time travel, parallel universes, and other useful illusions
You probably can’t tell from all the way down here, but Earth is developing a pretty big space debris problem. In fact, Ziggy tells me that, right now, there are at least 17,852 man-made objects floating around up there, and those are just the ones we can track. Start counting the smaller pieces of debris …
Continue reading “Engineers Developing “Self-Eating” Rockets That Don’t Leave A Mess”
Where are all the aliens? asks Russian theoretical physicist Alexander Berezin in his new paper, titled “‘First in, last out’ solution to the Fermi Paradox.” It’s a question we’ve long pondered, and perhaps one of the greatest — in a universe so vast, and with so many seemingly habitable planets, why have we yet to …
Continue reading “If Aliens Are Out There, Maybe They Should Run”
Are we alone in the universe? Is no one else out there, exploring the vast expanse of space? Well, according to a new study, our apparent solitude might have something to do with the gravity on other planets. That is, some alien civilizations may not be able reach the stars at all.
If you’ve ever dreamed of having a slender, cat-shaped robot that could spy on your friends from the comfort of your own home, believe it or not South Korean roboticists are happy to oblige.
During last week’s Game Developers Conference in San Fransisco, Epic Games revealed one of their latest projects: Siren, a “digital human.” It’s actually some fairly realistic CGI, streamed directly into Epic Games’ Unreal Engine. They worked alongside Tencent, Cubic Motion, and 3Lateral to bring Siren to life, as well as Vicon, who provided her “lifelike …
Continue reading “Meet Siren, The Digital Human Of Your (Uncanny) Dreams”
If there’s one thing I really think the world could use more of right now, it’s robot fish. Thankfully, MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory has delivered. According to IEEE Spectrum, their roboticists have developed an intriguing new “soft robotic spy fish,” which scientists are now using to explore the ocean without disrupting its …
It’s a hard bargain: You might live forever if you go through with Nectome’s brain preservation process, but you’ll have to die first. Mad scientist startup Nectome has already raised $1 million to explore a method of preserving brains called vitrifixation. As MIT Review explains, it’s a “high-tech embalming process,” a technique also referred to …
Continue reading “Would You Preserve Your Brain For A Chance At Immortality?”