Virtual Reality Update

Testing to see whether the universe we live in...is actually just a hologram:

http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/breaking/2010/10/20/fermilab-scientists-to-test-hypothesis-of-holographic-universe/

Manufacturing Update

3D printing is transforming the toy industry:

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/25931/

Alternative Energies Update

Google investing heavily in a $5 billion project to develop offshore wind energy production:

http://www.ecogeek.org/wind-power/3325

Computing Update

The Chinese build the world's fastest supercomputer, at 2.507 petaflops:

http://pressroom.nvidia.com/easyir/customrel.do?easyirid=A0D622CE9F579F09&version=live&prid=678988&releasejsp=release_157

Cybernetics Update

DARPA working on robot limbs with natural-motion dexterity wired directly to the brain:

http://mobile.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/26622/

Computing Update

Researchers are shooting for 1 terabit Ethernet speeds by 2015, and 100 tb by 2020:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/tomorrows-internet-1000-times-faster

Computing Update

Babbage's 1837 design for a mechanical "analytical engine" computer may finally be built!

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-10-campaign-babbage-analytical.html

Of course, it'll only have 1k of memory and be 13,000 times slower than a ZX81....

Computing Update

Graphene-based computers could use less energy, generate less heat and perform much faster than conventional computers:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-graphene-based-spin-computer

Computing Update

Graphene based computers could use less energy, generate less heat and perform much faster than conventional computers:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-graphene-based-spin-computer

Transportation Update

DARPA funding a 100 year starship program:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/nasa-ames-worden-reveals-darpa-funded-hundred-year-starship-program

Robotics Update

Robot with synthesized voice sounds as natural as a human:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-10-japans-robot-video.html

Robotics Update

Defining the speed and acceleration of robots to minimize injury to humans:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827826.700-robot-arm-punches-human-to-obey-asimovs-rules.html

Alternative Energies Update

The US DOE invests heavily in flywheel energy storage technology:

http://www.solarthermalmagazine.com/2010/09/30/storing-renewable-in-advanced-flywheel-based-energy-storage-systems-stabilizing-the-grid/

Alternative Energies Update

California to mandate 33% of energy produced from alternative sources by 2020:

http://www.ecogeek.org/solar-power/3312

Artificial Intelligence Update

Computer beats a human at shogi (Japanese chess--more complicated than regular chess):

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/10/computer-makes-the-winning-mov.html

Transportation Update

Driverless robotic cars could greatly cut down on traffic:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-10-self-driving-car-unveiled-germany.html

Genetic Engineering Update

"A rapid DNA-synthesis technique has been used to synthesize a complete mitochondrial genome from scratch":

http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/26495/?p1=A1

Robotics Update

Google has been testing autonomous, robot-driven cars for some time now:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/google-cars-drive-themselves-in-traffic

“We’ve driven down Lombard Street, crossed the Golden Gate bridge, navigated the Pacific Coast Highway, and even made it all the way around Lake Tahoe. All in all, our self-driving cars have logged over 140,000 miles."

Cybernetics Update

New small, lightweight exoskeleton allows the paralyzed to walk:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19555-exoskeleton-helps-the-paralysed-walk-again.html

Alternative Energies Update

Improved storage for solar thermal power plants:

http://www.ecogeek.org/power-storage/3307

"Developing a supercritical fluid thermal storage system promises increased power storage and lower cost for solar thermal power plants. The proposed system is expected to have twice the energy storage density of current two-tank molten salt systems and cost less than 70% of what current systems cost."

Artificial Intelligence Update

Researchers have created a machine that teaches itself:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/05/science/05compute.html?_r=2

Artificial Intelligence Update

SETI should be searching for machine intelligence, not biological intelligence:

http://www.astrobio.net/exclusive/3632/astronomer-seeks-et-machines

"If we build a machine with the intellectual capability of one human, then within 5 years, its successor is more intelligent than all humanity combined."

Alternative Energies Update

"Makani Power is one of six recent US Department of Energy ARPA-E grant winners for their Airborne Wind Turbine (AWT), a tethered flying wing that flies in endless loops around its anchor point on the ground and generates electricity from propellers on board. Makani believes it will be able to produce wind power that is 40% cheaper than conventional wind power and, more importantly, at an unsubsidized real cost competitive with coal-fired power plants":

http://www.ecogeek.org/wind-power/3304

Robotics Update

The iCub robot learns to accurately shoot a bow and arrow:

http://www.physorg.com/news204956669.html

Cybernetics Update

"Raytheon has unveiled its second-generation exoskeleton (XOS 2), essentially a wearable robotics suit. XOS 2 is lighter, stronger and faster than its predecessor, yet it uses 50 percent less power, and its new design makes it more resistant to the environment":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO0xNI3xpmE&feature=player_embedded

Nanotechnology Update

"Carbon nanotubes — those tiny particles poised to revolutionize electronics, medicine, and other areas — are much bigger in the strength department than anyone ever thought, scientists are reporting. New studies on the strength of these submicroscopic cylinders of carbon indicate that on an ounce-for-ounce basis they are at least 117 times stronger than steel and 30 times stronger than Kevlar, the material used in bulletproof vests and other products":

http://www.nanomagazine.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1101:carbon-nanotubes-twice-as-strong-as-once-thought&catid=38:nano-news&Itemid=159

Alternative Energies Update

"University of Arizona physicists have discovered a new way to harvest waste heat and turn it into electrical power":

http://uanews.org/node/34382

Robotics Update

I'm not sure how much this hints at self-awareness (not being privy to the programing), but...

http://www.kurzweilai.net/deceptive-robots-hint-at-machine-self-awareness

Computing Update

"Research is closing in on the next-generation of ultra-high-density magneto-optical storage devices that could store more than 6,000 Terabits (6 petabits) of data, more than 70 times the contents of the entire U.S. Library of Congress, on a single 5-inch disc":

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-09/aiop-ptt092010.php

Robotics Update

iCub robot model's a toddler's learning behavior:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19470-robots-on-tv-ai-goes-back-to-baby-basics.html

Robotics Update

Japan's latest HRP-4 robot shows an impressive array of motions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoSuETw68zc

Robotics Update

New supercomputer can see well enough to drive a car:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/new-supercomputer-on-a-chip-%E2%80%98sees%E2%80%99-well-enough-to-drive-a-car-someday

Robotics Update

"Researchers have created electronic sensors for artificial skin that can detect the slightest touch, for use on prosthetic limbs or robots":

http://www.kurzweilai.net/stanford-researchers-new-high-sensitivity-electronic-skin-can-feel-a-flys-footsteps

Robotics Update

Touch-sensitive artificial "e-skin" lets robots feel and touch objects:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/98671

Robotics Update

Touch-sensitive artificial "e-skin" lets robots feel and touch objects

Alternative Energies Update

"Solar funnel" concentrates solar energy 100 times using carbon nanotubes, which should allow the development of much smaller and more powerful solar arrays:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/solar-funnel-concentrates-solar-energy-100-times

Cybernetics Update

DARPA funding a method to connect nerves to fiber optics to allow "true" bionics that transfer signals like the real thing:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/fiber-optic-interface-to-link-robotic-limbs-human-brain

Nanotechnology Update

"Graphene, a one-atom-thick layer of graphitic carbon, has great potential to make electronic devices such as radios, computers and phones faster and smaller. But its unique properties have also led to difficulties in integrating the material into such devices.... A group of UCLA researchers demonstrate how they have overcome some of these difficulties to fabricate the fastest graphene transistor to date":

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/ucla-chemists-engineers-achieve-169811.aspx

"Graphene, a one-atom-thick layer of graphitic carbon, has great potential to make electronic devices such as radios, computers and phones faster and smaller. But its unique properties have also led to difficulties in integrating the material into such devices.... A group of UCLA researchers demonstrate how they have overcome some of these difficulties to fabricate the fastest graphene transistor to date":

Singularity Update

Here's a good reminder of how fast things are changing. But be aware this is from 2008 and thus out of date...but STILL impressive. Here it talks about taking a full YEAR to equal all the information generated in the past 5,000 years. Now it supposedly takes TWO DAYS to generate the same amount of info:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY

Computing Update

"Rice University scientists have created the first two-terminal memory chips that use only silicon to generate nanocrystal wires as small as 5 nanometers — far smaller than circuitry in even the most advanced computers and electronic devices. The technology breakthrough promises to extend the limits of miniaturization subject to Moore’s Law, and should be easily adaptable to nanoelectronic manufacturing techniques":

http://www.kurzweilai.net/silicon-nanocrystals-break-miniaturization-barrier-for-memory-chips

Computing Update

Memristors will go to market in 2013, allowing greater storage and instant switch on capability for computers and other devices:

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/26157/?a=f

"The goal is to be at least double whatever flash memory is in three years--we know we'll beat flash in speed, power, and endurance, and we want to beat it in density, too."

Computing Update

"In recent years the limits of physics and finance faced by chip makers had loomed so large that experts feared a slowdown in the pace of miniaturization that would act like a brake on the ability to pack ever more power into ever smaller devices like laptops, smartphones and digital cameras." But recent developments should allow miniaturization to far smaller scales:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/31/science/31compute.html?_r=1

Computing Update

Cybernetics Update

Computers can now read minds well enough to know exactly what words you are thinking:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/7957664/Computers-that-read-minds-are-being-developed-by-Intel.html

Artificial Intelligence Update

Here a robot learns like a child how objects can be stacked:

http://www.physorg.com/news201880504.html

(See videos)

Computing Update

"Graphics chips are doubling in capacity every six months. That translates into a thousandfold increase in capacity over a five-year period":

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/350918/20_20_Vision?taxonomyId=56&pageNumber=1&utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ec4d6f497a-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email

Virtual Reality Update

Researchers working on sending virtual objects over the Internet so they can be touched and manipulated by the recipient:

http://www.ethlife.ethz.ch/archive_articles/100816_virtuelle_realitaet_cho/index_EN

Alternative Energies Update

New York building a flywheel energy storage system to store excess energy from the grid:

http://www.ecogeek.org/power-storage/3257

Alternative Energies Update

First test of wind-to-battery is a success:

http://www.ecogeek.org/wind-power/3260

Computing Update

"A computer chip that performs calculations using probabilities, instead of binary logic, could accelerate everything from online banking systems to the flash memory in smart phones and other gadgets":

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/26055/?a=f

Computing Update

Plastic “spintronics” devices could store more data in less space, process data faster, and consume less power:

http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/spindata.htm

Artificial Intelligence Update

The brain may be wired much like the Internet (which explains its ability to recover from damage to any one small area):

http://uscnews.usc.edu/science_technology/new_study_examines_the_brains_wiring.html

It makes one wonder if the Internet itself may become self-aware.

Nanotechnology Update

Logic devices have been created that could give nanobots computing ability at the nano-scale:

http://www.physorg.com/news200213686.html

Artificial Intelligence Update

Digital life forms evolve memory. The principle could be scaled up to evolve high-level artificial intelligence:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/artificial-life-forms-evolve-basic-intelligence?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=a51e1d888b-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email

Computing Update

Think the world isn't changing fast? Think again. Every two days that pass now we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until the year 2003. Mind-blowing!:

http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/04/schmidt-data/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Techcrunch+(TechCrunch)

Alternative Energies Update

"Stanford University engineers have figured out how to simultaneously use the light and heat of the sun to generate electricity in a way that could make solar power production more than twice as efficient as existing methods and potentially cheap enough to compete with oil":

http://news.stanford.edu/news/2010/august/new-solar-method-080210.html

Alternative Energies Update

A new design for extra huge windmills that can handle the stresses:

http://www.ecogeek.org/wind-power/3241

Computing Update

Prototype interconnect uses light to speed up data transmission inside computers. The prototype can transmit an entire high-definition movie each second:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/202018/intel_turns_to_light_to_transfer_data_inside_pcs.html

Computing Update

Prototype interconnect uses light to speed up data transmission inside computers. The prototype can transmit an entire high-definition movie each second:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/202018/intel_turns_to_light_to_transfer_data_inside_pcs.html

Nanotechnology Update

The development of "nanoribbons" show promise for future electronics devices:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-07/sflf-nfg072110.php

Cybernetics Update

A new "walking wheelchair" allows many wheelchair users to stand and walk around, making it easier to interact with the conventional world:

http://www.gizmag.com/rex-robotic-exoskeleton/15736/

Cybernetics Update

Highly dexterous artificial limb with a sense of touch can be controlled by thought alone:

http://www.jhuapl.edu/newscenter/pressreleases/2010/100714.asp

Alternative Energies Update

New ultra-low-power devices are being developed that can use radio waves as a power source:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/business/18novel.html

Robotics Update

A robot is taught to fetch specific brands of beer for hard-at-work programmers:

http://www.kurzweilai.net/faithful-willow-garage-robot-taught-to-fetch-beer-from-fridge?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=5e62dd8d7a-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email

Robotics Update

Robot teachers are in their infancy...but the writing is on the wall. I will be replaced by a robot within a couple decades:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/science/11robots.html

Alternative Energies Update

Solar powered plane successfully flies through the night on stored solar power:

http://www.physorg.com/news197695549.html

Robotics Update

Blind robot with a human-like gait can negotiate uneven surfaces and even recover from stumbles:

http://www.ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=7726

Alternative Energies Update

Researchers use super-high pressures to create a new form of material capable of storing energy in batteries at densities bested only by nuclear power:

http://wsunews.wsu.edu/pages/publications.asp?Action=Detail&PublicationID=20580&TypeID=1

Cybernetics Update

VA Tech creates a robotic vehicle capable of being successfully driven by blind drivers:

http://www.egmcartech.com/2010/07/02/national-federation-of-the-blind-and-virginia-tech-demos-blind-friendly-car/

Alternative Energies Update

Process could use the sun's light and heat to break down carbon dioxide into solid carbon (for manufacturing) or carbon monoxide (for fuel):

http://www.physorg.com/news199005915.html

Most significantly, this process could:

"...decrease carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere to pre-industrial levels within 10 years."

!!!

Virtual Reality Update

Another use of haptics in improving the realism of virtual reality experiences:

http://www.physorg.com/news197186879.html

Virtual Reality Update

New haptics technology gives a sense of touch to users handling virtual objects:

http://www.physorg.com/news197256614.html

Alternative Energies Update

Lithium-ion batteries with nanotube electrodes could deliver 10 times more power than a conventional battery and store five times more energy than a conventional ultracapacitor:

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/25634/?ref=rss

Alternative Energies Update

Using gravel and argon gas to store energy generated by erratic alternative energy production like solar and windmills:

http://ecogeek.org/power-storage/3171

Artificial Intelligence Update

Speech recognition has come a long way over the past few years:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/science/25voice.html?ref=technology

Alternative Energies Update

The addition of carbon nanotubes increases the energy delivery of lithium-ion batteries by up to 10x:

http://web.mit.edu/press/2010/enhanced-battery.html

Robotics Update

A robot learns to play a decent game of pool in just one week:

http://www.willowgarage.com/blog/2010/06/15/pr2-plays-pool

Singularity Update

This long article overviews the Singularity and describes those involved in the concept:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/business/13sing.html?ref=science&pagewanted=all

Computing Update

Scientists achieve a major advance toward making computer circuitry out of graphene, the most promising replacement for silicon:

http://www.gatech.edu/newsroom/release.html?nid=58002

Robotics Update

Self-assembling robot can drive and even fly:

http://www.physorg.com/news195286184.html

Cybernetics Update

A robotic arm dexterously operated by a monkey's brain:

http://www.physorg.com/news194796581.html

Robotics Update

Big Dog's little brother Little Dog is a 5" tall robot able to clamber over a variety of uneven and unstable terrain effectively:

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/25248/

It almost looks alive....

Computing Update

The world's smallest transistor has been created...with only seven atoms!

http://www.physorg.com/news193896845.html

Transportation Update

Concept car breathes CO2 and exhales O2, like a plant:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20005538-1.html

Nanotechnology Update

Displaying movies and other moving graphics may be powered by a superconducting power source:

http://www.physorg.com/news193635596.html

Computing Update

Quantum teleportation has been achieved to distances of 16km, opening the possibility of instantaneous communications with satellites and thus possibly eventually replacing current communications systems:

http://www.physorg.com/news193551675.html

Alternative Energies Update

The Swedes are developing an underwater kite power generation system to tap the power of currents in deep water:

http://ecogeek.org/tidal-and-wave-power/3159

Robotics Update

The roaming "Anybot" allows mobile teleconferencing through a cute robot:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/196633/meet_qb_your_new_robotic_coworker.html

Transportation Update

New plane designs could cut fuel use by 70%:

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/nplus3-0517.html

Genetic Engineering Update

For decades creationists have insisted evolution is impossible because it is impossible to create life from non-life. They'd point to the fact that scientists had yet to create artificial life as evidence. I would respond by saying that we were a lot closer to creating artificial life than they realized. And sure enough, ahead of schedule (faster than even I'd expected), scientists have created self-replicating, synthetic life, designed on a computer and using off-the-shelf, non-living chemical components:

http://www.jcvi.org/cms/press/press-releases/full-text/article/first-self-replicating-synthetic-bacterial-cell-constructed-by-j-craig-venter-institute-researcher/

Robotics Update

Teaching robots to behave more like humans to give them better manners:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18913-innovation-teaching-robots-some-manners.html

Robotics Update

Scientists create programmable robots out of DNA:

http://media.caltech.edu/press_releases/13345

Nanotechnology Update

Using DNA to make an assembly line-process to create new materials:

http://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2010/05/12/nyu-nanjing-u-chemists-create-dna-assembly-line.html

Alternative Energies Update

Using quantum entanglement to duplicate conversion of light into energy, photosynthesis-style:

http://newscenter.lbl.gov/feature-stories/2010/05/10/untangling-quantum-entanglement/

Computing Update

"An experimental demonstration of a quantum calculation has shown that a single molecule can perform operations thousands of times faster than any conventional computer."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100504220042.htm

Robotics Update

Robots built with collision detection prevent humans from being injured by stabbing and slashing knives:

http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/medical-robots/050610-robots-with-knives-a-study-of-soft-tissue-injury-in-robotics

(See video for examples in action.)

Technology Update

This doesn't really have anything to do with nanotech or the singularity, but it is cool. Cell phone imaging devices can be made to act as nightvision enhancers:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-05/uof-uer050410.php

Artificial Intelligence Update

Using cheap, low-powered cell phone chips to emulate brain-like activities:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627585.700-army-of-smartphone-chips-could-emulate-the-human-brain.html