green feed-in tariffs have come under increasingly sharp attack in the past year.

Power utilities have blamed them for rising electricity bills while traditional oil, gas and even nuclear generators have accused them of skewing the competitive playing field — a complaint that ignores the fiscal, regulatory and contractual advantages that they themselves have negotiated with various governments over the years.

Last month, for example, the British government agreed to a 35-year guaranteed price for power from a new nuclear plant to be operated by the French utility EDF. The price set, almost double Britain’s current wholesale electricity price, was effectively a feed-in tariff under another name, supporters of renewable energy say.

“Claiming that a guaranteed feed-in tariff for photovoltaic has to be stopped because it does not fit anymore in the new world is, of course, pure hypocrisy,” said Claude Turmes, a member of the European Parliament from Luxembourg. Mr. Turmes said that President François Hollande of France had backed EDF in its negotiations for a feed-in premium to build the British reactors, even while government policy was shifting away from feed-in tariffs for renewables.

Although cost of living concerns have increasingly been raised by critics seeking to roll back green energy incentives, Ms. Olson, of the Netherlands energy research center, said a cost-benefit analysis of German feed-in tariffs in 2011 made by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, had found that the benefits outweighed the costs paid by electricity users.

“The €10.9 billion surcharge from the feed-in tariff was in large part compensated by savings on fossil fuel imports of €7.1 billion,” she said. “The presence of renewable energy in the electricity market also brings down the cost of peak electricity by about €4.6 billion. These two factors alone offset the costs, even without calculating in the health and environmental benefits or the jobs created.”

Cutting back on support for green energy now, in response to a short-term oversupply, could seriously damage future investment prospects, clean energy advocates and some financial analysts say.

“Photovoltaic has attracted the largest share of renewable energy investment for the past three years,” said Arnulf Jäger-Waldau, a senior scientist in the renewable energy unit of the European Commission’s joint research center, in an interview. “In 2012, worldwide it attracted $137.7 billion, or €105.9 billion, in new investments.”

“When politicians put in high feed-in tariffs and then abolish them, they create too much uncertainty for the market to grow well. It is better to enact a more modest feed-in tariff directly coupled to the actual cost of developments and maintain it over many years,” he said.

By 2015, present overcapacity on the market should be absorbed, Winfried Hoffmann, president of the European photovoltaic industry lobby group, said in an interview. “Two years from now, we will see a new wave of cost-effective production units,” he said. By then the period of consolidation will be over.

“Many companies will not survive, but some will. If we do not do our homework and prepare the ground today for this next wave and this growing market, then the window of opportunity will be closed,” he said.

Michael Eckhart, global head of environmental finance and sustainability at Citigroup, warned that policy shifts risked undermining investor confidence.

“Don’t let the public policies lag,” he said, “because once we leave, we’re not coming back.”

3D Printer Makes a Fully Functional Gun

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/08/tech/innovation/3d-printed-metal-gun/index.html?hpt=te_t1

Solar Market Forecast

http://www.kurzweilai.net/worldwide-annual-solar-pv-installations-will-double-by-2020-says-report?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=bc6314d5fa-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-bc6314d5fa-281903081

Grid parity soon, even without government subsidies.

University of CA Receives $100 Million For Stem Cell Research

http://health.ucsd.edu/news/releases/Pages/2013-11-04-sanford-gift-stem-cell-clinical-center.aspx

Nice. More such philanthropy, please.

3D Printing is Killing Retail Stores.

http://qz.com/144257/its-the-end-of-walmart-and-mass-market-retail-as-you-know-it/

Robots Can Now Learn By Demonstration

This seems like a terrific way to train robots to be useful about the home:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/attention-kmart-shoppers-theres-a-robot-checker-open-in-aisle-six?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=89522e6000-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-89522e6000-281903081

22% of Stars May Host Earth-Like Planets

Earth-like as in similar size and similar orbit. Other restrictions may apply. But that means BILLIONS of planets in our galaxy alone may hold life:

http://www.universetoday.com/106121/22-of-sun-like-stars-have-earth-sized-planets-in-the-habitable-zone/

Carbyne is the Strongest Material Yet

http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=5840

Another Breakthrough in Solar Cell Efficiency

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/asu-agt102513.php

Engineering Students Create Exoskeletal Arm That Adds 40 lbs to Your Lifting Weight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6ueN19g_7U

The NSF Invests $38 Million in Next-Generation Robotics

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=129284

New Polymer Heals Itself

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/this-could-be-big-abc-news/terminator-plastic-polymer-heal-itself-014827978.html

Someone With No Imagination

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/10/increasing_human_lifespan_could_have_a_serious_side_effect_boredom.html

If you think of retirement as the end of your life, time to wind down physically and mentally as you march steadily onward toward death, then yeah, you'll get bored and soon look forward to dying. But if you look at retirement as doing what you really WANT to do rather than what you HAVE to do (like I do), then it's like opening up a new world of possibilities. And if we could become youthful again, the possibilities would open up further. You don't have to be under someone else's whip; you can find your own motivation by following your passions. Of course, if you don't have any passions, well then yes, you might as well die.

Using IBM's Watson to Create a "Moon Shot" to Eradicate Cancer (and More)

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/42214.wss

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/42203.wss

An important step, but I want to see Watson applied to creating virtual friends/assistants that are essentially indistinguishable from human friends/assistants.

Sleep Flushes Waste Material From the Brain

Want to survive long enough to live forever? Get enough sleep so your brain can flush out the causes of Alzheimer's and other neurological disorders:

http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/news/story/index.cfm?id=3956

Nearly 1000 Exoplanets Found

Just because it's a very cool milestone:

http://www.universetoday.com/105548/on-the-road-to-one-thousand-exoplanets/

Scientists use DNA to assemble a transistor from graphene

http://www.nanomagazine.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2296:scientists-use-dna-to-assemble-a-transistor-from-graphene&catid=38:nano-news&Itemid=159

How Do People Want Their Personal Robots to Look?

Interesting:

http://www.news.gatech.edu/2013/10/01/putting-face-robot

Personally, I'd go with the "hot chick" option. ;-)

3D Printing Moves Into the Food Industry

Well, we should have seen this coming sooner than expected....

http://www.livescience.com/40445-the-ultimate-iron-chef-when-3d-printers-invade-the-kitchen.html?cmpid=555141

3D Printing is Now Being Done With Metal

Massive potential here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24528306

Bionic Limbs With a Sense of Touch

http://www.kurzweilai.net/restoring-touch-for-amputees-using-a-touch-sensitive-prosthetic-hand?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=47f0871cb0-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-47f0871cb0-281903081

Ray Kurzweil Interview

Kurzweil summarizing his vision of the future:

http://www.exponentialtimes.net/videos/ray-kurzweil-when-man-and-technology-merge

Using Robots to Reduce the Price of Solar

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/15/business/energy-environment/putting-robots-to-work-in-solar-energy.html?partner=yahoofinance&_r=1&

Using "Shells" to Terraform a Planet

http://news.yahoo.com/incredible-technology-shells-terraform-planet-140940649.html

An interesting idea, but what happens when meteoroids and especially comets and asteroids hit the shell? Also, Kevlar? Seriously? That's like Jules Verne suggesting whalebone struts for Victorian Era spaceships.

The Current Maximum Bionic Man

What you get when you assemble all the machine replacements we've created into a single bionic man:

http://news.yahoo.com/bionic-man-walks-breathes-artificial-parts-151617572.html

New Treatment Halts Alzheimer's Disease

Since we are our brains, Alzheimer's is a form of living death. Finding a treatment for it is thus HIGHLY important for those of us approaching old age but who wish to live long enough to benefit from indefinite life-extension technologies:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24462699

Better Robot Vision Algorithm Developed

http://web.mit.edu/press/2013/better-robot-vision.html

Fusion Powered Rockets Technically Viable

http://news.yahoo.com/quick-fusion-powered-trips-mars-no-fantasy-scientists-113723220.html

Moore's Law Continues as Existing Fabricators are Adapted to Photonics

http://www.colorado.edu/news/features/cu-mit-breakthrough-photonics-could-allow-faster-and-faster-electronics

The Human Brain Project Has Begun

http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-human-brain-project-has-officially-begun?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=1d3b55b24b-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-1d3b55b24b-281903081

Introducing the Wildcat Robot From Boston Dynamics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE3fmFTtP9g

Sleep well tonight. ;-)

Self-Assembling Swarmbots Invented

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/simple-scheme-for-self-assembling-robots-1004.html

Watch the video. Fascinating stuff.

Renewable Energy is Now Competitive With Fossil Fuels

Even before renewable energy subsidies are taken into account:

http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/is-the-cost-of-renewable-energy-falling.html/?a=viewall

First Carbon Nanotube Computer Made

An important step:

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v501/n7468/full/nature12502.html

The Terrafugia Transition Flying Car is Here

And for the same price as a Cessna:

http://translogic.aolautos.com/2013/09/02/translogic-137-terrafugia-transition-flying-car/?ncid=webmail2

First Human Brain-To-Brain Interface Lets Scientist Control Colleague's Body

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/28/first-human-brain-to-brain-interface_n_3824853.html

Half of All Jobs at Risk for Computerization

http://www.futuretech.ox.ac.uk/news-release-oxford-martin-school-study-shows-nearly-half-us-jobs-could-be-risk-computerisation

I think that's optimistic. I see the writing on the wall for education, too--at least in my field of computer application instruction.

Using Bacteria to Generate Electricity From Sewage

http://engineering.stanford.edu/news/stanford-scientists-use-wired-microbes-generate-electricity-sewage

Bits of Information Teleported Across Computer Chip

http://www.livescience.com/39655-qubits-teleported-across-computer-chip.html?cmpid=545408

New Method Increases Solar Efficiency 3-10x...

...and that's not even optimized:

http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/news/penn-scientists-demonstrate-new-method-harvesting-energy-light

Increase in Solar Energy Efficiency

http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/wms-bedair-junction-2013/

The Future of Design by Elon Musk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNqs_S-zEBY&feature=youtu.be

Researchers create artificial robot muscles that can lift 80x their weight

Potentially a huge step forward...

http://newshub.nus.edu.sg/pressrel/1309/020913.php

First Human-to-Human Brain Interface

http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/08/27/researcher-controls-colleagues-motions-in-1st-human-brain-to-brain-interface/

Translating Brain Images Into Actual Pictures

Preliminary steps to mind-reading?

http://www.kurzweilai.net/how-to-reconstruct-from-brain-images-which-letter-a-person-was-reading?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ff047d01a1-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-ff047d01a1-281903081

Sea Squirt Ancestor May Allow Us to Regenerate

http://gma.yahoo.com/sea-squirt-could-help-grow-limbs-043807953--abc-news-tech.html

Common car lubricant speeds up a wide variety of devices tremendously

http://m.networkworld.com/community/blog/common-car-lubricant-speeds-imaging-apps-10x

Researchers Building a Computer Chip Based on the Human Brain

http://www.nanomagazine.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2278:researchers-building-a-computer-chip-based-on-the-human-brain&catid=38:nano-news&Itemid=159

People Who Age at a Snail's Pace

Could this hold the key to unaging?

http://gma.yahoo.com/8-old-11-pounds-never-ages-040317717--abc-news-health.html

3D Printers Now Moving into the Fashion Industry

Soon all our clothes will be printed at home:

http://www.livescience.com/38720-3d-printing-weaves-its-way-into-fashion.html?cmpid=532487

Computer-Brain Interfaces Making Big Leaps

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/disruptions-rather-than-time-computers-might-become-panacea-to-hurt/?_r=0

Graphene-Based Supercapacitors Rival Conventional Batteries

The quick-charging and infinite life of supercapacitors, now with the life of conventional batteries:

http://monash.edu.au/news/show/soft-approach-leads-to-revolutionary-energy-storage

World-changing technology enables crops to take nitrogen from the air

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/pressreleases/2013/july/world-changing-technology-enables-crops-to-take-nitrogen-from-the-air-.aspx

The previous advance allowed the world to feed a billion more people. This could be even more of a game-changer.

New Teeth Made Out of Stem Cells in Urine

Okay, then...

http://healthyliving.msn.com/blogs/daily-apple-blog-post?post=f6eed00e-94af-4be4-97eb-8271781ffc64&_nwpt=1

3D Printers Can Already Pay For Themselves

3D printers are poised to replace much of what we purchase today:

Article:
http://www.mtu.edu/news/stories/2013/july/story93519.html

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8Wv3LCJcUE

The Real Promise of 3D Printing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69SsHvZ5Vsk&feature=youtu.be

;-)

Rooftop Solar Vexes Utility Companies

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/27/business/energy-environment/utilities-confront-fresh-threat-do-it-yourself-power.html?_r=0

Chips that mimic the brain

Another important step....

http://www.mediadesk.uzh.ch/articles/2013/chips-die-das-gehirn-imitieren_en.html

Is Faster Than Light Travel Possible?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/23/science/faster-than-the-speed-of-light.html?_r=0

Artificial intelligence is currently as smart as a 4 year old

http://news.uic.edu/a-computer-as-smart-as-a-four-year-old

Human Powered Helicopter Takes Sikorsky Prize

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=syJq10EQkog

DARPA Robotics Challenge Contest to Create Highly Adaptable Rescue Robot

http://www.darpa.mil/NewsEvents/Releases/2013/07/11.aspx

Driverless Car Update

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OKnicIBhEAg

Breakthrough could lead to "artificial skin" that senses touch, humidity and temperature

http://support.ats.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7871&news_iv_ctrl=1161

5D optical memory in nanostructured quartz glass could lead to unlimited lifetime data storage

http://www.southampton.ac.uk/mediacentre/news/2013/jul/13_131.shtml

60 Billion Habitable Planets in the Milky Way Alone?

http://www.universetoday.com/103379/60-billion-habitable-planets-in-the-milky-way-alone-astronomers-say-yes/

I posted a comment questioning the viability of tidally locked worlds, since I think evaporation and precipitation would eventually cause the light side to lose all its water, which would precipitate out into the dark side. I've received a couple of responses, but I think one is false and the other irrelevant.

A Robot That Walks Like a Human

This robot uses gravity to "fall forward" and swing its legs the way humans do, saving energy and moving more naturally:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYmhY-rUFXQ

Turning Robots Into Adaptive, Learning Beings

http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/blog/startups/2013/06/neurala-robot-intelligence-software.html?page=all

See their explanation video here:

http://neurala.com/

Faster Than Light Travel Possible?

http://news.yahoo.com/why-warp-drives-arent-just-science-fiction-150255793.html

So many "ifs" involved here, but it's nice to know there's at least a possibility.

New Design for Efficient Concentrating Solar Power

http://ecogeek.org/component/content/article/3866

Nano Hummingbird in Action

It looks and flies just like a hummingbird...but with a camera. Add a little C4 and you have a perfect assassination weapon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=96WePgcg37I

Robot that runs like a cat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UWlzMIl7E48

Dark Lightning Produces Gamma Rays and Antimatter

Move over dark matter and dark energy. Say hello to dark lightning!

http://youtu.be/hN0wGga5e0I

Graphene electronics with very low energy consumption

Graphene can be made magnetic and its magnetism switched on and off at the press of a button, opening a new avenue towards electronics with very low energy consumption:

http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/news/display/?id=10201

New All-Solid Sulfur-Based Battery Outperforms Lithium-Ion Technology

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/603965/

The Omni Takes Virtual Reality to the Next Level

For many years now I've been saying virtual reality won't really arrive until we have an omnidirectional treadmill to allow natural movement in any direction. Now a new Kickstarter project aims to bring exactly that to the market, in an elegantly simple package:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1944625487/omni-move-naturally-in-your-favorite-game

Be sure to play the video.

Another benefit I predicted was that such a system would turn gamers from couch potatoes into fit athletes. I'd LOVE to get my workout in an immersive game.... 

Graphene is the Strongest Material in the World Even With Defects

http://cleantechnica.com/2013/06/02/graphene-is-the-strongest-material-in-the-world-even-when-it-has-defects-research-finds/

Graphene Camera Sensors 1,000 Times More Sensitive to Light

http://theweek.com/article/index/245052/1000-times-more-sensitive-to-light-how-graphene-camera-sensors-could-revolutionize-photography

Enhanced Reality Goggles With Kinect Built In

http://allthingsd.com/video/?video_id=12398AFF-65D3-4094-9255-66EBD13A940D

Carbon Nanotube Thread Developed

As strong as carbon fiber but able to conduct electricity:

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/145446-rice-creates-first-long-strong-flexible-and-conductive-carbon-nanotube-thread?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rice-creates-first-long-strong-flexible-and-conductive-carbon-nanotube-thread

Still...it's not nearly as strong as carbon nanotube thread should be because it's made of trillions of short bundles of nanotubes assembled like cotton thread, rather than made of massively long single fibers...I think.

Are we on the cusp of a solar energy boom?

http://news.yahoo.com/cusp-solar-energy-boom-075000286.html#

Using Nanotechnology to Capture the Energy Around Us

http://www.yalescientific.org/2013/05/electricity-from-thin-air-using-nanotechnology-to-capture-the-energy-around-us/

Humans Fully Outsourced to Robots by 2045?

http://www.activistpost.com/2013/05/humans-fully-outsourced-to-robots-by.html

Building a Supercomputer Replica of the Human Brain

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/05/neurologist-markam-human-brain/all/

And here's the TED Conference talk by Henry Markram:

http://blog.ted.com/2009/10/15/supercomputing/

"In hype-driven contexts (such as his 2009 TED talk), Markram has hinted at the possibility that a sim embodied in a robot might become conscious. Hardwired with Markram’s model and given sufficient experience of the world, the machine could actually start thinking (à la Skynet and HAL 9000). While that has gained him a following among sci-fi enthusiasts, he separates such speculations from the hard work of doing real science. When pressed, he shows a rare touch of modesty. “A simulation is not the real thing,” he says. “I mean, it’s a set of mathematical equations that are being executed to re-create a particular phenomenon.” Markram’s job, simply put, is to get those equations right.

He plans to give the EU an early working prototype of this system within just 18 months—and vows to “open up this new telescope to the scientific community” within two and a half years—though he estimates that he’ll need a supercomputer 100,000 times faster than the one he’s got to build the premium version. Ever the optimist, he believes that Moore’s law (and the European Union) will deliver him that raw power in about a decade."

Robot Learns to Write

Siri has nothing to worry about, but it's still another step:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hqNi2S4rlM

NASA Buys Into D-Wave Quantum Computer

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22554494

Rapid Developments in Artificial Intelligence

An interesting article in how the singularity is developing:

http://www.digitaltonto.com/2013/the-singularity-apocalypse-or-nerd-rapture/

First Ship-Mounted Laser Weapon

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/science/how-a-laser-weapon-works.html?_r=0

Where are my sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh7bYNAHXxw

Cybernetic Limbs Gain Sense of Touch...

...at least for monkeys, for now:

http://sciencelife.uchospitals.edu/2013/05/09/building-the-sense-of-touch-into-prosthetic-arms/

Terrafugia's TF-X Autonomous Flying Car

Another flying car. This one flies itself--you just tell it where you want to go, and off it goes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp2TWNpTA7s

PAL-V Flying Car

What do you get when you cross a Persu Hybrid V3 with a gyrocopter?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgHSaNtAMjs

Want. Now. Period.

Why Teaching a Robot to Fetch a Cup of Coffee Matters

http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-software/pr2-robot-fetches-cup-of-coffee

Robotic insects make first controlled flight

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2013/05/robotic-insects-make-first-controlled-flight/

Boosting ‘cellular garbage disposal’ can delay the aging process

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/boosting-cellular-garbage-disposal-245496.aspx

Experts Say Intelligent Robots Will Overtake Humans by 2100

http://www.livescience.com/29379-intelligent-robots-will-overtake-humans.html?cmpid=525411

Government Lab Reveals It Has Operated Quantum Internet For Over Two Years

Perfectly secure communications:

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/514581/government-lab-reveals-quantum-internet-operated-continuously-for-over-two-years/

New Robotic Hand is Strong, Dexterous, Robust and Inexpensive

Down from typical prices of $50,000 per hand, this $3,000 robotic hand is surprisingly capable:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvhCk6BvLBE

My favorite bit? The hand picking up tweezers to pick up a toothpick....

Antimatter = antigravity?

If so, then it might be possible to create inexpensive transportation and floating cloud cities:

http://www.livescience.com/29164-antimatter-antigravity-fall-up.html?cmpid=525408

That makes me wonder if antimatter has something to do with dark energy....

IBM creates the world's smallest movie...

...with individual atoms!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSCX78-8-q0

The Story of Quantum Computing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptuFckypqzE

The truly fascinating story of D-Wave's development of a quantum computer. The idea of accessing multiple universes to make calculations is a mind blower.

90 y.o. grandmother uses VR for the first time

This is just fun:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAC5SeNH8jw&feature=player_embedded

You’ll Probably Never Upload Your Mind Into A Computer

http://io9.com/you-ll-probably-never-upload-your-mind-into-a-computer-474941498

Mostly these are arguments from ignorance, but interesting nevertheless.

The Solar Cell That Turns 1 Photon into 2 Electrons

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-solar-cell-that-turns-1-photon-into-2-electrons

Moore's Law applied to life

http://news.yahoo.com/could-life-older-earth-itself-175255318.html

(Don't bother viewing the video--it's lame and not really related to the article.)

UPDATE: A scornful refutation of that claim:

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/04/18/graaarh-physicists-biologists/

Artificial leaf gains the ability to self-heal damage and produce energy from dirty water

http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=222&content_id=CNBP_032564&use_sec=true&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=895f6852-200e-4ef5-af3d-d18b12b85dd9

Artificial Intelligence Awakening

The beginning to a poignant story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhoYLp8CtXI

Petman Robot Almost Moves Like a Human

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFrjrgBV8K0&feature=endscreen

Kinda scary in that gas mask. ;-)

Solar Power Achieves Grid Parity in Parts of the World

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2013/03/solar-reaching-parity-with-other-energy-sources-say-new-reports

Astronomers anticipate 100 billion Earth-like planets

http://www.ras.org.uk/news-and-press/224-news-2013/2239-astronomers-anticipate-100-billion-earth-like-planets

With 100 billion Earth-like planets...surely SOME must have advanced life....

All-optical switching promises terahertz-speed hard drive and RAM memory

https://www.ameslab.gov/news/news-releases/quantum-tricks-drive-magnetic-switching-fast-lane

Obama to Unveil Initiative to Map the Human Brain

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/science/obama-to-unveil-initiative-to-map-the-human-brain.html?_r=0

Circuits That Mimic the Brain’s Design

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/i-b-m-research-points-to-circuits-that-mimic-the-brains-design/

Lockheed Martin Put Quantum Computer to Work

This could herald the tipping point:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/technology/testing-a-new-class-of-speedy-computer.html?_r=0

Tackling the Uncanny Valley

Facial rendering is almost there!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOil2HSDq0E

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d1ZOYU4gpo

Bringing a Virtual Brain to Life

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/science/bringing-a-virtual-brain-to-life.html?_r=0

Whole brain cellular-level activity mapping once a second

An important next step:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/whole-brain-cellular-level-activity-mapping-once-a-second

Rapyuta: The RoboEarth Cloud Engine

Moving robotic computation to the cloud to make robotic learning less expensive and more expansive:

http://www.roboearth.org/

Isn't this how the Battlestar Galactica reboot started? :-)

Crowdfunding Accelerates Clean Energy Investment

This is terrific to hear, as is the fact that per-watt solar prices have dropped to less than 100th what they were in 1977:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/06/crowd-funding-clean-energy/

Deus Ex Bionic Augmentations vs. the Real World

Short documentary comparing the augmentations from the game Deus Ex with the current state of the art bionics:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW78wbN-WuU&feature=player_embedded

The Age of Enhancement

Superhuman abilities seeping into our world:

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/superman/2013/03/superman_2_0_how_human_enhancement_technologies_are_giving_us_all_superpowers.html

A 3D Printed Car That Runs for Free

We're on the verge of 3D printing becoming mainstream, and that's the conceptual foundation of nanofactories:

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/11/3d-printed-hybrid-uses-sunlight-ethanol-or-gas/

Brain Interface Allows Rats to Communicate by Thought Alone

I predicted this method of telepathy in the late 1980s. :-)

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23221-first-mindreading-implant-gives-rats-telepathic-power.html?full=true

Big Dog Throws Cinder Blocks

C'mon, don't tell me you're not thinking Terminator-ish thoughts!

http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/military-robots/bigdog-throws-cinder-blocks-with-huge-robotic-facearm

Bendable, Inexpensive Graphene Micro-Supercapacitors

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/ucla-researchers-develop-new-technique-243553.aspx

Watson's New Jobs

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/28/technology/ibm-exploring-new-feats-for-watson.html?_r=0

Software for Designing at the Nanoscale

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/25/for-autodesk-a-step-into-a-nanoscale-world/

Nanotubes to Take Over for Silicon in a Decade

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/technology/nanotubes-seen-as-an-alternative-to-silicon-circuits.html

3D Printing Developing Faster Than Expected

Nice:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/disruptions-3-d-printing-is-on-the-fast-track/

Virtual Reality Gaming is Finally Becoming Affordable

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/18/technology/oculus-rift-headset-aims-for-affordable-virtual-reality.html?_r=0

Another Thin Film Solar Breakthrough

They keep coming...so when are we going to hit the tipping point and open the floodgates?

http://actu.epfl.ch/news/new-world-record-efficiency-for-thin-film-silicon-/

Robot That Moves by Internal Explosions

A robot that's powered by lighting its own farts. That's just wrong....

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/nstv/2013/02/three-legged-robot-uses-exploding-body-to-jump.html?cmpid=NLC|NSNS|2012-1102-GLOBAL|threeleggedrobot&utm_medium=NLC&utm_source=NSNS&utm_content=threeleggedrobot

Robots Evolve Better Movement With Evolving Brains

http://www.fastcompany.com/3005313/evolved-brains-robots-creep-closer-animal-learning

British Mini-Drones

As the iPod Shuffle is to boom boxes, so is the Black Hornet Nano Unmanned Air Vehicle to the Reaper:

http://news.sky.com/story/1047004/mini-drones-army-deploys-tiny-helicopters

Raging (Again) Against the Machines

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/sunday-review/raging-again-against-the-robots.html?src=recg

It's interesting that Europe and Japan don't share the US's robot Armageddon stories. I personally like the stories because they're great adventure, not because I fear the consequence of robots.

First artificial enzyme created by evolution in a test tube

http://www1.umn.edu/news/news-releases/2013/UR_CONTENT_429344.html

The Cost of Exploring Space vs. Films About Space

Rather depressing:

http://www.universetoday.com/99683/the-cost-exploring-space-film-vs-reality/

ARGUS 1.8 Gigapixel UAV Camera

This camera isn't so much about zooming in on a single spot to see all the pores on your hand, but zooming in at a still-impressive level over a 10 square mile area ALL AT ONCE and in real time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QGxNyaXfJsA

All-in-One Robot Factory

A precursor to nanofactories?

http://www.3ders.org/articles/20130123-irobot-filed-a-patent-for-autonomous-all-in-one-3d-printing-milling-drilling-and-finishing-robot.html

Print Your Own Robot for $1000

Download the specs for this work-in-progress robot, print it out with a 3D printer, add some basic components, and you too can have a robot for $1000 or so:

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/25/tech/innovation/inmoov-robot-3d-printing/index.html

And here it is in motion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tojIdfywYVI

More Thoughts on Driverless Cars

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/don-tapscott/going-down-the-road-in-a-_b_2554361.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

Is Moore's Law Slowing Down?

Man vs. Machine

by Rana Foroohar

Remember the booming economy of the 1990s? A big factor in that growth was technology, which fueled productivity gains at a much faster clip than it does now. Moore's law--the observation credited to Intel co-founder Gordon Moore that computer chips double in power roughly every 18 months--appeared to be squarely in effect. From 1995 to 2005, large companies invested heavily in technology that increased efficiency and productivity, eventually creating entirely new areas of business and boosting employment growth. The fact that American companies invested more than, for example, European ones is a key reason many U.S. multinationals increased revenue and market share during that time. So given the rise of social media, big data and other tech trends, can we expect a similar boost to growth sometime in the near future?

No--at least according to "Is I.T. Over?," a new report by JPMorgan Chase's chief U.S. economist, Michael Feroli. Using U.S.-government data, Feroli shows that prices for IT equipment--things like software, computers and networking technology--are declining at the slowest pace in over a generation. That's important, because a slower price decline for technology implies slower gains in the power of technology. As Feroli writes, an average computer may retail for about $1,000, but historically "the power of that computer has increased dramatically" over time. As the power of new devices increases, prices of old ones fall. The fact that they aren't falling so quickly now means that technology isn't increasing at the same pace it once did.

This doesn't mean that Moore's law is dead. Strictly speaking, it refers to the number of transistors that can be squeezed onto a chip. Other factors, like microarchitecture and memory, can constrain computer advances even if the sheer number of circuits continues to increase. The bottom line, though, is that slower tech-price declines and slower gains in computing power suggest that the pace of innovation in the near future is likely to resemble that of the recent past. In other words, it will be sluggish for the next few years.

Indeed, a number of economists, including Northwestern University's Robert Gordon, believe that we are entering an even longer period of slow tech gains and slow growth. Gordon argues that the productivity gains of the decade beginning in 1995 were nothing compared with earlier, arguably more cataclysmic tech shifts like the advent of the combustion engine, electricity and indoor plumbing. "Which changes your life more," he asks, "an iPad or running water?" What's more, even if innovation were to continue into the future at its pre-2005 rate, Gordon says, the U.S. faces new headwinds--including debt levels, an aging population, environmental challenges, inequality and lower levels of education relative to international standards--that will hinder growth more than in the past.

There may be a silver lining to this story. Despite the boost it has given to overall growth, the white-hot pace of tech advancement over the past few decades is also a key driver of higher unemployment and inequality, as less-educated workers lost their jobs to machines. Research shows that technology powers job growth only if educational levels keep pace with technological change--a relationship that began to break down in the 1970s in the U.S. If IT advances are finally slowing, "then workforce skills may be better able to catch up with the level of technology," notes Feroli. In an era when many economists believe inequality is an obstacle to growth, that's a rare bit of good economic news.

China's Robot Car First to Pass Freeway Test

http://www.china.org.cn/china/2013-01/23/content_27773068.htm

Come on, do we really want to let China surpass us in robotics?

Molecular Memory Promises 1000x Increase in Storage Capacity

http://www.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/storing-data-in-individual-molecules.html

Cloning Neanderthal

An interview with George Church on the future of DNA manufacturing:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/george-church-explains-how-dna-will-be-construction-material-of-the-future-a-877634.html

New World Record in Solar Cell Efficiency

The efficiency gap between silicon wafer and thin film solar cells has been closed:

http://www.empa.ch/plugin/template/empa/3/131438/---/l=2

Leonar3Do 3D graphic design program

Very cool and easy way to design in 3D:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/this-could-be-big-abc-news/become-own-3d-producer-155546885.html

Should compliment 3D printers nicely.

Mind control of computers

TED talk about an easy-to-use, easy-to-set up, inexpensive headset that interprets brain waves to interact with a computer or robotic device:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVhggGSjXVg#!

Controlling heat like light

A fascinating concept, perhaps with implication like "War of the Worlds" heat rays, beamed heating, local refrigeration, etc.:

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/how-to-treat-heat-like-light-0111.html

Not your standard self-parking car

I wonder how this would deal with restricted parking areas, but otherwise it's pretty impressive, and another step in the road to full robot driving:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rgN8MOrss40#!

Accessible Virtual Reality Gaming on its Way

This is extremely cool, something I've been waiting for for decades now:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/ces-2013-hands-on-with-the-oculus-vr-rift-virtual-realitys-greatest-hope

Click on the Oculus VR link in the article to access a video introducing the product.

Paper Tab...paper-thin computing

Cool...but perhaps a bit to space-consuming and awkward? It may make a good adjunct to regular computers, but it currently appears confined to a literal desktop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=81iiGWdsJgg

Hundreds of Billions of Planets

Not exactly an advancing technology, but it's the result of advancing technology...and it's just too cool:

http://www.universetoday.com/99309/nearly-all-sun-like-stars-have-planetary-systems/

Computers are learning to write jokes

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/opinion/sunday/can-computers-be-funny.html?_r=0

Below Absolute Zero

Temperatures can go BELOW absolute zero? And it could be exploited to create engines that are MORE than 100% efficient?

http://www.livescience.com/25959-atoms-colder-than-absolute-zero.html

Arthur C. Clarke's predictions of the future

Clarke's predictions from 1964 are amazingly accurate, despite his prediction for the fate of cities:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FxYgdX2PxyQ