Cheap Hydrogen Fuel Was A Failed Promise. But Its Time May Have Arrived.

It's about damn time!

https://futurism.com/ammonia-hydrogen-fuel/

Watch Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin launch its space tourism rocket

So the private space travel competition remains on:

https://qz.com/1265087/watch-jeff-bezos-space-company-blue-origin-launch-its-space-tourism-rocket-new-shepard/

Scientists Discover How to Harness the Power of Quantum Spookiness by Entangling Clouds of Atoms

https://singularityhub.com/2018/04/27/scientists-discover-how-to-harness-the-power-of-quantum-spookiness-by-entangling-clouds-of-atoms/

Stuff 3.0: The Era of Programmable Matter

A long-time nanotech promise:

https://singularityhub.com/2018/04/29/stuff-3-0-the-era-of-programmable-matter/

New Tech Marries the Best of Photonics and Electronics on the Same Silicon Chip

https://singularityhub.com/2018/04/30/new-tech-marries-the-best-of-photonics-and-electronics-on-the-same-silicon-chip/

Electric Buses Are Hurting the Oil Industry

This is significant:

"China had about 99 percent of the 385,000 electric buses on the roads worldwide in 2017, accounting for 17 percent of the country’s entire fleet. Every five weeks, Chinese cities add 9,500 of the zero-emissions transporters—the equivalent of London’s entire working fleet, according Bloomberg New Energy Finance."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-23/electric-buses-are-hurting-the-oil-industry

A Data Storage Revolution? DNA Can Store Near Limitless Data in Almost Zero Space

"If we were to send a single exabyte of data (one billion gigabytes) to Mars using silicon binary media, it would take five Falcon Heavy rockets and cost $486 million in freight alone.

With DNA, we would need five cubic centimeters."

https://singularityhub.com/2018/04/26/the-answer-to-the-digital-data-tsunami-is-literally-in-our-dna/

Novel antioxidant makes old blood vessels seem young again

This sounds highly promising:

https://www.colorado.edu/today/2018/04/19/novel-antioxidant-makes-old-blood-vessels-seem-young-again

Frontier AI: How far are we from artificial “general” intelligence, really?

An interesting assessment. Things have been moving very quickly in the past year:

https://hackernoon.com/frontier-ai-how-far-are-we-from-artificial-general-intelligence-really-5b13b1ebcd4e

The Impossible Burger Looks, Tastes, and Smells Traditional – But Is Vegan

I wanted to try this meat substitute for myself, so I found a local restaurant that serves it. I have to say, that was a perfectly good burger and I would never have guessed it was vegan. Smell, taste, mouthfeel...all seemed like genuine beef:

https://futurism.com/videos/impossible-burger-traditional-vegan/

Assassin drones

The future of warfare will likely look a lot like this (click on "read more" on the Advancing Technologies page to see the embedded video):

Mini-Brains Just Grew Their Own Blood Vessels—Here’s Why That’s Great News

Ew. But rather cool. I wonder if mini-brains could be used to augment one's own brain?

https://singularityhub.com/2018/04/18/mini-brains-just-grew-their-own-blood-vessels-heres-why-thats-great-news/#sm.0001p9abvhotbf0jwc02kzluw8213

How your mini 'clone' heart could be grown in a jar

A variety of advances being made by combining biology with technology:

https://nano-magazine.com/news/2018/4/17/how-your-mini-clone-heart-could-be-grown-in-a-jar/

Engineers Develop New Manufacturing Process That Spools Out Strips of Graphene

Boring, but finding ways to make inexpensive graphene and nanotubes are critical to tomorrow's manufacturing:

https://scitechdaily.com/engineers-develop-new-manufacturing-process-that-spools-out-strips-of-graphene/

A future ultraminiature computer the size of a pinhead?

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-future-ultraminiature-computer-the-size-of-a-pinhead

Toyota to launch 'talking' vehicles in United States in 2021

Best way to cut down on vehicle accidents, I'd say:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-autos-communications-toyota/toyota-to-launch-talking-vehicles-in-united-states-in-2021-idUSKBN1HN2GJ

Carbon Fiber Artificial Muscles Lift 12,600 Times Their Weight

I want to replace my muscles with this:

https://scitechdaily.com/carbon-fiber-artificial-muscles-lift-12600-times-their-weight/

Solar panels have gotten thinner than a human hair. Soon they’ll be everywhere.

I'm looking forward to this:

https://www.vox.com/2016/6/23/11998908/ultra-thin-solar-cells

World's largest solar battery? Tesla's may get beat

I like seeing solar farms try to outdo each other:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2018/04/11/worlds-largest-solar-battery-tesla-may-get-beat/504963002/

Biologically Inspired Membrane Separates and Captures Greenhouse Gases

A stopgap option, but not a long-term one:

https://scitechdaily.com/biologically-inspired-membrane-separates-and-captures-greenhouse-gases/

Alzheimer's Disease Gene Successfully Removed From Human Brain: Is This The Cure We've Been Waiting For?

This could be huge:

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/224863/20180411/alzheimers-disease-gene-successfully-removed-from-human-brain-is-this-the-cure-weve-been-waiting-for.htm

Are We Quantum Computers?

Cool concept. Does it open the possibility for free will? Or just randomness?

http://www.news.ucsb.edu/2018/018840/are-we-quantum-computers

The Era of Fake Video Begins

Already there are videos that have been manipulated, and it likely won't be long before most video evidence can't be trusted:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/05/realitys-end/556877/

This Memory Prosthesis Boosts Recall in Humans by Roughly 40 Percent

More detail on that memory enhancer:

https://singularityhub.com/2018/04/10/this-memory-prosthesis-boosts-recall-in-humans-by-roughly-40-percent/

Apple says its global facilities are now powered by 100-percent clean energy

Three cheers:

https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/09/apple-says-its-global-facilities-are-now-powered-by-100-percent-clean-energy/

A Global Arms Race for Killer Robots Is Transforming the Battlefield

People may have already been killed by weaponized robots making their own decisions:

http://time.com/5230567/killer-robots/

A New AI “Journalist” Is Rewriting the News to Remove Bias

This is a great idea...but it's not off to a great start:

https://futurism.com/ai-journalist-media-bias-news-knowhere/

Elon Musk Worries That AI Research Will Create an 'Immortal Dictator'

I think this is alarmist, but it does pay to be cautious with any potential existential threat:

https://www.livescience.com/62239-elon-musk-immortal-artificial-intelligence-dictator.html

Here’s how the US needs to prepare for the age of artificial intelligence

Of course, the Trump administration isn’t even interested:

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610379/heres-how-the-us-needs-to-prepare-for-the-age-of-artificial-intelligence/

Intelligence-augmentation device lets users ‘speak silently’ with a computer by just thinking

http://www.kurzweilai.net/intelligence-augmentation-device-lets-users-speak-silently-with-a-computer-by-just-thinking

This Study Could Explain Why Our Brains Perform Worse As We Age

Keeping up the blood flow in the brain is yet ANOTHER reason to work out hard:

http://time.com/5228142/brain-nerve-cells-age/

New Bionic Arm Blurs Line Between Self and Machine for Wearers

A big step closer to "real" bionic limbs:

https://singularityhub.com/2018/04/04/new-bionic-arm-blurs-line-between-self-and-machine-for-wearers/

DARPA-funded prosthetic memory system successful in humans, study finds

The ability to enhance memory using a prosthetic. Impressive:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/darpa-funded-prosthetic-memory-system-successful-in-humans-study-finds

A Journal Retracted A Controversial Paper About CRISPR. The Damage Might Already Be Done.

Ugh, I hate it when politics, religion and just plain misinformation hinder science!

https://futurism.com/retract-study-gene-editing-causes-mutations/

SpaceX Has Launched an Experimental Space Junk Sweeper Into Orbit

This had to happen sooner or later:

http://time.com/5225670/spacex-space-junk-cleaner-launch/

This Planned Solar Farm in Saudi Arabia Would Be 100 Times Bigger Than Any in the World

This project alone, if it happens, will equal the entire world solar generation for 2015:

https://singularityhub.com/2018/04/03/this-planned-solar-farm-in-saudi-arabia-would-be-100-times-bigger-than-any-in-the-world

Mind-Controlled Mice Navigate Mazes, No Longer Crave Food

The next step in mind control:

https://futurism.com/mind-controlled-mice-food/

Robot Exoskeletons, Artificial Muscles, Handheld Printers — Here Are the Top 6 Advances in Tech (So Far)

https://futurism.com/videos/six-technology-advancements-future/

Spot the Fake: Artificial Intelligence Can Produce Lifelike Photographs

It won't be long before models and then actors will go out of business:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/spot-the-fake-artificial-intelligence-can-produce-lifelike-photographs/