Tiny Robots Climb Walls Carrying More Than 100 Times Their Weight
April 25th, 2015Via: New Scientist:
‘High Level’ of Radiation Detected in Tokyo Park
April 25th, 2015Via: BBC:
Japanese authorities have detected an unusually high level of radiation around playground equipment in a Tokyo park, report local media.
The park, in the Toshima ward in central Tokyo, has been fenced off.
Authorities recorded up to 480 microsieverts per hour at one spot – nearly half the recommended annual limit of exposure for a person.
The incident comes days after a drone with traces of radiation landed on top of the prime minister’s office.
The drone at Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s office was discovered on Wednesday morning, carrying a small bottle with the radioactive symbol.
Tests found it was carrying a small amount of radioactive caesium, reported Kyodo news agency.
Japan’s NHK reported that local officials had received a call about suspected radioactivity at the Tokyo park on Wednesday.
Following two rounds of testing, officials found high levels of radiation on a section of the playground equipment.
Mysterious X-37B Military Space Plane to Fly Again Next Month
April 25th, 2015There’s still no solid information about what it’s doing.
Via: Space:
The United States Air Force’s X-37B space plane will launch on its fourth mystery mission next month.
The unmanned X-37B space plane, which looks like a miniature version of NASA’s now-retired space shuttle orbiter, is scheduled to blast off atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on May 20.
German Intelligence Helped NSA Spy on European Politicians and Defense Contractors
April 24th, 2015Via: Ars Technica:
Germany’s intelligence service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), has been helping the NSA spy on European politicians and companies for years, according to the German news magazine Der Spiegel. The NSA has been sending lists of “selectors”—identifying telephone numbers, e-mail and IP addresses—to the BND, which then provides related information that it holds in its surveillance databases. According to the German newspaper Die Zeit, the NSA sent selector lists several times a day, and altogether 800,000 selectors have been requested.
“Not Science Fiction”: Miami Police Implements Pre-Crime System
April 23rd, 2015Via: Miami Herald:
Armed with high-tech software and years of crime data, Miami police believe they will soon be able to stop crimes by predicting when and where they will occur.
It sounds a little like something out of a science fiction novel, but the department is in the process of adopting a system called HunchLab that produces maps showing small areas where specific crimes are likely to be committed during shifts. The probability program is a geographical version of “predictive policing” software, which more departments are using — even if, in the words of one supportive cop, it’s “kind of scary.”
Similar algorithm-based programs have been credited with lowering crime rates in cities around the country, and some South Florida departments recently have adopted their own systems. In Miami’s case, the department is funding the implementation of HunchLab and other software programs with a $600,000 federal grant doled out by the Bureau of Justice Assistance to encourage smart policing tactics.
Head Transplant Doctor: Creating Immortality Is the Goal
April 23rd, 2015Via: Independent:
The Italian doctor who has claimed that he could transplant a man’s head onto a donor’s body has said that he could do much of the procedure in less than an hour.
The procedure — which Canavero has admitted is just a first step towards his ultimate aim of creating immortality — will see a man’s head removed and placed on a donor’s body.
That will see the man’s head get cooled down — as it is when doctors operate on some parts of the brain — and switched onto the different body. Doctors will then have a few minutes to attach the blood vessels and the whole thing will take less then an hour, Canavero said.
After that, the full joining process could take up to 24 hours. Canavero said that it would be carried out by a team of doctors to ensure that none of them got tired, and that doctors and surgeons from around the world had enquired about joining that team.
Canavero said that he will explain the procedure in depth at a neurosurgeons’ conference on June 12. “I’ll prove it is totally possible to all the sceptics there,” he told Mail Online.
Chinese Scientists Admitted to Tweaking Genes of Human Embryos for First Time
April 23rd, 2015Via: Business Insider:
A recent biotech discovery — one that has been called the biggest biotech discovery of the century — showed how scientists might be able to modify a human genome when that genome was still just in an embryo.
This could change not only the genetic material of a person, but could also change the DNA they pass on, removing “bad” genetic codes (and potentially adding “good” ones) and taking an active hand in evolution.
Concerned scientists published an argument that no one should edit the human genome in this way until we better understood the consequences after a report uncovered rumors that Chinese scientists were already working on using this technology.
But this new paper, published April 18 in the journal Protein and Cell by a Chinese group led by gene-function researcher Junjiu Huang of Sun Yat-sen University, shows that work has already been done, and Nature News spoke to a Chinese source that said at least four different groups are “pursuing gene editing in human embryos.”
Tesla Batteries Already Deployed in 11 California Wal-Mart Stores
April 23rd, 2015Via: Bloomberg:
As part of a pilot program with sister company SolarCity, Tesla has installed batteries at about 300 California homes equipped with solar panels. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which has a relationship with SolarCity, has Tesla batteries installed at 11 California stores; Cargill Inc. plans a one-megawatt system for its animal-processing plant in Fresno.
And Now… “How Tor Is Building a New Dark Net with Help from the U.S. Military”
April 22nd, 2015You betcha.
Via: TheDailyDot:
To stay ahead in the security race, Tor is building the next-generation Dark Net in part with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the U.S. military agency charged with inventing the cutting edge of new technology.
The funding, which began in 2014, comes as part of DARPA’s Memex project, a “groundbreaking” search engine designed to best commercial titans like Google at searching the Deep Web and other oft-ignored terrain for the U.S. intelligence, law enforcement, and military. To build Memex, DARPA is partnered with universities like Carnegie Mellon, NASA, private research firms, and several Tor Project developers.
DARPA is funding multiple projects focused on improving Tor’s hidden services across “1-3 years,” Tor’s director of communications Kate Krauss told the Daily Dot via email. Tor declined to give more specifics on the grant, like its monetary value and terms, and DARPA didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Jeb Bush Praises Obama’s Expansion of NSA Surveillance
April 22nd, 2015Via: FirstLook:
One of the most glaring myths propagated by Washington — especially the two parties’ media loyalists — is that bipartisanship is basically impossible, that the two parties agree on so little, that they are constantly at each other’s throats over everything. As is so often the case for Washington partisan propaganda, the reality is exactly the opposite: from trade deals to Wall Street bailouts to a massive National Security and Penal State, the two parties are in full agreement on the bulk of the most significant D.C. policies (which is why the leading candidates of the two parties (from America’s two ruling royal families) will have the same funding base). But because policies that command the agreement of the two parties’ establishments are largely ignored by the D.C. press in favor of the issues where they have some disagreements, the illusion is created that they agree on nothing.
To illustrate how true this all is, consider the comments today of leading GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush. He appeared on Michael Medved’s conservative talk radio program, and was asked by the host what his favorite part of the Obama administration has been. His answer? As McClatchy’s Lesley Clark noted on Twitter, Bush hailed “Obama’s enhancement of NSA.”
