Perhaps the missing piece that will enable fusion reactors? OK, probably not, fusion seems to destined to remain "40 years off" forever, but its a nice thought.
Fragile particles rarely seen in our Universe have been merged with ordinary electrons to make a new form of matter.
Di-positronium, as the new molecule is known, was predicted to exist in 1946 but has remained elusive to science. Now, a US team has created thousands of the molecules by merging electrons with their antimatter equivalent: positrons.
The discovery, reported in the journal Nature, is a key step in the creation of ultra-powerful lasers known as gamma-ray annihilation lasers. "The difference in the power available from a gamma-ray laser compared to a normal laser is the same as the difference between a nuclear explosion and a chemical explosion," said Dr David Cassidy of the University of California, Riverside, and one of the authors of the paper.
It would have an incredibly high power density." As a result, there is a huge interest in the technology from the military as well as energy researchers who believe the lasers could be used to kick-start nuclear fusion in a reactor
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Coolest Extinct Animals
A fun story from Wired, althought I don't necessarily agree with their list.
My additions to the list:
Biggest, baddest bear ever
Terror bird
Sabre-toothed tigers
Dire wolves
23 foot long/4000 pound dragons
even more here
Wired article below
My additions to the list:
Biggest, baddest bear ever
Terror bird
Sabre-toothed tigers
Dire wolves
23 foot long/4000 pound dragons
even more here
Wired article below
The Best: Extinct Animals, From an Elephant Bird to a 10-Foot-Long, Four-Eyed Spider
1) Carcharodon megalodon
Description A shark twice the length of a great white, this 50-foot killing machine had serrated teeth the size of bowie knives. You would definitely need a bigger boat.
Last seen 1.6 million years ago.
2) Arthropleura armata
Description Creeped out by centipedes? You never would've made it in the Carboniferous era. This 7-foot-long insect was like an even more horrifying and unspeakable version of the Rockettes.
Last seen At the beginning of the Permian period (290 million years ago) — and in your nightmares.
3) Meganeura monyi (Not shown)
Description Dragonflies are already cool. Add a 3-foot wingspan? Awesome.
Last seen The Permian extinction (250 million years ago).
4) Aepyornis maximus
Description The elephant bird stood taller than a basketball hoop, and you could make more than 40 omelets from one of its foot-long eggs. Brunch!
Last seen In the 16th century. Couldn't adjust to the Gregorian calendar?
5) Elasmotherium sibiricum
Description This 20-foot-long Eurasian rhino could run like a horse and gore its enemies with a 6-foot horn. That is one badass unicorn.
Last seen 800,000 years ago.
6) Gigantopithecus blacki
Description Known mostly by the fossilized teeth it left behind, this king of Kongs stood roughly 9 feet tall and weighed around half a ton.
Last seen 300,000 years ago — or possibly in Harry and the Hendersons.
7) Jaekelopterus rhenaniae (Not shown)
Description Don't panic. The so-called giant sea scorpion was actually an arthropod — more like a spider, really. It was 10 feet long, had four eyes, and, in addition to swimming, could walk on land. So that's ... pretty horrible.
Last seen 248 million years ago. Phew!
8) Shonisaurus sikanniensis
Description What's not to love about an aquatic reptile the size of a yacht?
Last seen At the end of the Norian stage (204 million years ago).
9) Doedicurus clavicaudatus
Description Imagine a Volkswagen Beetle with teeth and an enormous spiked tail.
Last seen 15,000 years ago.
10) Ceratogaulus rhinoceros
Description It was a rodent. It had twin tusks growing from its nose. And it burrowed. This explains why there were no good golf courses in the Pliocene epoch.
Last seen 5 million years ago.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
The Nature of Human Nature
Michael Shermer's response to the www.edge.org annual question which this year was:
What have you changed your mind about?
When I was a graduate student in experimental psychology, I cut my teeth in a Skinnerian behavioral laboratory. As a behaviorist I believed that human nature was largely a blank slate on which we could impose positive and negative reinforcements (and punishments if necessary) to shape people and society into almost anything we want.
As a young college professor I taught psychology from this perspective and even created a new course on the history and psychology of war, in which I argued that people are by nature peaceful and nonviolent, and that wars were thus a byproduct of corrupt governments and misguided societies.
The data from evolutionary psychology has now convinced me that we evolved a dual set of moral sentiments: within groups we tend to be pro-social and cooperative, but between groups we are tribal and xenophobic.
Archaeological evidence indicates that Paleolithic humans were anything but noble savages, and that civilization has gradually but ineluctably reduced the amount of within-group aggression and between-group violence. And behavior genetics has erased the tabula rasa and replaced it with a highly constrained biological template upon which the environment can act.
I have thus changed my mind about this theory of human nature in its extreme form. Human nature is more evolutionarily determined, more cognitively irrational, and more morally complex than I thought.
More posts on this question at the Edge.org
Michael Shermer is among other things editor of the Skeptic magazine
What have you changed your mind about?
When I was a graduate student in experimental psychology, I cut my teeth in a Skinnerian behavioral laboratory. As a behaviorist I believed that human nature was largely a blank slate on which we could impose positive and negative reinforcements (and punishments if necessary) to shape people and society into almost anything we want.
As a young college professor I taught psychology from this perspective and even created a new course on the history and psychology of war, in which I argued that people are by nature peaceful and nonviolent, and that wars were thus a byproduct of corrupt governments and misguided societies.
The data from evolutionary psychology has now convinced me that we evolved a dual set of moral sentiments: within groups we tend to be pro-social and cooperative, but between groups we are tribal and xenophobic.
Archaeological evidence indicates that Paleolithic humans were anything but noble savages, and that civilization has gradually but ineluctably reduced the amount of within-group aggression and between-group violence. And behavior genetics has erased the tabula rasa and replaced it with a highly constrained biological template upon which the environment can act.
I have thus changed my mind about this theory of human nature in its extreme form. Human nature is more evolutionarily determined, more cognitively irrational, and more morally complex than I thought.
More posts on this question at the Edge.org
Michael Shermer is among other things editor of the Skeptic magazine
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Canada Could Supplant the Middle East as the Primary Supplier of Oil to the US in the Future
World Oil Reserves by Country
Notes:
1. Estimated reserves in billions (10**9) of barrels. (Source: Oil & Gas Journal, January, 2007)
2. Production rate in millions (10**6) of barrels per day (Source: US Energy Information Authority, September, 2007)
3. Reserve life in years, calculated as reserves / annual production. (from above
Country Reserves Production Reserve life 3
(10**9bbl) (10**6 bpd) (years)
Saudi Arabia 260 8.8 81
Canada 179 2.7 182
Iran 136 3.7 101
Iraq 115 2.2 143
Kuwait 99 2.5 108
United Arab Emirates 97 2.5 107
Venezuela 80 2.4 91
Russia 60 9.5 17
Libya 41.5 1.8 63
Nigeria 36.2 2.3 43
United States 21 4.9 12
Mexico 12 3.2 10
Notes:
1. Estimated reserves in billions (10**9) of barrels. (Source: Oil & Gas Journal, January, 2007)
2. Production rate in millions (10**6) of barrels per day (Source: US Energy Information Authority, September, 2007)
3. Reserve life in years, calculated as reserves / annual production. (from above
Monday, January 28, 2008
A "Saudi Arabia" Worth of Oil under Dakotas, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba
The Bakken oil formation is possibly the largest conventional oil discovery in Canada since 1957. If this oil formation plays out toward the higher end of size and recoverability then it will change the geopolitics of oil and the economies of the United States and Canada. If a lot of the oil proves difficult to recover now, new technologies could still drastically improve the percent recoverable. The motivation to pull out another 100 billion barrels would be $9 trillion at todays prices.
Estimates are anywhere from a conservative 25 billion barrels of oil in place, to a high estimate by the United States Geological Survey of 400 billion barrels of oil in the Bakken formation. Not only is the oil plentiful, but it's high quality too, 41 degree light sweet crude. The Bakken formation is a formation of black shale, siltstone, and sandstone. The formation lies beneath the Mississippian formation, Saskatchewan's current source of light sweet crude. The Bakken formation is situated beneath southeastern Saskatchewan, southwestern Manitoba, and North Dakota.
In 2007, EOG Resources out of Houston, Texas reported that a single well it had drilled into an oil-rich layer of shale below Parshall, North Dakota is anticipated to produce 700,000 barrels of oil.The resources of the Bakken Formation are defined by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) as unconventional “continuous-type” oil resources. This means the hydrocarbons within the Bakken have not accumulated into discrete reservoirs of limited areal extent. With new horizontal drilling and completion technology taken into account, the technically recoverable resource base for the entire Bakken Formation is potentially much larger.
Full story from Next Big Future here
Full story from Next Big Future here
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Contact lenses with circuits, lights a possible platform for enhanced vision
Engineers at the University of Washington have manufactured contact lenses that contain electronic circuits and red LEDs.
The circuits don't actually do anything yet—and don’t seem like they will be doing anything anytime soon—but the contacts are a pretty impressive feat of engineering.
In order to embed a metal electronic circuit in a flexible and safe contact lens (the rabbits wore the contacts for 20 minutes with “no adverse effects”), the researchers used layers of metal only a few nanometers thick and manufactured LEDs only a third of a millimeter across. They then sprinkled the system with tiny, self-assembling electrical components.
The researchers hope that the system will soon be able to superimpose images—such as driving control panels and immersive virtual games—over the wearer's view of the outside world.
The press release also claims that people could “surf the Internet on a midair virtual display screen that only they would be able to see”—although the idea of people crossing the street while their entire visual field is filled with porn is a little disconcerting.
Click here for full article from the University of Washington
Friday, January 25, 2008
China to be new driver of world's economy and innovation
A new study of worldwide technological competitiveness suggests China may soon rival the United States as the principal driver of the world’s economy – a position the U.S. has held since the end of World War II. If that happens, it will mark the first time in nearly a century that two nations have competed for leadership as equals.
The study’s indicators predict that China will soon pass the United States in the critical ability to develop basic science and technology, turn those developments into products and services – and then market them to the world. Though China is often seen as just a low-cost producer of manufactured goods, the new “High Tech Indicators” study done by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology clearly shows that the Asian powerhouse has much bigger aspirations.
“For the first time in nearly a century, we see leadership in basic research and the economic ability to pursue the benefits of that research – to create and market products based on research – in more than one place on the planet,” said Nils Newman, co-author of the National Science Foundation-supported study. “Since World War II, the United States has been the main driver of the global economy. Now we have a situation in which technology products are going to be appearing in the marketplace that were not developed or commercialized here. We won’t have had any involvement with them and may not even know they are coming.”
The 2007 statistics show China with a technological standing of 82.8, compared to 76.1 for the United States, 66.8 for Germany and 66.0 for Japan. Just 11 years ago, China’s score was only 22.5. The United States peaked in 1999 with a score of 95.4.
For full story click here
Monday, January 21, 2008
The Singularity Institute
A really interesting website, it goes into some depth regarding the coming singularity.
What is the Singularity?
The Singularity is the technological creation of smarter-than-human intelligence. There are several technologies that are often mentioned as heading in this direction. The most commonly mentioned is probably Artificial Intelligence, but there are others: direct brain-computer interfaces, biological augmentation of the brain, genetic engineering, ultra-high-resolution scans of the brain followed by computer emulation. Some of these technologies seem likely to arrive much earlier than the others, but there are nonetheless several independent technologies all heading in the direction of the Singularity – several different technologies which, if they reached a threshold level of sophistication, would enable the creation of smarter-than-human intelligence.
A future that contains smarter-than-human minds is genuinely different in a way that goes beyond the usual visions of a future filled with bigger and better gadgets. Vernor Vinge originally coined the term "Singularity" in observing that, just as our model of physics breaks down when it tries to model the singularity at the center of a black hole, our model of the world breaks down when it tries to model a future that contains entities smarter than human.
Human intelligence is the foundation of human technology; all technology is ultimately the product of intelligence. If technology can turn around and enhance intelligence, this closes the loop, creating a positive feedback effect. Smarter minds will be more effective at building still smarter minds. This loop appears most clearly in the example of an Artificial Intelligence improving its own source code, but it would also arise, albeit initially on a slower timescale, from humans with direct brain-computer interfaces creating the next generation of brain-computer interfaces, or biologically augmented humans working on an Artificial Intelligence project.
Some of the stronger Singularity technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence and brain-computer interfaces, offer the possibility of faster intelligence as well as smarter intelligence. Ultimately, speeding up intelligence is probably comparatively unimportant next to creating better intelligence; nonetheless the potential differences in speed are worth mentioning because they are so huge. Human neurons operate by sending electrochemical signals that propagate at a top speed of 150 meters per second along the fastest neurons. By comparison, the speed of light is 300,000,000 meters per second, two million times greater. Similarly, most human neurons can spike a maximum of 200 times per second; even this may overstate the information-processing capability of neurons, since most modern theories of neural information-processing call for information to be carried by the frequency of the spike train rather than individual signals. By comparison, speeds in modern computer chips are currently at around 2GHz – a ten millionfold difference – and still increasing exponentially. At the very least it should be physically possible to achieve a million-to-one speedup in thinking, at which rate a subjective year would pass in 31 physical seconds. At this rate the entire subjective timespan from Socrates in ancient Greece to modern-day humanity would pass in under twenty-two hours.
What is the Singularity?
The Singularity is the technological creation of smarter-than-human intelligence. There are several technologies that are often mentioned as heading in this direction. The most commonly mentioned is probably Artificial Intelligence, but there are others: direct brain-computer interfaces, biological augmentation of the brain, genetic engineering, ultra-high-resolution scans of the brain followed by computer emulation. Some of these technologies seem likely to arrive much earlier than the others, but there are nonetheless several independent technologies all heading in the direction of the Singularity – several different technologies which, if they reached a threshold level of sophistication, would enable the creation of smarter-than-human intelligence.
A future that contains smarter-than-human minds is genuinely different in a way that goes beyond the usual visions of a future filled with bigger and better gadgets. Vernor Vinge originally coined the term "Singularity" in observing that, just as our model of physics breaks down when it tries to model the singularity at the center of a black hole, our model of the world breaks down when it tries to model a future that contains entities smarter than human.
Human intelligence is the foundation of human technology; all technology is ultimately the product of intelligence. If technology can turn around and enhance intelligence, this closes the loop, creating a positive feedback effect. Smarter minds will be more effective at building still smarter minds. This loop appears most clearly in the example of an Artificial Intelligence improving its own source code, but it would also arise, albeit initially on a slower timescale, from humans with direct brain-computer interfaces creating the next generation of brain-computer interfaces, or biologically augmented humans working on an Artificial Intelligence project.
Some of the stronger Singularity technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence and brain-computer interfaces, offer the possibility of faster intelligence as well as smarter intelligence. Ultimately, speeding up intelligence is probably comparatively unimportant next to creating better intelligence; nonetheless the potential differences in speed are worth mentioning because they are so huge. Human neurons operate by sending electrochemical signals that propagate at a top speed of 150 meters per second along the fastest neurons. By comparison, the speed of light is 300,000,000 meters per second, two million times greater. Similarly, most human neurons can spike a maximum of 200 times per second; even this may overstate the information-processing capability of neurons, since most modern theories of neural information-processing call for information to be carried by the frequency of the spike train rather than individual signals. By comparison, speeds in modern computer chips are currently at around 2GHz – a ten millionfold difference – and still increasing exponentially. At the very least it should be physically possible to achieve a million-to-one speedup in thinking, at which rate a subjective year would pass in 31 physical seconds. At this rate the entire subjective timespan from Socrates in ancient Greece to modern-day humanity would pass in under twenty-two hours.
Singularity Perspectives from the Next Big Future Blog
Singularity perspectives using hindsight and optimal algorithms: AGI raised by wolves
The technological Singularity is described as creation of [significantly] smarter-than-human intelligence.
Combine faster intelligence, smarter intelligence, and recursively self-improving intelligence, and the result is an event so huge that there are no metaphors left. There's nothing remaining to compare it to. The Singularity is beyond huge, but it can begin with something small. If one smarter-than-human intelligence exists, that mind will find it easier to create still smarter minds.
Click here for the full article
The technological Singularity is described as creation of [significantly] smarter-than-human intelligence.
Combine faster intelligence, smarter intelligence, and recursively self-improving intelligence, and the result is an event so huge that there are no metaphors left. There's nothing remaining to compare it to. The Singularity is beyond huge, but it can begin with something small. If one smarter-than-human intelligence exists, that mind will find it easier to create still smarter minds.
Click here for the full article
Robots Evolve And Learn How to Lie
Robots can evolve to communicate with each other, to help, and even to deceive each other, according to Dario Floreano of the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.
Click here to view article.
Evolutionary experiments with "artificial" life are truly fascinating to me. I'd love to see this experiment taken to the next step.
Click here to view article.
Evolutionary experiments with "artificial" life are truly fascinating to me. I'd love to see this experiment taken to the next step.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Ahead of the curve careers and megatrends
Marty Nemko of USA Today looks at "6 megatrends" from the perspective of a career seeker. Pretty interesting list, but definitely not comprehensive.
The 6 Megatrends
Growing healthcare demand
The increasingly digitized world
Globalization, especially Asia's ascendancy
The dawn of clinical genomics
Environmentalism
Terrorism
The 6 Megatrends
Growing healthcare demand
The increasingly digitized world
Globalization, especially Asia's ascendancy
The dawn of clinical genomics
Environmentalism
Terrorism
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Invisibility Technology
Interesting new technology:
Using strange new materials not found in nature, physicists can make an object "invisible".
I could definitely see this applied to military aircraft and even ships in a few years to hide from radar. Longer term, it would be pretty interesting to have tanks etc. that are invisible in the visible light spectrum.
Using strange new materials not found in nature, physicists can make an object "invisible".
I could definitely see this applied to military aircraft and even ships in a few years to hide from radar. Longer term, it would be pretty interesting to have tanks etc. that are invisible in the visible light spectrum.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
First post!!
Welcome to my blog! I intend to use this site to post and host discussions about anything that interests me, but especially what THE FUTURE holds in store for us all.
Other topics that I am certain that I will get into are: philosophy, politics, history, cosmology, physics, economics, management, strategy, internet marketing, online publishing, marketing in general, technology, CRM, ERP systems, the internet, computing, artificial intelligence, robotics, judo, mixed martial arts, weapons, soccer, gaming, travel, science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and historical fiction.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)