A review of Her by Ray Kurzweil (credit: Warner Brothers) Her, written, directed and produced by Spike Jonze, presents a nuanced love story between a man and his operating system. Although there are caveats I could (and will) mention about the details of the OS and how the lovers interact, the movie compellingly presents the core idea that a software program (an AI) can — will — be believably human and lovable. This is a breakthrough concept in cinematic futurism in the way that The Matrix presented a realistic vision that virtual reality will ultimately be as real as, well, real reality. Jonze started his feature-motion-picture career directing Being John Malkovich, which also presents a realistic vision of a future technology — one that is now close at hand: being able to experience reality through the eyes and ears of someone else. With emerging eye-mounted displays that project images onto the wearer’s retinas and also look out at the world, we will indeed soon be able to do exactly that. More realistic, but imperfect
Ultimate Antibody Found to be Effective Against Every Type Of Cancer : Health & Medicine First Posted: Mar 31, 2013 12:15 PM EDT Over ten years of cancer research paid off with the truly groundbreaking discovery of an "ultimate antibody" against cancer -- since it kills not just one or two, but all types of human cancer that it was tested on until now, it could result in a single treatment that would go a long way against the disease. Like Us on Facebook Scientists at the Stanford School of Medicine discovered a suspicous link between cancer cells and high levels of a protein called CD47 while studying leukemia a decade ago. Irving Weissman, the biologist behind the breakthrough, continued to study CD47 and found a CD47-blocking antibody that could cure some cases of leukemia by helping the immune system to recognize cancer cells as foreign and hostile cells that have to be destroyed. The trick of the cancer cells is that the elevated amounts of CD47 produced by them function as a stealth cloak, effectively tricking the immune system into not destroying the cancer cells.
Whoa: Physicists testing to see if universe is a computer simulation | The Sideshow Could this be a computer simulation? (Space.com) Will you take the red pill or the blue pill? Some physicists and university researchers say it's possible to test the theory that our entire universe exists inside a computer simulation, like in the 1999 film "The Matrix." In 2003, University of Oxford philosophy professor Nick Bostrom published a paper, "The Simulation Argument," which argued that, "we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation." Researchers at the University of Washington agree with the testing method, saying it can be done. So how, precisely, can we test whether we exist? "This is the first testable signature of such an idea," Savage said. The testing method is far more complex. To translate, if energy signatures in our simulations match those in the universe at large, there's a good chance we, too, exist within a simulation. Science, Social Science, & HumanitiesEducationCornell Universitycomputer simulation
Record-breaking NASA ion engine runs non-stop for 5 years Image © Image © NASA/JPL-Caltech Record-breaking NASA advanced ion propulsion engine, runs non-stop for more than 48,000 hours, or 5 and a half years. It is the longest test duration of any type of space propulsion system demonstration project ever. The ion engine could be used for future missions in deep space. Now according to NASA the thruster will be shut down. The thruster was developed under NASA’s Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) Project at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The 7-kilowatt class thruster could be used in a range of science missions, including deep space missions identified in NASA’s Planetary Science Decadal Survey. During the endurance test performed in a high vacuum test chamber at Glenn, the engine consumed about 1,918 pounds (870 kilograms) of xenon propellant, providing an amount of total impulse that would take more than 22,000 (10,000 kilograms) of conventional rocket propellant for comparable applications. source NASA Source: Worldlesstech
Of Death and Double-Legs Pehlwani wrestling places emphasis on incapacitating an opponent. | Photo: Cameron Conaway/Sherdog.com VARANASI, India -- Corpses are covered in butter, laid atop wooden planks, layered with ornate cloth, briefly dipped in the Ganges River and then carried to an open-air pit where they are burned for all to see. This is Varanasi, the oldest and most spiritual city in India, a holy place whose contrasts will dance before your eyes the same as the flame. Pehlwani wrestling traces its roots back to the late 16th century, during the 300-year-reign of the Mughal Empire. Pehlwani was one such result, and in many ways, it became the perfect example of such melding. The akhada or traditional wrestling ground, the Akhada Goswami Tulsidas of Tulsi Ghat, was unlike anything I had ever seen. As the wrestlers were swinging and squatting -- many records credit these wrestling styles with the invention of pushups and squats -- it became clear that many of them had their specialty. Then it was time.
Do we live in a computer simulation? UW researchers say idea can be tested News releases | Research | Science December 10, 2012 A decade ago, a British philosopher put forth the notion that the universe we live in might in fact be a computer simulation run by our descendants. The concept that current humanity could possibly be living in a computer simulation comes from a 2003 paper published in Philosophical Quarterly by Nick Bostrom, a philosophy professor at the University of Oxford. The human species is likely to go extinct before reaching a “posthuman” stage.Any posthuman civilization is very unlikely to run a significant number of simulations of its evolutionary history.We are almost certainly living in a computer simulation. He also held that “the belief that there is a significant chance that we will one day become posthumans who run ancestor simulations is false, unless we are currently living in a simulation.” Eventually, more powerful simulations will be able to model on the scale of a molecule, then a cell and even a human being.
27 Science Fictions That Became Science Facts In 2012 We may never have our flying cars, but the future is here. From creating fully functioning artificial leaves to hacking the human brain, science made a lot of breakthroughs this year. 1. Quadriplegic Uses Her Mind to Control Her Robotic Arm At the University of Pittsburgh, the neurobiology department worked with 52-year-old Jan Scheuermann over the course of 13 weeks to create a robotic arm controlled only by the power of Scheuermann’s mind. 2. Once the robot figures out how to do that without all the wires, humanity is doomed. 3. Photo Courtesy of Indigo Moon Yarns. At the University of Wyoming, scientists modified a group of silkworms to produce silk that is, weight for weight, stronger than steel. 4. Using an electron microscope, Enzo di Fabrizio and his team at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa snapped the first photos of the famous double helix.Source: newscientist.com / via: davi296 5. 6. ReCell by Avita Medical is a medical breakthrough for severe-burn victims. 7. 8. 10.
Dead Buddhist Monk Is Alive - Awescience.com Exhumation of the body of Hambo Lama Itigelov took place September 10 th, 2002 on the territory of cemetery near the city of Ulan Ude (Russian Federation). He died and was buried in 1927 and the exhumation was performed in presence of relatives, officials, and specialists”. This was the information that appeared in Russian mass media regarding Buryat Lama who was exhumed from the grave in the beginning of the 21 st century. The grave contained a wooden box and there was a sitting Buddhist lama in ‘lotus’ pose. Hambo Lama Itigelov is a real person quite well known in Russian history. In 1911 Itigelov became a Hambo Lama (the head of Buddhist church in Russia). During the First World War Itigelov created and inspired the organization called “Buryat brothers”. In 1926 Itigelov advised the Buddhist monks to leave Russia, since ‘the red teaching was coming’ (Itigelov himself never left Russia). Two years passed.
Physics News :: Is it real? Physicists propose method to determine if the universe is a simulation Living In The Lattice Beane et al via arXivA team of researchers is going down the theoretical rabbit hole with a test to find out if our universe is nothing more than a computer program. We don't want to alarm you, but there's a distinct possibility that our universe is nothing more than a huge computer simulation, that we're all living in The Matrix, and none of this is real. But while stopping short of full-on human-machine warfare, a team of interested researchers at the University of Bonn is trying to see just how deep the rabbit hole goes by performing a measurement that should tell us if we're stuck in a computer simulation. This notion is based on quantum chromodynamics, which is the idea that describes how the strong nuclear force binds quarks and gluons together into protons and neutrons--and thus binds everything else together. Physicists may prove we exist in a computer simulation
Google creates 'artificial brain' - and it immediately starts watching cat videos 16,000 processors create brain-style 'neural network' Network learns by itself to identify cat facesWorks with pool of 10 million images from YouTube By Rob Waugh Published: 08:31 GMT, 26 June 2012 | Updated: 15:12 GMT, 5 July 2012 Google has created an 'artificial brain' from 16,000 computer processors, and sat it down with an internet connection. But, there's a certain grim inevitability to the fact that the YouTube company's creation began watching stills from cat videos. The team, led by Google's Dr Jeff Dean, used the 16,000 processor array to create a brain-style 'neural network' with more than a billion connections. There's a certain grim inevitability to the fact that the YouTube company's creation began watching stills from cat videos Recognising faces: Google was able to pick out the characteristics of face and label images correctly The team then fed it random images culled from 10 million YouTube videos - and let it 'learn' by itself. Unsurprisingly, the machine focused in on cats.
Scientific Proof Thoughts & Intentions Can Alter The Physical World Around Us Dr. Masaru Emoto, a researcher and alternative healer from Japan has given the world a good deal of evidence of the magic of positive thinking. He became famous when his water molecule experiments featured in the 2004 film, What The Bleep Do We Know? His experiments demonstrate that human thoughts and intentions can alter physical reality, such as the molecular structure of water. The rice experiment is another famous Emoto demonstration of the power of negative thinking (and conversely, the power of positive thinking.) Is this proof that consciousness and intention can affect the “physical” material world around us? Masaru Emoto’s Water Crystal Experiments The hypothesis that water “treated” with intention can affect ice crystals formed from that water was pilot tested under double-blind conditions. Consciousness has measurable effects on the geometric structure of water crystals. Thanks to: KarmaJello Additional Resources/credits:
Physicists May Have Evidence Universe Is A Computer Simulation Physicists say they may have evidence that the universe is a computer simulation. How? They made a computer simulation of the universe. And it looks sort of like us. A long-proposed thought experiment, put forward by both philosophers and popular culture, points out that any civilisation of sufficient size and intelligence would eventually create a simulation universe if such a thing were possible. And since there would therefore be many more simulations (within simulations, within simulations) than real universes, it is therefore more likely than not that our world is artificial. Now a team of researchers at the University of Bonn in Germany led by Silas Beane say they have evidence this may be true. In a paper named ‘Constraints on the Universe as a Numerical Simulation’, they point out that current simulations of the universe - which do exist, but which are extremely weak and small - naturally put limits on physical laws. But the basic impression is an intriguing one.
100 Incredible Lectures from the World's Top Scientists Posted on Thursday June 18, 2009 by Staff Writers By Sarah Russel Unless you’re enrolled at one of the best online colleges or are an elite member of the science and engineering inner circle, you’re probably left out of most of the exciting research explored by the world’s greatest scientists. But thanks to the Internet and the generosity of many universities and online colleges, you’ve now got access to the cutting edge theories and projects that are changing the world in this list below. If you’re looking for even more amazing lectures, check out our updated list for 2012 with more talks from great minds. General Let the world’s top scientists explain exactly how they do their job when you listen to these lectures. Science and Engineering From materials science to the study of thermodynamics, learn more about the science of engineering here. WTC Lecture – collapse of WTC Buildings: Steven E. Biology and Medicine Chemistry Physics and Astronomy Earth and Environment Technology Science and Business