The Great A.I. Awakening

This is a very long but great article on how Google's Translator A.I. had a massive improvement in accuracy over a short time period, and how it will affect so much more. This is likely a step in the singularity:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/12/14/magazine/the-great-ai-awakening.html

Amazon patent reveals its drone-deploying flying warehouse plan

https://www.engadget.com/2016/12/29/amazon-airborne-fulfillment-center-patents/

Emerging Markets Lead the Way to Cheapest-Ever Solar Energy

https://singularityhub.com/2016/12/29/emerging-markets-lead-the-way-to-cheapest-ever-solar-energy/

Why the Latest AI Wave Will Gain Momentum in the Coming Year

https://singularityhub.com/2016/12/26/why-the-latest-ai-wave-will-gain-momentum-in-the-coming-year/

47% of Jobs Will Disappear in the next 25 Years, According to Oxford University

All the more reason to look into a universal basic income:

http://bigthink.com/philip-perry/47-of-jobs-in-the-next-25-years-will-disappear-according-to-oxford-university

Your Smartphone’s Next Big Trick? To Make You Healthier Than Ever

https://singularityhub.com/2016/12/25/your-smartphones-next-big-trick-to-make-you-healthier-than-ever/#.WGP5Xk7Emb0.facebook

Bionic Humans: This Sleek Power Suit Helps Restore Mobility

This is how it starts. People are always fine with technology that helps people overcome a disadvantage, but then it's just a short hop to augmenting humans:

https://futurism.com/bionic-humans-this-sleek-power-suit-helps-restore-mobility/

Watch Tesla’s Autopilot Avoid a Major Accident With Just Seconds to Spare

This is almost spooky:

https://futurism.com/watch-teslas-autopilot-avoid-a-major-accident-with-just-seconds-to-spare/

The video should work on this link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tesla-autopilot-predict-crash_us_5863c7cbe4b0d9a594599df4

Echo And Alexa Are Two Years Old. Here's What Amazon Has Learned So Far

https://www.fastcompany.com/3065179/mind-and-machine/echo-and-alexa-are-two-years-old-heres-what-amazon-has-learned-so-far

Ray Kurzweil’s Mind-Boggling Predictions for the Next 25 Years

https://singularityhub.com/2015/01/26/ray-kurzweils-mind-boggling-predictions-for-the-next-25-years/

The nearest, most impacting effect:

"By the 2020s, most diseases will go away as nanobots become smarter than current medical technology. Normal human eating can be replaced by nanosystems. The Turing test begins to be passable. Self-driving cars begin to take over the roads, and people won’t be allowed to drive on highways."

The Google Assistant Needs You

https://backchannel.com/google-our-assistant-will-trigger-the-next-era-of-ai-3c72a4d7bc75#.rvybnpth7

"This 2016-to-2017 Transition is going to move us from systems that are explicitly taught to ones that implicitly learn.” Think of it as a mini-Singularity."

A Secret Ops AI Aims to Save Education

https://backchannel.com/a-secret-ops-ai-aims-to-save-education-c1c887a56a67#.365fmcwnn

“I haven’t been able to tell,” says Duri Long, a student in Goel’s physical class, to the nods of her friends. “I think if you can’t tell, it’s pretty effective, and I think it’s a good thing, because people can get help more rapidly.”

That's a good sign for passing the Turing Test.

Method discovered to remove damaging amyloid plaques found in Alzheimer’s disease

http://www.kurzweilai.net/method-discovered-to-remove-damaging-amyloid-plaques-found-in-alzheimers-disease

Exponential Growth Will Transform Humanity in the Next 30 Years

https://singularityhub.com/2016/12/21/exponential-growth-will-transform-humanity-in-the-next-30-years/#.WFw-lSlBrKo.facebook

Unfortunately, this all assumes Trump doesn't outlaw science....

Laser-Based Propulsion System Could Get Us to Mars in Record Time—Just Three Days

http://bigthink.com/philip-perry/laser-based-propulsion-system-could-get-us-to-mars-in-record-time-just-three-days

Mark Zuckerberg Just Unveiled His Newest Creation, an AI Named Jarvis

Watch the video. It's probably not entirely "real," but impressive nevertheless:

https://futurism.com/mark-zuckerberg-just-unveiled-his-newest-creation-an-ai-named-jarvis/

$5.2 Trillion in Investments Pulled From the Fossil Fuel Industry

Nice to see such a seismic shift away from fossil fuel investing:

https://futurism.com/5-2-trillion-in-investments-pulled-from-the-fossil-fuel-industry/

Parkour! Watch This Animal-Inspired Robot Spring Off Walls

This should ultimately be more effective than the big, lumbering Terminators:

https://futurism.com/videos/parkour-watch-this-animal-inspired-robot-spring-off-walls/

The ‘Miracle Material’ Strikes Again. Graphene Can Turn CO2 Into Liquid Fuel

The big question is...can it pull CO2 directly out of the atmosphere?

https://futurism.com/the-miracle-material-strikes-again-graphene-can-turn-co2-into-liquid-fuel/

Sunny Days: Solar is Officially Becoming the Cheapest Form of New Electricity

"Solar power is now around half the price of coal and gas, making it cheaper than wind energy, and ultimately the cheapest form of new electricity."

https://futurism.com/sunny-days-solar-is-officially-becoming-the-cheapest-form-of-new-electricity/

A New Theory of Gravity Just Passed its First Test. Here’s What This Means for Physics

https://futurism.com/a-new-theory-of-gravity-just-passed-its-first-test-heres-what-this-means-for-physics/

Limitless Energy: South Korean Reactor Sets a New Record for Stable Nuclear Fusion

https://futurism.com/limitless-energy-south-korean-reactor-sets-a-new-record-for-stable-nuclear-fusion/

What the F... reeze: MIT Researchers Create Nano-Ice At Scorching Temperatures

Boiling hot ice? What's next? Rational Trump supporters?

http://bigthink.com/scotty-hendricks/ice-when-there-should-be-fire

A robotic hand with a human’s delicate sense of touch

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-robotic-hand-with-a-humans-delicate-sense-of-touch

Ageing process may be reversible, scientists claim

I hope we are still young enough to take full advantage of this by the time it becomes available:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/dec/15/ageing-process-may-be-reversible-scientists-claim?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1

This Is the Holographic AI Servant of Your Dreams…or Maybe Your Nightmares

SO Japanese:

https://futurism.com/this-is-the-holographic-ai-servant-of-your-dreams-or-maybe-your-nightmares/

How Japan’s Radically Different Approach to AI Could Lead to Wild New Tech

http://time.com/4602600/honda-car-emotional-ai-artifical-intelligence-neuv/?xid=newsletter-brief

Self-Driving Uber Blows Through Red Light On First Day In San Francisco

Uh-oh:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/self-driving-uber-san-fran-red-light-video_us_5851c9c5e4b0732b82fedb01

U.S. Sets Staggering Record with 191% Growth in Solar Power Installations in 2016

https://futurism.com/u-s-sets-staggering-record-with-191-growth-in-solar-power-installations-in-2016/

New Method Could Accelerate Graphene Production

http://scitechdaily.com/new-method-could-accelerate-graphene-production/

Scientists Turn Nuclear Waste into Diamond Batteries That’ll Last for Thousands of Years

They're too weak and expensive right now, but if they can be improved, practical nuclear batteries could last thousands of years...without recharging!

http://bigthink.com/philip-perry/scientists-turn-nuclear-waste-in-diamond-batteries-thatll-last-for-thousands-of-years

Meet Waymo, Google's self-driving car company

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN142223?ncid=newsltushpmgnews

Automation and Robots Could Permanently Disrupt Capitalism

https://futurism.com/automation-and-robots-could-permanently-disrupt-capitalism/

This Self-Healing Tech Could Let Us Reach the Closest Alien Stars in Just 20 Years

https://futurism.com/this-self-healing-tech-could-let-us-reach-the-closest-alien-stars-in-just-20-years/

A machine-learning system that trains itself by surfing the web

Self-improvement...THE central element of the singularity:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-machine-learning-system-that-trains-itself-by-surfing-the-web

A ‘Star Trek’-like anti-matter engine could power humanity to the nearest star

Light on details, but intriguing nevertheless:

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2016/12/alpha-centauri-anti-matter-engine

Super strong graphene foam

https://futurism.com/sciencenonfiction/graphene/

Nuclear Plant 'Doesn't Fit' In The Future Grid, Utility Executive Says

Nuclear failing for an unexpected reason:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2016/12/07/nuclear-plant-doesnt-fit-in-the-future-grid-utility-executive-says/#4a5bbf8611b1

Supercapacitor Breakthrough Allows Electric Vehicle Charging In Seconds

This would require massively powerful charging stations, but it sounds extremely promising:

http://www.hybridcars.com/supercapacitor-breakthrough-allows-electric-vehicle-charging-in-seconds/

The CRISPR Pioneers: Their Breakthrough Work Could Change the World

I really love the potential of this technology:

http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-crispr-runner-up/?xid=newsletter-brief

The W7-X Is One Step Closer to Creating Nuclear Fusion

The video shows how massively complicated the torus structure is:

https://futurism.com/the-w7-x-is-one-step-closer-to-creating-nuclear-fusion/

How Much Does It Cost To Charge An Electric Car?

For some perspective:

https://pluginamerica.org/how-much-does-it-cost-charge-electric-car/

Scientists Target Protein Imbalance In Blood To Slow Aging

https://futurism.com/scientists-target-protein-imbalance-in-blood-to-slow-aging/

Living Forever: What it Means to Have an “Indefinite Lifespan”

https://futurism.com/living-forever-what-it-means-to-have-an-indefinite-lifespan/

Atlas the Life-Sized Robot Just Became a Bit More Human

 Boston Dynamics robots keep getting better and better balance:

https://futurism.com/atlas-the-life-sized-robot-just-became-a-bit-more-human/

Nation's Largest Solar Installer to Open Florida Facility

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/nations-largest-solar-installer-open-florida-facility-43899405

Flexible Muscle-Based Locomotion for Bipedal Creatures

This is old, but it shows a fascinating evolution of bipedal robotic muscle action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgaEE27nsQw

TODAY ONLY: Get Involved in the World’s Biggest Quantum Physics Experiment Happening Right Now

This is different!

https://futurism.com/get-involved-in-the-worlds-biggest-quantum-physics-experiment-happening-right-now/

Nanotubes can turn water solid when it should be boiling

Boiling hot water ice and Donald Trump was elected president. Now I've seen everything:

https://www.engadget.com/2016/11/29/nanotubes-can-turn-water-solid-when-it-should-be-boiling/

Controversial New AI Can Tell Whether or Not You’re A Criminal

Suck it, Minority Report:

https://futurism.com/controversial-new-ai-can-tell-whether-or-not-youre-a-criminal/

New neural-network algorithm learns directly from human instructions instead of examples

http://www.kurzweilai.net/new-neural-network-algorithm-learns-directly-from-human-instructions-instead-of-examples

I think it bears repeating that the AI learned to outperform its teacher.

Battery breakthrough charges in seconds, lasts for a week

Sounds like a massive game-changer...if it comes to market:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/battery-breakthrough-charges-in-seconds-lasts-for-a-week

Remarkable New Theory Says There's No Gravity, No Dark Matter, and Einstein Was Wrong

http://bigthink.com/paul-ratner/remarkable-new-theory-says-theres-no-gravity-no-dark-matter-and-einstein-was-wrong

New, Groundbreaking Revelation Brings Us Closer to Nuclear Fusion

https://futurism.com/new-groundbreaking-revelation-brings-us-closer-to-nuclear-fusion/

Intelligence May Stem From a Basic Algorithm in the Human Brain

https://futurism.com/intelligence-may-stem-from-a-basic-algorithm-in-the-human-brain/

Hmm, I'd thought the equation was 6x9=42....

Solar's Feast in Famine

https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-11-23/solar-industry-makes-feast-of-price-famine

Semiconductor-free microelectronics using metamaterials: faster, can handle more power

http://www.kurzweilai.net/semiconductor-free-microelectronics-using-metamaterials-faster-can-handle-more-power

Blood from human teens rejuvenates body and brains of old mice

This is the best argument for vampires yet:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2112829-blood-from-human-teens-rejuvenates-body-and-brains-of-old-mice/

New Record! Robot Solves Rubik's Cube in Less Than a Second

Case in point:

http://www.livescience.com/56828-robot-sets-rubiks-cube-world-record.html

IBM's Watson is the newest hip songwriter

The song doesn't stand out from any of the other average stuff out there...but one must never forget: machines just keep getting better:

http://mashable.com/2016/10/24/ibm-watson-writes-song/#oTVrOsfrBOq9

Inside Magic Leap, The Secretive $4.5 Billion Startup Changing Computing Forever

The next step in augmented reality. I love it when technological advancements are shown to be moving faster than we think:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidewalt/2016/11/02/inside-magic-leap-the-secretive-4-5-billion-startup-changing-computing-forever/#13cc6162e83f

IBM Is Developing a Super Molecule to Destroy All Viruses

Speeding up mutations in viruses until they collapse:

http://bigthink.com/philip-perry/watson-supercomputer-will-help-ibm-create-a-cure-for-all-viruses

3D-printed permanent magnets outperform conventional versions and enables batteries with complex shapes

http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/11/3d-printed-permanent-magnets-outperform.html

MIT Engineers Design a New Weapon Against Bacteria

Defeating bacteria and viruses is critical to our long-term survival (at least until we have nanomachines in each of our cells, monitoring for infection and destroying invaders), so this is important:

http://scitechdaily.com/mit-engineers-design-a-new-weapon-against-bacteria/

Alice, Bob, and Eve Are Neural Networks. And They Have Secrets.

AI can lie. Uh-oh:

http://bigthink.com/robby-berman/alice-bob-and-eve-are-neural-networks-and-they-have-secrets

Cambridge Scientists Develop Quintuple-Power Battery Inspired By Gut Bacteria

With all these promising battery technologies in the works, surely one has to succeed soon:

http://bigthink.com/natalie-shoemaker/how-we-digest-food-could-inspire-better-longer-lasting-lithium-sulfur-battery

How Nanoscience Will Improve Our Lives in the Coming Years

http://scitechdaily.com/how-nanoscience-will-improve-our-lives-in-the-coming-years/

The Google Assistant Needs You

It's thrilling to watch the incremental steps toward true general A.I.:

https://backchannel.com/google-our-assistant-will-trigger-the-next-era-of-ai-3c72a4d7bc75#.f126ryiio

"This 2016-to-2017 Transition is going to move us from systems that are explicitly taught to ones that implicitly learn.” Think of it as a mini-Singularity."

Elon Musk is using Apple’s playbook to make your roof a beautiful solar power plant

With the PowerWall 2 holding twice the charge, this is very tempting:

http://qz.com/822642/elon-musk-is-using-apples-playbook-to-turn-your-roof-into-a-gorgeous-solar-power-plant/

Planets Around Stars Like Proxima Centauri Are Probably Earth-Sized Water Worlds

Damn, that's some serious water-worlding:

http://www.universetoday.com/131668/planets-around-proxima-likely-water-worlds/#

Would You Like to Be Uploaded to a Computer When You Die?

https://howwegettonext.com/would-you-like-to-be-uploaded-to-a-computer-when-you-die-7026ac931278#.6c3vz7z0x

‘Atomic sandwich’ computing material uses 100 times less energy

http://www.kurzweilai.net/atomic-sandwich-computing-material-uses-100-times-less-energy

Ultra-low-power transistors could function for years without a battery

"If we were to draw energy from a typical AA battery based on this design, it would last for a billion years." Wow.

http://www.kurzweilai.net/ultra-low-power-transistors-could-function-for-years-without-a-battery

Why humans should bully driverless cars

Just for fun:

https://medium.com/abc-news-australia/why-humans-should-bully-driverless-cars-87eebd9814b0#.p5jt242e0

New Wind Energy Study Aims to Break Transmission Barriers

I really, really hate the Koch brothers....

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

Self-Driving Trucks Are Going to Hit Us Like a Human-Driven Truck

A good, detailed analysis of the inevitable impact of the self-driving car...and an appeal for a universal basic income:

https://medium.com/basic-income/self-driving-trucks-are-going-to-hit-us-like-a-human-driven-truck-b8507d9c5961#.tuohzxsmc

Plunging solar equipment prices fuel trade complaints

Trouble in paradise....

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/plunging-solar-equipment-prices-fuel-trade-complaints/2016/10/25/9b91a1ca-9a6b-11e6-b552-b1f85e484086_story.html

Waste, Families Left Behind As Nuclear Plants Close

Maybe toss the waste into volcanoes? Better yet, subduction plates?

http://www.npr.org/2016/10/24/498842677/waste-families-left-behind-as-nuclear-plants-close

The Pentagon’s ‘Terminator Conundrum’: Robots That Could Kill on Their Own

They say it's not about terminators...but come on, it is:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/10/26/us/pentagon-artificial-intelligence-terminator.html

AI predicts outcomes of human rights trials

Despite what the article says, could this be the beginning of the end of judges and lawyers? Fuck yeah!

http://phys.org/news/2016-10-ai-outcomes-human-rights-trials.html

Fooling The Machine The Byzantine Science of Deceiving Artificial Intelligence

http://www.popsci.com/byzantine-science-deceiving-artificial-intelligence

Historic Achievement: Microsoft researchers reach human parity in conversational speech recognition

I already dictate almost every email and text on my phone, so this is a welcome achievement:

http://blogs.microsoft.com/next/2016/10/18/historic-achievement-microsoft-researchers-reach-human-parity-conversational-speech-recognition/#sm.0000euuun0ph8d53wy62kw5oi2fdi

Atieva, Now Lucid Motors, Previews a Camaro-Looking Tesla Model S Fighter

https://www.yahoo.com/news/atieva-now-lucid-motors-previews-205358275.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=fb

Barack Obama on Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Cars, and the Future of Humanity

Obama is a fellow geek! I hadn't realized how well versed he is in matters like science fiction and the singularity:

https://www.wired.com/2016/10/president-obama-mit-joi-ito-interview/

Scientists Accidentally Create Simple Solution to Global Warming

This is pretty stunning:

http://bigthink.com/laurie-vazquez/scientists-accidentally-create-easy-solution-to-global-warming

GE Buys LM Wind Power For $1.6B For Bigger, Cheaper Wind Turbines

"Although onshore wind is cost-competitive with fossil fuels and even with hydropower in some parts of the world, a recent study from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found wind power could see another 25 percent cost decline by 2030."

http://breakingenergy.com/2016/10/17/ge-buys-lm-wind-power-for-1-6b-for-bigger-cheaper-wind-turbines/

Give a 3D printer artificial intelligence, and this is what you’ll get

"Ai Build’s first stand out structure was printed for just $185 — a fraction of the $31,000 Cam said a competitor quoted to print a structure with the same specifications."

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/ai-build-wants-to-change-the-way-we-build-the-future/

Self-Driving Car Sensors Just Got Smaller, Cheaper, and Better All at Once

"Quanergy competitor Velodyne’s most advanced sensor, the PUCK VLP-16, is currently priced at $7,999. Quanergy plans to sell the S3 for $250. It will take three S3s for a car to get an all-around view, but that’s still well under a grand. Velodyne is also developing the VLP-32, which will sell for under $500 and will be powerful enough for autonomous driving."

http://singularityhub.com/2016/10/16/driverless-car-sensors-just-got-smaller-cheaper-and-better-all-at-once/#.WASyjXkvIEY.facebook

How Apple Scaled Back Its Titanic Plan to Take on Detroit

Not great news:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-17/how-apple-scaled-back-its-titanic-plan-to-take-on-detroit

Quantum Physics – Teleporting Toward a Quantum Internet

http://scitechdaily.com/quantum-physics-teleporting-toward-quantum-internet/

MIT’s Alcator C-Mod Tokamak Nuclear Fusion Reactor Sets World Record

Solar is more promising in the short run, but fusion still has great potential:

http://scitechdaily.com/mits-alcator-c-mod-tokamak-nuclear-fusion-reactor-sets-world-record/

Sam Harris: Can we build AI without losing control over it?

Yeah, this the kind of potential suicide I still want to pursue:

https://www.ted.com/talks/sam_harris_can_we_build_ai_without_losing_control_over_it

Electric cars reportedly may account for 2/3 of all cars in wealthy cities by 2030

http://venturebeat.com/2016/10/11/electric-cars-reportedly-may-account-for-23-of-all-cars-in-wealthy-cities-by-2030/

Berkeley Lab announces first transistor with a working 1-nanometer gate

And Moore's Law just keeps chugging along, despite the feared quantum tunneling problem:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/berkeley-lab-announces-first-transistor-with-a-working-1-nanometer-gate

Kites Could Soon Power An Entire Region of Scotland

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/kites-are-poised-to-power-an-entire-region-of-scotland

MIT’s new software makes multi-material 3D printing easy

And another step in home manufacturing:

https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/11/mits-new-software-makes-multi-material-3d-printing-easy/amp/

Charlie Rose interviews…a robot?

Getting there...slowly but surely:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-charlie-rose-interviews-a-robot-sophia/

Warren Buffett stuffs Donald Trump's tax lies right back in his orange-tinted face

This SHOULD shame Trump into releasing his tax returns...but if he's hiding something, he won't (besides, he's shameless):

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/10/10/1580436/-Warren-Buffet-stuffs-Donald-Trump-tax-lies-right-back-in-his-orange-tinted-face

The Spooky Secret Behind Artificial Intelligence's Incredible Power

http://www.livescience.com/56415-neural-networks-mimic-the-laws-of-physics.html

This is what an A.I.-powered future looks like

http://venturebeat.com/2016/10/07/this-is-what-an-a-i-powered-future-looks-like/

Tech billionaires think we live in the Matrix and have asked scientists to get us out

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/tech-billionaires-think-live-matrix-093735189.html

I'm not putting any money on it, and I'm open to this sort of idea....

Physicists just created the world's first time crystal

If this doesn't make your head spin, you weren't paying attention:

http://www.sciencealert.com/physicists-just-created-the-world-s-first-time-crystal

Snow-melting solar roads are being tested publicly for the first time in the US

http://www.businessinsider.com/solar-road-panels-first-public-test-2016-10

As a motorcyclist, my biggest concern would be how good the traction is while leaning and breaking on a glass surface. That could be a real problem even for cars.

Don’t be fooled, the cost of clean energy continues to drop dramatically

I myself noticed the flattening indicated by the charts in this post:

http://advancingtechnologies.blogspot.com/2016/10/doe-charts-show-why-climate-doom-and.html

But this article seeks to note how the perception of flattening isn't the actuality:

https://thinkprogress.org/clean-energy-chart-confuses-media-63088cdeadf3#.ef6qnm7zx

I was concerned

The Race to Autonomy -- An Investor's Guide to Self-Driving Cars

http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/10/02/the-race-to-autonomy-a-capitalists-guide-to-self-d.aspx#.V_QP3ScJOAI.facebook

2016 Nobel Prize in chemistry awarded for the design and synthesis of molecular machines

Another step toward mature nanotech:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/2016-nobel-prize-chemistry_us_57f4c8b9e4b04c71d6f112b2

Dramatic Price Drops For Solar & Wind Electricity Set To Continue

https://irenanewsroom.org/2016/06/15/dramatic-price-drops-for-solar-wind-electricity-set-to-continue/

Germany’s Clean Energy Revolution Focuses On Empowering Individuals

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/germany-clean-energy_us_57f2bb50e4b0d0e1a9a92a54?

I initially read and rejected posting this as only mildly interesting, but your FB post, Mark, convinced me it should be blogged. :-)

DOE charts show why climate doom and gloom isn't needed

https://flipboard.com/@flipboard/flip.it%2Frl_v2v-doe-charts-show-why-climate-doom-and-gl/f-af31e0f358%2Ftheguardian.com

Is Elon Musk's Plan to Send People to Mars Feasible?

http://www.livescience.com/56331-how-feasible-is-spacex-mars-plan.html

D-Wave Systems previews 2000-qubit quantum processor

http://www.kurzweilai.net/d-wave-systems-previews-2000-qubit-quantum-system

Driverless future? Not so fast say Americans

Well, mainly older Americans:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2016/09/28/driverless-future-not-so-fast-say-americans/

Virtual Reality Sex Suits Are Finally Here & For Dirt Cheap!

And the long slide into teledildonics begins...

http://allday.com/post/10195-virtual-reality-sex-suits-are-finally-here-for-dirt-cheap/

Researchers Develop Shape-Programmable Miniscule Robots

http://scitechdaily.com/researchers-develop-shape-programmable-miniscule-robots/

Here's how much of the US would need to be covered in wind turbines to power the nation

http://www.businessinsider.com/wind-turbines-to-power-earth-2016-9

IBM shows how fast its brain-like chip can learn

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3123452/hardware/ibm-shows-how-fast-its-brain-like-chip-can-learn.html

The Robot Taxi Takeover Is Already Beginning in Singapore

And so it begins!

http://time.com/4505497/robot-taxi-driverless-car-singapore/

Microsoft announces new AI-powered health care initiatives targeting cancer

http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/20/12986314/microsoft-ai-healthcare-project-hanover-cancer

Companies offer to build cheapest solar plant ever

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2016/09/20/companies-offer-to-build-cheapest-solar-plant-ever/

Ford Targets Fully Autonomous Vehicle For Ride Sharing In 2021

https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2016/08/16/ford-targets-fully-autonomous-vehicle-for-ride-sharing-in-2021.html

Self-Driving Cars Gain Powerful Ally: The Government

http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2016/09/19/Barack-Obama-Self-driving-yes-but-also-safe/stories/201609200027

and

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/20/technology/self-driving-cars-guidelines.html

These six plant extracts could delay aging

http://www.kurzweilai.net/these-six-plant-extracts-could-delay-aging

Paralyzed man regains use of arms and hands after experimental stem cell therapy

http://www.kurzweilai.net/paralyzed-man-regains-use-of-arms-and-hands-after-experimental-stem-cell-therapy

‘Perfect’ low-cost, defect-free graphene directly from graphite

Since this is a major material for nanotech, this is likely a big deal:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/perfect-low-cost-defect-free-graphene-directly-from-graphite

Solar Industry Experiences Record-Breaking Growth

http://www.ecowatch.com/solar-energy-record-growth-2003130851.html?xrs=RebelMouse_fb

"A new solar installation was completed every 82 seconds in the first half of 2016, equaling more than 1,000 installs every day. This frequency is what will take the current total of 1.1 million solar systems, which took 40 years to reach, to 2 million systems by 2018."

GTA is teaching self-driving cars how to navigate better in the real world

http://thenextweb.com/artificial-intelligence/2016/09/12/gta-teaching-self-driving-cars-steer/#gref

and

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602317/self-driving-cars-can-learn-a-lot-by-playing-grand-theft-auto/

BTW, "Darmstadt" is German for "Intestine City." Ew.

Self-Driving Cars Could Help Save the Environment—Or Ruin It. It Depends on Us

I hadn't thought about this perspective:

http://time.com/4476614/self-driving-cars-environment/?xid=newsletter-brief

Google's DeepMind artificial intelligence has figured out how to talk

http://www.businessinsider.com/google-deepmind-wavenet-speech-2016-9?r=UK&IR=T

And for sound examples:

https://deepmind.com/blog/wavenet-generative-model-raw-audio/

3 Big Trends Shaking Up the Energy Industry

Yup, these are the three biggies. Once all three are in place, I think internal combustion engines will die a relatively rapid death:

http://singularityhub.com/2016/09/05/3-big-trends-shaking-up-the-energy-industry/#.V9C37M3tAXI.facebook

Pollution particles 'get into brain'

Yikes:

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37276219

A cheap, long-lasting, sustainable battery for grid energy storage

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-cheap-long-lasting-sustainable-battery-for-grid-energy-storage

"University of Waterloo chemists have developed a long-lasting, safe, zinc-ion battery that costs half the price of current lithium-ion batteries."

Google’s secret plan for quantum computer supremacy

http://www.kurzweilai.net/googles-secret-plan-for-quantum-computer-supremacy

How AI may affect urban life in 2030

No, unfortunately this isn't a list of changes, just announcing that it is being studied:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/how-ai-may-affect-urban-life-in-2030

Can a whole country run on renewable energy?

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/01/world/eco-solutions-renewables-spc/index.html

100% by 2040? Now that's more like it.

New analysis shows eastern US can handle 30 percent renewable electricity

http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/08/new-analysis-shows-eastern-us-can-handle-30-percent-renewable-electricity/

"both Hawaii and California have set targets of 50 percent renewable energy by 2030. But, in an effort to keep the pace, New York recently announced that it, too, would be aiming to get to 50 percent renewables by that date."

Still not enough, but getting the grid to handle such intermittent sources of energy may be the sticking point.

Engineers Design a New Solar Cell That is More Efficient and Costs Less

http://scitechdaily.com/mit-engineers-design-a-new-solar-cell-that-is-more-efficient-and-costs-less/

"The team’s step-cell concept can reach theoretical efficiencies above 40 percent and estimated practical efficiencies of 35 percent."

‘Star in a jar’ could lead to limitless fusion energy

http://www.kurzweilai.net/star-in-a-jar-could-lead-to-limitless-fusion-energy

It's always 30 years away...but it would still be a great option to have in addition to solar and wind.

LEDs, Not Solar, Have Transformed Their Industry

http://breakingenergy.com/2016/08/29/leds-not-solar-have-transformed-their-industry/

"We expect the light output per unit of electricity for LEDs to double from 2015 to 2125 as efficiency gains continue."

Great, and the LED bulbs I bought five years ago are already obsolete, though they should last until 2030!

Offshore wind costs hit a record low with Dutch wind farm

http://www.triplepundit.com/podium/offshore-wind-costs-hit-record-low-dutch-wind-farm/

"This is a major contribution to the Netherlands’ goal of 16% sustainable energy in 2023, states the Dutch government."

The part that I don't quite get is that despite these major developments, we're still talking projected sustainable energy percentages (both in this article and the Texas one before this) in the teens. I hope they are making the classical mistake of not taking into account the rapid economies of scale and technological improvement. Because we need to do a lot better than that over the next couple decades.

Offshore wind costs hit a record low with Dutch wind farm

http://www.triplepundit.com/podium/offshore-wind-costs-hit-record-low-dutch-wind-farm/

"This is a major contribution to the Netherlands’ goal of 16% sustainable energy in 2023, states the Dutch government."

The part that I don't quite get is that despite these major developments, we're still talking projected sustainable energy percentages (both in this article and the Texas one before this) in the teens. I hope they are making the classical mistake of not taking into account the rapid economies of scale and technological improvement. Because we need to do a lot better than that over the next couple decades.

How Texas Raised the Bar on Renewable Energy

http://247wallst.com/energy-economy/2016/08/29/how-texas-raised-the-bar-on-renewable-energy/

Big data, Google and the end of free will

The humanism argument's a bit weak, but the rest is interesting. It ties well into David Brin's "The Transparent Society," which argues that privacy will soon disappear due to impending technological advances:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/50bb4830-6a4c-11e6-ae5b-a7cc5dd5a28c.html

Flying with the Fourth State of Matter

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/space/plasma-air-control/

New Lidar Chips for Self-Driving Vehicles are Smaller Than a Dime, Cost $10 to Manufacture

https://mishtalk.com/2016/08/24/new-lidar-chips-smaller-than-a-dime-cost-10-to-manufacture/

Considering $10,000 was a low price a year ago, this is significant!

This Edible Packaging Is Made From Milk Protein

http://mentalfloss.com/article/84958/edible-packaging-made-milk-protein

Solar Cost Hits World's New Low, Half the Price of Coal

http://www.ecowatch.com/solar-price-chile-1982242311.html

NVIDIA's made-for-autonomous-cars CPU is freaking powerful

https://www.engadget.com/2016/08/23/nvidia-parker-processor-autonomous-cars/

Beyond Wi-Fi

http://www.kurzweilai.net/beyond-wi-fi

GE is building America's first offshore wind farm with turbines twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty

https://amp.businessinsider.com/ge-building-wind-turbine-farm-at-block-island-2016-8

How to separate out semiconducting carbon nanotubes

http://www.kurzweilai.net/how-to-separate-out-semiconducting-carbon-nanotubes

Ford Aims to Have Self-Driving Cars Take to Roads by 2021

http://www.livescience.com/55783-ford-announces-self-driving-cars-by-2021.html

Half A Billion Solar Panels By 2021: U.S. Army Makes It Look Easy

http://www.triplepundit.com/2016/08/half-billion-solar-panels-2021-u-s-army-makes-look-easy/

Utilities Fighting Lower Electric Bill Zombie Apocalypse

http://www.triplepundit.com/2016/08/utilities-fighting-lower-electric-bill-zombie-apocalypse/

"What is obviously missing in EEI’s perspective is a utility’s obligation to keep bills low in the face of competition just like businesses not protected by regulators and legislators."

Self-propelling liquid metals: the future of soft electronics?

http://www.kurzweilai.net/self-propelling-liquid-metals-the-future-of-soft-electronics

"May be possible to build a [T-1000-style] 3D liquid metal humanoid on demand”

Oh, yeah!

A Robotic Suit Is Helping Paralyzed People Feel Their Legs Again

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/robotic-suit-paralyzed-breakthrough_us_57ac6892e4b06e52746f54f6?utm_hp_ref=whats-working

The oil industry's massive supply-and-demand problem is about to get even worse

http://www.businessinsider.com/iea-report-on-global-oil-demand-and-supply-2016-8

This doesn't help the alternative energies sector, unfortunately. I'd rather see oil prices go through the roof, galvanizing a "moon shot" for solar and batteries.

Elon Musk announces ‘Solar Roof’ product, Tesla/SolarCity will go after the roof industry

https://electrek.co/2016/08/09/tesla-solarcity-solar-roof-elon-musk/

Texas Is Drowning in Wind Energy

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a22228/texas-is-drowning-in-wind-energy/

Nuclear Power Is Losing Money At An Astonishing Rate

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/08/04/3803499/nuclear-power-bail-out/

First Reprogrammable Quantum Computer Created

http://www.livescience.com/55642-reprogrammable-quantum-computer-created.html?utm_source=ls-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20160805-ls

Federal regulator says car makers “cannot wait for perfect” on automation

http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/07/federal-regulators-says-car-makers-cannot-wait-for-perfect-on-automation/

China has actually built an elevated bus that travels above car traffic

https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/02/china-has-actually-built-that-elevated-bus-that-travels-above-car-traffic/

Better put down your radio antenna....

A New Kind of Computer Chip Could Soon Make Your Smartphone Way More Powerful

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a19318/a-new-kind-of-computer-chip-could-soon-make-your-smartphone-way-more-powerful/?click=my6sense

Resveratrol impacts Alzheimer's disease biomarker

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150911164211.htm

Scientists invent a way to create CO2 fuel from a solar leaf

"The result: an artificial leaf that turns CO2  into fuel, "at a cost comparable to a gallon of gasoline" could render fossil fuel obsolete, according to the researchers."

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0801/Scientists-invent-a-way-to-create-CO2-fuel-from-a-solar-leaf

Federal Government Aims to Develop a 500 Wh/kg Battery, 350 kW Charging System

http://www.hybridcars.com/federal-government-aims-to-develop-a-500-whkg-battery-350-kw-charging-system/

China surges further ahead in solar power production

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3098893/sustainable-it/china-surges-further-ahead-in-solar-power-production.html

Energy, For U.S. Security

http://breakingenergy.com/2016/07/26/energy-for-u-s-security/

Uncle Sam Wants You — Or at Least Your Genetic and Lifestyle Information

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/24/us/politics/precision-medicine-initiative-volunteers.html?_r=0

New Battery Could Overcome Key Drawbacks of Lithium-Air Batteries

http://scitechdaily.com/new-battery-could-overcome-key-drawbacks-of-lithium-air-batteries/

The Hyperloop: BUSTED!

Hmm, looks like the hyperloop has some probably insurmountable obstacles:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNFesa01llk

And a follow-up video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDwe2M-LDZQ

Utahns’ enthusiastic embrace of solar power could cost the state $42M

http://www.sltrib.com/news/4123522-155/utahns-enthusiastic-embrace-of-solar-power#sthash.saiw2YSb.gbpl&st_refDomain=www.facebook.com&st_refQuery=/

Solar module prices hit all-time low as inventories pile up

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3098824/sustainable-it/solar-module-prices-hit-all-time-low-as-inventories-pile-up.html

Yale Researchers Cross the “Break Even” Point in Preserving a Bit of Quantum Information

http://scitechdaily.com/yale-researchers-cross-the-break-even-point-in-preserving-a-bit-of-quantum-information/

Why Can’t Consumers Stop Driverless Cars?

https://medium.com/@mitchturck/why-cant-consumers-stop-driverless-cars-3f1f27717638#.1usxmsr0v

Updated Brain Map Identifies Nearly 100 New Regions

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/science/human-connectome-brain-map.html?referer=

Musk Reveals Four New Vehicles and a Forecast for Tesla's Future

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-21/elon-musk-reveals-how-he-forecasts-tesla-s-future

Engineers Reveal a ‘New Universe’ of Organic Molecules That Can Store Energy in Flow Batteries

http://scitechdaily.com/engineers-reveal-a-new-universe-of-organic-molecules-that-can-store-energy-in-flow-batteries/

Peering into atomically thin transistors with microwaves, scientists make a radical discovery: a one-dimensional transistor

http://www.kurzweilai.net/peering-into-atomically-thin-transistors-with-microwaves-scientists-make-a-radical-discovery-a-one-dimensional-transistor

Obama makes new push on solar power

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/288340-obama-makes-new-push-on-solar-power

You’ll Never Believe How Cheap New Solar Power Is

Lots of encouraging news:

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/07/18/3797907/solar-energy-miracle-charts/

How Far Away Is Commercial Electric Aviation?

http://insideevs.com/far-away-commercial-electric-flight/

Mayo Clinic researchers discover drug combination that helps immune system attack cancer cells

http://www.kurzweilai.net/mayo-clinic-researchers-discover-drug-combination-that-helps-immune-system-attack-cancer-cells

Record-Setting Hard Drive Writes Information One Atom At a Time

http://gizmodo.com/record-setting-hard-drive-writes-information-one-atom-a-1783740015

Still a long ways off, though....

Berkeley Lab scientists grow atomically thin transistors and circuits

http://www.kurzweilai.net/berkeley-lab-scientists-grow-atomically-thin-transistors-and-circuits

A New Design Strategy for Better Lithium Oxygen Batteries

http://scitechdaily.com/a-new-design-strategy-for-better-lithium-oxygen-batteries/

Cheapest Offshore Wind Farm In The World, Thanks To Shell

http://www.triplepundit.com/2016/07/cheapest-offshore-wind-farm-in-the-world-thanks-to-shell/#

DARPA-funded prosthetic arm set to go on sale later this year

http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/11/12147726/prosthetic-luke-arm-commercial-launch-2016

Canadian Company Turns Air Into Fuel In Climate Change Fight

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/carbon-capture-fuel_us_577a177ae4b0a629c1aa7669

‘Soft Robots’ Look Nothing Like the Machines You Know

http://time.com/4391892/soft-robotics/

World's Largest Storage Battery Will Power Los Angeles...

...during peak demand. Note: the battery is not portable:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/world-s-largest-storage-battery-will-power-los-angeles/?wt.mc=SA_Facebook-Share

Discovery Could Boost Efficiency of Perovskite Solar Cells to 31%, and Perovskite is plentiful

http://nextbigfuture.com/2016/07/discovery-could-boost-efficiency-of.html

Engineers Design Programmable RNA Vaccines That Protect Against Ebola and H1N1 Influenza

http://scitechdaily.com/engineers-design-programmable-rna-vaccines-that-protext-against-ebola-and-h1n1-influenza/

Big solar is leaving rooftop systems in the dust

Once again it's probably wise to wait before getting a rooftop solar system:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/big-solar-leaving-rooftop-systems-050001843.html

Inside the Artificial Intelligence Revolution: A Special Report

A great summary of how things are moving along in robotics and AI:

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/inside-the-artificial-intelligence-revolution-a-special-report-pt-1-20160229

Yale Engineers Turn Wasted Heat Into Power

http://scitechdaily.com/yale-engineers-turn-wasted-heat-into-power/

Falling Battery Prices Bring Opportunities and Pitfalls to EVs and Energy Storage

A 70% price drop in the last 18 months???

http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/07/01/falling-battery-prices-bring-opportunities-and-pit.aspx#.V3apwAfZ9E4.facebook

I keep wanting to get a solar system with battery backup, but the way prices keep dropping, it seems wisest to wait....

Tesla Driver Killed in Crash While Using Car’s Self-Driving System

http://time.com/4390853/tesla-self-drive-driver-killed-car-crash-auto-pilot/

I really hope this doesn't put a damper on robot cars. It shouldn't, since they're still a lot safer than humans...but you know, humans is weird.

Mad Scientist Builds a 200-Watt Laser Bazooka That Can Shoot Through a Computer Case

I want one of these hooked up to a motion sensor to blast mosquitoes, flies and ants!

http://laughingsquid.com/mad-scientist-builds-a-200-watt-laser-bazooka-that-can-shoot-through-a-computer-case/

Uber, Ford, and Google Teaming Up to Radically Change Driving Laws

It's gotta be done....

http://bigthink.com/stefani-cox/uber-ford-and-google-and-teaming-up-to-radically-change-driving-laws

SunPower's 24.1% Efficiency Record: Are We Near The Ceiling?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelkanellos/2016/06/27/sunpowers-24-1-efficiency-mark-are-we-near-the-ceiling/#7112a51f2be1

Chatbot lawyer overturns 160,000 parking tickets in London and New York

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/28/chatbot-ai-lawyer-donotpay-parking-tickets-london-new-york

Replacing the lawyers! Yay! That's the best way to have both sides have equal representation, so that one side doesn't have an advantage for being able to hire a better lawyer. Everyone gets the same software.

A.I. Downs Expert Human Fighter Pilot In Dogfight Simulation

Witness the birth of the Hunter-Killer unit from Terminator:

http://www.popsci.com/ai-pilot-beats-air-combat-expert-in-dogfight

Artificial synapse said to rival biological synapses in energy consumption and function

http://www.kurzweilai.net/artificial-synapse-said-to-rival-biological-synapses-in-energy-consumption-and-function

Powerful nanoengine built from coated nanoparticles

http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=7083

"The forces exerted by these tiny devices are several orders of magnitude larger than those for any other previously produced device, with a force per unit weight nearly a hundred times better than any motor or muscle. According to the researchers, the devices are also bio-compatible, cost-effective to manufacture, fast to respond, and energy efficient."

Nice!

Introducing Boston Dynamics' SpotMini Robot

I want one as a pet! Although it still has the creep factor in spades, especially with the "hand":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf7IEVTDjng

Watch to the very end. Amusing.

Solar Is Going to Get Ridiculously Cheap

I suspect they're being far too conservative:

http://fortune.com/2016/06/13/solar-to-get-crazy-cheap/?xid=yahoo_fortune&yptr=yahoo

How to convert graphene into a semiconductor for scalable production

http://www.kurzweilai.net/how-to-convert-graphene-into-a-semiconductor-for-scalable-production

Real-time robot-motion planning

http://www.kurzweilai.net/real-time-robot-motion-planning

How the Science of CRISPR Can Change Your Genes

http://time.com/4377130/crispr-genome-editing/?xid=newsletter-brief

Pre and post testing show reversal of memory loss from Alzheimer's disease in 10 patients

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160616071933.htm

New 'Artificial Synapses' Could Let Supercomputers Mimic the Human Brain

http://www.livescience.com/55114-artificial-synapses-could-improve-supercomputers.html?cmpid=NL_LS_weekly_2016-6-20

Samsung’s new solid-state drive hits 1TB mark, ships out next week

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/samsung-solid-state-drive-hits-180931958.html

Elon Musk Is Wrong. We Aren't Living in a Simulation

A long and annoying article against the possibility that we live in a simulation:

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/we-dont-live-in-a-simulation?utm_source=mbtwitter

His argument is mostly semantics. Sure, even a simulation is made of matter/energy, but when we talk about a simulation we're talking about a software-driven representation of the "real" world. And we're not talking about a virtual reality-type simulation (which would be on the path but not the end goal), where a virtual apple can't nourish a real person, but a software simulation of a human mind on a computer in a software world where virtual apples can have actual taste and nourishment to virtual beings. And there only needs to be ONE person simulated (YOU!) and only a small part of the world simulated (the places you actually visit); all the rest can be nothing more than AI beings that SEEM human (everyone you interact with) and distant places (like the moon and stars) with limited rendering (a star only needs to be a dot in the sky, not an actual sun). Even places you've visited in the past wouldn't necessarily have to have ever been simulated...just applied to your mind as a memory.

Ultra-flexible solar cells thin enough to wrap around a glass stirring rod

1/17 the thickness of a human hair!

http://www.kurzweilai.net/ultra-flexible-solar-cells-thin-enough-to-wrap-around-a-glass-stirring-rod

China’s Sunway TaihuLight tops world supercomputer ratings

I'm not a fan of China, but...

http://www.kurzweilai.net/chinas-sunway-taihulight-tops-world-supercomputer-ratings

Could deep-learning systems radically transform drug discovery?

http://www.kurzweilai.net/could-deep-learning-systems-radically-transform-drug-discovery

Bionic leaf 2.0

http://www.kurzweilai.net/bionic-leaf-2-0

"Harvard scientists have created a system a system that uses solar energy plus hydrogen-eating bacteria to produce liquid fuels with 10 percent efficiency, compared to the 1 percent seen in the fastest-growing plants."

This autonomous, 3D-printed bus starts giving rides in Washington, DC today

http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/16/11952072/local-motors-3d-printed-self-driving-bus-washington-dc-launch

These Experiments Are Building the Case to Terraform Mars

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2016/06/14/terraform-mars-experiments/#.V2L1irsrL-g

Man builds 100 mpg engine using 200-year-old technology

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/stirling-hybrid-engine/

THE HYPERLOOP COMPETITION: Here are the transportation pods of the future being built right now

http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-what-hyperloop-pods-could-one-day-look-like-2016-6

MIT graphene breakthrough could make chips one million times faster

http://www.zdnet.com/article/mit-graphene-breakthrough-could-make-chips-one-million-times-faster/

and

http://scitechdaily.com/graphene-provides-a-new-way-to-turn-electricity-into-light/

Future Weapons are Here

A nice summary:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/06/14/1526936/-Future-Weapons-are-Here

How creating defective nanodiamonds could revolutionize nanotechnology and quantum computing

http://www.kurzweilai.net/how-creating-defective-nanodiamonds-could-revolutionize-nanotechnology-and-quantum-computing

18 artificial intelligence researchers reveal the profound changes coming to our lives

http://www.techinsider.io/researchers-predictions-future-artificial-intelligence-2015-10

Everything You Know About Artificial Intelligence is Wrong

http://gizmodo.com/everything-you-know-about-artificial-intelligence-is-wr-1764020220

Should We Fear Supersmart Robots?

http://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~russell/papers/sciam16-supersmart.pdf

Solar Energy Is Now as Cheap as Fossil Fuels

http://singularityhub.com/2016/06/09/solar-energy-is-now-as-cheap-as-fossil-fuels/

Here's how much of the world would need to be covered in solar panels to power Earth

http://www.businessinsider.com/if-the-earth-was-covered-in-solar-panels-2016-6

Apple is making so much clean energy, it formed a new company to sell it

http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/9/11896502/apple-clean-solar-energy-subsidiary-wholesale?yptr=yahoo

Movie written by algorithm turns out to be hilarious and intense

AI has a ways to go before it makes a decent screenplay, but at least this is amusing and weird as hell!

http://arstechnica.com/the-multiverse/2016/06/an-ai-wrote-this-movie-and-its-strangely-moving/

Researchers Turn CO2 Into Stone in Climate Change Breakthrough

http://time.com/4364038/co2-stone-climate-change/

Scientists Turn Bacteria Into Living Hard Drives

Only 100 bytes, but still way cool:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a21268/scientists-turn-bacteria-into-living-hard-drives/

The voice-first user interface has gone mainstream

http://www.recode.net/2016/6/7/11868200/the-voice-first-user-interface-has-gone-mainstream

Former NASA chief unveils $100 million neural chip maker KnuEdge

http://venturebeat.com/2016/06/06/former-nasa-chief-unveils-100-million-neural-computing-chip-company-knuedge/

Google and Amazon are slowly killing the gadget as we know it

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/google-amazon-slowly-killing-gadget-192343379.html

Why Corporate America's Love of Renewable Energy Should Terrify Traditional Utilities

http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/06/05/why-corporate-americas-love-of-renewable-energy-sh.aspx

3 Reasons To Believe The Singularity Is Near

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2016/06/03/3-reasons-to-believe-the-singularity-is-near/#6d8dbd441cbe

Are Soldiers Getting Too Emotionally Attached to War Robots?

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/are-soldiers-getting-too-emotionally-attached-to-war-robots

I guarantee it'll happen to anthropomorphic robots:

Norway to 'completely ban petrol powered cars by 2025'

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/norway-to-ban-the-sale-of-all-fossil-fuel-based-cars-by-2025-and-replace-with-electric-vehicles-a7065616.html

What I Learned Installing Solar Panels

http://www.citylab.com/navigator/2016/06/what-its-like-to-install-solar-panels/485156/?utm_source=yahoo&yptr=yahoo

Can one company account for more than half of a country’s CO2 reduction?

This is one dong that isn't screwing the environment as much...

http://www.triplepundit.com/podium/dong-energy-denmark-co2-reduction/

Renewable Energy Is Now Inevitable, Energy Secretary Says, Citing Price

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2016/06/03/renewable-energy-inevitable-energy-secretary-says-because-of-plunging-prices/#1421c3001ec9

Tesla Executive Implies Battery and Autonomous Driving Breakthroughs

http://www.hybridcars.com/tesla-executive-implies-battery-and-autonomous-driving-breakthroughs/

Storage sunrise: Solar battery makers eye take-off as prices fall

http://www.businessinsider.com/r-storage-sunrise-solar-battery-makers-eye-take-off-as-prices-fall-2016-6

"Australian energy retailer AGL expects costs to fall by 60 per cent over the next five years as materials performance and chemical technology improve."

New Process Efficiently Uses Solar to Produce Hydrogen

http://www.triplepundit.com/2016/06/new-process-efficiently-uses-solar-produce-hydrogen/#

Stanford researchers ‘stunned’ by stem cell experiment that helped stroke patient walk

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/06/02/stanford-researchers-stunned-by-stem-cell-experiment-that-helped-stroke-patient-walk/

A guy trained a machine to "watch" Blade Runner. Then things got seriously sci-fi.

http://www.vox.com/2016/6/1/11787262/blade-runner-neural-network-encoding

This One Chart Says It All for the Future of Solar Energy

http://ecowatch.com/2016/06/01/future-solar-energy/

Dead or Alive, Schrödinger's Cat Can Be in 2 Boxes at Once

Just too cool:

http://www.livescience.com/54890-schrodinger-cat-can-be-in-two-places.html?cmpid=NL_LS_weekly_2016-5-30

Your brain is not a computer

Our model of the brain as a computer may be fundamentally flawed:

https://aeon.co/essays/your-brain-does-not-process-information-and-it-is-not-a-computer

However, weather patterns follow dynamic rules that aren't like how computers think, yet we can model them quite well. So why wouldn't it be possible to model how brains work on computers, even if brains don't work like computers?

Robots learn to cut through clutter

http://www.kurzweilai.net/robots-learn-to-cut-through-clutter

"The robot’s wrist has a 270-degree range, which led to behaviors we didn’t expect. Sometimes, we’re blinded by our own anthropomorphism."

Language in Ohio bill would ‘basically shut down’ solar

http://midwestenergynews.com/2016/05/23/advocates-language-in-ohio-bill-would-basically-shut-down-solar/

May 23, 2016 Discovery of new catalyst materials for lithium-air batteries could enable batteries with five times the energy density of lithium ion batteries

http://nextbigfuture.com/2016/05/discovery-of-new-catalyst-materials-for.html

"But he said it could take five to 10 years before the research translates into new batteries that can be used in consumer devices and electric vehicles." Bugger!

Self-driving cars? Nobody wants one

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-google-cadillac-self-driving-cars-160441498.html?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma

I'm willing to bet that'll change as people experience the advantages.

Nanomaterials could double efficiency of solar cells by converting waste heat into usable energy

This could reduce (or even eliminate?) the need for batteries to store excess solar production:

http://techcrunch.com/2016/05/24/nanomaterials-could-double-efficiency-of-solar-cells-by-converting-waste-heat-into-usable-energy/?ncid=rss

Inside the Artificial Intelligence Revolution: A Special Report

Long but definitely interesting:

Part 1: http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/inside-the-artificial-intelligence-revolution-a-special-report-pt-1-20160229?page=11

Part 2: http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/inside-the-artificial-intelligence-revolution-a-special-report-pt-2-20160309

A Huge Solar Plant Caught on Fire, and That’s the Least of Its Problems

http://www.wired.com/2016/05/huge-solar-plant-caught-fire-thats-least-problems/

100% Clean Energy Economy Is Much Closer Than You Think

http://ecowatch.com/2016/05/21/clean-energy-economy/

Faced by Falling Oil Prices and Plunging Profits, Big Oil Invests in Renewables

http://ecowatch.com/2016/05/22/big-oil-invest-renewables/

I like that they're essentially being forced to do this in order to survive.

Walt Disney Co Sets Its Sights on Lightning-Fast 3D Printing

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/05/24/walt-disney-co-sets-its-sights-on-lightning-fast-3.aspx

10 million self-driving cars will be on the road by 2020

http://www.businessinsider.com/report-10-million-self-driving-cars-will-be-on-the-road-by-2020-2015-5-6

Portugal Sets Record, Runs on Renewables for 107-Hours Straight

http://ecowatch.com/2016/05/18/portugal-runs-on-renewables/

Thanks to push away from coal, power plant emissions fall to lowest level since 1993

http://mashable.com/2016/05/18/power-plant-emissions-drop/#D2eCQNhCdmqx

Rooftop Solar Transformation Could Hurt SolarCity and Sunrun

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/05/19/rooftop-solar-transformation-could-hurt-solarcity.aspx

HIV Genes Have Been Cut Out of Live Animals Using CRISPR

http://time.com/4340722/hiv-removed-using-crispr/

Massive potential here....

Albuquerque weighs getting more solar power

http://www.sltrib.com/home/3898355-155/albuquerque-weighs-getting-more-solar-power

Using animal training techniques to teach robots household chores

I think this would drastically open the field for robotic deep learning:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/using-animal-training-techniques-to-teach-robots-household-chores

5 ways the Hyperloop will change how you live

http://www.businessinsider.com/5-ways-the-hyperloop-will-change-how-you-live-2016-5

Newly Developed ‘Rochester Cloak’ Enhances Cloaking Abilities

Still not "there," but interesting anyway:

http://scitechdaily.com/newly-developed-rochester-cloak-enhances-cloaking-abilities/

Wild-Looking Glow-In-The-Dark Sidewalks Could Spell The End Of Streetlights

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/glow-in-the-dark-cement_us_573b2761e4b060aa781b42f6

A new type of cement may not sound exciting, but if widely implemented it could drastically change the appearance of cities at night.

$30K Retrofit Turns Dumb Semis Into Self-Driving Robots

https://www.wired.com/2016/05/otto-retrofit-autonomous-self-driving-trucks/

AI learns and recreates Nobel-winning physics experiment

http://techcrunch.com/2016/05/16/ai-learns-and-recreates-nobel-winning-physics-experiment/

Retired farmland across the Central Valley making way for renewable energy

https://www.yahoo.com/news/retired-farmland-across-central-valley-232756128.html?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma

This machine 3D prints metal structures in midair by lasering nanoparticles

http://techcrunch.com/2016/05/16/this-machine-3d-prints-metal-structures-in-midair-by-lasering-nanoparticles/

Renewables Are Leaving Natural Gas In The Dust This Year

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/05/16/3778542/grid-70-times-renewables-natural-gas/

"On the other hand, FERC doesn’t track rooftop solar, so its estimate of solar capacity added is certainly low. Indeed, FERC’s data sources only “include plants with nameplate capacity of 1 MW or greater,” so it’s hard to know how much small-scale renewable power generation they may have missed."

We're about to see a mind-blowing demographic shift unprecedented in human history

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/were-see-mind-blowing-demographic-123900694.html?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma

"Life expectancies of 300-400Y or even an infinite extension of life expectancy may be within reach in our lifetimes."

How expiring patents are ushering in the next generation of 3D printing

http://techcrunch.com/2016/05/15/how-expiring-patents-are-ushering-in-the-next-generation-of-3d-printing/

It’s Really Happening: The Collapse of U.S. Coal

Yay!

http://www.triplepundit.com/2016/05/really-happening-u-s-coal-collapsing/#

‘Primitive’ quantum computer outperforms classical computers

http://www.kurzweilai.net/primitive-quantum-computer-outperforms-classical-computers

Artificially Intelligent Lawyer “Ross” Has Been Hired By Its First Official Law Firm

http://futurism.com/artificially-intelligent-lawyer-ross-hired-first-official-law-firm/

Yay! Can we drown all the lawyers now? ;-)

We Can Stop Searching For The Clean Energy Miracle. It’s Already Here.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/05/12/3776728/climate-change-solutions/

One snag I see for using electric car batteries to store excess home solar power is that one typically needs to use stored power in the evening when the sun is down, and one typically needs to commute to work first thing in the morning...which means you would be driving on a depleted charge (by how much, I don't know). Worse, your car would be away from home all day, meaning it couldn't capture the unused solar power your home generates all day. A solar charger at work would help...but it still wouldn't help you store the solar power your home generates. That'll need addressing....

A robot with human-like grace and precision

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-robot-with-human-like-grace-and-precision

I'm thinking the first android home robots will not be as clunky as people imagine.

This five-fingered robot hand is close to human in functionality

http://www.kurzweilai.net/this-five-fingered-robot-hand-is-close-to-human-in-functionality

Here Comes Hyperloop One: Startup Raises $80 Million

http://www.fastcompany.com/3059752/here-comes-the-hyperloop-startup-raises-80-million

Kepler Space Telescope Reveals 1,284 New Planets

http://scitechdaily.com/kepler-space-telescope-reveals-1284-new-planets/

Almost doubling the total (depending on how you calculate it)!

Solar Power Is Ready to Dominate Energy Thanks to New Tech

http://singularityhub.com/2016/05/09/solar-power-is-ready-to-dominate-energy-thanks-to-new-tech

Up to a 66% efficiency is incredible. Unfortunately, the rise in solar efficiency and the plummeting drop in costs makes it tough to justify going solar just yet. It always seems waiting another year makes sense...but that doesn't help incentivise the solar industry.

Alevo, The Other Energy Storage Gigafactory, Begins To Stir

http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterdetwiler/2016/05/10/alevo-the-other-energy-storage-giga-factory-begins-to-stir/#7878d26c60e4

College students didn't realize their professor's assistant was actually an AI bot

Yup, this looks like a successful narrow-range Turing test:

http://www.dailydot.com/technology/watson-teaching-assistant-robot/?fb=dd

This vitamin stops the aging process in organs, say Swiss researchers

http://www.kurzweilai.net/this-vitamin-stops-the-aging-process-in-organs-say-swiss-researchers

Ten Things I Discovered When I Got an Electric Car

Plus a fun video of passenger reactions to a Tesla accelerating:

http://www.pluginamerica.org/drivers-seat/10-things-i-discovered-when-i-got-electric-car-0

SpaceX reportedly sets its sights on Mars "as soon as 2018"

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2016/04/spacex-sets-its-sites-on-mars

How Infecting Mosquitoes with a Bacterium Could Stop the Zika Virus

And maybe all other mosquito-borne diseases:

http://time.com/4319619/zika-virus-mosquitoes-wolbachia-technology/?xid=newsletter-brief

A robot for ‘soft tissue’ surgery outperforms surgeons

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-robot-for-soft-tissue-surgery-outperforms-surgeons

A supercomputer on a USB stick

http://www.businessinsider.com/movidius-creates-usb-with-ai-onboard

http://www.cnet.com/news/movidius-fathom-is-this-the-usb-stick-that-the-hunterkiller-drones-have-been-waiting-for/

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfCdArXDDKM&feature=youtu.be

The world’s tiniest, most powerful nanoengine

http://www.kurzweilai.net/the-worlds-tiniest-most-powerful-nanoengine

IBM makes quantum computing available free on IBM Cloud

http://www.kurzweilai.net/ibm-makes-quantum-computing-available-free-on-ibm-cloud

Solar power is contagious. These maps show how it spreads.

When conformity is a good thing...

http://www.vox.com/2016/5/4/11590396/solar-power-contagious-maps

Scientists turn skin cells into heart and brain cells using only drugs — no stem cells required

http://www.kurzweilai.net/scientists-turn-skin-cells-into-heart-and-brain-cells-using-only-drugs-no-stem-cells-required

Deep neural networks that identify shapes nearly as well as humans

http://www.kurzweilai.net/deep-neural-networks-that-identify-shapes-nearly-as-well-as-humans

Doctor ready to perform first human head transplant

If this works, it'll be amazing. I imagine Stephen Hawking might be very interested indeed:

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/could-2017-first-head-transplant-010722047.html

California Has Too Much Solar Power -- And That's a Good Thing

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/05/01/california-has-too-much-solar-power-and-thats-a-go.aspx

It Doesn’t Matter How Much You Exercise If You Sit A Lot

More reasons to move your ass:

http://time.com/3672428/exercise-sitting/

93 percent of advanced leukemia patients in remission after immunotherapy

Rather stunning news:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160427221202.htm#.VyJdyWH89DY.hotmail

http://www.livescience.com/54579-earth-is-greening-as-globe-warms.html?cmpid=NL_LS_weekly_2016-4-29-test

Scientists discover potentially habitable planets

http://news.mit.edu/2016/scientists-discover-potentially-habitable-planets-0502

They're likely tidelocked, which may well mean all water eventually ends up on the dark side and leaves the planets poorly suited to life...but who knows?

Just 1 minute of intense exercise produces health benefits similar to 50 minutes of moderate exercise

I'm REALLY skeptical about this...but it would save me a hell of a lot of time:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/just-1-minute-of-intense-exercise-produces-health-benefits-similar-to-50-minutes-of-moderate-exercise

Futurist Ray Kurzweil predicts solar industry dominance in 12 years

http://www.kurzweilai.net/solar-power-world-futurist-ray-kurzweil-predicts-solar-industry-dominance-in-12-years

Researchers use a vitamin to stop the aging of internal organs

http://www.newsweek.com/vitamin-stops-aging-process-organs-study-453526

Unfortunately, it's in mice, which are notoriously bad analogs to humans...but it's still encouraging.

The Hover Camera

http://bgr.com/2016/04/27/hover-camera-price-release-date-drone/

and

http://gethover.com/

10 States Blocking the Power of the Sun

http://ecowatch.com/2016/04/27/states-blocking-rooftop-solar/

The driverless truck is coming, and it’s going to automate millions of jobs

http://techcrunch.com/2016/04/25/the-driverless-truck-is-coming-and-its-going-to-automate-millions-of-jobs/?ncid=newsltushpmg00000003

Why the SpaceX barge landing is such a big deal

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/4/24/1517761/-Why-the-SpaceX-barge-landing-is-such-a-big-deal

New Study Shows Fructose Alters Brain Genes, Which Can Lead to Disease

http://scitechdaily.com/new-study-shows-fructose-alters-brain-genes-which-can-lead-to-disease/

Emdrive may be explained by quantized momentum, New Emdrive experiments are showing thrust replication and superconducting Cannae drive demo set for May 2016

http://nextbigfuture.com/2016/04/emdrive-may-be-explained-by-quantized.html

I'm fascinated by this part:

"Their design principles are not supported by prevailing scientific theories, apparently violating the law of conservation of momentum."

Sol Voltaics says breakthrough could boost solar panel efficiency by 50%

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3060174/sustainable-it/sol-voltaics-says-breakthrough-could-boost-solar-panel-efficiency-by-50.html

"Most importantly, Sol Voltaic's patented Aerotaxy process, their secret sauce, will enable them to produce the films at a very cost competitive level," a spokeperson wrote in a reply to Computerworld.

Amazing clockwork writing automaton

Lest we forget the incredible technological accomplishments of the distant past...

http://www.chonday.com/Videos/the-writer-automaton

This Solar Power Plant Can Run All Night

http://time.com/4291347/crescent-dunes-solar-power-plant/?xid=newsletter-brief

Scientists can now make lithium-ion batteries last a lifetime

Could be a game changer:

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3060005/mobile-wireless/scientists-can-now-make-lithium-ion-batteries-last-a-lifetime.html

New protein injection reverses Alzheimer’s symptoms in mice in just one week

More promise!

http://www.sciencealert.com/new-protein-injection-reverses-alzheimer-s-symptoms-in-mice-in-just-one-week

Faster Than Light! Incredible Illusion Makes Images 'Time Travel'

Just because this is cool:

http://www.livescience.com/54467-light-trick-proves-time-reversal.html?cmpid=NL_LS_weekly_2016-4-20

Netherlands looks to ban all non-electric cars by 2025

http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2016/0414/Netherlands-looks-to-ban-all-non-electric-cars-by-2025

Implant lets paralysed man 'play guitar'

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-36015248

Autonomous vehicles might have to be test-driven tens or hundreds of years to demonstrate their safety

I'm pretty sure this won't really be the case:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/autonomous-vehicles-might-have-to-be-test-driven-tens-or-hundreds-of-years-to-demonstrate-their-safety

Alphabet's 'Moonshots' Head Astro Teller: Fear Of AI And Robots Is Wildly Overblown

http://www.forbes.com/sites/aarontilley/2016/03/24/alphabets-moonshots-head-astro-teller-fear-of-ai-and-robots-is-wildly-overblown/#4e07a24e0cfe

So Far: Unfriendly AI Edition (answer by Eliezer Yudkowsky)

http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2016/03/so_far_unfriend.html

Big Oil Gearing Up to Battle Electric Vehicles

http://ecowatch.com/2016/04/07/big-oil-battle-electric-vehicles/

Scotland now generates more than half of its electricity from renewable sources

http://www.businessinsider.com/scotland-now-generates-more-than-half-of-its-electricity-from-renewable-sources-2016-4

Solar cell generates power from raindrops

http://www.engadget.com/2016/04/11/solar-cell-generates-power-from-raindrops/

Flyboard hoverboard

The first REAL hoverboard?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEDrMriKsFM&sns=em

When Is the Singularity? Probably Not in Your Lifetime

A contrarian view, but its arguments are pretty simplistic:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/07/science/artificial-intelligence-when-is-the-singularity.html?_r=1

Will medical 3D printing advance nanotechnology?

http://www.foresight.org/nanodot/?p=7016

A stem-cell repair system that can regenerate any kind of human tissue

This could be rather incredible:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-stem-cell-repair-system-that-can-regenerate-any-kind-of-human-tissue

World’s smallest electronic diode made from single DNA molecule

http://www.kurzweilai.net/worlds-smallest-electronic-diode-made-from-single-dna-molecule

Singapore Is Getting Driverless Taxi Cabs

Once one country adopts them, others will follow quickly:

http://time.com/4283313/singapore-driverless-taxi-cabs/

Singularity University: The Harvard of Silicon Valley Is Planning for a Robot Apocalypse

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/04/05/singularity-university-the-harvard-of-silicon-valley-is-planning-for-a-robot-apocalypse.html

BREAKING: Army scientists successfully 'teleport' Soldiers

A little late, but...

http://www.army.mil/article/164802?utm_source=cpatwitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=af16

KILLERDRONE! Flying chainsaw

The Terminator has to be just around the corner. We are all doomed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Viwwetf0gU

...unless we can develop more party balloon technology.

Largest network of cortical neurons mapped is a major step in an IARPA project to create a roadmap for reverse-engineering the brain

http://www.kurzweilai.net/largest-network-of-cortical-neurons-mapped-from-100-terabytes-data-set

A biosensor that’s 1 million times more sensitive

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-biosensor-thats-1-million-times-more-sensitive

Eric Drexler talks about Cambrian Explosion in AI and Safe Access to Super Intelligence tools

http://nextbigfuture.com/2016/03/eric-drexler-talks-about-cambrian.html?m=1

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and IBM build brain-inspired supercomputer

http://www.kurzweilai.net/lawrence-livermore-national-laboratory-and-ibm-build-brain-inspired-supercomputer

Craig Venter’s team designs, builds first minimal synthetic bacterial cell

http://www.kurzweilai.net/craig-venters-team-designs-builds-first-minimal-synthetic-bacterial-cell

Automated lip-reading invented

http://www.kurzweilai.net/automated-lip-reading-invented?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=82b15a2677-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-82b15a2677-281903081

New type of molecular tag makes MRI 10,000 times more sensitive

http://www.kurzweilai.net/new-type-of-molecular-tag-makes-mri-10000-times-more-sensitive?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=4090fe3689-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-4090fe3689-281903081

New 2D material could upstage graphene

http://www.kurzweilai.net/new-2d-material-could-upstage-graphene?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=4090fe3689-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-4090fe3689-281903081

One Of The World's Top Aging Researchers Has A Pill To Keep You Feeling Young

http://www.fastcoexist.com/3041800/one-of-the-worlds-top-aging-researchers-has-a-pill-to-keep-you-feeling-young

Why Your Electricity Will Be Greener in 2016

http://time.com/4242371/renewable-electricity-2016/?xid=newsletter-brief

Google’s Big Bet: Old People Will Love Self-Driving Cars

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/03/self-driving-cars-seniors-old-people?ncid=newsltushpmg00000003#2

Solar energy is poised for an unforgettable year

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/03/02/solar-energy-is-poised-for-an-unforgettable-year/

A new nontoxic way to generate portable power

Yet another promising battery technology:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-new-nontoxic-way-to-generate-portable-power?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=eb945e2c20-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-eb945e2c20-281903081

When the World Is Wired: The Magic of the Internet of Everything

http://singularityhub.com/2016/02/09/when-the-world-is-wired-the-magic-of-the-internet-of-everything/

Physicists Unleash AI to Devise Unthinkable Experiments

http://www.livescience.com/54138-artificial-intelligence-devises-unthinkable-experiments.html?cmpid=NL_LS_weekly_2016-3-23

Transdermal implant releases antibodies to trigger immune system to clear Alzheimer’s plaques

http://www.kurzweilai.net/transdermal-implant-releases-antibodies-to-trigger-immune-system-to-clear-alzheimers-plaques?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=7021910322-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-7021910322-281903081

In Just 72 Hours, a Computer Learned How to Beat Nearly Anyone at Chess

http://futurism.com/just-72-hours-computer-learned-beat-nearly-anyone-chess/

Google pressures government to fast-track its self-driving cars

http://www.slashgear.com/google-pressures-government-to-fast-track-its-self-driving-cars-18432370/

AlphaGo's competition with Lee Sedol improved both artificial intelligence and the human player

http://www.wired.com/2016/03/two-moves-alphago-lee-sedol-redefined-future/

Blockchain-based microgrid gives power to consumers in New York

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2079334-blockchain-based-microgrid-gives-power-to-consumers-in-new-york/

Meron Gribetz: A glimpse of the future through an augmented reality headset

http://www.ted.com/talks/meron_gribetz_a_glimpse_of_the_future_through_an_augmented_reality_headset

As Coal’s Future Grows Murkier, Banks Pull Financing

I hope this is a death knell for the coal industry:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/21/business/dealbook/as-coals-future-grows-murkier-banks-pull-financing.html?_r=0

New Alzheimer’s treatment fully restores memory function

For surviving with viable minds until immortality is achievable:

http://www.sciencealert.com/new-alzheimer-s-treatment-fully-restores-memory-function

Could you fall in love with this robot?

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/16/could-you-fall-in-love-with-this-robot.html

Everything You Know About Artificial Intelligence is Wrong

Addressing a few of the myths:

http://gizmodo.com/everything-you-know-about-artificial-intelligence-is-wr-1764020220?ncid=newsltushpmg00000003

Experiments show magnetic chips could dramatically increase computing’s energy efficiency

http://www.kurzweilai.net/experiments-show-magnetic-chips-could-dramatically-increase-computings-energy-efficiency?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=e872f3a020-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-e872f3a020-281903081

"That means dramatic reductions in power consumption are possible — down to as little as one-millionth the amount of energy per operation used by transistors in modern computers."

How to turn carbon dioxide into sustainable concrete

Something has to be done with CO2 produced as waste:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/how-to-turn-carbon-dioxide-into-sustainable-concrete?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=4863b5627f-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-4863b5627f-281903081

Watch this video of six tiny robots working together to pull a 2-ton car

http://www.techspot.com/news/64092-watch-video-six-tiny-robots-working-together-pull.html

Solarcity gigafactory for solar cells could make solar plus batteries cheaper than fossil fuels

http://nextbigfuture.com/2016/03/solarcity-gigafactory-for-solar-cells.html

We Just Discovered Bacteria That Can Eat Our Plastic

http://www.fastcoexist.com/3057700/we-just-discovered-bacteria-that-can-eat-our-plastic

This Brilliant Bionic Fingertip Just Changed An Amputee's Life

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/scientists-amputee-bionic-finger-video_us_56defe79e4b0000de406093f

IoT Won’t Work Without Artificial Intelligence

http://www.wired.com/insights/2014/11/iot-wont-work-without-artificial-intelligence/

Jeff Bezos Lifts Veil on His Rocket Company, Blue Origin

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/03/09/science/space/jeff-bezos-lifts-veil-on-his-rocket-company-blue-origin.html?_r=1&ncid=newsltushpmg00000003&referer=

How Will Autonomous Cars Transform Our Lives? Brad Templeton Counts the Ways.

http://bigthink.com/videos/autonomous-cars-101-with-brad-templeton-2?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#link_time=1457544982

Google's DeepMind defeats legendary Go player Lee Se-dol in historic victory

http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/9/11184362/google-alphago-go-deepmind-result

Spanish company Graphenano claims Graphene Polymer batteries with triple the energy density of lithium ion and commercialization by end of 2016

http://nextbigfuture.com/2016/03/spanish-company-graphenano-claims.html

3 Big Records in Solar Energy This Week

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/02/27/3-big-records-in-solar-energy-this-week.aspx?source=yahoo-2&utm_campaign=article&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=yahoo-2