When microbiologist Emmanuelle Charpentier and RNA expert and biochemist Jennifer Doudna met at a conference in 2011, their shared passion for science led to a profound discovery; a new technique to engineer genomes known as CRISPR-Cas9. The technological and economic revolution that ensued still reverberates through labs around the world. CRISPR-Cas9 has created a seismic shift in how science operates making genome editing fast, flexible, inexpensive and easily accessible to anyone with a modicum of lab equipment. But is CRISPR-Cas9 a bio-hacker revolution or a potential scientific nightmare? Based on a bacterial CRISPR-associated protein-9 nuclease (Cas9) from Streptococcus pyogenes, CRISPR-CAS9 allows researchers to edit parts of a genome, using the same adaptive immune system mechanism bacteria use to recognize viral DNA and trigger its destruction. The CRISPR-CAS9 kit allows sections of DNA sequences to be snipped out and replaced, giving scientists the ability to essentially mutate the DNA. Further complicating the issue are synthetic elements which can now be added to … [Read more...] about Designer DNA: Will CRISPR-Cas 9 Create a BioHacker Revolution or a Nightmare?
Boston Dynamics Terrifying and Astounding Handle Robot
One day in the future, when an engineer discovers a robot has become self aware, there is a good chance that technician will be working at Boston Dynamics. The robotics and engineering company works with various government agencies such as DARPA, the US Army, Navy and Marine Corps, and corporations like Sony. Using sensor-based controls and computation, Boston Dynamics's experimental robots mimic the capabilities of complex organisms, exhibiting remarkable agility, dexterity and speed. If you are a robot watcher like I am, Boston Dynamics's creations are startling in their ability to conjure both utopian possibilities and surreal nightmares. Robots like these could have powerful applications navigating hostile terrains like Mars, or become mindless weapons of war. Boston Dynamics' latest creation is Handle, a research robot with 10 actuated joints which resembles a bucking horse. Handle stands 6.5 ft tall with the ability to retract and extend its legs. The robot has uncanny balance, travels at 9 mph and is able to jump 4 feet vertically into the air, and lift 100 pounds. … [Read more...] about Boston Dynamics Terrifying and Astounding Handle Robot
A Perfect Space X Landing
Slicing down through the clouds, riding on the power of the sun. Everytime the Falcon 9 lands, we move closer to a Mars mission. A new era of space travel dawns. A post shared by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on Feb 19, 2017 at 12:20pm PST … [Read more...] about A Perfect Space X Landing
A tougher Turing Test shows chatbots are still pretty stupid – ScienceAlert
An interesting article on Science alert about a more complicated Turing test... To find out just how advanced our current AI systems are, researchers have developed a tougher Turing Test - called the Winograd Schema Challenge - which measures how well robotic intelligence matches human intelligence. In the end, the team found that - even though AI is definitely improving every day - our robotic pals are still seriously lacking some common sense, suggesting that it will be some time before AI is fully ready to meld with society. First, before we go any further into the new competition's results, it's important to define what a 'Turing Test' actually is. Developed and coined by Alan Turing back in the 1950s, the Turing Test is a way for researchers to challenge computer-based intelligence to see if it can become indistinguishable from human intelligence, which is basically the goal for AI researchers. These tests are mostly language-based because human language is - when you truly think about it - super weird. In short, Turing believed that AI should aim to have robots that a … [Read more...] about A tougher Turing Test shows chatbots are still pretty stupid – ScienceAlert
Your brain does not process information and it is not a computer | Aeon Essays
Source: Your brain does not process information and it is not a computer | Aeon Essays Here is a great article by Robert Epstein, senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology in California, about how your brain is not a computer.... No matter how hard they try, brain scientists and cognitive psychologists will never find a copy of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony in the brain – or copies of words, pictures, grammatical rules or any other kinds of environmental stimuli. The human brain isn’t really empty, of course. But it does not contain most of the things people think it does – not even simple things such as ‘memories’. Our shoddy thinking about the brain has deep historical roots, but the invention of computers in the 1940s got us especially confused. For more than half a century now, psychologists, linguists, neuroscientists and other experts on human behaviour have been asserting that the human brain works like a computer. To see how vacuous this idea is, consider the brains of babies. Thanks to evolution, human neonates, … [Read more...] about Your brain does not process information and it is not a computer | Aeon Essays
Next Generation Atlas Robot Sparks Sympathy and Dread
Boston Dynamics Next Generation Atlas Robot is startling in its ability to handle objects and walk over rough terrain. But even more interesting is the reaction of observers to the robot's plight as his handler Steve pushes him around with a hockey stick. The video has turned out to be an unintended social experiment, eliciting over 24,000 comments, many of which anthropomorphize the robot, while others veer toward paranoid, dystopian scenarios where Atlas is the advanced guard of a robot army. The robot balances by using sensors in its body and legs and LIDAR, a surveying technology that measures distance by illuminating a target with a laser light, as well as stereo sensors in its head to avoid obstacles and help navigate rough terrain and manipulate objects. Designed to operate outdoors and inside buildings, the new Atlas is 5' 9" tall, 180 pounds, electrically powered and hydraulically actuated. The real question is what will happen when Atlas shows up on the line at an Amazon Warehouse. Will co-workers see the robot as a friend or an enemy? … [Read more...] about Next Generation Atlas Robot Sparks Sympathy and Dread
▶ Living Machines – The Rising of the Robot
"Robots are the lovechild of computers and power tools..." narrates Linda Hamilton, veteran of the Terminator movies 1 & 2. The actress who has spent a considerable amount of time being terrorized by robots, gives voice to an interesting documentary on human/robot interaction; Living Machines-Rising of the Robots. As you'll see in the documentary, robots are saving people from the three D's; jobs that are dirty, dangerous or dull. Robots are flying to other planets, communicating vital information and deactivating bombs. They are sentinels who never tire and may be the only way to colonize other planets. But even the eminent physicist Stephen Hawking is not convinced Asimov's Law of Robotics will be sufficient to protect us from the dangers of robotic intelligence. When interviewed by the BBC, Hawking said, "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race." So, will robots save us or destroy us? … [Read more...] about ▶ Living Machines – The Rising of the Robot