"Theoretical physicist Brian Greene [...] was on the show last night to give Stephen[Colbert] a crash course on not only why gravitational waves are important, but also how they were discovered."
"Why do some children find Math hard to learn? I suspect that this is often caused by starting with the practice and drill of a bunch of skills called Arithmetic—and instead of promoting inventiveness, we focus on preventing mistakes. I suspect that this negative emphasis leads many children not only to dislike Arithmetic, but also later to become averse to everything else that smells of technology. It might even lead to a long-term distaste for the use of symbolic representations."
Minsky promoted thinking in the brain as a series of communicating units, rather than only as a black box. This ted talk gives an outline of his position.
14:04 mins
I do not think his model is very useful to communication psychology. A person is not bits, but is a single object. His approach is useful to brain surgeons and artificial intelligence [AI].
Minsky also invented this box. Switch it on, and a hand appears to switch it off again!
"The chemistry community is eager to see its most cherished table finally being completed down to the seventh row. IUPAC has now initiated the process of formalizing names and symbols for these elements temporarily named as ununtrium, (Uut or element 113), ununpentium (Uup, element 115), ununseptium (Uus, element 117), and ununoctium (Uuo, element 118)" said Professor Jan Reedijk, President of the Inorganic Chemistry Division of IUPAC."
"ArcaBoard, an electric powered flying machine with 272 horsepower and 203,000 watts of installed power is the most powerful and lightest personal vehicle ever created. ArcaBoard represents total freedom of movement, total freedom of travel. ArcaBoard is a personal vehicle that can move in every possible direction including upwards. The retail price is $19,900 and is available for order now. Shipments will start April 15, 2016.
—
"ArcaBoard is built from composite materials, it has a length of 145x76x15 cm (57x30x6 inches) and a weight of 82 kg (180 lbs). This technology allows a person with a weight up to 110 kg (243 lbs) to be able to fly.
"The vehicle is able to fly up to 30 cm (1 ft) and with speeds up to 20 km/h (12.5 mph) and the overall performance is limited by the onboard sensors. The maximum endurance is 6 minutes, but with the ArcaDock accessory the user can be back in action in 35 minutes."
1:45 mins
"The magic behind the hoverboard lies in its four disc-shaped hover engines. These create a special magnetic field which literally pushes against itself, generating the lift which levitates our board off the ground." [Quoted from Hendo hoverboards at Kickstarter]
"The Hendo Hoverboard is the real deal, even if its need for a metallic surface to ride on is kind of a bummer. Also a bummer: You won't be able to ride one of these for a while. Once the Kickstarter ends, the hoverboard will (theoretically) move into the production stage, and the first 10 units have already been gobbled up—at the jaw-dropping price of $10,000 a pop. (Smaller, hovering development kit boxes are also available if you back the Hendo to the tune of at least $300.)" [Quoted from pcworld.com]
that the blind will see, and robot bees to pollinate crops - next, replace humans!
Geomagnetic sensor system, with connection to the primary visual cortex (adapted),
credit: Hiroaki Norimoto and Yuji Ikegaya/Current Biology)
"A microstimulator and geomagnetic compass attached to the brains of
blind rats allows them to spontaneously learn to use new information
about their location and navigate through a maze nearly as well as
normally sighted rats."
[Quoted from http://www.science20.com]
It is unfortunate that in order to achieve these probably useful results, dubious ethics are being used:
"Head-mountable microstimulators coupled with a digital geomagnetic compass were bilaterally implanted in the primary visual cortex of adult rats whose eyelids had been sutured."
[Quoted from abstract, http://www.kurzweilai.net]
"Honeybees, which pollinate nearly one-third of the food we eat, have
been dying at unprecedented rates because of a mysterious phenomenon
known as colony collapse disorder (CCD). The situation is so dire that
in late June the White House gave a new task force just 180 days to
devise a coping strategy to protect bees and other pollinators. The
crisis is generally attributed to a mixture of disease, parasites, and
pesticides.
"Other scientists are pursuing a different tack: replacing bees. While
there's no perfect solution, modern technology offers hope.
"Last year, Harvard University researchers led by engineering professor
Robert Wood introduced the first RoboBees, bee-size robots with the
ability to lift off the ground and hover midair when tethered to a
power supply. The details were published in the journal Science. A
coauthor of that report, Harvard graduate student and mechanical
engineer Kevin Ma, tells Business Insider that the team is "on the eve
of the next big development." Says Ma: "The robot can now carry more
weight."
[Quoted from http://www.businessinsider.com]
