Q-Carbon, A Product That Is Harder Than Diamonds

(Credit: clearviewstock/Shutterstock)

Discover Magazine: Q-carbon Puts Diamonds in Second Place

Long ago, ancient scientists attempted to master the craft of alchemy, or the mythical process of turning lead into gold. Alchemy has since been proven to be a hopeless task, but modern scientists have successfully unlocked the secrets to an even more stunning transformation: turning carbon, the basic building block of life, into diamonds.

A new, simple carbon-transforming technique that uses a laser to produce tiny diamond “seeds” is yielding even more sparkling results. Researchers, in a new study, used their method to create an entirely new phase of carbon that surpasses even diamonds in terms of hardness, and the new material could have a number of applications in medical and industrial fields.

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CSN Editor: The applications are endless.

Documentary: How Big Oil Conquered The World

A Flying Car In The Near Future?

Discover: One Small Step for Flying Cars

A drone’s flying test may help pave the way for flying cars. In early December, U.S. regulators gave their approval for unmanned hover tests of a miniature flying car model made by the company Terrafugia. Such testing would provide feedback for eventually building a full-size version of a flying car capable of hovering for vertical takeoff and landing.

Contrary to some more breathless news headlines, this does not mean the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has cleared a hover-capable flying car for flight tests in U.S. airspace. Instead, Terrafugia only received special permission to operate a “one-tenth scale TF-X vehicle” under the classification of a small Unmanned Aircraft System weighing less than 55 pounds. The small-scale model of the TF-X prototype—basically a small drone—will have to operate at altitudes below 400 feet and at speeds under 100 miles per hour. Still, it’s a crucial step on the road to creating a flying car with the likeness of the futuristic vehicles seen in science fiction films such as “Back to the Future,” “Blade Runner” or the “Star Wars” prequels.

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CSN Editor: I want one.

Has A Cure For PTSD Been Found?

DEA

PsyPost: PTSD-related study finds a single dose of MDMA helps conditioned fear go extinct

Researchers have discovered that MDMA — commonly known as ecstasy or molly — speeds up the extinction of the conditioned fear response in mice. The findings help explain why the psychedelic drug is of benefit to people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Clinical studies have found that using MDMA as an aid during psychotherapy resulted in long-lasting improvements in PTSD symptoms. But Matthew Young of Emory University and his colleagues wanted to understand the psychological mechanism behind these results.

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CSN Editor: A reader of this blog sent me this link a few days ago. I forgot his name (sorry about that), but I kept the link and I have only gotten the chance to read it now. Wow .... I hope this works. I know a lot of people who are suffering from PTSD, and it will be Godsend to the many soldiers and families who are suffering because of it.

This Video Shows Why Joss Whedon's Serenity Was A Unique, Genre-Bending Movie

CSN Editor: For Serenity out-takes see the video below.

Here Comes The Robot Cops

Tech Crunch: Meet Knightscope’s Crime-Fighting Robots

The robots might one day rise up and take over, but a Palo Alto startup called Knightscope has developed a fleet of crime-fighting machinery it hopes to keep us safe.

Knightscope’s K5 security bots resemble a mix between R2D2 and a Dalek from Doctor Who – and the system behind these bots is a bit Orwellian. The K5’s have broadcasting and sophisticated monitoring capabilities to keep public spaces in check as they rove through open areas, halls and corridors for suspicious activity.

The units upload what they see to a backend security network using 360-degree high-definition and low-light infrared cameras and a built-in microphone can be used to communicate with passersby. An audio event detection system can also pick up on activities like breaking glass and send an alert to the system as well.

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CSN Editor: Robocop it is not .... but they are getting there.

Hot To Spot A Psychopath

Like Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, (played by Christian Bale, pictured) psychopaths can be intelligent and charming, while hiding a lack of empathy. Now a self-confessed psychopath has shared how he generally behaves to gain the trust of others and then use them to his own advantage

Daily Mail: How to spot a psychopath: Expert reveals the traits to look out for in others and how to tell if YOU have the personality disorder

* Self-professed psychopath Jacob Wells posted his advice on Quora
* He described how he befriends people then uses them to his advantage
* Description matches psychopathic traits such as charm and manipulation

Like Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, psychopaths can be intelligent and charming, while hiding a lack of empathy.

So given their ability to manipulate others, how easy it is for you to spot one?

Self-professed psychopath Jacob Wells has revealed how he behaves in different situations and has listed questions that may help others identify whether they have any psychopathic traits - as well as recognise them in others.

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CSN Editor: Scary stuff here.

The Problem Of Space Debris Keeps On Growing

Daily Mail: See decades of space debris swarm the Earth in 60 seconds: Video reveals how the planet's orbit has become a 'junkyard'

* Video shows decades of debris ringing the planet in just one minute
* Earth's orbit is a spacecraft junkyard and has been steadily growing
* UCL researcher animates 20,000 pieces of junk amassing around Earth

It is difficult to keep track of just how much stuff we throw away each day, but imagine trying to capture that on a global scale, for almost sixty years, and in space.
A new video has achieved this staggering feat by visualising decades of space debris as it accumulates around the Earth.
Dr Stuart Grey, a lecturer at University College London, generated the visualisation which captures the accumulation from 1957 through to 2015.

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CSN Editor: Houston .... we have a problem.

There Is A Scientific Reason Why New Year's Eve Is Generally Terrible

The Independent: New Year’s Eve: The scientific reason why it is generally terrible

Those who plan to have a great time on New Year's Eve are likely to be the most miserable of all.

In the movies, New Year’s Eve is always full of excitement and intrigue, attractive people in sparkly outfits, and surprise kisses at midnight. So why does real-world New Year’s Eve always seem to consist of losing your friends in a crowded bar, standing in line forever for drinks, and waiting an hour in the cold for a ridiculously priced Uber?

Research done by a team of psychologists and economists on how we experience happiness actually offers an explanation. In a 1999 study called “The pursuit and assessment of happiness can be self-defeating,” Jonathan Schooler, now of the University of California Santa Barbara, Dan Ariely of Duke University and George Loewenstein of Carnegie Melon offer evidence that those who plan to have a great time on New Year's Eve are likely to be the most miserable of all.

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CSN Editor: Yup .... it always comes down to high expectations that never pan out.

High Expectations For Faraday Future's Car

Daily Mail: Faraday Future teases the ‘Tesla killer’: Mysterious Chinese-backed firm provides the first glimpse of its electric car

* Teaser video of vehicle driving around shows its wheel but not much else
* It will be revealed at Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Monday
* The company predicts a production model will hit the roads by 2020
* The firm is backed by 'China's Steve Jobs', multibillionaire Jia Yueting

Faraday Future has provided a glimpse of its top-secret electric car, billed the 'Tesla-killer', ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) next week.

The secretive Chinese-backed company today posted a teaser video of vehicle driving around showing not much more than a wheel.

The car, which is set to be revealed at CES in Las Vegas on Monday, will be a concept vehicle with a production model set to hit the roads by 2020.

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CSN Editor: I am looking forward to this unveiling.

The 10 Most Expensive Cars In The World

Photo by Clément Bucco-Lechat. Source: wikipedia creative commons

Daddu: 10 Most Expensive Cars In The World

Some cars are designed just to get you from point A to point B. Some cars are designed to get you from point A to point B really fast. And then there are cars designed with such lavish style and breath-taking performance that point B doesn’t even matter anymore – just driving it is the point.

These cars fall into the latter category. They are built with a level of luxury that most of us will never even see in person, let alone get the chance to own. But we don’t all get to own a Rembrandt or Monet, either. That doesn’t stop us from enjoying a trip to the museum. And the cars on this list are more than just cars – they are triumphs of engineering, works of art on wheels.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the 10 most expensive cars in the world

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CSN Editor: Sighhhh .... I can only dream ....

An App To Police The Cops

The Economist: How three teenagers invented an app to police the cops

The high-school students want citizens to rate their interactions with officers

THE Christian siblings were doing their homework when the police arrived. Two officers entered the house, guns drawn, pursuing what was evidently a prank tip-off about a captive being held at their address. The guns stayed out even when the mistake became apparent; they ran the details of the children’s father—who, like them, is black—through the police system on the off chance of turning something up.

The family was traumatised. The incident (in 2013) brought home to Ima Christian, now 18, that Americans could be vulnerable to rough policing “no matter where you live, or who you are”; her sister Asha, who is 16, says it is “not until you are face to face with an officer that you realise what the deal is.” The sisters—from Stone Mountain, just outside Atlanta—didn’t get even, exactly. Instead, with their brother Caleb (now 15), they developed an app, called Five-O, intended to help improve police behaviour and community relations. It lets citizens rate their experiences with officers, record both parties’ race and sex and the purpose of the interaction, and find aggregate scores for county forces.

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CSN Editor: Police departments should embrace this .... but I suspect that many will not.

Oetzi, The Tyrolean Iceman Is The Oldest Tattooed Human

Ötzi the Iceman on a sheet-covered autopsy table. Wikipedia

Discovery News: Oetzi the Iceman Has World's Oldest Tattoos

Oetzi, the Tyrolean Iceman entombed beneath an alpine glacier some 5,300 years ago, is the oldest tattooed human, according to a new study.

The mummy boasts tattoos grouped across 19 body parts. Earlier this year, Marco Samadelli and colleagues from the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Italy, spotted a new tattoo on the mummified body, bringing the total count of the Iceman’s skin markings up to 61.

Published in the February 2016 edition of the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, the research reveals how an error in reading radiocarbon data wrongly attributed the record to an unidentified South American mummy.

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CSN Editor: Wow .... it looks like man and his fascination for tattoos goes back thousands of years.

8 Ingenious Ways To Split Wood (Without An Ax)

Off The Grid News: 8 Ingenious Off-Grid Ways To Split Wood (Without An Ax)

I’ve had a pile of firewood sitting in the backyard for a while — actually for a few years. This pile was made up of branches that I’d cut off our various trees, either because the branches were dead or I needed to cut back branches of the trees because they were spreading too far. Regardless of the reason, there was a stack of tree limbs that needed to be dealt with.

Finally, though, I got around to building a firewood rack, so that I’d have a place to put all of that wood. Setting the rack beside the garden shed, I started stocking it. So far so good. Some logs had to be cut to length, “bucking” them for firewood, but that wasn’t much of an issue, either. The problem came when I tried to split them.

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CSN Editor: I am sold on all 8 of them.

Growing Fears That This Year's El Nino Will Lead To Hunger In Africa

El Nino has contributed to making 2015 the warmest year on record and will continue to influence in 2016

BBC: Worries grow over humanitarian impacts of 'strongest El Nino'

The strongest El Nino on record is likely to increase the threat of hunger and disease for tens of millions of people in 2016 aid agencies say.

The weather phenomenon is set to exacerbate droughts in some areas while increasing flooding in others.

Some of the worst impacts are likely in Africa with food shortages expected to peak in February.

Regions including the Caribbean, Central and South America will also be hit in the next six months.

This periodic weather event, which tends to drive up global temperatures and disturb weather patterns, has helped push 2015 into the record books as the world's warmest year.

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CSN Editor: Another example on how interconnected the world's weather systems are.

Here Comes Google Glass 2.0

IBTimes: 'Glassholes' Rejoice: Google Glass Is Back In Sleeker, Foldable Form

It’s a new year for Google Glass, the ubiquitous computer headset everyone thought was a flop. Google has filed for new equipment authorization by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The filing, submitted in May but only recently made available on the FCC’s website, indicates that a new version of Google Glass is coming soon, this time with a few new features.

The “Enterprise Edition,” of Google Glass appears to be foldable, sleeker, has improved internal hardware, and a larger prism (the clear rectangle that displays the information and images). Here are some of the prototype images.

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CSN Editor: if at first you do not succeed .... try .... try .... try again.

More News On The Comeback Of Google Glass

How Google Is Learning From Past Mistakes With New Version of Glass -- ABC News
Google Glass Redux: High-Tech Wearable Gets Ready for Business -- Live Science
Google Glass version 2: New photos appear in FCC filing -- PC World
This is Google Glass: Enterprise Edition in the flesh [Gallery] -- 9to5Google
Next Generation of Google Glass Aimed at Enterprise Users -- Top Tech News
Here's a first look at the new foldable Google Glass for the workplace -- Verge
Google Glass making a comeback? -- SF Chronicle/L.A. Times
Google Glass is still a bad idea -- Gizmodo

The Early Inhabitants Of Ireland Came From Beyond The Black Sea

BBC: Ancient DNA sheds light on Irish origins

Scientists have sequenced the first ancient human genomes from Ireland, shedding light on the genesis of Celtic populations.

The genome is the instruction booklet for building a human, comprising three billion paired DNA "letters".

The work shows that early Irish farmers were similar to southern Europeans.

Genetic patterns then changed dramatically in the Bronze Age - as newcomers from the eastern periphery of Europe settled in the Atlantic region.

Details of the work, by geneticists from Trinity College Dublin and archaeologists from Queen's University Belfast are published in the journal PNAS.

More News On Gene Testing that Reveals That Irelands First Inhabitants Were From The Black Sea And The Middle East

Irish Genome Sequenced, Revealing Early Celtic Origins -- Nature World News
Secrets of 5,200-year-old Irish woman, 4,000-year-old men revealed in genome project -- Irish Central
Ancient Irish genome reveals a massive migration from the east -- Washington Post
Irish have roots in the Middle East and Black Sea, scientists discover -- Independent.ie
From The Middle East To Meath: Early Settlers Came To Ireland From Beyond The Black Sea -- Yahoo News
Ancient DNA Traces Irish Roots To Mass Migrations -- Forbes
First Sequences of Ancient Irish Human Genomes Support Mass Migration History -- Genome Web

U.S. Marine Corps Cancels Robotic Dog/Mule Project

Washington Times: Marines shelve Google’s $42M robot ‘AlphaDogs’ because they are too noisy

Marines will not be using robotic mules called “AlphaDogs” any time soon because the machines were deemed too noisy to be useful in a combat situation.

Boston Dynamics, the robotics company owned by Google’s parent Alphabet, has been working with DARPA, the Pentagon’s research division, to build the robots designed to carry supplies for troops.

The AlphaDog robots, also called the Legged Squad Support System (LS3), were designed to carry up to 400 pounds and provide much-needed relief for soldiers, Military.com reported.

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CSN Editor: I concur .... it was too noisy.

More News On The U.S. Marine Corps Cancels Robotic Dog/Mule Project

Marine Corps Shelves Futuristic Robo-Mule Due to Noise Concerns -- Military.com
U.S. Marine Corps rules out robotic dog, mule -- UPI
Robot Mule Put Out to Pasture by Marine Corps -- NBC
Noisy Robotic Mule Sidelined by Marines -- VOA
Hee-Haw! DARPA’s noisy robotic ‘pack mule’ mothballed over fears it could spill the beans -- RT
The Marines Are Shelving Their Robot Dogs -- Inverse
The US Marines won’t be using Google’s robot dogs because they fail a pretty basic test -- Quartz
US military says robotic pack mules are too noisy to use -- Verge
US Marine Corps doesn’t want Google’s ‘Alpha Dog’ LS3 robots because they’re too loud -- Digital Trends
AlphaDog Robot Sidelined by the Marines Because It’s Way Too Noisy -- Epoch Times
Marines’ LS3 robotic mule is too loud for real-world combat -- Ars Technica
U.S. Military Puts Down Its Robot Mule for Being Too Loud -- Popular Mechanics

3-D Printing Is About To Cause Major Disruptions In Global Trade

Image via Wikimedia Commons.

T.X. Hammes, War On The Rocks: 3-D Printing Will Disrupt The World In Ways We can barely Imagine

In the last few years, additive manufacturing, also known as 3-D printing, has transformed from an interesting hobby to an industry producing a wide range of products. It is on the path to causing major disruptions in global trade — and changing the international security environment. The explosion of additive manufacturing means it is virtually impossible to provide an up-to-date list of materials that can be printed, but a recent top ten list includes: metals, such as stainless, bronze, steel, gold, nickel steel, aluminum, and titanium; carbon fiber and nano-tubes; stem cells; ceramics; and food. Researchers are exploring the application of 3-D printing to fields from agriculture and biology to design and manufacturing. MIT developed a $7,000 multi-material printer than can print ten materials in the same object during a single fabrication process. As businesses learn to use these multi-material printers, the range of products they will be able to print will expand exponentially.

CSN Editor: An excellent summary on how 3D printing will revolutionize the world.

A Look At Current Existing Longevity Treatments

The Next Big Future: Currently existing longevity treatments are feasible but expensive and difficult to access

If you want to do something about your long-term health and life expectancy that are available then focus on exercise and calorie restriction - nothing else at that same level of easy availability is anywhere near as effective or as proven.

Fighting Aging describes the first gene therapies, stem cell transplants, and glimmerings of SENS-like repair therapies capable of removing some of the metabolic wastes associated with age-related diseases.

In order to actually undergo one of these new therapies, you would have to undertake some combination of the following:
(a) spend money at early adopter levels, high in comparison to the cost a customer would pay for a final product years down the line,
(b) network for connections to find access to the necessary services and other items,
(c) persuade the small number of current developers to depart from their current practice of adhering to regulation and provide you access,
(d) break (the unjust and largely horrible) laws related to provision of medical services,
(e) travel to a less restrictive jurisdiction as a medical tourist, and
(f) accept a fair degree of risk of failure - that even if everything else goes well, and all involved do their jobs, the present implementation of the treatment just doesn't work, or the present understanding of the science and data provides a false and inflated impression of what the treatment can achieve.

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CSN Editor: Bottom line .... sleep, reducing stress, exercise, and proper diet .... these are the best and most effective solutions