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Technology

STUDY: When Robots Beg For Their Lives

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robot - pixabay

Robots designed to interact socially with humans are slowly becoming more and more common. They’re appearing as receptionists, tour guides, security guards, and porters. But how good are we at treating these robots as robots? A growing body of evidence suggests not good at all. Studies have repeatedly shown we’re extremely susceptible to social cues coming from machines, and a recent experiment by German researchers demonstrates that people will even refuse to turn a robot off — if it begs for its life. In the study, published in the open access journal PLOS One, 89 volunteers were recruited to complete … Read more

SCIENCE: Surgery in Space Will Be Messy – Live Science

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surgery - pixabay

There’s already enough to worry about when planning a one-way trip to Mars. Did you pack enough sunblock to deflect the deadly cosmic radiation? Will there be enough water there? What if your assigned procreation partner doesn’t like you? Now, scientists writing in the British Journal of Surgery have provided one more thing to fear: floating blobs of infectious bodily fluids. According to the authors of a new paper published last week (June 19), runaway blood, urine and fecal matter are just some of myriad possible complications of space surgery that likely await future astronauts. In a review of studies … Read more

FOR WRITERS: Designer Babies

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child butterfly wings - pixabay

FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Aidee Ladnier: We’ve all heard the scare tactics of politicians warning of the dangers of designer babies, but genetically modified humans are literally due to be born in the next decade. Medical science has made our lives longer and healthier. But what if scientists modify those things that make us fundamentally who we are? Why is it okay to make sure a child is not born with a genetic disease that will kill them prematurely (like cystic fibrosis) but not okay to give an child a higher IQ which would give it … Read more

SPACE: NASA’s New Plan to Destroy Deadly Asteroids – Live Science

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asteroid strike - pixabay

NASA has updated its plans to deflect potentially hazardous Earth-bound asteroids — and none of them involve Bruce Willis. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released a new report today (June 20) titled the “National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan.” The 18-page document outlines the steps that NASA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will take over the next 10 years to both prevent dangerous asteroids from striking Earth and prepare the country for the potential consequences of such an event. Officials with NASA, FEMA and the White House discussed the new asteroid-mitigation strategies … Read more

SCIENCE: Meet the AI Artists

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Botanical Dinosaurs - Chris Rodley - Live Science

One of the behaviors considered to be uniquely human is our creativity. While many animal species create visually stunning displays or constructions — think of a spider’s delicate web or the colorful, intricate structures built by bowerbirds — they are typically created with a practical purpose in mind, such as snagging prey or seducing a mate. Humans, however, make art for its own sake, as a form of personal expression. And as computer engineers attempt to imbue artificial intelligence (AI) with humanlike capabilities and behaviors, a question arises: Can AI create art? The AMC series “Humans,” which returns June 5 … Read more

TECH: Tiny Robot Arms Build World’s Tiniest House

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world's tiniest house - live science

Pushing the tiny-house movement to bizarre new limits, French scientists have constructed the “world’s smallest house” on the tip of an optical fiber. With each wall spanning about 0.0006 inches in length (15 micrometers, or 15 millionths of a meter), the humble chalet is too small to accommodate a dust mite, an amoeba or a sperm cell. It’s about 10,000 times too small to host a tardigrade; it’s even too small to hold a piece of tardigrade poop. So, why build a house so small that even a tardigrade can’t make use of it? Mainly just to prove it can … Read more

SCIENCE: Flies With Frickin’ Laser Beams

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Robotic Fly

A new type of flying robot is so tiny and lightweight — it weighs about as much as a toothpick — it can perch on your finger. The little flitter is also capable of untethered flight and is powered by lasers. This is a big leap forward in the design of diminutive airborne bots, which are usually too small to support a power source and must trail a lifeline to a distant battery in order to fly, engineers who built the new robot announced in a statement. Their insect-inspired creation is dubbed RoboFly, and like its animal namesake, it sports … Read more

TECH: Want a Computer That’s a Million Times Faster?

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laser beam

A billion operations per second isn’t cool. Know what’s cool? A million billion operations per second. That’s the promise of a new computing technique that uses laser-light pulses to make a prototype of the fundamental unit of computing, called a bit, that could switch between its on and off, or “1” and “0” states, 1 quadrillion times per second. That’s about 1 million times faster than the bits in modern computers. Conventional computers (everything from your calculator to the smartphone or laptop you’re using to read this) think in terms of 1s and 0s. Everything they do, from solving math … Read more

TECH: Today in Creepy Robots

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Atlas Robot gif

You can run from Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robot Atlas, but it wouldn’t do you any good — the robot can run after you. In a video shared to YouTube yesterday (May 10) by the robot maker, the uncannily human-like Atlas demonstrates running ability that is eerily reminiscent of a person’s. The robot jogs methodically across an expanse of grass, against a backdrop of trees punctuated by a few isolated buildings. The scene is almost peaceful and idyllic, except for the pervasive whirring and clanking of Atlas’ motors, gears and joints, and the sense of growing unease that comes with witnessing … Read more

TECH: Here Come the Flying Taxis

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Uber Flying Taxi

Finally, my promised Jetson future is close to arriving: Uber executives continue to grapple with a host of challenges, but that hasn’t put the brakes on the company’s futuristic — and somewhat outlandish — plans to develop a network of flying taxis. The project gained a bit more altitude at Tuesday’s kickoff of the two-day Uber Elevate conference in Los Angeles to discuss urban air transportation. Uber’s high-flying venture comes against the backdrop of terrestrial problems, from taxi industry pushback in cities such as London to political fallout due to a self-driving car death in Arizona. The San Francisco-based ride-hailing … Read more