Why We Should Really Stop Trying to Contact Aliens

A depressing but reasonable assessment:

http://bigthink.com/robby-berman/why-we-should-really-stop-trying-to-contact-aliens

New Electric Body Board Hits Speeds of up to 20 Mph

Want!

https://futurism.com/videos/new-electric-body-board-hits-speeds-of-up-to-20-mph/

More details:

http://newatlas.com/jet-powered-kymera-body-board-first-ride/43919/

Watch Elon Musk’s Hyperloop “Pusher Pod” Set a New Speed Record

I still don't think a hyperloop would be feasible for a number of reasons (maintaining a vacuum over long distances and vulnerability to terrorism and accidents being two of the biggest issues), but there is some useful research coming out of it:

https://futurism.com/watch-elon-musks-hyperloop-pusher-pod-set-a-new-speed-record/

Silk Spun by Graphene-Fed Spiders Is One of the Strongest Materials on Earth

Now THIS is "biotechnology":

https://futurism.com/silk-spun-by-graphene-fed-spiders-is-one-of-the-strongest-materials-on-earth/

Nanomachines that drill into cancer cells killing them in just 60 seconds developed by scientists

Very cool potential:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/nanomachines-drill-cancer-cells-killing-172442363.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=fb

We May Finally Have a Way to Cheaply Manufacture Pure Graphene

https://futurism.com/we-may-finally-have-a-way-to-cheaply-manufacture-pure-graphene/

More Renewable Power is Entering Our Grids, Making Clean Driving Even Cleaner

https://futurism.com/more-renewable-power-is-entering-our-grids-making-clean-driving-even-cleaner/

Major leap towards storing data at the molecular level

Great! Apart from that bit about the required temperature being lower than liquid Nitrogen...

https://nano-magazine.com/news/2017/8/25/major-leap-towards-storing-data-at-the-molecular-level/

One Class of Jobs That Even the Most Sophisticated AI Can't Replace

I think this guy is WAY too optimistic about the jobs he says A.I. won't be able to replace. Even non-sentient A.I. should be able to use enough social observation to learn what to say and how to act to eventually replace humans in social fields:

http://bigthink.com/videos/andrew-mcafee-one-class-of-jobs-that-even-the-most-sophisticated-ai-cant-replace

Neuralink and the Brain’s Magical Future

Way too long an article, but an interesting deep dive into A.I.:

https://waitbutwhy.com/2017/04/neuralink.html

New Mini-Antennae Could Pave the Way for Brain-Computer Interfaces

https://futurism.com/new-mini-antennae-could-pave-the-way-for-brain-computer-interfaces/

Why People May Have Pig Organs Inside Them One Day

Pig organs could become superior to human organs, allowing for enhanced humans:

http://time.com/4910657/why-people-may-have-pig-organs-inside-them-one-day/

Sucks for the pigs, though.

MIT Researchers Have Discovered a Way to Increase Nuclear Fusion’s Energy Output

Energy output is 10x higher? But weren't they already close to energy input-output parity? Surely this would put it way over the top:

https://futurism.com/mit-researchers-have-discovered-a-way-to-increase-nuclear-fusions-energy-output/

Microsoft’s Speech Recognition is Now as Good as a Human Transcriber

The days of the professional translator are numbered (yes, I'm looking at you, Piglit):

https://futurism.com/microsofts-speech-recognition-is-now-as-good-as-a-human-transcriber/

Elon Musk’s Research Venture Has Trained AI To Teach Itself

And this is how the technological singularity is supposed to start:

https://futurism.com/elon-musks-research-venture-has-trained-ai-to-teach-itself/

A breakthrough new method for 3D-printing living tissues

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-breakthrough-new-method-for-3d-printing-living-tissues

The future of warfare is just drones strapped with machine guns

Of course this was coming:

https://qz.com/1058726/the-future-of-warfare-is-just-drones-strapped-with-machine-guns/

New Wind Energy Study Aims to Break Transmission Barriers

http://www.triplepundit.com/2016/10/new-wind-energy-study-aims-break-transmission-barriers/

The Wireless Charging of Moving Electric Vehicles Just Overcame A Major Hurdle

https://futurism.com/the-wireless-charging-of-moving-electric-vehicles-just-overcame-a-major-hurdle/

CRISPR Co-Discoverer: “I’ve Never Seen Science Move at the Pace It’s Moving Now”

https://futurism.com/crispr-co-discoverer-ive-never-seen-science-move-at-the-pace-its-moving-now/

The “Quantum Internet” Is Just a Decade Away. Here’s What You Need to Know.

Again, not too keen on the Chinese being at the forefront of this:

https://futurism.com/the-quantum-internet-is-just-a-decade-away-heres-what-you-need-to-know/

New Tech Is Giving Humanity Many Potential Paths to Immortality

Well, a few:

https://futurism.com/new-tech-is-giving-humanity-many-potential-paths-to-immortality/

These 7 Forces Are Changing the World at an Extraordinary Rate

https://singularityhub.com/2017/08/16/why-the-world-is-getting-better-at-an-extraordinary-rate/

One of the biggest criticisms against wind and solar energy has been quashed

https://qz.com/1054992/renewable-subsidies-are-already-paying-for-themselves/?mc_cid=0cb73c29b6&mc_eid=c4215c6c8c

Automation may take our jobs—but it’ll restore our humanity

I think this guy completely misses the boat on his assessment:

https://qz.com/1054034/automation-may-take-our-jobs-but-itll-restore-our-humanity/

He seems to think that because artificial intelligence can't beat us NOW in creativity and other human-exclusive mental traits, there will always be places for human minds to succeed better than A.I. But A.I. is not going to stop advancing. At some point (soon) it will improve on EVERY aspect of human intelligence...and then there will be no place for the human mind to excel.

Investment Bank Report Predicts the Cost of Electric Vehicles Will Match Regular Cars by 2018

https://futurism.com/investment-bank-report-predicts-the-cost-of-electric-vehicles-will-match-regular-cars-by-2018/

Toyota Just Patented a “Cloaking Device”

https://futurism.com/toyota-just-patented-a-cloaking-device/

Researchers Have Officially Discovered a New Kind of Chemical Reaction

A whole new line of science just opened up:

https://futurism.com/researchers-have-officially-discovered-a-new-kind-of-chemical-reaction/

New Study Reveals Stem Cells from Young Hearts May Help Reverse the Aging Process

This is impressive! Well, they always say you should be young at heart....

https://futurism.com/new-study-reveals-stem-cells-from-young-hearts-may-help-reverse-the-aging-process/

Good and bad news for Watson

The good: IBM Watson Makes a Treatment Plan for Brain Cancer Patient in 10 Minutes; Doctors Take 160 Hours:

http://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/diagnostics/ibm-watson-makes-treatment-plan-for-brain-cancer-patient-in-10-minutes-doctors-take-160-hours

The bad: Why Everyone Is Hating on IBM Watson—Including the People Who Helped Make It:

http://gizmodo.com/why-everyone-is-hating-on-watson-including-the-people-w-1797510888

This Elon Musk-Backed Startup Just Used AI to Defeat a Pro Gamer

Another game--this one much more complicated than Go--bites the A.I. dust:

http://fortune.com/2017/08/12/musk-ai-game/

Cancer's Newest Miracle Cure

The beginning of the end for cancer?

http://time.com/4895010/cancers-newest-miracle-cure/

Researchers Develop Bendable Batteries That Could Make Implants and Wearables Safer

https://futurism.com/researchers-develop-bendable-batteries-that-could-make-implants-and-wearables-safer/

Why It’s Taking Less and Less to Manufacture More of the Things We Want

Achieving mature nanotech will only extend this even more dramatically:

https://singularityhub.com/2017/08/11/why-its-taking-less-and-less-to-manufacture-more-of-the-things-we-want/

Humans and robots are on the cusp of a sexual intimacy we may never reverse

Smart phones have degraded social skills too, but nobody wants to give up their smart phones:

https://qz.com/1049138/sex-with-robots-is-on-the-cusp-of-becoming-a-worrying-reality-warns-a-robot-ethicist/

Scientists Hit Breakthrough In Quest To Transplant Pig Organs Into Humans

As Helmut Hassenpheffer would say, you can take the PERV out of the pig, but you can't take the pig out of the perv:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pig-organ-human-transplant-virus-free_us_598b18f1e4b0d793738bde3d

World’s Leading Physicist Says Quantum Computers Are “Tools of Destruction, Not Creation”

Am I mistaken in thinking that an easy way to thwart quantum computers attempting to break encryption or passwords would be to simply physically allow only one attempt per, say, five seconds? A one-in-a-billion chance per attempt would thus take almost 160 years.

https://futurism.com/worlds-leading-physicist-says-quantum-computers-are-tools-of-destruction-not-creation/

What Are the Ethical Consequences of Immortality Technology?

Nothing new, but a good summary:

https://singularityhub.com/2017/08/09/what-are-the-ethical-consequences-of-immortality-technology/

'Self-driving car' actually controlled by man dressed up as a car seat

Shit's gettin' weird:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/08/self-driving-autonomous-vehicle-man-dressed-up-as-car-seat-arlington-virginia-tech-university

Scientists Develop Nano-chip To Heal Damaged Organs In A Single Touch

Okay, now this sounds like the stuff of science fiction:

https://nano-magazine.com/news/2017/8/7/scientists-develop-nano-chip-to-heal-damaged-organs-in-a-single-touch/

Blocking HDAC2 Enzyme May Reverse Memory Loss Caused by Alzheimer’s Disease

And more promising Alzheimer's treatments:

https://scitechdaily.com/blocking-hdac2-enzyme-may-reverse-alzheimers-disease-memory-loss/

An Algorithm Trained on Emoji Knows When You’re Being Sarcastic on Twitter

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608387/an-algorithm-trained-on-emoji-knows-when-youre-being-sarcastic-on-twitter/?mc_cid=9c1e27a966&mc_eid=c4215c6c8c

11 Incredible Things CRISPR Has Helped Us Achieve in 2017

https://futurism.com/11-incredible-things-crispr-has-helped-us-achieve-in-2017/

Study Shows Lysosomes Greatly Accelerate Formation of Amyloid Plaques

A promising treatment to keep us from losing our minds before advanced nanotech comes along?

https://scitechdaily.com/study-shows-lysosomes-greatly-accelerate-formation-of-amyloid-plaques/

California Aims to Use 100% Renewable Energy by 2045

We keep leading the nation on the environment:

https://futurism.com/california-aims-to-use-100-renewable-energy-by-2045/

Breakthrough Stem Cell Study Offers New Clues to Reversing Aging

Another big potential game-changer:

https://singularityhub.com/2017/08/06/these-stem-cells-are-key-to-controlling-aging/

Chinese chatbots apparently re-educated after political faux pas

And here's a good reason why having China dominate A.I. research is a bad idea:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-robots-idUSKBN1AK0G1

1984 much?

Why China’s AI push is worrying

I'm not the only one concerned about China's growing efforts in A.I. and other high-tech fields:

https://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21725561-state-controlled-corporations-are-developing-powerful-artificial-intelligence-why-chinas-ai-push

China Is On its Way to Being the Next Tech Superpower

Damn, I wish it were almost any other Asian country:

https://singularityhub.com/2017/08/03/china-is-on-its-way-to-being-the-next-tech-superpower/

U.S. Scientists Use CRISPR to Fix Genetic Disease in Human Embryos For the First Time

More and better detail about the first CRISPR-edited embryo in the US:

http://time.com/4882855/crispr-gene-editing-human-embryo/?xid=newsletter-brief

Hyperloop One Passes Second Full System Test — Faster Than Ever Before

I'm still highly skeptical that all the many hurdles can be handled, but here is a more successful test than the last one:

https://futurism.com/hyperloop-one-passes-second-full-system-test-faster-than-ever-before/

First U.S. Human Embryo Gene Editing Experiment Successfully “Corrects” a Heart Condition

And more on CRIPR in its first US test on a live embryo:

https://futurism.com/first-u-s-human-embryo-gene-editing-experiment-successfully-corrects-a-heart-condition/

Metal instability achieves energy-efficient nanotechnology

https://nano-magazine.com/news/2017/7/31/metal-instability-achieves-energy-efficient-nanotechnology

Facebook didn’t kill its language-building AI because it was too smart—it was actually too dumb

A correction:

https://qz.com/1043365/facebook-didnt-kill-its-language-building-ai-because-it-was-too-smart-it-was-actually-too-dumb/?mc_cid=8ea07c4332&mc_eid=c4215c6c8c