AI Expert Ben Goertzel On Coast To Coast Radio

AI Expert Ben Goertzel On Coast To Coast Radio March 28 -- Kurzweilai

AI expert Dr. Ben Goertzel will be on Coast to Coast AM on March 28, talking about his work in AI and its applications in areas like financial prediction, gaming, and radical life extension. He will also discuss creating benevolent superhuman AI.

Dimitar Sasselov, Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University, will discuss thbreakthroughs in synthetic biology and exoplanetary astronomy, and how they will shed new light on our place in the universe.

The show airs nationwide nightly at 1am-5am EDT/10pm-2am PDT.

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How Jupiter Effects Halley's Comet

Image of 2007 Orionids, showing Orion constellation in the backdrop. (Credit: S. Quirk)

Jupiter Helps Halley’s Comet Give Us More Spectacular Meteor Displays -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Mar. 27, 2012) — The dramatic appearance of Halley's comet in the night sky has been observed and recorded by astronomers since 240 BC. Now a study shows that the orbital influences of Jupiter on the comet and the debris it leaves in its wake are responsible for periodic outbursts of activity in the Orionid meteor showers. The results will be presented by Aswin Sekhar at the National Astronomy Meeting in Manchester on the 27th of March.

Halley's comet orbits the Sun every 75-76 years on average. As its nucleus approaches the Sun, it heats up and releases gas and dust that form the spectacular tail. This outgassing leaves a trail of debris around the orbit.

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Is Nuclear Fusion Possible?

A prototype of the nuclear fusion system that relies on coils and compressing magnetic fields to produce energy. CREDIT: Derek Lamppa

Nuclear Fusion Is A Real Possibility, New Models Suggest -- Live Science

If new computer simulations pan out in the real world, nuclear fusion, the power source that makes stars shine, may be a practical possibility here on Earth, scientists say.

Simulations at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico revealed a fusion reactor that surpasses the "break-even" point of energy input versus energy output, indicating a self-sustaining fusion reaction. (This doesn't break any laws of physics for the same reason that starting a fire with a match doesn't).

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My Comment: Faster please.

Chocolate Helps People Stay Thin, Study Finds

Photo: (Credit: istockphoto)

Eating Lots Of Chocolate Helps People Stay Thin, Study Finds -- CBS News

(CBS News) What's the best way to stay thin? A new study finds it's exercising and eating a healthy diet full of - chocolate?

Mindless eating: 8 food goofs that pack on pounds

The study found that people who frequently ate chocolate had a lower body mass index (BMI) than people who didn't.

Is it time to ditch fat-free for fudge?

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My Comment: Hard to argue with a position that advocates .... yum yum .... chocolate.

International Space Station Nearly Struck By Space Junk

International Space Station Nearly Struck By Space Junk: Six Astronauts Nearly Had To Abandon Ship After A Piece Of A Russian Rocket Nearly Collided With The International Space Station -- Chicago Tribune/US News and World Report

Sometime Friday afternoon, the six people--including two Americans--aboard the International Space Station got a warning: Head into the nearest Russian Soyuz spacecraft and wait for further instructions, because a chunk of a disabled Russian rocket was hurtling towards them at speeds of over 17,000 miles per hour.

The threat of man-made space debris is increasingly becoming a problem for astronauts and the nearly 700 satellites orbiting earth. NASA estimates there are about 19,000 man-made objects orbiting earth--at orbital speeds, even a tiny particle can destroy satellites or cause serious damage to the space station.

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More News On The Passing Debris That Forced The ISS Crew Into Their Escape Pods

Close encounter: Space station astronauts forced to shelter in escape pods after near miss with debris from Russian rocket -- Daily Mail
Astronauts take refuge in escape capsules as space station threatened by debris -- The Telegraph
Space junk forces astronauts into escape capsules on International Space Station -- CNN
Astronauts scramble for escape pods as space junk threat gets serious -- Christian Science Monitor

Can We Build Robots With Morals?

Artificial Intelligence Pioneer: We Can Build Robots With Morals -- Jewish World Review

Like it or not, we're moving computers closer to autonomy.

Judea Pearl, a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence, won the Association for Computing Machinery's A.M. Turing award earlier this month, considered the highest honor in the computing world.

Pearl developed two branches of calculus that opened the door for modern artificial intelligence, such as the kind found in voice recognition software and self-driving cars.

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My Comment: I am sure that we can build boundaries/morals for robots to function .... but then again .... we can also build robots with morals that are not to our liking.

Military Robot Shaves Human Head

Short-Circuit, Back And Sides: Military Robot Shaves Human Head -- Daily Mail

The drastic change of image that comes with having your head shaved is scary enough – but one man doubled the terror by letting a robot do the job for him.

The prototype robot was a Multi-Arm UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle) from U.S company Intelligent Automation Inc (IAI) in Maryland – and is designed to tackle IEDs, check backpacks for bombs and breach doors.

But on this occasion it was armed with multiple clippers to cut the hair of an IAI volunteer, who went through the ordeal to raise money for cancer charity the St. Baldrick's Foundation.

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More News On Robots Being Able To Do tasks Like Cutting Our Hair

Unmanned Robot Ties Knots and Shaves Hair, Won't Cut Off Your Head -- PC World
Robot shaves man's head for charity -- 9News
Robot barber shaves human head for charity -- MSNBC
Robot barber shaves heads for charity -- Ubergizmo

People Are Becoming More Selfish

Newer Generations Increasingly About “Me,” Study Finds -- Courtesy of the American Psychological Association and World Science Staff

oung Amer­i­cans care less and less about the the en­vi­ron­ment, pol­i­tics, and the world around them in gen­er­al, a study has found; even the idea of seek­ing a mean­ing­ful life is out of fash­ion.

In­stead, mon­ey, im­age and fame are the idols of our time.

“Pop­u­lar views of the mil­len­ni­al genera­t­ion, born in the 1980s and 1990s, as more car­ing, com­mun­ity-oriented and pol­i­tic­ally en­gaged than pre­vi­ous genera­t­ions are largely in­cor­rect, par­tic­u­larly when com­pared to ba­by boomers and Genera­t­ion X at the same age,” said the stu­dy’s lead au­thor, Jean Twenge, a psy­chol­o­gist at San Die­go State Uni­vers­ity and au­thor of the book Genera­t­ion Me. “These da­ta show that re­cent genera­t­ions are less likely to em­brace com­mun­ity mind­ed­ness and are fo­cus­ing more on mon­ey, im­age and fame.”

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My Comment: I am old enough to concur with these observations and results.

NASA Lauches Five Rockets In Sequence

The red dots over the water show where the five rockets of NASA's ATREX mission will deploy chemical tracers to watch how super-fast winds move some 60 miles up in the atmosphere. Three cameras at different sites will track the cloud tracers. NASA / Larsen

NASA Launches Five-Rocket Science Extravaganza At Last -- MSNBC/Space

ATREX mission studies high-level winds; glowing trails visible in skies over East Coast

At almost literally the last minute, NASA launched five suborbital sounding rockets early Tuesday on a mission to study high-level jet stream winds by creating artificial glowing clouds near the edge of space.

After several delays, the rockets started blasting off from their pads in Virginia just before the close of the day's scheduled launch window at 5 a.m. ET. The launches were held up until the very end by concerns about winds as well as boats that had strayed into the restricted range zone. But all the conditions turned "green" just in time for liftoff.

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My Comment: 5 rockets launched one after another .... that must have been a cool display. When video becomes available, I will post it.

Traumatic Brain Injury -- A U.S. Department Of Defense Special Report

Editor: The U.S. Department of Defense has put together a comprehensive analysis and report on 'Traumatic Brain Injury'. For those who believe that they have suffered a traumatic brain injury, this is a must read for you. The link to this special report is here.

Can Weight-Loss Surgery Cure Diabetes?

New Study: Weight-Loss Surgery May Cure Diabetes -- CBS

Could weight-loss surgery be a cure for type 2 diabetes? That's exactly what a new study, published today by the New England Journal of Medicine, suggests.

The study showed that weight-loss surgery is dramatically more effective in the treatment of type 2 diabetes than a conventional treatment of diet changes and medication. Patients in the study suffered from severe type 2 diabetes, and most went into remission after undergoing one of two bariatric surgeries.

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The Powerful Antioxidant Properties Of Popcorn

Popcorn Has More Antioxidants Than Fruit, Study Says -- FOX News

Long heralded as a low-calorie snack, new research indicates popcorn may actually be good for your health in other ways as well.

Pennsylvania researchers reported popcorn actually contains more healthy antioxidants called polyphenols than fruits and vegetables. The study found that there were 300 mg of polyphenols in a serving of popcorn, compared to 160 mg in a serving of fruit.

Polyphenols have been shown in prior studies to boost cardiovascular health as well as protect against chronic diseases.

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My Comment: But soaking it in butter and salt probably counteracts the positive aspects of popcorn.

How Turbines Can Replace A Heart

Man With No Pulse: How Turbines Can Replace A Heart -- New Scientist

You no longer need a heartbeat to be alive. In a groundbreaking surgery last year, doctors William Cohn and Bud Frazier from the Texas Heart Institute in Houston replaced a dying man's heart with twin turbines, resulting in the first living person without a pulse.

In this short film called Heart Stop Beating, directed by Jeremiah Zagar, you can follow the revolutionary procedure. Compared to artificial hearts that mimic real ones, the device is thought to be much more durable, since it has no flexible membranes or complex twisting mechanisms. "No one has been able to make a self-contained pulsatile device that can last more than two years or so and most wear out sooner," says Cohn.

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My Comment: 30 years ago this was just a concept and a dream .... today .... reality.

Did Carbon Dioxide Just Save The Earth?

Earth's atmosphere lights up at infrared wavelengths during the solar storms of March 8-10, 2012. A ScienceCast video explains the physics of this phenomenon. Play it!

Carbon Dioxide Just Saved Earth -- Don Surber

God bless the John Amos power plant across the river from Poca, West Virginia, and all the other producers of CO2.

Those tiny molecules of carbon dioxide along with their cousins, nitric oxide, spared life on the planet from becoming crispy critters earlier this month.

It seems the Sun belched its biggest a coronal mass ejection in 7 years and the thermosphere absorbed 26 billion kWh of energy. The thermosphere is part of that invisible cloud of gases that blankets the Earth. Scientists call it the atmosphere.

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Earth’s Upper Atmosphere Absorbed 26 Billion kWh Of Energy

Earth’s Upper Atmosphere Hit by 26 Billion kWh of Energy -- Sci-Tech Daily

As researchers to continue monitor and assess the recent solar activity, new data shows that the thermosphere absorbed 26 billion kWh of energy over a three day period, March 8th -10th.

A recent flurry of eruptions on the sun did more than spark pretty auroras around the poles. NASA-funded researchers say the solar storms of March 8th through 10th dumped enough energy in Earth’s upper atmosphere to power every residence in New York City for two years.

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My Comment: That is a lot of juice.

How George Takei Conquered Facebook

Image courtesy of George Takei

How George Takei Conquered Facebook -- Forbes

George Takei earned his fame on the original Star Trek for playing Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu on the Enterprise, and later Captain Sulu of the Excelsior in the movies. As a Starfleet officer, Sulu was dedicated to peaceful exploration. But when it comes to Facebook, he’s a conqueror. On March 23, 2011, Takei put up his fan page. Now, one year later, he has nearly 1.4 million fans on his Facebook page, who regularly like, share, and comment on his near endless stream of posts, videos and geeky pictures. By way of comparison, Twitter master Star Trek alum Wil Wheaton has a little over 76,000 fans and Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner, has a little over 137,000.

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Cool Science Editor: His Facebook page is here.

The Eco-Friendly SuperYacht

Credit: Richard John Sauter

Assuage Your Liberal Guilt With An Eco-Friendly SuperYacht -- Science 2.0

Let's be honest, if you are a Republican, you don't care about the environment because you received your own oil well when you registered to vote. And you like vampire babies. So you do not care about the emissions of your yacht.

But if you are a rich Democrat, things are a little dicier. Buying pretend carbon offsets for a 29,000 square foot house can only get you so far. If you want to own a superyacht too, that's a lot of liberal guilt to agonize over. What to do?

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Editor: For more info on the Ocean Supremacy, go here.

The End Of The Space Shuttle Era

Cool Science News Editor: NPR has a special on the US space shuttle. The selection of stories and info starts here.

Woman, 83, Sues Apple Aafter Walking Into their Glass Door

‘Pane’ & Suffering At The Apple Store -- New York Post

Glassed granny walks smack into $1M suit

For one 83-year-old grandma, the most confusing piece of technology at an Apple Store wasn’t an iPad or iPhone — it was the front door.

Evelyn Paswall, a former Manhattan fur-company vice president, claims the tech company’s signature glass architecture is a menace to little old ladies after she failed to see the glass door at a Long Island location and smashed her face.

Now the Forest Hills, Queens, resident is suing Apple for $1 million, saying the company was negligent for not elderly-proofing the store’s see-through facade.

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My Comment: I have gone to this store on a few occasions .... it is very clear to me that there is a door in front of me. How did she hit her face .... makes no sense to me.

Face-Recognition System Can Sort Through 36 Million Faces Per Second

Video: Face-Recognition System Can Sort Through 36 Million Faces Per Second -- Popular Science

Japanese surveillance software can locate you, wherever you are.

Diginfo brings us news of this Hitachi Kokusai system that can monitor video feeds from around the world in real time, scanning for a particular face. When it finds what it's looking for, it closes in to provide footage of what the person has been doing previously and what he or she is doing next.

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My Comment: In short .... you can run .... but if a camera catches your face .... you cannot hide.