Tag Archives: futurism

January 27, 2013 · 11:00 pm

Printing Food

3D printers are the technology that will change everything ab0ut our lives.  I was just having dinner with friends and said if you can put polymers in a 3d printer and print out three dimensional objects, why not put food paste, texture, flavor packets and coloring and print food?  In essence, you could transmit a “recipe” to a printer as easily as a structural diagram, and food is just as easy to layer as polymer.  I had no idea it would be tried so soon.  Get drunk late at night and want to head to Taco Bell?  Want a pizza delivered during the big game?  Why not print one out?  Go to pizzarecipe.com, pick out your favorite, download to the printer, voila!  Star Trek Replicators now.

A single 3D-printed burger currently costs over $300,000 to make

Jan. 22, 2013 (3:00 pm) By: 

Cheeseburgers

3D printing might be the wave of the future, or it might just end up a niche hobby that’s pretty cool but ultimately too expensive and complicated to ever take off. Whatever that fate may be, startup Modern Meadow is throwing its hat into the 3D printing ring, but rather than printing plastic trinkets or gun parts, it plans to print edible meat.

We’ve mentioned Modern Meadow – a company that is practicing a variant of 3D printing, called 3D bioprinting — before. Instead of using resin like standard 3D printing, or a material more easily sent through a printer for food-printing like melted chocolate that then hardens, Modern Meadow uses material somewhat creepily called “bioink”.

In order to print live cells, the engineers perform biopsies on animals and collect stem cells, or other special cells. Because stem cells are basically magical (this not a technical term), they can not only turn into other cells, but replicate themselves. Once they replicate enough times, the engineers load them into a bioprinter cartridge, which creates something of a bioink — a material made of many live cells. When the bioink is printed, the living cells link together and form living tissue.

Modern MeadowWhen using 3D bioprinting a hamburger as an example, Professor Gabor Forgacs — part of the father and son founders of Modern Meadow — notes that the actual shape of the food isn’t too much of a hurdle, as it’s simply a round, relatively 2D patty. Another benefit to producing edible meat is that the live tissue can die afterward, as consumable meat normally isn’t living tissue, so a method of preserving the tissue’s life isn’t really required.

Though it might be easier to print edible, dead-tissue meat, Modern Meadow is facing a couple fairly large hurdles. For one, convincing the world to eat lab-grown meat might not be so easy. Another significant hurdle is that though Modern Meadow hasn’t grown something like a burger or steak as of yet, the price of one would be astronomically high. Another team of researchers at Maastricht University in the Netherlands has been growing animal cells to produce strips of lean muscle, with the goal of creating an artificial hamburger. Though the team doesn’t use bioprinting, they do use a somewhat related process of having stem cells replicate and create live tissue in a mold. Unfortunately, creating an entire burger would currently cost over $300,000.

If this all seems a little nutty, Modern Meadow has managed to raise some backing from prominent figures, such as Peter Thiel, who was one of Facebook’s early investors. There’s no word yet on when the company will be able to print a burger (or even a slider!), but if it can, it will be interesting to see how much it’ll cost, and if people can be convinced that “synthetic” meat is truly edible.

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January 8, 2013 · 1:14 pm

Robots

I just finished a short story for the upcoming anthology – Twisted Nightmares, that involves robots, so I had robots on the mind.  As a result, here are some thought provoking pictures of robots for your Tuesday enjoyment:

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January 7, 2013 · 6:42 pm

Confident Idiots

I want to preface the story below with some caveats and my own thoughts.  The jist of the story is this – American students believe they are the smartest, best, generation ever in this country.  This is despite the fact that their actual scores and abilities are among the lowest of any American generation, and about 32nd among industrialized nations.  We have an entire generation who think they walk on water but can barely read, write, or do basic math.  There are many exceptions, including most of my young friends and my own kids.  My son is studying biochemical engineering and has passed me in Calculus, physics, chemistry and genetics, which is no small feat given I have three science degrees and nearly 25 years more of life experience.

Not all American kids are stupid narcissists, just a growing and large portion.  It is too many years of not keeping score in sports, graduating people for seat time and not achievement.  Worst of all, is the incessant focus on self-esteem instead of accomplishment.  We used to have to earn self-esteem by being good people and actually succeeding at something.

The impact of an entire generation that expects to be rich and famous that will in fact probably be the first to see a decline in overall standard of living will not be pretty.

How college students think they are more special than EVER: Study reveals rocketing sense of entitlement on U.S. campuses

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

PUBLISHED: 15:30 EST, 5 January 2013 | UPDATED: 14:29 EST, 7 January 2013

Books aside, if you asked a college freshman today who the Greatest Generation is, they might respond by pointing in a mirror.

Young people’s unprecedented level of self-infatuation was revealed in a new analysis of the American Freshman Survey, which has been asking students to rate themselves compared to their peers since 1966.

Roughly 9 million young people have taken the survey over the last 47 years.

American Self-love: New data suggests students today are convinced of their own greatness regardless of whether they’ve accomplished anything

Up, up and away! Over the past 50 years American students have increasingly grown confident not only socially but also about their own writing and intellect skills and their confidence in leadership abilityUp, up and away! Over the past 50 years American students have increasingly grown confident not only socially but also about their own writing and intellect skills and their confidence in leadership ability

Psychologist Jean Twenge and her colleagues compiled the data and found that over the last four decades there’s been a dramatic rise in the number of students who describe themselves as being ‘above average’ in the areas of academic ability, drive to achieve, mathematical ability, and self-confidence.

But in appraising the traits that are considered less invidualistic – co-operativeness, understanding others, and spirituality – the numbers either stayed at slightly decreased over the same period.

Researchers also found a disconnect between the student’s opinions of themselves and actual ability.

While students are much more likely to call themselves gifted in writing abilities, objective test scores actually show that their writing abilities are far less than those of their 1960s counterparts.

Also on the decline is the amount of time spent studying, with little more than a third of students saying they study for six or more hours a week compared to almost half of all students claiming the same in the late 1980s.

American Important online: Trends like social media, celebrity culture, and easy credit contribute to students feeling as if they’re more successful than they really are

Though they may work less, the number that said they had a drive to succeed rose sharply.

These young egotists can grow up to be depressed adults.

A 2006 study found that students suffer from ‘ambition inflation’ as their increased ambitions accompany increasingly unrealistic expectations.

‘Since the 1960s and 1970s, when those expectations started to grow, there’s been an increase in anxiety and depression,’ Twenge said. ‘There’s going to be a lot more people who don’t reach their goals.’

Twenge is the author of a separate study showing a 30 per cent increase towards narcissism in students since 1979.

American Look out for No. 1: Narcissists often reach middle age and find their past full of failed relationships

‘Our culture used to encourage modesty and humility and not bragging about yourself,’ Twenge told BBC News. ‘It was considered a bad thing to be seen as conceited or full of yourself.’

Just because someone has high self-esteem doesn’t mean they’re a narcissist. Positive self-assessments can not only be harmless but completely true.

However, one in four recent students responded to a questionnaire called the Narcissistic Personality Inventory with results pointing towards narcissistic self-assessments.

Narcissism is defined as excessive self-love or vanity; self-admiration, or being self-centered.

Twenge said that’s a trait that is often negative and destructive, and blames its boom on several trends – including parenting styles, celebrity culture, social media, and easy credit – for allowing people to seem more successful than they really are.

American Obsessed: Despite legions of self-help books advising belief in yourself, there’s no evidence self-esteem causes success

‘What’s really become prevalent over the last two decades is the idea that being highly self-confident – loving yourself, believing in yourself – is the key to success,’ Twenge said. ‘Now the interesting thing about that belief is it’s widely held, it’s very deeply held, and it’s also untrue.’

Despite a library’s worth of self-help books promoting the idea we can achieve anything if we believe we can, there’s very little evidence that raising self-esteem produces positive, real-world outcomes.

‘If there is any effect at all, it is quite small,’ said Roy Baumeister of Florida State University, who authored a 2003 paper on self-esteem studies.

Baumeister found that while successful people did have high-self esteem in many cases, it was unclear what actual caused their success if the first place.

Both self-esteem and success were often influenced by another factor.

‘Coming from a good family might lead to both high self-esteem and personal success.’ Baumeister said. ‘Self-control is much more powerful and well-supported as a cause of personal success. Despite my years invested in research on self-esteem, I reluctantly advise people to forget about it.’

Twenge compared it to a swimmer trying to learn a turn who needs to believe that learning the skill is possible but who won’t actually be aided in  acquiring that skill by their belief.

American 1 in a million: Roughly 9 million freshman have rated themselves in the American Freshman Survey since 1966

‘You need to believe that you can go out and do something but that’s not the same as thinking that you’re great,’ Twenge said.

Studies suggest weaker students actually perform worse if given encouragement at boosting their self-esteem.

‘An intervention that encourages [students] to feel good about themselves, regardless of work, may remove the reason to work hard,’ Baumeister found.

But if you found yourself bothered by a person always talking about how wonderful they are, remember that their future may not be bright.

‘In the long-term, what tends to happen is that narcissistic people mess up their relationships, at home and at work,’ Twenge said. Though narcissists may be charming at first, their selfish actions eventually damage relationships.

It’s not until middle-age they may realize their lives have had a number of failed relationships.

And even if they recognize something is wrong they may have a hard time changing.

‘It’s a personality trait,’ says Twenge. ‘It’s by definition very difficult to change. It’s rooted in genetics and early environment and culture and things that aren’t all that malleable.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2257715/Study-shows-college-students-think-theyre-special–read-write-barely-study.html#ixzz2HLN0DMTZ
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January 5, 2013 · 12:27 am

Absolute Zero No longer Coldest

Science gets colder than absolute zero

By Charles Choi

Published January 04, 2013

LiveScience

  • negative-temperature-atoms.jpg

    When an object is heated, its atoms can move with different levels of energy, from low to high. With positive temperatures (blue), atoms more likely occupy low-energy states than high-energy states, while the opposite is true for negative temperatures (red). (LMU / MPQ Munich)

Absolute zero is often thought to be the coldest temperature possible. But now researchers show they can achieve even lower temperatures for a strange realm of “negative temperatures.”

Oddly, another way to look at these negative temperatures is to consider them hotter than infinity, researchers added.

This unusual advance could lead to new engines that could technically be more than 100 percent efficient, and shed light on mysteries such as dark energy, the mysterious substance that is apparently pulling our universe apart.

An object’s temperature is a measure of how much its atoms move — the colder an object is, the slower the atoms are. At the physically impossible-to-reach temperature of zero kelvin, or minus 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 273.15 degrees Celsius), atoms would stop moving. As such, nothing can be colder than absolute zero on the Kelvin scale.

Bizarro negative temperatures

To comprehend the negative temperatures scientists have now devised, one might think of temperature as existing on a scale that is actually a loop, not linear. Positive temperatures make up one part of the loop, while negative temperatures make up the other part. When temperatures go either below zero or above infinity on the positive region of this scale, they end up in negative territory. [What’s That? Your Basic Physics Questions Answered]

‘The temperature scale simply does not end at infinity, but jumps to negative values instead.’

– Ulrich Schneider, a physicist at the University of Munich in Germany

With positive temperatures, atoms more likely occupy low-energy states than high-energy states, a pattern known as Boltzmann distribution in physics. When an object is heated, its atoms can reach higher energy levels.

At absolute zero, atoms would occupy the lowest energy state. At an infinite temperature, atoms would occupy all energy states. Negative temperatures then are the opposite of positive temperatures — atoms more likely occupy high-energy states than low-energy states.

“The inverted Boltzmann distribution is the hallmark of negative absolute temperature, and this is what we have achieved,” said researcher Ulrich Schneider, a physicist at the University of Munich in Germany. “Yet the gas is not colder than zero kelvin, but hotter. It is even hotter than at any positive temperature — the temperature scale simply does not end at infinity, but jumps to negative values instead.”

As one might expect, objects with negative temperatures behave in very odd ways. For instance, energy typically flows from objects with a higher positive temperature to ones with a lower positive temperature — that is, hotter objects heat up cooler objects, and colder objects cool down hotter ones, until they reach a common temperature. However, energy will always flow from objects with negative temperature to ones with positive temperatures. In this sense, objects with negative temperatures are always hotter than ones with positive temperatures.

Another odd consequence of negative temperatures has to do with entropy, which is a measure of how disorderly a system is. When objects with positive temperature release energy, they increase the entropy of things around them, making them behave more chaotically. However, when objects with negative temperatures release energy, they can actually absorb entropy.

Negative temperatures would be thought impossible, since there is typically no upper bound for how much energy atoms can have, as far as theory currently suggests. (There is a limit to what speed they can travel — according to Einstein’s theory of relativity, nothing can accelerate to speeds faster than light.)

Wacky physics experiment

To generate negative temperatures, scientists created a system where atoms do have a limit to how much energy they can possess. They first cooled about 100,000 atoms to a positive temperature of a few nanokelvin, or billionth of a kelvin. They cooled the atoms within a vacuum chamber, which  isolated them from any environmental influence that could potentially heat them up accidentally. They also used a web of laser beams and magnetic fields to very precisely control how these atoms behaved, helping to push them into a new temperature realm. [Twisted Physics: 7 Mind-Blowing Findings]

“The temperatures we achieved are negative nanokelvin,” Schneider told LiveScience.

Temperature depends on how much atoms move — how much kinetic energy they have. The web of laser beams created a perfectly ordered array of millions of bright spots of light, and in this “optical lattice,” atoms could still move, but their kinetic energy was limited.

Temperature also depends on how much potential energy atoms have, and how much energy lies in the interactions between the atoms. The researchers used the optical lattice to limit how much potential energy the atoms had, and they used magnetic fields to very finely control the interactions between atoms, making them either attractive or repulsive.

Temperature is linked with pressure — the hotter something is, the more it expands outward, and the colder something is, the more it contracts inward. To make sure this gas had a negative temperature, the researchers had to give it a negative pressure as well, tinkering with the interactions between atoms until they attracted each other more than they repelled each other.

“We have created the first negative absolute temperature state for moving particles,” said researcher Simon Braun at the University of Munich in Germany.

New kinds of engines

Negative temperatures could be used to create heat engines — engines that convert heat energy to mechanical work, such as combustion engines — that are more than 100-percent efficient, something seemingly impossible. Such engines would essentially not only absorb energy from hotter substances, but also colder ones. As such, the work the engine performed could be larger than the energy taken from the hotter substance alone.

Negative temperatures might also help shed light on one of the greatest mysteries in science. Scientists had expected the gravitational pull of matter to slow down the universe’s expansion after the Big Bang, eventually bringing it to a dead stop or even reversing it for a “Big Crunch.” However, the universe’s expansion is apparently speeding up, accelerated growth that cosmologists suggest may be due to dark energy, an as-yet-unknown substance that could make up more than 70 percent of the cosmos.

In much the same way, the negative pressure of the cold gas the researchers created should make it collapse. However, its negative temperature keeps it from doing so. As such, negative temperatures might have interesting parallels with dark energy that may help scientists understand this enigma.

Negative temperatures could also shed light on exotic states of matter, generating systems that normally might not be stable without them. “A better understanding of temperature could lead to new things we haven’t even thought of yet,” Schneider said. “When you study the basics very thoroughly, you never know where it may end.”

The scientists detailed their findings in the Jan. 4 issue of the journal Science.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/01/04/science-gets-colder-than-absolute-zero/?intcmp=trending#ixzz2H5FSxvTv

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December 31, 2012 · 9:27 am

Travel New York to Beijing in 2 Hours!

High Speed Travel Tubes Can Take You From NY To Beijing In 2 Hours

The Evacuated Tube Transport (ETT) system would take passengers from New York to Beijing in just two hours. Advocates of Evacuated Tube Transport (ETT) claim it is silent, cheaper than planes, trains, or cars and faster than jets.

How it would work: put a superconducting maglev train in evacuated tubes, then accelerate using linear electric motors until the design velocity is attained. Passive superconductors allow the capsules to float in the tube, while eddy currents induced in conducting materials drive the capsules. Efficiency of such a system would be high, as the electric energy required to accelerate a capsule could largely be recaptured as it slows.

The train capsules will be inserted and taken out of the tubes at “airlock stations at stations along the routes.” The capsules are expected to be accelerated to a velocity of 4,000 mph; after they reach this peak, they will “coast through the remainder of the trip.” Supposedly, the tubes will be able to be networked like freeways but will need multiple tubes to keep from having scheduling delays on long distance trips.

Capsules can be made large enough for one person to travel or a large bus; however, the ideal capsule size will be the same  as a car and carry four to six passengers. The tubes will have more space than what is available on plane seats for those who worry about a claustrophobic situation. The passengers will also not be able to feel the speed at which they are traveling.

Even if this way of traveling can seem a little daunting, if ETT were to become a reality, it would be more cost efficient, definitely faster, and much greener than normal travel. It is also suppose to be an extremely safe way of traveling. ETT travel seems very appealing and could really improve the way that many things are delivered other than people such as goods and medical supplies.  It will be interesting to watch as this type of travel is developed.

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December 28, 2012 · 2:24 pm

Plasma Gas Hand Cleaner

This little black box cleans your hands with plasma gas

This little black box cleans your hands with plasma gas

The idea of plasma gas may have you thinking twice about sticking your hand in this box, but at room temperature and pressure and in the controlled environment its in, it can get your hand — from your skin to under your fingernails — entirely sterilized in under four seconds. It’s so effective, in fact, that researchers found it could get rid of said Athlete’s Foot without the patient ever having to remove a sock.

The technology is geared toward hospitals, hotels and the service industry, where cleanliness is key. Plasma-cleaning itself isn’t new as it’s been used to sterilize medical instruments for years, but to use it on human tissue several advancements in both the way plasma gas is handled and the technology behind industrial hand sanitizers had to be made.

In the future, the plasma gas sanitizer could open up new areas elsewhere, such as being used in air conditioners to purify air. In other words, get ready to see all those ion air purifiers at Sharper Image replaced by plasma ones.

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December 22, 2012 · 8:08 am

Call of Duty Impacts Real War

Video game players’ strategies now impact future war planning.

‘Call of Duty’ video game could reshape real warfare

By Jeremy Hsu

Published November 21, 2012

TechNewsDaily

  • Call of Duty Black Opps 2.jpg

    “Black Ops II” cracks the code of producing great 3D effects without messing with game play. (Activision)

“Call of Duty: Black Ops 2” may achieve more than just becoming one of the biggest entertainment products of the year. The best-selling video game could help shape the real-world thinking of the U.S. military through its science fiction story of a Cold War playing out between the U.S. and China in 2025.

The game, whose sales reached $500 million in the first 24 hours, owes plenty of its inspiration to real military weapons and prototype technologies — lumbering battlefield robots, microwave weapons, swarms of flying drones — as well as to today’s news headlines regarding cybersecurity threats and the rise of China. But a defense expert who helped create the story for “Call of Duty: Black Ops 2” also points out how his game-consulting work has influenced his day-job thinking about geopolitical issues and technologies that someday could have an impact on the U.S. military.

“It’s a weird way to say this, but the experience of working on the fictional game was definitely an aid to my non-fictional work,” said Peter Singer, director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative at the Brookings Institution.

When games shape reality

‘It serves as an inspiration for the real world and sets expectations for the future.’

– Peter Singer, director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative at the Brookings Institution

The near-future realism of “Call of Duty: Black Ops 2” also can serve as a guide for real-world technologies, Singer said. He pointed out that one of the game’s first marketing videos featured a flying quadrotor drone armed with a machine gun, and that the U.S. military took notice of it long before the game hit store shelves.

But the game’s impact won’t stop at the higher levels of military planning and think tank analysts. Like any good science fiction story, it also could have a huge influence on what ordinary U.S. soldiers and Marines expect to have in their hands on future battlefields — especially because so many younger troops play video games and enjoy military-themed shooters such as the “Call of Duty” series. [The Big Guns: ‘Halo 4’ vs. ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops II’]

“It serves as an inspiration for the real world and also sets the expectations for the future,” Singer told TechNewsDaily.

The chance to shape the direction of the best-selling “Call of Duty” series proved irresistible to Singer. He helped the “Black Ops 2” team at Treyarch and Activision by organizing the game’s possible military technologies into three categories: active battlefield technologies, prototype technologies that have not yet been battlefield-tested, and technologies that exist only as ideas in research labs.

Serious war games

Singer also brainstormed elements of the game’s story involving rising political and military tensions between U.S. and Chinese coalitions. He joked that he and the game’s developers were a year ahead of the official U.S. policy pivot toward Asia and China, so that he was already well-equipped to think about those issues.

In that sense, the consulting work on “Call of Duty: Black Ops 2” shared some eerie resemblances with the serious war-gaming exercises conducted by the U.S. military and government officials. Singer himself is currently leading the U.S. military’s NeXTech workshop series, organized by the Noetic Group, focused on game-changing battlefield technologies of the future.

“Treyarch was asking about future causes of conflict, geopolitical issues in 2025, and what weapon systems are game-changers,” Singer said. “Those are questions necessary for the fictional world, but they’re also interesting questions on the non-fiction side.”

In terms of influence, “Call of Duty: Black Ops 2” will have a huge advantage over the military and defense think tanks, because as video game entertainment it reaches far more people than any workshop, report or book ever will.

“As popular as my books have been, the numbers are nowhere near the numbers on this video game,” Singer said.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/11/21/call-duty-video-game-could-reshape-real-warfare/?intcmp=trending#ixzz2FXBvaHyw

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December 16, 2012 · 9:39 pm

Must See On Global Warming

I have an earlier post on global warming in which I express my personal views on the topic.  I believe the Earth cools and warms and has dramatic shifts, but do not believe we have reached the point where as humans are we are able to significantly impact this.  Others I respect totally believe in a crisis, while others think climate change is a myth created to help form a global government.  Every show I have seen, except one, takes one extreme or the other.

It was with surprise I saw a very balanced documentary and discussion of the issue:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1694015/

cool it

It is called “Cool It”.  The documentarians believe in global warming and that it is man-made.  They also believe we need to take immediate action.  So, given I disagree, why would I like it? Well, quite frankly, it is upbeat and talks about all the current and future technology underway in a very sensible and optimistic way I find refreshing.  I encourage everyone to watch the documentary, whatever your position on it is.

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December 5, 2012 · 3:12 pm

Human Enhancement Dangers

In my opinion, the two technologies that will effect us the most in the immediate future, are 3d personal printer manufacturing, and human enhancement.  We are nearing a time when we can replicate or build nearly anything in our home, and in which we will no longer be human.  We will start human, but will be updated to receive technology, correct defects, and enhance our abilities.  Here is a cautionary story on the latter topic:

Scientists raise the alarm on human enhancement technologies

The Royal Society, along with the Academy of Medical Sciences, British Academy, and Royal Academy of Engineering, recently concluded a workshop called Human Enhancement and the Future of Work in which they considered the growing impact and potential risks of augmentation technologies. In their final report, the collaborative team of scientists and ethicists raised serious concerns about the burgeoning trend, and how humanity is moving from a model of therapy to one in which human capacities are greatly improved. The implications, they concluded, should be part of a much wider public discussion.

Specifically, the report expressed concerns about drugs and digital technologies that will allow people to work harder, longer, and smarter. The resulting implications to work and human values, they argue, may not necessarily be a good thing. It’s quite possible, they argue, that employers will start to demand (either implicitly or explicitly) that employees “augment” themselves with stimulants such as Aderall.

Scientists raise the alarm on human enhancement technologies

Similarly, the workshop considered the potential for other smart drugs that can enhance memory and attention, as well as physical and digital enhancements such as cybernetic implants and advanced machine-interfacing technologies.

From the report:

Work will evolve over the next decade, with enhancement technologies potentially making a significant contribution. Widespread use of enhancements might influence an individual’s ability to learn or perform tasks and perhaps even to enter a profession; influence motivation; enable people to work in more extreme conditions or into old age, reduce work-related illness; or facilitate earlier return to work after illness.

At the same time however, they acknowledge the potential efficacy and demand for such technologies, prompting the call for open discourse. Again, from the report:

Although enhancement technologies might bring opportunities, they also raise several health, safety, ethical, social and political challenges, which warrant proactive discussion. Very different regulatory regimes are currently applied: for example, digital services and devices (with significant cognitive enhancing effects) attract less, if any, regulatory oversight than pharmacological interventions. This raises significant questions, such as whether any form of self-regulation would be appropriate and whether there are circumstances where enhancements should be encouraged or even mandatory, particularly where work involves responsibility for the safety of others (e.g. bus drivers or airline pilots).

Indeed, the details of the report, while most certainly reasonable, are also exceedingly obvious. In a way, it’s as if the workshop participants are late to the show and only now trying to get the word out. And in fact, given the popularity (and rampant misuse) of stimulants such as Provigil and the tremendous interest in nootropics (i.e. cognitive enhancers), the report does seem long overdue.

The panel’s recommendations, such as further investigations into ensuring safety, affordability, and accessibility are most certainly welcome. And their suggestion that some of these enhancement technologies — whether they be pharmaceutical, regenerative medicines, or cybernetics — should be regulated by the government is spot on. Given the potential for personal misuse — not to mention the potential exploitation by employers — would most certainly necessitate the need for regulatory oversight.And perhaps most encouragingly, rather than reacting hysterically and calling for an outright ban on enhancement technologies, the panelists have outlined a roadmap for getting these technologies integrated into our lives in a safe and effective way.

The entire report can be read here (pdf).

Top image via Royal Society et al. Inset image: drugs.com

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November 10, 2012 · 12:29 am

Glow in the dark highway of the future

reposted.

Glow in the dark highway of the future to begin tests next year

Published November 07, 2012

FoxNews.com

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     The look of your local roads may be ready for a reboot in the coming years.

A Dutch design firm will begin real world tests of a new “Smart Highway” next year, that aims to be safer and more energy efficient than current road networks.

The first stage of the project will be the implementation of special paints that glow in the dark to provide both illumination and information about road conditions. Lines in the road coated with a special powder will be able to glow for up to 10 hours after being charged during daylight hours, reducing the need for overhead electric lights, while temperature sensitive dynamic paints become visible when the surface gets cold, causing large snowflake designs to appear to warn drivers that the pavement may be slippery.

Next step technologies envisioned by the team of designer Daan Roosegaarde and Heijmans Infrastructure include the use of small wind-powered pinwheel-style lighting fixtures and dynamic illumination that comes only when it senses a car approaching.

But the most futuristic innovation, which the team hopes to start testing within five years, are lanes designated for electric vehicles that are fitted with induction coils that will allow the vehicles to run off of grid power instead of batteries, virtually eliminating the range and charge time issues that have proven to be the biggest impediment to the widespread adoption of electric cars.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/11/07/glow-in-dark-highway-future-to-begin-tests-next-year/?intcmp=obnetwork#ixzz2BnoQelLs

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