Should We Blame Robots For Mistakes On The Battlefield?

Credit: Human Interaction with Nature and Technological Systems Lab / University of Washington

Should Robots Be Blamed For Battlefield Mistakes? -- Discovery News

If a robot in combat accidentally kills a civilian, who is to blame?

This isn't as straightforward of a question as it sounds. A team of scientists presented a study at the International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction and found that although robots don't have free will, people sometimes treat them as if they do.

The researchers had 40 undergraduate students play a scavenger hunt game with a human-like robot named Robovie. The robot was controlled remotely, but it appeared autonomous to the students.

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My Comment: I would blame both .... and if the programmers did their jobs properly .... the majority of the blame should then be on the human operators.

Aging Genes Highlighted As Potential Targets For Anti-Aging Therapies

Researchers have identified key genes that switch off with aging, highlighting them as potential targets for anti-aging therapies. (Credit: © Sandor Kacso / Fotolia)

Key Genes That Switch Off With Aging Highlighted As Potential Targets For Anti-Aging Therapies -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Apr. 19, 2012) — Researchers have identified key genes that switch off with aging, highlighting them as potential targets for anti-aging therapies.

Researchers at King's College London, in collaboration with the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, have identified a group of 'aging' genes that are switched on and off by natural mechanisms called epigenetic factors, influencing the rate of healthy aging and potential longevity.

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Brain Injuries On The Rise For US Troops (Infographic)

Source:LiveScience

Deleting Yourself From The Internet

How To Delete Yourself From The Internet -- CNet

You may not feel like the flotsam and jetsam that make up the facts of your life are important, but increasingly companies are using that dry data to make your every online step as indelible as if written in blood. Here's how to take back your digital dignity.

The Internet companies that power your online life know that data equals money, and they're becoming bolder about using that data to track you. If they get their way, your every online step would be not only irrevocable, but traceable back to you. Fortunately, there are some positive steps you can take to reclaim your online history for yourself.

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My Comment: Some good points here .... if you want your online presence gone .... start reading this article.

Men Prefer Women In Red

Men Prefer Women In Red Because They Think They Will Sleep With Them On First Date -- The Telegraph

It has long been a colour which is guaranteed to turn heads.

But now researchers believe they have found the real reason why men prefer ladies who wear red. Put simply, they think a scarlet-clad woman is more likely to sleep with them on a first date.

Psychologists who studied 120 male students aged 18 to 21 discovered that most thought choosing to wear red meant a woman had “greater sexual intent” and was more likely to jump into bed with a man than someone who opted for more neutral colours.

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My Comment: We are not that easy .... hmmmm .... maybe.

Google's 'Eye On The World' Releases Gallery Of Best Shots

Space Shuttle Endeavour on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida, awaiting launch to the International Space Station - its last flight

Google's 'Eye On The World' Releases Hand-Picked Gallery Of Best Shots Of Our Changing Planet - As Seen From 425 Miles Up -- Daily Mail

The GeoEye-1 satellite is capable of capturing details as small as a dustbin as it hurtles past our planet at 17,000mph - and its creators have hand-picked views that show off the majesty of our planet.

GeoEye provides exclusive imagery to the Google Earth and Google Maps applications.

It captures around 270,000 square miles of Earth's surface ever day - an amount of geographical data equivalent to the size of the State of Texas.

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My Comment: The images are stunning.

Is Marijuana-Infused Wine The New High?

Marijuana-Infused Wine: The New High? -- This Week

Looking for a new way to get buzzed? You're in luck: California winemakers are livening up bottles of syrah and cabernet sauvignon by adding weed.

Travelers making their way through California's Central Coast may smell a pungent new aroma coming from their wineglasses — thanks to a little marijuana. What began as a novelty in the 1980s is becoming more commonplace as California winemakers look to ferment grapes with the sticky, THC-laden leaves. Here, a brief guide to the munchy-inducing trend:

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My Comment: Not for me.

Boeing 787 Dreamliner Marks It's First U.S. Passenger Flight

Japan Airlines' Boeing 787 arriving at the gate at Boston's Logan International Airport. Photo: GE Aviation

Boeing 787 Dreamliner Begins First U.S. Passenger Flights -- Autopia

Sunday marked the first U.S. passenger flight for Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner, with Japan Airlines flying non-stop between Tokyo and Boston. The airline is the second to receive the efficient new composite airliner after fellow Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways. But JAL is the first to fly the Dreamliner to a U.S. city. The flight also marks Boston’s first non-stop service to Asia and the 787′s first transpacific flight.

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My Comment: A few years late .... but better late than never.

Google To Launch Storage Service Next Week

Google To Launch Storage Service Next Week -- Spiegel Online

Internet search engine Google is expected to enter the cloud computing fray next week with the launch of GDrive, the company's answer to similar offerings by Apple, Microsoft and Dropbox.

Speculation has been rife in recent days over the timing of the planned launch of US search engine giant Google's new cloud-based online storage service, but SPIEGEL has learned the company plans to announce the availability of GDrive next week.

Users who sign up for the service will be provided with 5 gigabytes of storage and, like other Google services, it will be available free of charge.

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Jay Leno's Classic Hybrid

The control mechanism on Jay's 1916 Owen Magnetic hybrid was so complicated that a placard warned operators to take the vehicle to the factory for repairs. John Lamm

The 1916 Owen Magnetic: Jay Leno's Classic Hybrid -- Popular Mechanics

At the dawn of the automotive industry, carmakers were already tinkering with hybrid designs. Perhaps the most interesting in Jay Leno's Garage is the Owen Magnetic, a hybrid car far ahead of its time—which proved its undoing.

People think hybrids are something new, but they've been around since the beginning of the automobile. Ferdinand Porsche built the Lohner-Porsche series hybrid car back in 1901. It used a gas engine to spin a generator that fed electricity to in-wheel motors. In 1917, the Woods Motor Vehicle Company of Chicago offered the Woods Dual Power, a series hybrid that could motor along—at speeds of less than 15 mph—solely on battery power. But I think the 1916 Owen Magnetic might be the most interesting early hybrid of them all.

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My Comment: Jay Leno's collection of cars makes me jealous .... but I also admire the work and effort that he has put himself in making this collection.

Lamborghini's Future SUV Unveiled

Stunning Urus SUV Concept Could Cement Lamborghini's Future -- Popular Mechanics

Sporty SUVs from revered nameplates have long been dismissed by the enthusiast fringe. But in the current automotive zeitgeist where well-heeled buyers are snatching up Porsche Cayennes, BMW X6 Ms, and Mercedes-Benz AMG sport utes at a surprising clip, Lamborghini's much-rumored Urus concept could be the key that solidifies the future of the exotic Italian brand.

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Editor: There is more on this car here.

This Person's Job Is To Build Robots

Roboticist: This Is My Job -- Popular Mechanics

As a 12-year-old, Matt Bunting built robots that chased his cat around the house. Now, here's professional roboticist making machines inspired by biology.

When Matt Bunting was 12, he began building robots—simple rovers driven by remote control. His parents were supportive of his hobby, but one member of the household wasn't so thrilled. "I'd make the rovers chase after my cat," Bunting says. "It would hide, so I had to make a robot to invade its privacy!" His robots became more sophisticated, and when he got to the University of Arizona, he built a hexapod with artificial intelligence. Bunting's professor offered him a job in the Robotics and Neural Systems Lab, where the 25-year-old now creates robots inspired by biology. "I knew that this was what I wanted to do, and now I'm doing it," he says. "It's incredible."

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My Comment: Lucky guy .... but I suspect that there is a lot of pressure on him.

Why Drones Will Not Be Taking Over Our Wars (For Now)

Live Fighters Aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge, pilots play a key role in shows of force and complex missions. Even as drones become integrated into the fleet, pilots will lead. U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Tommy Lamkin

The Human Element -- Popular Science

Why drones won't be taking over our wars anytime soon.

Early in 2008 on the Black Sea coast, a Georgian drone flying over the separatist enclave of Abkhazia transmitted an instantaneous artifact from the age of human flight—the video record of its own destruction by an attacking fighter jet. What happened that day was born of incendiary post-Soviet politics. The Kremlin backed Abkhazia and was furious that Georgia had bought surveillance drones to watch over the disputed ground. Georgia’s young government flaunted its new fleet, bullhorning to diplomats and to journalists like me what the drones were documenting of Russia’s buildup to war. I remember the Georgian bravado. We have drones. Ha! We have arrived. Tensions led to action. Action came to this: A Russian MiG-29 intercepted one of Georgia’s unmanned aircraft, an Israeli-made Hermes 450, which streamed live video of the fighter swinging into position. The jet pilot fired a heat-seeking missile. Viewed on the drone operator’s screen down below, the missile grew larger and its exhaust plume grew longer as it rushed near. Then the screen went fuzzy. Georgia’s drone was dead.

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My Comment: Drones may not be taking over our wars now .... but the trend is shifting to that goal.

White Killer Whale Spotted InTthe Wild

"Iceberg" is believed to be the first mature white orca observed

White Killer Whale Adult Spotted For First Time In Wild -- BBC

Scientists have made what they believe to be the first sighting of an adult white orca, or killer whale.

The adult male, which they have nicknamed Iceberg, was spotted off the coast of Kamchatka in eastern Russia.

It appears to be healthy and leading a normal life in its pod.

White whales of various species are occasionally seen; but the only known white orcas have been young, including one with a rare genetic condition that died in a Canadian aquarium in 1972.

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My Comment: This is a surprising find.

Touch Photography

Haptography seeks to have viewers feel what they see — from afar. CREDIT: NSF

Touch Photography: Giving Computer Users A Feel For Things -- Live Science

This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation.

A new type of camera that captures how a surface feels is exactly the kind of technology mechanical engineer Katherine Kuchenbecker believes will change the way humans and computers interact. And she’s helping make that happen.

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Google’s Secret Switch To The Next Wave Of Networking

Going With the Flow: Google’s Secret Switch To The Next Wave Of Networking -- Wired Networking

In early 1999, an associate computer science professor at UC Santa Barbara climbed the steps to the second floor headquarters of a small startup in Palo Alto, and wound up surprising himself by accepting a job offer. Even so, Urs Hölzle hedged his bet by not resigning from his university post, but taking a year-long leave.

He would never return. Hölzle became a fixture in the company — called Google. As its czar of infrastructure, Hölzle oversaw the growth of its network operations from a few cages in a San Jose co-location center to a massive internet power; a 2010 study by Arbor Networks concluded that if Google was an ISP it would be the second largest in the world (the largest is Level 3, which services over 2,700 major corporations in 450 markets over 100,000 fiber miles.)

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Daylight Fireball Streaks Over Nevada and California

Daylight Fireball Streaks Over Nevada and California -- Discovery News

When reports about a meteor make headline news in Los Angeles, it's time to pay attention. In fact, anything that isn't associated with a high-speed car chase or the latest celebrity DUI is usually worth paying attention to (take it from me, it doesn't happen very often). But tonight, local news stations are reporting excited eyewitness accounts of a daytime meteor that ripped through the skies above Nevada and California on Sunday morning.

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New Benefits Of Aspirin?

New evidence is helping explain additional health benefits of aspirin. (Credit: © Veniamin Kraskov / Fotolia)

Aspirin: New Evidence Is Helping Explain Additional Health Benefits And Open Potential For New Uses -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Apr. 19, 2012) — New evidence is helping explain additional health benefits of aspirin. Researchers in Canada, Scotland and Australia have discovered that salicylate, the active ingredient in aspirin, directly increases the activity of the protein AMPK (AMP-activated protein kinase), a key player in regulating cell growth and metabolism. AMPK which is considered a cellular fuel-gauge is switched on by exercise and the commonly used anti-diabetic medication metformin.

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Adult Males Will Soon Have The Same Life Expectancy As Females

Men Will Soon Live Longer Than Women For The First Time As They Ditch Their Unhealthy Lifestyles -- Daily Mail

* Boys born in 2000 will live to 87 - the same as girls
* Younger boys forecast to then outlive their female counterparts
* All due to a decline in heavy industry, fewer smokers and improved healthcare

Men could be about to win the lifelong battle of the sexes – or at least draw even.

Experts say that adult males will soon have the same life expectancy as females for the first time since records began.

By the time today’s 12-year-old boys reach 30, they can expect to live to a month or so over 87 – matching the lifespan of the girls they are in school with today.

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My Comment: It's about time. But I suspect that women will still have the advantage for a very long time.

New Smart Weapons Will Not Use GPS

DARPA Seeks To Wean Smart Weapons Off GPS With Hybrid Inertial Navigation System-On-A-Chip -- Military & Aerospace

ARLINGTON, Va., 18 April 2012. Navigation and guidance experts at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., are trying to reduce the military's reliance on Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite guidance for advanced munitions, mid- and long-range missiles, and other weapons by creating a navigation-system-on-a-chip that combines traditional and atomic inertial guidance technology.

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More News On DARPA Research To Fins An Alternative To GPS For Smart Weapons

DARPA wants navigation chip to guide smart weapons -- Defense Systems
C-SCAN For GPS-Denied Areas -- Shadow Spear
DARPA exploring miniature, atomic sensor systems as alternative to GPS -- Network World
New sensor sought to enable military missions in GPS-denied areas -- Physorg
Wanted: Atomic inertial navigation system -- UPI

My Comment: I guess advances in jamming GPS signals are raising concerns in some quarters.