Science, Space, Health & Robotics News - Page 389

Technology buffs at the University of California have created this technical simulation of a shrapnel-induced wound on someone's leg, aiming to bring Saving Private Ryan gore to real life, this time for education and training purposes.

Developed by Jeff Eldredge and his colleagues, this training simulator is designed for use by combat medics to prepare for, understand and know to to deal with what is a grim possibility when out in the field.

In an interview with New Scientist, Eldredge stated that "We're genuinely hopeful that our simulations will enhance the educational experience for medical trainees." In true father fashion, he added "But I'm really pleased just to get visceral reactions from my kids. That probably makes me a horrible father."

With cloud and NAS backups being of utmost importance, what about your consciousness? Don't worry about that, because when you die, Humai promises to bring you back to life.

Humai is an Australian startup that claims it is working on transferring a person's consciousness to an artificial body, after they've died. Company CEO Josh Bocanegra says on the Humai website: "We want to bring you back to life after you die. We're using artificial intelligence and nanotechnology to store data of conversational styles, behavioral patterns, thought processes and information about how your body functions from the inside-out. This data will be coded into multiple sensor technologies, which will be built into an artificial body with the brain of a deceased human. Using cloning technology, we will restore the brain as it matures".

Bocanegra thinks that his company will be able to transfer your consciousness from your dead body within the next 30 years, but right now the company has just four staff and is securing more. The company seems to be waiting on large scientific breakthroughs before it could make this a reality, but it's a cool thing to think about. The big question is: would you want to live after you've died, in an artificial body?

Japan's National Institute of Informatics has said that its AI program has achieved an above average score on the country's standardized college entrance exam.

Corporate and university researchers have been developing the AI system since 2011, with the latest exam by the AI scoring 511 out of a possible 950. The national average is 416, with the institute adding that the AI system would have an 80% chance of being accepted into the 33 national universities, and 441 private colleges.

The text covers five subjects, with the AI program performing the best when it comes to history and math. In physics, the AI system wasn't so great, which is said to be because of its shortcomings in processing language.

It looks like Facebook's investments into artificial intelligence are going to be quite important in the years to come, with Mark Zuckerberg confirming that Facebook's AI could outperform humans within 10 years. Facebook's AI system has been dubbed M, after James Bond's secretary, Moneypenny.

During an interview with Fast Company, the Facebook CEO and founder said that the social network's investments into AI are extensive. Zuckerberg hoped that the AI would eventually organize diaries, and recognize pictures of friends and family automatically. Zuckerberg said: "One of our goals for the next five to 10 years. is to basically get better than human level at all of the primary human senses: vision, hearing, language, general cognition". Zuckerberg added: "Taste and smell, we're not that worried about".

Facebook wants to take advantage of the huge amount of data that people producing every day, with Facebook's VP of Engineering Jay Parikh adding: "There's just going to be a lot more data generated about what's happening in the world, and the conventional models and systems that we have today won't scale. If there's 10x or 20x or 50x more things happening around you in the world, then you're going to need these really, really intelligent systems like".

A little more than a year ago, Orbital Sciences and NASA teamed up to launch the Antares rocket from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The unmanned mission -- intended to deliver food and equipment to the International Space Station (ISS) -- was not successful: the rocket exploded within seconds of launching. The ISS was said to be "in no danger of running out of food or other critical supplies", however.

While unfortunate, the event did produce some stunning photographs, which NASA released last week. Our choice favourites are below; you can see the full batch of photos in extremely high resolution here.

The NFL is an impressively progressive organization technology-wise, recently implementing the use of sensors in shoulder pads to deliver player data, tiny digital cameras, Surface tablets, and Internet feeds are now used for replays instead of the slower tape and radio technology, and virtual reality is being tested for player training and looked into for broadcasting.

Now the NFL -- specifically, its head of football technology John Cave -- is thinking about even more strides. That is, a future where ball sensors determine whether a player had possession prior to a fumble, or whether his foot was out of bounds -- calls like these are among the most contentious in the league. He sees this possibly happening within five to 10 years.

Zebra Technologies, NFL partner for in-game sensor tech, takes it even farther. Its general manager Eric Petrosinelli says, "Looking to the future, maybe there's no longer any pylons and there's no longer any first down markers."

Scientists at the University of Tokyo's Institute of Industrial Science have created a new type of glass that is insanely strong, where it is almost as hard as steel.

Assistant Professor at the University of Tokyo, Atsunobu Masuno, said: "We will establish a way to mass-produce the new material shortly. We are looking to commercialize the technique within five years". This breakthrough is significant, as it could, and most likely will lead to the development of much tougher windows, and so much more.

How does the new glass work? The Asahi Shimbun reports: "Oxide glass mainly consists of silicon dioxide, with its strength boosted by mixing in alumina, an oxide of aluminum. But it had been difficult for scientists to form glass containing a large amount of alumina because the oxide causes crystallization when the glass comes into contact with its container".

There's times when I'm using my smartphone or computer, and I think to myself "there has to be a faster way of using this, I wish I could just think and my computer/smartphone would do/record/act". Well, we're bloody close.

Scientists in both China and the United States have found a way of injecting a tiny electronic mesh sensor into the brain that fully integrates with cerebral matter, enabling computers to monitor brain activity. Researchers from Harvard and the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology in Beijing have successfully created a flexible electrical circuit that first inside of a 0.1mm-diameter glass syringe in a water-based solution.

When this solution is injected into the brains of mice, the "mesh unfurled to 30 times its size and mouse brain cells grew around the mesh, forming connections with the wires in the flexible mesh circuit. The biochemical mouse brain completely accepted the mechanical component and integrated with it without any damage being caused to the mouse", reports IBT.

With the underwhelming performance and reviews of Terminator: Genisys, it should come as no surprise that Paramount Pictures has put any future sequels on hold, indefinitely.

Even though the studio pulled in $440 million worldwide on a budget of $155 million, marketing costs have to be put on top of that, and I'm sure Paramount really splashed out on marketing for the new Terminator movie in hopes it would win big at the box office. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Terminator: Genisys is still losing money, even with the $440 million box office haul.

Stephen Hawking has no misconceptions about the universe, and reading his answers to interview questions is like wading through a sci-fi novel. In a recent session, the renowned astrophysicist talks about what it'd be like if aliens visited earth, how humanity has to breach the firmament to survive, and computer AI overtaking the world in a not-so-distant future.

In a recent interview, Hawking says that aliens visiting earth would somewhat like the aftermath of Columbus' exploration of the Americas, with interstellar beings completely dominating all life on our home planet. "If aliens visit us, the outcome could be much like when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans," Hawking told Spanish publication El Pais. "Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they can reach. To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational. The real challenge is to work out what aliens might actually be like."

This metaphor resonates with truth for me in particular, as I've long thought that the most deadly gift aliens could deliver wouldn't be their technology, it'd be their space flu. These intergalactic viruses and bacteria could completely devastate our population the same way smallpox spread havoc and death in the New World.