When the habitually utopian Singularity Hub declares a technology cool but a long way from being practical, it’s probably not one to rush out and invest in.
Originally shared by Singularity Hub
Are Solar Roads the Highway of the Future, or a Road to Nowhere? http://suhub.co/2mDuwB1
You know that very common, even overused, fantasy trope where magic is forbidden, and those who practice it are hunted?
You could freshen it up a bit with a tribute to these brave souls who maintained their faith in the face of oppressive laws.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/secret-paths-ireland-catholic-forbidden-mass-photography
Baymax? That you?
Originally shared by Singularity Hub
Low-Cost Soft Robot Muscles Can Lift 200 Times Their Weight and Self-Heal http://suhub.co/2mskd3H
Via Brand Gamblin.
It’s no wonder David Brin used dolphins in his Uplift stories.
Originally shared by Ralf Haring
“All the dolphins at the institute are trained to hold onto any litter that falls into their pools until they see a trainer, when they can trade the litter for fish. In this way, the dolphins help to keep their pools clean. Kelly has taken this task one step further. When people drop paper into the water she hides it under a rock at the bottom of the pool. The next time a trainer passes, she goes down to the rock and tears off a piece of paper to give to the trainer. After a fish reward, she goes back down, tears off another piece of paper, gets another fish, and so on.”
…
“One day, when a gull flew into her pool, she grabbed it, waited for the trainers and then gave it to them. It was a large bird and so the trainers gave her lots of fish. This seemed to give Kelly a new idea. The next time she was fed, instead of eating the last fish, she took it to the bottom of the pool and hid it under the rock where she had been hiding the paper. When no trainers were present, she brought the fish to the surface and used it to lure the gulls, which she would catch to get even more fish. After mastering this lucrative strategy, she taught her calf, who taught other calves, and so gull-baiting has become a hot game among the dolphins.”
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2003/jul/03/research.science
“I’m sorry, Dave, I can’t let you do that.”
Originally shared by ExtremeTech
Nice. Also, Creepy.
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/261110-brain-electrodes-nissans-b2v-driver-skills-amplifier
Gene therapy is looking promising, though it’s very early days.
Originally shared by Singularity Hub
Gene Therapy Had a Breakthrough 2017—2018 May Be Even Better http://suhub.co/2Dd8Aom
Originally shared by Roy Hembree
VR while driving
Renault and Ubisoft have created a demo VR experience to help sell level 4 self-driving cars. The idea is that since the car does the driving the person in the driver’s seat can do something else with their time, like spend it in virtual reality. It’s currently unusual to see people in public spaces wearing VR headsets; it would be really weird to see someone driving like this.
“The virtual reality experience is just an example of something you can do in a self-driving car that you can’t do in a standard vehicle or even at home. The experience uses data from the car’s sensors to show you a virtual representation of the road and the objects near you, while giving reality a makeover to turn a boring road into something fantastical.”
So much for roadside attractions.
If it’s connected, it can be hacked.
Via Charlie Kravetz.
Originally shared by TechNationNews.com
A typical space opera will have a crewed ship hopping round a planetary system in a matter of hours (usually without ever worrying about refueling). But distances between planets are really large, and Earth to Mars is realistically a journey of many months.
Here’s a slightly out-there approach to dealing with that.
Originally shared by Singularity Hub
This Unbelievable Research on Human Hibernation Could Get Us to Mars http://suhub.co/2CVOijf
Near-future SF needs to take account of these trends and the underlying realities.
Originally shared by Singularity Hub
World Poverty Has Plummeted—But Will It Ever Disappear? http://suhub.co/2CEKQJs