Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 230

The unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded two minutes after launch, when its two stages were expected to separate. This is the first time in 19 launches that ended in failure, as the 63-meter rocket was able to complete six cargo trips to the ISS and has a 15-flight contract with NASA.

Musk offered a second statement: "There was an overpressure event in the upper stage liquid oxygen tank. Data suggests counterintuitive cause. That's all we can say with confidence right now. Will have more to say following a thorough fault tree analysis."

Astronauts on the space station can sustain themselves until July 24 on normal levels, and have enough reserves until September. There are three scheduled cargo missions scheduled to launch to the ISS over the next three months.

We're only 15 years away from the year 2030, where we're expected to see human brains assisted by nanobot implants that will turn us into "hybrids", according to one of the world's leading thinkers.

The Director of Engineering at Google, Ray Kurzweil, has said that in the 2030s, we will see implants connecting humans to the cloud. We would then be able to pull information from the cloud, from our own brains, all while information will be allowed from your brain to the cloud, letting you back your brain up to the cloud. You know, in case of a bad hangover one night, you could just restore your brain to the night before. #backsupforlife

Kurzweil has said that as the cloud accessing our brain improves (and before Skynet takes over), our thinking and cognitive abilities would expand quicker than we can imagine. At first, it would be a "hybrid of biological and non-biological thinking", but as we shift into the 2040s, most of our thinking will be done off-brain, and would thus be non-biological. Think, "OK Google, can I afford to buy pizza tonight" or "OK Google, what is 5.2 million divided by 2.39".

Scientists in China were able to train mice in less than one week to be able to sniff out explosives, narcotics, and other items. The mice, trained by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences Kunming Institute of Zoology, said they were able to accurately identify targets 98 percent of the time.

Researchers trained the mice by withholding water resources, and then put a custom sensor in the cage that released water droplets after it was touched. After being moved to a box that offered two different smells, water was given as a reward when they pressed the sensor. It took five days for the mice to learn they would receive a water reward every time they detected the appropriate smell.

It's much cheaper to train and store mice over dogs, and could see widespread use in the future, after additional testing is completed.

Screenwriter and director Alex Garland, the mastermind behind Ex-Machina, recently answered questions regarding artificial intelligence. Of particular interest was when Garland spoke regarding sentient and non-sentient technology - sentient is a term used to describe the ability to perceive or feel things.

When asked about the idea that non-sentient technology has the capacity for good or danger, he offered the following thoughts:

"No. It wouldn't be capable of good or evil in that way, because it is not sentient," Garland said during a recent conference call. " And [whether] they have a good or evil aspect [...] would be defined by the humans, the sentient things that are defining it, and controlling it and using it, essentially. [... Our] whole system of right and meaning [...] behind intention and in our action is based on [being] sentient."

NASA wants to launch a mission to Jupier's moon Europa, as it seems like the most logical place in the Earth's solar system able to support life. Beneath Europa's icy surface, researchers believe they will be able to find liquid oceans.

Despite being about half the size of our planet's moon, some scientists estimate there could be twice as much water as the Earth has. Based on the NASA Galileo Mission that studied Jupiter in the late 1990s, it would appear Europa has all the necessary ingredients for life: plenty of salt water, a rocky sea floor, and tidal heating that contribute necessary energy and chemistry.

If everything goes according to plan, NASA wants to launch a spacecraft sometime in the 2020s, which would take the several year journey. Orbiting the entire planet of Jupiter every two weeks, NASA researchers would have plenty of chances to capture data about Europa.

NASA and General Motors are testing its humanoid robot, dubbed the Robonaut, aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The Robonaut was designed so it can complete simple and repetitive tasks that allow astronauts to take care of other action items. Specifically, NASA hopes the Robonaut is able to reduce the number of dangerous tasks that the ISS must complete.

Researchers are curious about how the Robonaut can survive in a minimal gravity environment. If it does well, future editions could be used on missions outside the ISS.

SoftBank publicly launched its Pepper humanoid robot on Saturday, and 1,000 units sold in just one minute. Each robot costs around $1,600 and a support plan for about $120 includes app store access and cloud voice-recognition software.

Pepper can impressively develop its own personality and can detect human emotions. SoftBank designed the humanoid robot so it can remember faces, along with being able to pick up speech patterns.

The company said it planned on manufacturing 1,000 Pepper units per month, but after selling out so quickly, it'll be curious to see if SoftBank wants to accelerate its plans. There is such high interest in Pepper, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son says partners told the company they are willing to sell the robot at a loss, if need be, over the next four years.

Forget news that North Korea has landed a man on the sun, the reclusive country claims it has done something to benefit mankind. North Korea's supreme leader, Kim Jong-Un, says his country has successfully cured AIDS, Ebola, SARS and MERS using a single "miracle drug."

The Korean Central News Agency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea made the announcement at the same time South Korea is facing a growing number of MERS cases. However, using the Kumdang-2 drug, which North Korea says is injectable, could also be used to help treat "a number of cancers."

"The researchers insert rare Earth elements (REE) into insam (ginseng) by applying the micro-elementary fertilizers of REE to the fields of insam," said Dr. Jon Sung Hun, in a statement to the KCNR. "The injection is made of extracts from those complex compounds. As a strong immune-activator, the injection has been recognized to prevent different malignant epidemics."

SoftBank will begin selling its Pepper humanoid robot in Japan on Saturday, with each unit available for $1,600. It'll be possible to rent a Pepper unit for about $12 per hour, in an effort to draw attention from the public. The company expects to manufacture around 1,000 robots per month, with sales in the US and Europe opening in 2016.

Along with the robot, SoftBank will include a support plan for around $120 per month, providing access to an app store and voice-recognition software. Interested customers can expect around 100 apps at launch, with additional software currently in development.

The robot is able to remember faces identify human emotions, and could be programmed to spot speech functions.

Did the United States really land on the moon? Well, it looks like that's a topic Russian Investigative Commission spokesman Vladimir Markin thinks should be investigated.

In his op-ed, Markin begins speaking about FIFA corruption, and somehow eventually finds his way to discussing the Apollo missions:

"We are not contending that they did not fly [to the moon], and simply made a film about it. But all of those scientific - or perhaps cultural - artifacts are part of the legacy of humanity, and their disappearance without a trace is our common loss. An investigation will reveal what happened," Markin said in a published column for the Izvestia newspaper.

We all know how incredible the minds over at Dyson are, but their new CSYS line of lamps will run for 37 years. How? The CSYS lamps use Heat Pipe technology, similar to what is used on satellites, in order to keep the eight LEDs cool.

The heat is ripped away from the bulbs, and down into an aluminum heat sink that runs the entire span of the CSYS lamp's shaft. Each LED sits in a conical reflector, where it cuts down on glare, and the usual eye strain. Dyson has baked in 3 Axis Glide Motion that lets you position the CSYS vertically, horizontally, and rotationally, with a quick flick.

Dyson has also provided touch-based dimming, so you can adjust the brightness to your personal liking very easily. The company will be charging $649 for the CSYS, with a taller floor model to be made available for $899.

Researchers are creating robotic technology that can help faster automate food processing, using technology that could have major long-term ramifications. Working with the FTNON food-processing equipment manufacturer, new technology could be used in chillers to help process lettuce, cabbage, and other vegetables prior to packaging.

"In industry, only humans can do that at the moment," confirmed van der Linde, co-founder and CEO of Lacquey, in a statement published by the MIT Technology Review.

One robot can successfully manipulate a chicken, able to slice shoulder tendons before breasts and wings are cut in a processing plant. The new automated system can match the same speed as humans, and developers want to see the speed increase. Also inside of a food processing facility, the Baxter robot from Rethink Robotics are tasked with putting chicken carcasses onto a holder before they are shipped elsewhere in the plant.

It's possible 47 percent of jobs in the United States could be at risk because of robotics taking over, according to a report from Citigroup and the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford. Trying to find solutions to better train and educate employees will be required, and humans in the workforce must be willing to expand their skills.

The education system's poor preparation of workers transitioning from high school or university in the workforce has to be changed. Automation is expected to displace even more workers in the future, according to Joe Seydl, senior associate of the Citi Global Economics Team.

"This time, bigger portions of our economy are being disrupted by new technology," Seydl said in a statement to the Christian Science Monitor. "I think it's going to come down to policy: supply-side and demand-side policies. Supply-side means making sure workers have the skills to compete for jobs in the 21st century. This is going to come down to education and whether we can upgrade workers' skills fast enough."

Unmanned drones and other military vehicles aren't new, and it looks like robots and autonomous hardware could be the future. However, there are legal and ethical questions when it comes to weapons systems that are able to identify and engage targets with no human interaction.

The idea that a robot or drone can detect its target and begin firing at the target without a human operator is frightening - but something that more researchers believe is feasible. There is a concern, however, that robots would be unable to accurately identify enemy combatants and civilians. Though there is a counter-argument that robots would cause less collateral damage than humans remotely operating the drones.

"Technologies have reached a point at which the deployment of such systems is - practically, if not legally - feasible within years, not decades," said Stuart Russell, an AI researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, in a commentary published in "Nature." The AI weapons "have been described as the third revolution in warfare, after gunpowder and nuclear arms."

Senior citizens are finding motivation and entertainment out of a 22-inch humanoid robot leading physical therapy classes. The Zora robot was originally poised to become an assistant in hotels, but designers and programmers found a more appealing market in healthcare.

Previously, Zora has been used to interact with young children, helping teach them basic motor function and keep them stimulated. There are more than 6,000 elderly citizens in Belgium, France and the Netherlands use the robot to stay engaged, listening to news articles, weather forecasts, and following dance and exercise routines.

"A lot of elderly people are actually feeling alone. Solitude is something which is horrible for the moment for a lot of elderly people," said Fabrice Goffin, co-creator of the Zora robot, in a statement to Washington Post. "People don't have all the time to visit their families and they can find some kind of relationship with the robot and that is a nice thing to do."

Will artificial intelligence pose a threat to mankind? Around 18 percent of AI experts feel there could be an 'existential threat' to mankind, a new report from Oxford University indicates. Oxford University researchers interviewed 500 AI experts and half of those surveyed appear optimistic, saying AI should be "good" or "extremely good" for humans.

AI will match human ability between 2040 and 2075, with an eventual transition to "super intelligence" within the next century.

... this creation could, in turn, create yet higher intelligence, which could, in turn, create yet higher intelligence, and so on... so we might generate a growth well beyond human ability and perhaps even an accelerating rate of growth: an 'intelligence explosion,'" according to the paper.

Whether we want it or not, the transition from human workers to robots is expected to cause mayhem among a number of different industries.

The following industries are expected to face the highest likelihood of being replaced, according to a 2013 study from Oxford University - telemarketers (99 percent), umpires and referees (98.3 percent), cooks (96.3 percent), manicurists and pedicurists (94.5 percent), and roofers (89.7 percent).

It seems careers that require a mix of creativity, negotiation skill and strong communication will be safer than other positions - and there are plenty of concerns about how acceptable humans will be to jobs being carried out by robots.

NASA has just found a new galaxy that is shining as brightly as, wait for it... 300 trillion suns. That's a lot of zeroes: 300,000,000,000,000 suns. One sun is bright, but 300 trillion? Ugh, I need some new sunglasses.

The discovery has been so large for NASA that they've had to create a new classification for it, and the 19 other galaxies they discovered. These new galaxies are extremely luminous infrared galaxies, or ELIRGs for short. NASA has said that the new ELIRGs are "the most luminous galaxy found to date". NASA scientists spotted the ELIRGs with their Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) space telescope.

The ELIRGs that NASA found are located 12.5 billion light years away, which is why it's so damn bright. NASA JPL scientist Chao-Wei Tsai says that it "may be from the main growth spurt of the galaxy's black hole".

Even though there is new concern that artificial intelligence may lead to robots taking over, it's plausible to think that robots will always need humans.

"Pilots, physicians and other professionals routinely navigate unexpected dangers with great aplomb but little credit," states a recent editorial published by he New York Times. "Even in our daily routines, we perform feats of perception and skill that lie beyond the capacity of the sharpest computers."

While that is true, some have wondered if that will begin to change when AI is able to learn - and adapt - to daily life. No one is really sure what is lies ahead for mankind and robotics, however, humans can work to ensure there are proper boundaries in place that robots must adhere to.

Researchers from the University of Surrey in the UK have developed an interesting new, noninvasive drug test that can detect cocaine in your system through your fingerprints. The system looks for two common cocaine metabolites: benzoylecgonine and methylecgonine.

These two metabolites can be found in blood, sweat, and urine using a "mass spectrometry technique known as Desorption Electrospray Ionisation (DESI)", reports Engadget. Metabolites dissipate from our sweat much quicker than they do in blood and urine, so law enforcement will one day in the near future be able to know if a suspect is high right then and there, or was high a few nights ago.

The study's lead author, Melanie Bailey, told Motherboard: "We can distinguish between cocaine having been touched and cocaine having been ingested". With fingerprints being unique, it's hard to swap out a urine sample or test, which will make this type of technology fast-tracked beyond belief. The team has added that their research is still in its early stages, as they'll need to secure much more data on the effects of dosage and timing before they can move to more reliable testing. They still say that this technology will be made available to law enforcement within 10 years.