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