Pentagon Intelligence Chief: Russia And China Will Have Weapons in Space ‘In the Near Future’
June 28th, 2018Just wait. You haven’t seen anything yet.
Via: DefenseOne:
The Defense Intelligence Agency’s director says the U.S. lead in space is diminishing and tomorrow’s skies will be filled with enemy robot satellites.
Russia and China are developing new space-based weapons and they’ll be ready “in the near future,” Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said Tuesday at the Defense One Technology Summit in Washington, D.C.
The countries, which Ashley called “competitors,” are developing “the ability to interdict satellites both from a ground standpoint and from a space standpoint,” he said. “The technology is being developed right now. It is coming in the near future.”
An Extraordinarily Expensive Way to Fight ISIS
June 28th, 2018Mmm hmm.
Via: The Atlantic:
The tale of a bombing raid in the Libyan desert, pitting stealth bombers and 500-pound bombs against 70 ragtag fighters.
Mini Neanderthal Brains Will Be Connected To Robots
June 28th, 2018Via: Live Science:
Neanderthals went extinct about 40,000 years ago, but thanks to cutting-edge science, there is now a lab in California that has petri dishes filled with pea-size versions of the cavemen’s brains.
Why are researchers cultivating and studying these mini brains? The reason, they say, is that these small neural lumps may reveal why Neanderthals died out and Homo sapiens went on to conquer much of the planet.
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Muotri’s team is now tackling another sci-fi-like challenge. They have devised a way for robots to measure electrical brain signals sent by human mini brains. By connecting the robots with the mini brains, they hope to create a “learning feedback loop” that will help the brain direct the robot to explore its surroundings.
“Ultimately, we want to compare the Neanderthalized organoid [with the robot] to test its ability to learn,” Muotri said.
Flashback 2004: Rat Brain Cells in a Dish Fly F-22 Simulator
BP Bets on Electric Vehicle Switch with Chargemaster Buy
June 28th, 2018Via: Reuters:
BP will buy Britain’s largest electric vehicle charging firm Chargemaster and plans to use its technology to roll out ultra-fast chargers across its 1,200 petrol stations in the country over the next 12 months.
Royal Dutch Shell, Volkswagen and Daimler have all made acquisitions and investments in an effort to tap into rapid growth in electric vehicles, which is being driven by regulation and a move away from fossil fuels.
Ad Astra: Musk’s School at SpaceX
June 26th, 2018I had heard of Musk’s private school before, but I didn’t have a sense of what actually went on there. My wife and I are homeschooling three (soon to be four) children, so we are always on the lookout for interesting feats of pedagogy.
Via: Ars Technica:
In a corner of SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California, a small, secretive group called Ad Astra is hard at work. These are not the company’s usual rocket scientists. At the direction of Elon Musk, they are tackling ambitious projects involving flamethrowers, robots, nuclear politics, and defeating evil AIs.
Those at Ad Astra still find time for a quick game of dodgeball at lunch, however, because the average age within this group is just 10 years old.
Ad Astra encompasses students, not employees. For the past four years, this experimental non-profit school has been quietly educating Musk’s sons, the children of select SpaceX employees, and a few high-achievers from nearby Los Angeles. It started back in 2014, when Musk pulled his five young sons out of one of Los Angeles’ most prestigious private schools for gifted children. Hiring one of his sons’ teachers, the CEO founded Ad Astra to “exceed traditional school metrics on all relevant subject matter through unique project-based learning experiences,” according to a previously unreported document filed with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
“I just didn’t see that the regular schools were doing the things that I thought should be done,” he told a Chinese TV station in 2015. “So I thought, well let’s see what we can do. Maybe creating a school will be better.”
In an atmosphere closer to a venture capital incubator than a traditional school, today’s Ad Astra students undertake challenging technical projects, trade using their own currency, and can opt out of subjects they don’t enjoy. Children from 7 to 14 years old work together in teams, with few formal assessments and no grades handed out.
Ad Astra’s principal hopes that the school will revolutionize education in the same way Tesla has disrupted transportation, and SpaceX the rocket industry. But as Musk’s sons near graduation age, the future of Ad Astra is unclear. Will Musk maintain interest in the school once his children move on? And even if he does, can a school of fewer than 40 students ever be anything more than a high-tech crèche for already-privileged children?
Richard Dolan Interviews Catherine Austin Fitts: Missing Trillions and The Secret Space Program
June 26th, 2018Via: Richard Dolan:
Senior Scientist at Allergan, Vaccine Researcher Shot to Death as He Slept Beside His Daughters at Remote Campsite
June 25th, 2018Via: Heavy:
A 35-year-old California man was killed while camping with his daughters in Malibu Creek State Park and police are investigating the mysterious case as a homicide. No suspects have been identified. Tristan Beaudette was shot in the upper torso early in the morning of June 22, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a press release.
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Tristan Beaudette was originally from Fresno. According to the Fresno Bee, Beaudette was a valedictorian at Edison High School in 2000. He graduated from the University of California San Diego in 2005 with a degree in chemistry, according to his Linkedin profile. Beaudette spent a year as a summer research intern at IBM. He then began pursuing his Ph.D in chemistry at UC Berkeley in 2005, completing his studies in 2010. He wrote a thesis entitled, “Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Acid-Degradable Polymeric Materials for Protein-Based Vaccine,” a research project, ” focused on the design, synthesis, characterization, and implementation of acid-sensitive polymeric microparticulate and nanoparticulate vehicles for vaccine and drug delivery applications,” he wrote on Linkedin.
While at Berkeley, Beaudette was a graduate student instructor and worked on several research projects that were focused on pharmaceuticals and vaccines, according to his Linkedin profile. He wrote that he, “Synthesized polyacrylamide, polyacetal, and polysaccharide-based acid-degradable microparticles and used in vitro and in vivo techniques to characterize their ability to elicit cell-mediated immune responses for applications in vaccines and cancer therapy.” He also wrote, he, “Developed methods for chemoselective particle functionalization for use in targeted drug and gene delivery.” And, “Led a multidisciplinary team of chemists, immunologists, and biologists in an NIH-funded collaborative project involving the design of novel protein-based vaccine formulations,” while also composing, “multiple scientific research proposals. Presented and published graduate work at national conferences and in peer-reviewed journals.”
You can read his publications here.
A Team of AI Algorithms Just Crushed Humans in a Complex Computer Game
June 25th, 2018Via: MIT Technology Review:
Five different AI algorithms have teamed up to kick human butt in Dota 2, a popular strategy computer game.
Researchers at OpenAI, a nonprofit based in California, developed the algorithmic A team, which they call the OpenAI Five. Each algorithm uses a neural network to learn not only how to play the game, but also how to cooperate with its AI teammates. It has started defeating amateur Dota 2 players in testing, OpenAI says.
NSA’s Wiretap Rooms in Eight U.S. Cities
June 25th, 2018Via: The Intercept:
THE SECRETS ARE hidden behind fortified walls in cities across the United States, inside towering, windowless skyscrapers and fortress-like concrete structures that were built to withstand earthquakes and even nuclear attack. Thousands of people pass by the buildings each day and rarely give them a second glance, because their function is not publicly known. They are an integral part of one of the world’s largest telecommunications networks – and they are also linked to a controversial National Security Agency surveillance program.
Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. In each of these cities, The Intercept has identified an AT&T facility containing networking equipment that transports large quantities of internet traffic across the United States and the world. A body of evidence – including classified NSA documents, public records, and interviews with several former AT&T employees – indicates that the buildings are central to an NSA spying initiative that has for years monitored billions of emails, phone calls, and online chats passing across U.S. territory.
The NSA considers AT&T to be one of its most trusted partners and has lauded the company’s “extreme willingness to help.” It is a collaboration that dates back decades. Little known, however, is that its scope is not restricted to AT&T’s customers. According to the NSA’s documents, it values AT&T not only because it “has access to information that transits the nation,” but also because it maintains unique relationships with other phone and internet providers. The NSA exploits these relationships for surveillance purposes, commandeering AT&T’s massive infrastructure and using it as a platform to covertly tap into communications processed by other companies.
Flashback: Mark Klein
Pentagon Prepares to Create Temporary Camps for Illegal Immigrants at Two Bases
June 24th, 2018Via: Reuters:
The U.S. military is preparing to build temporary camps at two military bases to house immigrants, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Sunday, in the latest sign of a growing U.S. military support role for President Donald Trump’s politically charged immigration policies.
Mattis, speaking to reporters during a flight to Alaska, did not specify the names of the bases or say whether they would house immigrant children or their parents, or both.
“The details are being worked out … about exactly how much capacity they need at the two bases, what other kinds of facilities they need built,” Mattis said, as he disclosed the request for the facilities from the government’s Department of Homeland Security.
Related: Trump Says Illegal Immigrants Should Be Deported with ‘No Judges or Court Cases’
