Our brains are being re-shaped. Make no mistake about it. We humans have most likely invented our last great tool, computer intelligence. This machine intelligence, known as AI, is now capable of teaching itself in ways computer engineers and neuroscientists can’t fully anticipate. And, it’s expanding at such exponentially high speeds that most of its manifestations are not yet visible....
Robots turn 100 soon…
In 2020, robots will be celebrating the centennial birth of their name, and their species. How they celebrate will be up to the humans that program the micro-computers which direct their actions. Or, it may be up to them. Coined for a mechanical, science fiction character in a 1920 Czech play, the term Robot means “forced labor,” but has evolved...
Grim reaper’s ETA
Want to get an idea of when you’re going to die? Ask Google. The omnivorous data-collecting company fed an artificial intelligence program 46 billion bits of data, including odd scraps such as notes written on patients’ charts, on more than 216,000 patients in hospital. The program can be used to double-check doctors’ diagnoses. But its real purpose is to forecast...
DNA in a bottle
Gene therapy has gone into business. Two commercial plants are now manufacturing and selling therapeutic cells, derived from human stem cells, that could spark genetic fixes for a range of chronic conditions. Until now, these regenerative cells have only been lab creatures, not merchandise. In March, Osaka-based Sumitomo Dainippon opened a 30,000 square foot, $340-million plant that will produce three...
The buzz….
People born with certain congenital metabolic disorders are unable to make a key enzyme that processes proteins. Those proteins can build up and become toxic, causing mental and developmental disorders. To avoid that fate, sufferers have to be diagnosed early and adhere to a highly restricted diet. Now researchers at Tel Aviv University have found that a compound in green...
Man vs. machine…
We’ve already seen artificial intelligence reason its way through data to make savvy medical diagnoses. Now IBM’s Project Debater software has shown its ability to sort through information, to structure persuasive arguments and counter opposing ones. In June, the software squared off with Dan Zafrir, Israel’s national debate champion, to test two topics. The first: should governments subsidize space exploration;...
Stick it!
New research is creating implants that alert us to cancer and dental disease. At ETH Technical University in Zurich, researchers have created a framework of genes that is integrated with human cells, and then implanted in a particular spot under the skin. The framework constantly checks calcium levels in the blood; unusually high calcium levels are an early warning of...
Growing crops, farming energy…the multitasking solar panel
It’s called agrophotovoltaics: putting solar panels on stilts above cropland and allowing farmers to gather energy while they grow crops. In experiments in Vietnam and Chile, it’s working pretty well. The method puts solar panels in rows above farm fields. The panels are high enough to let animals and farm equipment pass below, with enough space between the rows to...
A wild ride into the future
What a year this has been, and there is more to come. We’re only half way there. And among the gloom, doom, survivalist crowd, they fear that with an international cast of lunatics in charge, they won’t be ringing in the New Year. Is this the beginning of the end? Or, is it the end of an era past and the...
1: Cryptomania Cash-In
THIS WAS OUR 2018 TREND FORECAST: Crypto growth in 2018 will ignite from three arenas: customized innovations by nations creating their own crypto currencies; the evolution of new technologies, making it easier to trade digital currencies; and launches of crypto futures trading exchanges such as Cboe Global Market’s Futures Exchange, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Nasdaq, etc. But as trading intensifies, so...