Monday, March 26, 2018

Recording data from one million neurons in real time

"“A considerable benefit of this architecture and data format is that it doesn’t require further translation, as the brain’s [spiking] signals are translated directly into bitcode,” making it available for computer processing and dramatically increasing the processing speed and database storage capacity."

http://www.kurzweilai.net/recording-data-from-one-million-neurons-in-real-time

IBM’s New Computer Is the Size of a Grain of Salt and Costs Less Than 10 Cents

"Despite its diminutive size, the company claims the computer has the same amount of power as an x86 chip from 1990."

https://singularityhub.com/2018/03/26/ibms-new-computer-is-the-size-of-a-grain-of-salt-and-costs-less-than-10-cents/

“Game Changing” Antibiotic is Capable of Killing Superbugs

Another weapon needed as antibiotic resistance spreads:

https://scitechdaily.com/game-changing-antibiotic-is-capable-of-killing-superbugs/

Thursday, March 22, 2018

Is there anything hackers can't hack? Now there is, thanks to a new way of coding.

This is becoming increasingly vital:

http://bigthink.com/videos/kathleen-fisher-how-coders-are-creating-software-thats-impossible-to-hack

New MIT Device Can Harvest Water From Desert Air

This invention may be coming just in time to allow the survival of hundreds of millions of people living in the increasing desertification caused by climate change:

https://scitechdaily.com/new-mit-device-can-harvest-water-from-desert-air/

Scientists Identify The Key Region of ‘Immortality and Aging’ Enzyme

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-identify-key-region-of-immortality-and-aging-enzyme/

How the Wild New Materials of the Future Will Be Discovered With AI

https://singularityhub.com/2018/03/22/how-the-wild-new-materials-of-the-future-will-be-discovered-with-ai/#sm.0001p9abvhotbf0jwc02kzluw8213

The Meat Industry Has Some Serious Beef With Those 'Bleeding' Plant-Based Burgers

Of course "big meat" is upset:

http://time.com/5181524/impossible-burger-plant-based/

But the technology will only get better.

This is the moment when we decide that human lives matter more than cars

From here: https://www.curbed.com/transportation/2018/3/20/17142090/uber-fatal-crash-driverless-pedestrian-safety

"If an autonomous vehicle is not several magnitudes better than a human driver at detecting a pedestrian and preventing the loss of human life, it cannot be on the road."

I think this is exactly the wrong way to look at the problem. As soon as autonomous vehicles are simply BETTER than human drivers, they SHOULD be on the road.

Monday, March 19, 2018

$10 million XPRIZE Aims for Robot Avatars That Let You See, Hear, and Feel by 2021

Creating the ultimate waldo (remote manipulator):

https://singularityhub.com/2018/03/19/robot-avatars-that-let-you-see-hear-and-feel-could-be-here-by-2021/

This Robot is Better at Basketball Than You

https://nerdist.com/this-robot-is-better-at-basketball-than-you/

Decline in World Fertility Rates Lowers Risks of Mass Starvation

Some good news for those who have been dreading overpopulation:

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-03-16/decline-in-world-fertility-rates-lowers-risks-of-mass-starvation

How Exercising Into Old Age Can Keep Your Immune System Young

How to keep your immune system at the peak it was in your 20s:

http://time.com/5193032/cycling-old-age-immune-system/

Self-Driving Uber Involved In Arizona Pedestrian Death

Damn. Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. But the few exceptions should prove the rule:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/self-driving-uber-involved-in-pedestrian-death-in-arizona_us_5aafeabbe4b0697dfe193348

Monday, March 5, 2018

Hyperloop and Flying Cars Are Battling It Out for the Future of Transportation

Without nanotech to drive the price of tunneling WAY down, I don't see the hyperloop as happening, but I can see flying cars for certain short hops as being worthwhile very soon. At least I would buy one as a quick way of getting down to the lake and back. :-)

https://singularityhub.com/2018/03/05/hyperloop-and-flying-cars-are-battling-it-out-for-the-future-of-transportation/

Thursday, February 15, 2018

The “Father of Artificial Intelligence” Says Singularity Is 30 Years Away

Several futurists predicting the technological singularity within a few decades:

https://futurism.com/father-artificial-intelligence-singularity-decades-away/

SunPower solar panels and Tesla Powerwall battery system information

For anyone thinking of getting a home solar system, here's an update you may find interesting and hopefully useful:

I live in Northern CA, and in 2017 I decided to go solar. I bought a 4.1kW system (twelve 345W panels) for $16.5K (actual cost about $11K after tax breaks). Any power I don't use is fed to the grid, and at the end of the year the amount of grid power I've used vs. the amount I've sent to the grid is calculated to determine whether I have to pay or whether I get paid something (it's best to put into the grid exactly as much power as you use, since the amount PG&E pays for any overproduction is paltry). Regardless, there is a $10 per month service charge just to remain connected to the grid.

Although the system works fine, there is no way to know how much power you're producing vs. using until the end of the year. Also, if the grid power ever suffers an outage during the day, the solar system ceases to function (apparently it needs SOME grid power to access the solar production...which is strange and annoying).

So I looked into getting a battery system. The Tesla Powerwall 2 had recently come onto the market, and although it's expensive (around $12K fully installed), here in CA it came with a huge tax break and a rebate, reducing the cost to less than $5K. I was one of the first few hundred people in CA to order a Powerwall.

The battery holds a 13.5 kWh charge. To put that into perspective, that's enough energy to power my home for around 30 hours of normal use.

So the way this works is you set the Tesla phone app to the percentage you always want to remain in reserve for power outages. I've set mine to 25%, since outages are extremely rare and never for more than a few hours (FYI, in case of an outage, the switch to battery power is almost instantaneous and without any interruption). The remaining 75% is more flexible, and is used to power my home whenever there is insufficient or no solar power generation.

During the shortest day of the year, the battery uses a maximum of about 60% of its charge to get me through the darkest hours. It only gets better than that every other day of the year, weather permitting. As long as the sky isn't covered with dark clouds during the day (thin cloud cover is okay), there's enough solar power generated to refill the battery. That keeps me 99% free of grid power, although I'm still connected to the grid (for $10/month) for the times when it's too cloudy for too long or if I need to put more of a drain on the system than the battery can handle (that includes, unfortunately, most air conditioning systems if they need to run when there's insufficient solar power generation). I also need a grid connection to feed excess power to the grid (which should pay for that monthly fee, although we'll see once air conditioning season hits).

So for about $16K, I have a solar and battery system that should pay for itself within a decade or so (although it's hard to say for sure yet, since I don't have a full year on the system to properly calculate the costs). Your costs may vary, but it may be worth looking into such a system.

Attached are some pictures of the Tesla app (which is unexpectedly addicting, since you can see which appliances are using the most electricity by watching the usage in almost real time). The first pic shows the percentage of power available in the Powerwall, as well as whether it's charging, discharging or standing by. The second pic shows the power flowing from the solar to the house and the battery. The third pic shows the power flowing from the solar to the house, with excess power feeding to the grid (because the battery is full). The fourth pic shows the battery discharging to power the house at night. And the fifth pic shows how you can monitor the daily power dynamics for solar, house, battery and grid.

FYI, a TV, receiver, DVR, fridge and a few lights use about 0.3 kW (it varies somewhat). A microwave or a treadmill can add around 1 kW. Oddly enough, a computer with a couple monitors, a space heater or a hair dryer add almost nothing. I don't think I've ever used more than about 2.5 kW at a time, and I average about 10 kWh per day (that'll go up during A/C season).

I hope you find this info useful.










Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Why the Rise of Self-Driving Vehicles Will Actually Increase Car Ownership

Yeah, I never really bought the idea that car ownership will drop off with autonomous cars. I would add to this list the fact that some people (myself included) don't enjoy sitting in a seat that thousands of others have sat in:

https://singularityhub.com/2018/02/14/why-the-rise-of-self-driving-vehicles-will-actually-increase-car-ownership/

We Read This 800-Page Report on the State of Longevity Research So You Don’t Have To

https://singularityhub.com/2018/02/14/we-read-this-800-page-report-on-longevity-research-so-you-dont-have-to/

The cancer-fighting nanorobots that seek and destroy tumors

Not exactly the kind of droids we're looking for, but they evidently do the trick:

https://nano-magazine.com/news/2018/2/14/the-cancer-fighting-nanorobots-that-seek-and-destroy-tumors/

New Process Allows 3-D Printing of Nanoscale Metal Structures

It can't be that much farther before they're assembling individual molecules...and that's where the promise of nanotech begins:

https://nano-magazine.com/news/2018/2/12/new-process-allows-3-d-printing-of-nanoscale-metal-structures/

Scientists Identify a Potential New Alzheimer’s Disease Marker

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-identify-a-potential-new-alzheimers-disease-marker/