In Brief NASA will artificially create colorful clouds that move in the Earth's upper atmosphere, similar to how auroras do. The purpose of the experiment is to track how particles, particularly ions, behave in that portion of the planet's atmosphere.

Seven is, in many cultures, a lucky number and NASA is hoping it could prove to be the same for them. Tonight, June 13, between 9:04 and 9:19 pm EDT, the space agency will attempt for the seventh time to launch a sounding rocket from its Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

Five minutes into the rockets takeoff, it will jettison 10 canisters, each about thesize of a soft drink can, which will spray minute amounts of barium, strontium, and cupric oxide into the atmosphere. This cloud-seeding process will create red and blue-green artificial clouds.

Whats it for? Well for one, tocreate colorful clouds to adorn to night sky but also as a way to study how particles move around the ionosphere. Located about 74 km (46 miles) above the surface and extending into space nearly 1,000 km (621 miles), the ionosphere is the part of the Earths upper atmosphere where charged particles from thesun turn atoms into ions.

After releasing this material in space, researchers then visually observe the subsequent movement of the vapor as it traces the motions of background environment, NASA wrote in a poston their official website. This technique is analogous to that of injecting a small, harmless dye into a river or stream, to study its currents, eddies, and other motions.

If you want to observe this perfectly harmless experiment,it will belive-streamed via the link below.

Offline, in real life,it may actually be visible along the eastern seaboard of the U.S. from New York to North Carolina, and as far inland as to Charlottesville, Virginia assuming there are clear skies. Otherwise NASA might just have cancel if lucky number seven doesnt prove lucky after all.

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NASA is Making Glowing Rainbow Clouds Tonight Here's How to Watch - Futurism

In Brief Renowned author, futurist, inventor and Google's head of engineering, Ray Kurzweil, spoke on his reticence to embrace bitcoin. He is not the only expert to have their qualms about the burgeoning digital currency. Perceived Instability

Ray Kurzweil, a leading futurist, author, inventor, and the head of Googles engineering lab, has made some impressively accuratepredictions about the future. However, this may not be the best news for the burgeoning cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. Kurzweil spoke at the Exponential Finance Summit in New York City late last week and he had some less than flattering things to say about the currency. While he may see the value in the decentralizationof currency, he doesntfeel like Bitcoin is the way forward.

He explained:

Currencies like the dollar have provided reasonable stability. Bitcoin has not. And its not clear to me that the whole mining paradigm can provide that type of stability Weve seen tremendous instability with bitcoin, so I wouldnt put my money into it. I certainly do think there could be alternatives to national currencies emerging in the future. Algorithmic ones are a possibility, I just dont think weve arrived at the right algorithm yet.

Kurzweil is not the only high-profileBitcoin skeptic or opponent. Billionaire investor Mark Cubanspoke out about Bitcoin last week, denouncing it as a currency and discussing it as a bubble. Kurzweils comments echo these sentiments, especially with his view of the cryptocurrencys instability. However, Daniel Roberts from Yahoo! Financesees Kurzweils view of that instability as an oversimplification. When looked at in the long term, Bitcoin is showing steady gains.

Bitcoin has enjoyed a meteoric rise in recent weeks as prices have surpassed $3,000 (albeit briefly). In the first moments of 2017, Bitcoin could barely reach the $1,000 mark. As of today, the cryptocurrency stands at more than $2,550.

Bitcoin is powered by blockchain technology. A blockchain is a decentralized ledger that allows for complete anonymity, security, and transparencyfor all transactions taking place on the ledger. Kurzweil is more optimistic about blockchain, saying, I think once we can demonstrate confidence, then yes, a blockchain currency makes sense, and being able to document transactions securely, but theres a lot to work out.

In an effort to work out those kinks, many companies and even some countries are adopting blockchain technology. Some countries are even exploring switching their national currencies over to cryptocurrencies. We are in the early stages of its development, but this could go down as one of the few predictions Kurzweil gets wrong.

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Ray Kurzweil Says He Wouldn't Put His Money in Bitcoin but Doesn't Dismiss Blockchain - Futurism

In Brief Tesla's electric SUV, the Model X, is now officially the safest SUV on the market, scoring 5-star ratings in every crash safety test administered by the NHTSA. The vehicle also had the lowest probability of injury of any SUV tested by the administation.

Tesla has done it again. Just like the Model S before it, the all-electric Model X has scored a 5-star rating in all categories following a crash test conducted by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Tesla proudly shared news of the achievement in a blog post: We engineered Model X to be the safest SUV ever, and today, the [NHTSA] announced that after conducting independent testing, it has awarded Model X a 5-star safety rating in every category and sub-category, making it the first SUV ever to earn the 5-star rating across the board.

In addition toreceiving the highest safety rating, the Model X also set a new standard for injury risk. More than just resulting in a 5-star rating, the data from NHTSAs testing shows that Model X has the lowest probability of injury of any SUV it has ever tested, according to Teslas blog post. In fact, of all the cars NHTSA has ever tested, Model Xs overall probability of injury was second only to Model S.

Not only can the Model X survive crashes, it can avoid them before they even occur thanks to Teslas self-driving system. The NHTSA itself previously reported that Teslas autonomous system lowered its crash rates to 40 percent. Self-driving cars are expected to save up to 40,000 lives every year in the U.S. by removing the major cause of car crashes, which is human error, so it seems the only car safer than a Tesla is a Tesla thats driving itself.

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It's Official. Tesla's Model X Is the Safest SUV on the Market With 5 Stars in Every Category - Futurism

Seeing Like Never Before

Neuroscientists have used a classic branch of maths in a totally new way to peer into the structure of our brains. What theyve discovered is that the brain is full of multi-dimensional geometrical structures operating in as many as 11 dimensions.

This latest brain model was produced by a team of researchers from the Blue Brain Project, a Swiss research initiative devoted to building a supercomputer-powered reconstruction of the human brain.

The team used algebraic topology, a branch of mathematics used to describe the properties of objects and spaces regardless of how they change shape. They found that groups of neurons connect into cliques, and that the number of neurons in a clique would lead to its size as a high-dimensional geometric object.

We found a world that we had never imagined, says lead researcher, neuroscientist Henry Markram from the EPFL institute in Switzerland. There are tens of millions of these objects even in a small speck of the brain, up through seven dimensions. In some networks, we even found structures with up to 11 dimensions.

Human brains are estimated to have a staggering 86 billion neurons, with multiple connections from each cell webbing in every possible direction, forming the vast cellular network that somehow makes us capable of thought and consciousness.

With such a huge number of connections to work with, its no wonder we still dont have a thorough understanding of how the brains neural network operates. But the new mathematical framework built by the team takes us one step closer to one day having a digital brain model.

To perform the mathematical tests, the team used a detailed model of the neocortexthe Blue Brain Project team published back in 2015. The neocortex is thought to be the most recently evolved part of our brains, and the one involved in some of our higher-order functions like cognition and sensory perception.

After developing their mathematical framework and testing it on some virtual stimuli, the team also confirmed their results on real brain tissue in rats.

According to the researchers, algebraic topology provides mathematical tools for discerning details of the neural network both in a close-up view at the level of individual neurons, and a grander scale of the brain structure as a whole.

By connecting these two levels, the researchers could discern high-dimensional geometric structures in the brain, formed by collections of tightly connected neurons (cliques) and the empty spaces (cavities) between them.

We found a remarkably high number and variety of high-dimensional directed cliques and cavities, which had not been seen before in neural networks, either biological or artificial, the team writes in the study.

Algebraic topology is like a telescope and microscope at the same time, says one of the team, mathematician Kathryn Hess from EPFL.

It can zoom into networks to find hidden structures, the trees in the forest, and see the empty spaces, the clearings, all at the same time.

Those clearings or cavities seem to be critically important for brain function. When researchers gave their virtual brain tissue a stimulus, they saw that neurons were reacting to it in a highly organised manner.

It is as if the brain reacts to a stimulus by building [and] then razing a tower of multi-dimensional blocks, starting with rods (1D), then planks (2D), then cubes (3D), and then more complex geometries with 4D, 5D, etc, says one of the team, mathematician Ran Levi from Aberdeen University in Scotland.

The progression of activity through the brain resembles a multi-dimensional sandcastle that materialises out of the sand and then disintegrates.

These findings provide a tantalising new picture of how the brain processes information, but the researchers point out that its not yet clear what makes the cliques and cavities form in their highly specific ways.

And more work will be needed to determine how the complexity of these multi-dimensional geometric shapes formed by our neurons correlates with the complexity of various cognitive tasks.

But this is definitely not the last well be hearing of insights that algebraic topology can give us on this most mysterious of human organs the brain.

The study was published in Frontiers of Computational Neuroscience.

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Scientists Discover That Our Brains Can Process the World in 11 ... - Futurism

In Brief Fisker Inc. has released details concerning their first electric car, the EMotion. The EV is set to be a game changer in the electric car market due to its impressive milage, high top speed, and fast charging time.

If competition drives innovation, a crowded electric vehicle (EV) marketmay be the bestway to save the environment. One of the latest competitors to enter, Henrik Fisker, just announced a new electric car that may instigate an innovation war that leads to the next wave of cool, high-performing and most importantly climate friendly EVs.

The EMotion the luxurious sibling to the as-yet-unannounced mass market design ostensibly has a range of 643 kilometers (400 miles), a not insignificant improvement on the 563 kilometer (350 mile) range of Teslas Model S. With a top speed of 259 km/h (161 mph) and a nine-minute charging time, the EV lays down a serious benchmark for Tesla.

Fisker is best known for designing some of the most iconic luxury car models in history, including onesthat were used in James Bond films. The EMotion is the first car to be produced by his EV company,Fisker Inc.

Although details concerning the vehicles price, launch date, and autonomous capabilities have not yet been revealed, the EMotions announcement is a welcome update for the people who have been waiting with baited breath to see what the car would look like and how it would compare to Musks designs.

Electric cars are a pivotal part of the global fight against climate change, and the efforts of several car manufacturers including Toyota and Porscheto make them faster, sleeker, and more luxurious are helping EVs break into the supercar sector of the automotive market. Once there is an EV to meet the taste and desires of every driver, we can start to really phase out the vehicles gas-guzzling counterparts.

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Tesla's Original Designer Created a New Car and It Charges in Just 9 Minutes - Futurism

A Major Spike

On April 1, 2017, the total market cap for all cryptocurrencies was slightly higher than $25 billion. Roughlytwo months later, the cap exceeded $100 billion. In just over 60 days, the value of cryptocurrencies surged by 300 percent. So what is going on?

The leading cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, recently made headlines by climbing dramatically in value (itscurrently sitting around $2,600USD, about 160 percent higher than its value in April). But Bitcoin hasnt been alone in this extreme growth. The cryptocurrency market as a whole has spiked in value within the last few months.

While those already invested in Bitcoin might be celebrating, this jump is clearly reason to pause for anyone considering entering the market. Historically, what goes up super-fast must come down at least when it comes to the stock market. This has prompted many to call this rise a bubble, leaving investors to wonder when it will burst.

In an interview with Bank Innovation,cryptocurrency trader Jacob Eliosoff, who runs a Bitcoin-focused investment fund, explains:

Factor number one in the general price rise is just another of cryptos periodic bubble[s]: see Nov 2013, March 2013, July 2011. Lots of coins which patently have no plausible long-term use case or value the classic example is Dogecoin, an obsolete joke have set new highs during this frenzy a bad sign.

Author, professor, and game designer Ian Bogosthas previously written about bitcoin for The Atlantic.He shared his view on the latest cryptocurrency surge in an interview with Mic, explaining how the investors themselves could cause a drop in value:

Weve seen with these sort of ups and downs, these small groups of mostly Chinese pools end up with more than 50% of the capacity. And we dont know anything about these organizations. Are they state controlled? The moment [there is too much consolidation in the mining pools], then effectively the platform is dead, at least as a currency.

Anyone looking for proof of the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies, specifically Bitcoin, got it whenMark Cuban publicly criticized the currency.After the billionaire entrepreneur claimed on Twitter that Bitcoin was in a bubble and not, in fact, a currency at all, the cryptocurrency dropped significantly in value, seemingly illustrating a fragile and unstable nature.

Whether due to historical precedent, a monopoly on investment, or simply an easily swayed investor pool, it seems pretty likely that this recent rise of cryptocurrencies will lead to some sort of drop. However, that doesnt mean cryptocurrencies dont have the potential to be a major player, if not the only player, in the future of finance.

One positive development is the increasing diversity of cryptocurrencies. While Bitcoin was long the definitive leader in the market, holding roughly 80 percent of the total market cap, others such as Ethereum are making major gains, knocking Bitcoin down to just about 50 percent. As TechCrunch writer Fitz Tepper notes, The fact that these gains have come from currencies other than Bitcoin are a good sign that this is less of a bubble and more of a resurgence of interest in crypto.

Other experts notethat while drops in value are likely, they dont signal an end to cryptocurrency by any means. As Brian Kelly, CEO and founder of global investment management firm BKCM, told CNBC, Bitcoin isin the first years of what is likely to be a multi-year bull market. Of course there will be corrections and even crashes along the way, but Bitcoin is here to stay.

Blockchain, the technology supporting these digital currencies, may be even more worthy of the investment than the cryptocurrencies themselves. I would say I think conventional wisdom now is that blockchain and the underlying technology is probably more interesting and has more potential than maybe Bitcoin does by itself, Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari explained in aReuters report.

The link between digital currencies and this super-securedistributed database lends further support to the argument that digital currencies are a sound investment. However, only time will tell whether this current period of rapid growth will slow, plateau, drop, or continue skyward. As with any investment, the potential for reward comes with its share of risks, but right now, the future looks pretty bright for cryptocurrency.

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The Cryptocurrency Market is Exploding. Here's What You Need to Know. - Futurism

In Brief Elon Musk takes to Twitter, saying deep AI, not automation, is what humanity should be worried about. Musk is part of a group of tech leaders working to create protective technological measures to prepare for the advancement of deep AI. Deep AI Vs. Automation

In an apparent attempt at a joke, a Twitter user sent a Business Insider tweet featuring a driverless Tesla car to Elon Musk, asking him to confirm that the development in humanless automation would not result in a robotic apocalypse. Musk replied via tweet, reaffirming his oft-repeated position that it is not automation per se, but deep AI, that poses more of an apocalyptic risk to humanity:

Disruption may cause us discomfort, but its not a threat in and of itself. However, Musk and others do see the potential for deep AI to be world-shattering, at least for humans.

Its easy to understand why some are worried about this; AIs are learning how to encrypt messages efficiently. Jrgen Schmidhuber, considered to be the father of deep learning, believes that there will be trillions of self-replicating robot factories along our Solar Systems asteroid belt by 2050. He also thinks that robots will eventually explore the galaxy by themselves, motivated by their own curiosity, capable of deciding their own agenda without much human oversight. And, perhaps most disturbing, scientists working with Googles DeepMind AI tested whether or not AIare more prone to cooperation or competition and found that it can go either way, and AI are even capable of developing killer instincts, or a cooperative mindset, depending on the situation.

Musks solution to this potential threat is his famous neural lace concept. In brief, this ambitious project would use easily injectable electrodes to form a neural lace over the brain. The lace could both stimulate and interpret the brains electrical activity, and would eventually merge with the brain entirely, making human and AI part of the same organism.

The key isnt halting progress, or even fearing AI its learning how to merge with it successfully.

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Elon Musk Says Deep AI, Not Automation, Poses the Real Risk for Humanity - Futurism

States Take A Stand

While the White House and Scott Pruitt, head of the EPA, have indicated their plan to roll back vehicle emissions standards set by the Obama administration in 2011, the attorneys general of 12 states and Washington District of Columbia have pledged to sue the EPA if the roll back happens. The states California, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Oregon, Maine, New York, Massachusetts, and Maryland made their intentions clear in a letter to Pruitt.

Back in 2011, President Obamas administration made the deal with automakers, who agreed to work on doubling their average fuel efficiency fleet-wide until it reaches 54.5 miles per gallon by the year 2025. The parties also agreed to undergo mid-term evaluations no later than April 2018 to ensure progress was on track. Under former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, the evaluations were ahead of schedule, so the administration did not make any adjustments before President Obama left office.Click to View Full Infographic

Once President Trump took office, however, Fiat Chrysler, VW, Ford, Toyota, GM, Nissan, Honda, and Hyundai asked for a re-evaluation of the efficiency guidelines. Trump ordered the EPA to review the standards for fuel efficiency, and Pruitt is clearly onside, calling the standards costly for automakers and the American people.

The states all dispute these characterizations, as well several unusualprocedural issues the Trump administration and Pruitt have cited: Although EPA is often faulted for missing deadlines, we are unfamiliar with any occasion on which the EPA Administrator has criticized his own agency for fulfilling its regulatory obligations ahead of schedule, reads the letter. [T]here are at least three separate reports by scientists, engineers, and other experts analyzing the standards and concluding that they are feasible. The record is clear that appropriate technology exists now for automakers to achieve the current standards for model years 2022-25 at a reasonable cost.

Efforts to create vehicles that use renewable energy and run clean are just one important aspect of managing climate change an area that states as well as municipalities and private companies have taken thelead in as the federal government effectively abdicates its leadership role. Some of the largest states in the U.S., along with several major cities, have formed the United States Climate Alliance with the intent of adhering to the Paris Accord despitePresident Trumps removal of the U.S. from it. Various American cities, including Burlington, Vermont, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Chicago, and New York City have all stepped up to the plate in recent weeks wth plans to continue to their fight against climate change.This latest move by state attorneys general todefend against theEPAs backsliding is another major boost for fighting climate change at the state and local level, as these officials are recognizing the importance of their role. Any effort to roll back these affordable, achievable, and common-sense vehicle emission standards would be both irrational and irresponsible, attorney general Eric Schneiderman of New York wrote in the letter. We stand ready to vigorously and aggressively challenge President Trumps dangerous anti-environmental agenda in court as we already have successfully done.

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In Letter, At Least 12 States Will Sue to Block Any Rollback of Emissions Standards - Futurism

The Search for Life

Fromhighly trained scientists toiling away at research institutesto amateur enthusiasts gazing upwardfrom their backyards, humanity boasts no shortage of people looking for life beyond Earth. Add to that the massive size of the universe estimates range in the trillions of galaxies and probability dictates that we should have already encountered another species by now.

And yet, we still have no evidence that we arent alone in the universe.

However, according to astronomy researcherChris Impey, this hunt for life beyond Earth may soon yield results. In an interview with Futurism, he revealed that he believes that we are less than two decades away from finding extraterrestrial lifebut it may not be the kind of life we were hoping for: I put my money on detecting microbial life in 10 to 15 years, but not at all detecting intelligent life.

While Impey is skeptical that intelligent life is within our sights, he does have a couple of suggestions as to where we should focus our search for extraterrestrial lifeforms, intelligent or not. The first is our own backyard, or, more accurately, our own solar system.

While Impey tells Futurismhe doesnt rule out the possibility that life still exists on Mars,he says that those lifeforms are likely below the surface and are, therefore, much harder to detect. As such, he asserts that we have a better chance of finding evidence of life that used to exist on the Red Planet: If we actually get Mars rocks back here to Earth from a place that we think could have been habitable in the past, then we might find evidence of prior life.

Other bodies in our solar system could potentially host life as well, according to Impey, including the water world Europa(one of Jupiters several moons). He thinksfuture missions targeting the satellite could yield helpfulif not entirely conclusiveresults, asserting that they should at least give us some better idea if that ocean could have life in it.

Of course, our solar system is just one very small corner of a very massive universe, so wed be remiss if we didnt look beyond it for signs of life. To narrow down the scope of our search, Impey suggests targeting the manyexo-Earths weve already uncovered. Instead of focusing on the planets surfaces, though, we should research their atmospheres.

In the next few years, well be able to use the James Web Space Telescope and other detection devices to look for biomarkers such as oxygen and methane in the atmospheres of these Earth-like planets, says Impey. This biomarker experimentcould find evidence of microbial life indirectly, he explains. The research should help us pinpoint the planets that are the closest to Earth as possible, not in distance, but in character, he adds, and since Earth is the only place we know life exists, finding the most Earth-like planets is our best bet for finding life.

Even if Impey is right, and humanity is still decades away fromfinding intelligent alien life, the discovery of microbial life on Mars, Europa, or one of the thousands of exoplanets weve identified would still be a huge development. It would mean Earth isnt unique, that something else living is out there.

We could use the knowledgewe glean from studying this microbiallife to narrow down our hunt for other, more complex organisms. By providing valuable insights into how other living beings are able to survive on worlds far different from our own, this microbial life could help in our quest to become a multi-planetary species. Even the discovery of past microbial life would be helpful, as it could serve as something of a cautionary tale, providing us with the opportunity to learn and ensure we dont meet the same fate.

As Impey notes, thanks to dramatic advances in technology, weve never been better equipped to discover life beyond Earth than we areright now: Every new SETI experiment done now is about as good as the sum of all previous SETI experiments put together.

However, even if all of the currently planned experiments and missions came up short, Impey doesnt envision humanity giving up the hunt for extraterrestrial life any time soon: The first SETI experiment was in 1959, so obviously it has been going on for over half a centurywithout any success. The people who do it dont seem put off by failure.

This interview has been slightly edited for clarity and brevity.

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Expert: We'll Find Alien Life in the Next 10 to 15 Years, but It Won't ... - Futurism

In Brief NASA has revealed a Mars rover concept designed to be driven by humans. The vehicle weighs more than two tons, runs on solar power, and features a detachable lab.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has taken one step forward in the journey to Mars: a brand new rover conceptthatsdesigned to carry people. Thats right. This new model would, in theory, transport humans across the Red Planet, ideally within a budding Martian colony.

The chunky concept rover is 3.3 meters (11 feet) tall, 8.5 meters (28 feet) long, and 4.3 meters (14 feet) wide. On its six equally chunky wheels, the rover weighs 2.7 tons. It is certainly not a flimsy vehicle, but despite its heft, it can reach speeds up to 110 km/h (68 mph) though it probably wouldnt travel faster than 24 km/h (15 mph) on Mars.

According to NASA, the rover features life-support systems, navigation and communication systems, and design and materials that relate to conditions and resources on Mars. It is designed totransport up to four astronauts at a given time, and it even comes equipped with a detachable laboratory. The vehicle runs off of solar power, carrying with it a 700-volt battery.

While this exact model might not be going into production anytime soon, parts of the concept may be used for future robotic rovers that are sent to the Red Planet.

One thing is certain, though. The fact that this concept exists shows that NASA scientists are carefully considering how humans might best move around Mars. It puts us one step closer to actually reaching the Red Planet, and though it might still seem like a far-off fantasy, as more details are considered and even small-seeming advancements are made, the closer we will get to becoming a multi-planetary species.

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NASA Unveiled a Rover Concept That Could Be the Future of Human Exploration on Mars - Futurism

In Brief University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers showed that the Milky Way exists in a part of the universe that's largely devoid of matter. Being in this void, however, could help settle the differences in measuring the rate of the universe's expansion. Riddled With Holes

If you picture what the universe looks like, you can imagine it as Swiss cheese. The sizes of holes, or voids, in the matter of the universe vary greatly. One example would be the cold spot that was found in the Universes radiation. Galaxies are connected by filaments of dark matterthat cannot be seen.

This means that the Milky Way exists in one of these voids, specifically the KBC void, which a 2013 study showed to be not as densely packed with matter as other voids. Its like our galaxy rests in a cosmological backwater the Outer Rim, so to speak. A new study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison which waspresented at the 2017 American Astronomical Society meeting confirms that the Milky Way does indeed reside in an enormous void.

However, the researchers claim that being in this huge KBC void also helps resolve the differences in measuring the rate the universe expands theHubble Constant, the number used to describe this cosmic expansion.

There are two ways to measure the expansion of the universe. One is a local determination using the Hubble Space Telescope, which relies on observations of supernovae that exploded in galaxies nearby. The other is a cosmic determination that relies on Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data the Big Bangs residual noise taken by the Planck observatory.

One possible explanation for the differences in the Hubble Constant measurement is due to differences in time. Hubbles observations rely on cosmic objects nearer in terms of time, while the CMB was emitted back when the universe was young. Simply put, being in a void with considerably lesser matter affects the measurement taken by observing supernovae explosions. On the other hand, the CMB technique doesnt distort the measurement at all.

No matter what technique you use, you should get the same value for the expansion rate of the Universe today, lead researcher Ben Hoscheit said in a press release. Fortunately, living in a void helps resolve this tension.

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Scientists Assert That Earth May Exist in a Massive Cosmic Void - Futurism

In Brief Dubai is introducing a robot to their police force to interact with citizens. Dubai's goal is to have their police force consist of 25% robots by 2030.

Disclosure: The Dubai Future Foundation works in collaboration with Futurism and is one of our sponsors.

Dubai is set to introduce the newest member of their police force:a 5-foot, 5-inch [165.1 cm], 222-pound [100.698 kg] robot whichwill be equipped with facial recognition technology and have the ability to broadcast live video feeds.The first model, which will begin patrolling the streets of thefuturistic city today, will not be on the front lines making arrests, but will be interacting with the community. Residents of Dubai will be able to report crimes, pay fines, and ask the robot questions (though what sort of questions is unclear).

The head of Dubais Police Tech divisiontold reporters at the Gulf Information Security Expo and Conference that by 2030, [Dubai is] keen to make robots around 25% of the total police force. Thoughthis may sound like the beginning of a dystopian novel, this is not the first robot in use by a police force.

Police departments in the United States use robots for training purposes and also utilize bomb-diffusing robots that were first created for the American military. In 2016, the Cleveland Police used robots to patrol the Republican National Convention, while police in Dallas outfitted a robot with a bomb to kill a sniper after losing numerous police lives. South Korea has robot prison guards, and Israeli police use robots in their counter-terrorism unit.

While this is not the first robot to be put into use by police, it is the first that will be ever present on the streets of a city that will eventually be able to make arrests and have all of the responsibilities of a regular cop. The rollout will happen over the next decade, so hopefully that will be enough time to work out any kinks including robots lack of human empathy. And, as these robots have recording capabilities, make sure none of them document any PDA on video.

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Dubai's Newest Addition to the Police Force: A Robot - Futurism

In Brief Isle de Jean Charles in the bayous of Louisiana is sinking into the Gulf of Mexico due to climate change, causing its residents to relocate. This is just one symptom of climate change and emphasizes the urgent necessity to fight it. Drowning Communities

Isle de Jean Charles, a small island in southeastern Louisianas bayous, is drowning as the Gulf of Mexico rises. Twenty-ninehomes remain, housing 100 people, but they are all being relocated because the flooding is unstoppable. The island has already lost 98% of its land since 1955, making it one of the most visible victims of climate change so far. The residents can either leave their homes or die in them, and they are leaving.

Now theres just a little strip of land left, resident Rita Falgout tells Quartz. Thats all we have. Theres water all around us. Im anxious to go.

Residents of places like Isle de Jean Charles can compete for a chance to relocate through the National Disaster Resilience Competition (NDRC), a program organized by the federal government. The goal of the program is to help states and communities recover from disasters and lower risks from future disasters. However, the looming threats from climate change are growing, and affecting more and more communities; Louisiana alone is losing the equivalent of one football fields worth of land every hour.

Climate change is affecting larger coastal areas in the U.S., from Alaska down to Florida and Louisiana. Climate-induced migration is now a concrete reality for citizens of our country, not an abstract idea for politicians to talk about. Research from a March 2016 study indicates that collapsing polar ice caps are likely to cause sea levels to rise by 6 feet (1.8 meters) by 2100; this will in turn force at least 13.1 million Americans living in coastal areas to become homeless. A less drastic rise of 3 feet would leave at least 4 million homeless.

The only solution to these problems is combating climate change before it is too late. States like Hawaii are sticking with the Paris Accord goals, and various cities, states, and businesses are also banding together to maintain a commitment to this important issue, regardless of the action the federal government does or does not take. We cant relocate everyone, and our window for making a difference is closing. Thankfully, the world isnt giving up.

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An Entire Town in the US Is Sinking Because of Climate Change - Futurism

In Brief A new program, inspired by the efforts of French president Emmanuel Macron, is opening the country up to scientists and other experts who are working on solution to the climate problem.

Recently elected French president Emmanuel Macron has madehis offer to U.S. climate scientistsmore official: the French government has launched a program that gives four-year grants to scientists, teachers, business people, and even students who are working on climate change solutions. Of course, to receive the grant, the individual must be willing tomove in to France.

The program, called Make Our Planet Great Again, wasinspired by a speech Macron gave last week in response toPresident Donald Trumps decision to withdraw the United Statessupport and commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement.

Where ever we live, whoever we are, we all share the same responsibility, Macron said the speech,Make our planet great again, anobvious play on President Trumpscampaign slogan.

To all scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and responsible citizens who were disappointed by the decision of the President of the United States, I want to say that they will find in France a second homeland, Macron said. This echoes an earlier message the French president posted viavideo on Facebook almost a month before he was elected.

With this new initiative, France is affirming the importance of a combined global effort to combat climate change, which remains aglobal problem. Its necessary to pool the minds of the worlds experts and to fund projects particularly those devoted to research aimed at curbing climate change. As Macron said, its crucial for all of us to work together on concrete solutions for our climate, our environment.

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France is Now Offering US Scientists Grants to Research Climate Change - Futurism

In Brief Russia has shown a great deal of interest in Ethereum-based blockchain technology. This could signal a move toward diversifying Russian interests with technology outside of fossil fuels. Russian Evolution

Youve likely heard of Bitcoin as the future of money, but it is not the only cryptocurrency in the running for cashless economy dominance. The second largest among them is found on the Ethereum blockchain and is called Ether. One of the critical differences between Bitcoin and Ether is that while Bitcoin is first and foremost a currency, Ether, however, can be a platform for a variety of decentralized applications. In short, Ether can do much more than Bitcoin.

The adaptive quality of the platform may be part of the reason why Russia, under President Vladimir Putin, seem to be showing great interest in Ethereum. Reporting from Bloomberg reveals that Putin has been thinking aboutdigital currency. The digital economy isnt a separate industry, its essentially the foundation for creating brand new business models, he said at last weeks St. Petersburg Economic Forum.

Russia could be looking at Ethereum as a way to expand the countrys economic profile of fossil fuels with technology. Bloombergs Leonid Bershidskysuggests that Putin is under the impression that, to wean the country off its oil dependence, they needed a major leap in some specific area of technology that wasnt yet dominated by Western, Chinese, or Japanese tech giants.

Russia is already testing an Ethereum-based blockchain system through its central bank. When Deputy Governor Olga Skorobogatova was asked if Russia is pursuing a national virtual currency, she did not deny the possibility. Currently, there are a few countries already experimenting with national cryptocurrencies.

Coindesk cites eight cryptocurrencies from a variety of countries in the Eurozone. Among them are Icelands Auroracoin, Pesetacoin and Spaincoin from Spain, Gaelcoin from Ireland, and Aphroditecoin from Cyprus. Cryptocurrenciesoffer a lot of benefits including both transparency and security. The level of encryption essentially makes counterfeit transactions impossible.

Russia is among the most powerful countries in the world. Adoption of this technology would be a major boon for the platform and could accelerate the expansionof its influenceacross the world.

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Bitcoin's Rival Just Caught Russia's Attention - Futurism - Futurism

In BriefWashington governor Jay Inslee signed an executive orderWednesday that would allow self-driving car pilot test programs tooperate even without a human driver behind the wheel. Such an ordercould fast-track the development of AV technology. Eliminating the Problem

How difficult is it to test autonomous vehicles (AVs) on public roads? Uber can probablytell you all about it. Much of thedifficulty in obtaining the permits necessary forsuch tests comes from fear. Because self-driving technology is new, because the systems have been involved in incidentsin the past, and so on, people arent quite ready to trust the tech.

The governor of Washington state, however, has a different perspective. Governor Jay Inslee signed an order on Wednesday that would allow for autonomous vehicle tests without a human driver behind the wheel. According to the governors official blog, the order could allow these tests to begin within the next two months. Self-driving system developers can already apply for permits for pilot program tests through the states Department of Licensing.

Clearly, for Inslee, human drivers are far more dangerous than self-driving technology. One thing I know about radar, it doesnt drive drunk, it doesnt drive distracted, he said, according toThe Seattle Times.We humans are really good at a lot of things, driving cars isnt necessarily one of them compared to the automated processes that are digital and foolproof.

Executive Order 17-02, a copy which was obtained by The Seattle Times, quantifies the governors assertions: [R]oughly 94 percent of automobile accidents are caused by human error, and autonomous vehicle technology may reduce injuries and save countless lives.

Many people believe autonomous driving technology is still in the veryearly stages of development, and no company has yet achieved true Level 5 autonomy. However, developments have clearly shown that these driverless vehicles are already capable of so much, including actually saving the lives of passengers.

Washington doesnt want to be left behind in adopting such a game-changing technology. Washington state is already a leader in autonomous vehicle technology. We are an early-adopter that welcomes innovation and the safe testing and operation of AVs, Inslee said in the blog post.

Indeed, self-driving cars could potentially save the lives of as many as 300,000 to 400,000 peopleannually by eliminating human error, which is the cause of an estimated 94 percent of crashes. And thats just one benefit of the tech. As Inslee added, AVs could help save countless lives, reclaim time spent in traffic, improve mobility, and be an important tool in our efforts to combat climate change. As tests move forward in Washington, the rest of the world will soon find out just how valuable this technology can be.

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Driverless Autonomous Cars Will Be on U.S. Roads in the Next 2 ... - Futurism

The End of Genetic Disease CRISPR-Cas9,the worlds best gene editing tool, has lent itself toa plethora of research and experiments. Scientists owea great deal to the person considered to be its founder if we could really credit one person specifically with its advent. Certainly, University of California Berkeley biologist Jennifer Doudna deserves consideration for thetitle as one of the worlds leading figure in whats being called the CRISPR Revolution. It was Doudnas work in 2012 that first suggested the possibility of using CRISPR-Cas9 for genome editing. Since then, it has certainly been put into good use human clinical trials of the technologys capabilities areexpected to begin soon in the United States.

On Thursday,speaking at WIREDs 2017 Business Conference in New York, Doudna made a bold claim about the future of CRISPR. I think its really likely that in the not-too-distant future it will cure genetic disease, she saidat the conference.However, Doudna remains aware thatthe use of such a powerful tool needs to be carefully considered especially since studies have shownit can haveunintended repercussions.

But globally we need to come up with a consensus on moving forward in a responsible way, Doudna added. This wasnt the first time she emphasized need for ethical responsibility in using CRISPR.

Doudna herself has certainly been careful to practice what she preaches: In 2015, she became part of a broad coalition of leading biologists that put parameters in place for the use of CRISPR. They agreed to a worldwide moratorium on gene editing to whats called the germ line. In other words, putting a prohibition onedits that would bepassed down to subsequent generations. However, because it isnt legally binding, it wasnt able tostop such experiments from taking place. In China, for instance, theres already work involving CRISPR to edit the genome of human embryos.

Recognizing the legal and ethical hurdles CRISPR still needs toovercome, Doudna went on tospeak about a much more plausible area for this gene editing tool to demonstratemore immediate success: its application for farming. When I think about where we are likely to see the biggest impacts in the shortest amount of time, I really think its going to be in agriculture, Doudna told the audience in New York.

Indeed, CRISPR has already been already been successfully used to grow and eat! one crop in particular. The first wasthat cabbage in Sweden, and now, agricultural giant Monsanto has even been given license by the Broad Institute to use CRISPR-Cas9 in seed development. Doudna also mentioned research by scientists from the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York that could make harvesting tomatoes easier.

For me, that really illustrates the potential for this, Doudna said who is herself a tomato farmer. [CRISPR] allows plant breeders to do things that would have been very difficult, sometimes impossible in the past.

With the science, the ethics, and the legal ramifications of CRISPR still being ironed out, farming seems to a reasonable compromise for continue to experiment with the tech, and many experts are already working on its continued refinement.Given that dedication, itmight not be that long before the end of genetic diseases which is what Doudna hopes could be ultimately realized would be accomplished with the help of CRISPR.

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Berkeley Biologist: CRISPR Gene Editing Will Cure Genetic Disease - Futurism

In Brief Toyota has partnered with Cartivator Resource Management to help develop a flying car that will play a special part in the upcoming Olympic games. A video of an unmanned test flight has surfaced online.

Toyota is amping up the race to make flying cars the vehicles of the future. Japans largest automobile company has invested nearly $400,000 in Cartivator Resource Management to develop a flying car for a very special purpose. Toyota is hoping that this single driver vehicle will be ready by 2020, in time to deliver the Olympic torch along its final stretch to open the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

A video was recently released showing an initial prototype being tested. These results, however, are less than spectacular, even with the interesting cinematography.

Toyota has also recently made headlines in acknowledging that their partnership with Elon Musks Tesla had come to a close at the end of last year. The automobile giant has since advanced their own electric car division tocompete with Teslaspopular line.

The team working on the flying car will use Toyotas investment to improve the design of the vehicle. With these improvements, they hope that a prototype will be ready to be piloted sometime in 2019.

Their work with Cartivatoris markedly more low-key than previous flying car concepts from Toyota. They introduced a futuristic concept car called the Concept-i at the most recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES). This concept had a lot more bells and whistles like an emotion reading artificial intelligence named Yui.

It is unclear at this point if either car will take off. Perhaps Toyota can give the flying car one last fighting chance to step out of the pages of science fiction and into reality.

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Toyota Is Eager to Bring a Flying Car to the 2020 Olympics - Futurism

In Brief In a tweet today, Elon Musk said that the highly anticipated Falcon Heavy launch would take place within the next few months. The rocket will transport the first space tourists, and it could take humanity farther in space than ever before.

Elon Musk is having a rather goodweek. He put on an excellent showing at Teslas annual shareholders meeting,and today, the news broke that Teslas stock price has surged. The company is listed on the Fortune 500 list for the first time ever. But of course, we cannot forget about another of Musks revolutionary outfits: SpaceX.

Musks space company has a number of milestone eventplanned for the coming months. Case in point, afew moments ago, a question from a Twitter user sparked an update from Musk on the companys plans to launch the Falcon Heavy, SpaceXs massive rocket that will one day take humans to the Moon.

In the tweet, Musk confirmedthat we will beseeing the rocket launch in just four months, at theend of the summer.

The Falcon Heavy will be the most powerful rocket in the world, capable of launching 54 metric tons (119,000 lb) of cargo and crew into space. The rocket will be used to boost the first space tourists to the Moon in a launch expected to take place in 2018. The entire journey is expected to take about six to seven days.

The Falcon Heavy will likely also play a role in preparing SpaceX for the highly anticipated first manned missions to Mars, set to happen by 2025.

We look forward to the upcoming launch and all the promise that its success will bring.

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Elon Musk: The Rocket That Will Eventually Take Humans to the Moon Will Launch in 4 Months - Futurism

In BriefScientists have just discovered the oldest human fossils inMorocco. This find alters the narrative of human origins and helpsfill in missing details in our evolution as a species. Rediscovering Ourselves

On Wednesday, scientists reported they had discovered the oldest known remains of Homo sapiens in Morocco.The bones and other remains are approximately 300,000 years old. This revelation provides new insights into the origins of humankind: a consequence of such findings would be that human beingsevolved earlier than had previously believed. The fossils also indicate that despite fundamental differences in the brains of modern humans and early Homo sapiens, our faces strongly resemble those of our early ancestors.

Until this remarkable find at Jebel Irhoud, the oldest human fossils only dated back 195,000 years. These new fossils make experts believe that our species evolved not in Eastern Africa (specifically near Ethiopia) where later fossils were found, but across the continent in Western Africa where modern Morocco is situated.

We did not evolve from a single cradle of mankind somewhere in East Africa, paleoanthropologist Phillipp Gunz, a co-author of the two new studies on the fossils, told The New York Times.

Before now, fossils found in different places made paleoanthropologists believe that Homo sapiens arose in East Africa and then moved across the continent. However, mysterious human fossils from other parts of Africa didnt seem to fit in with this story, and caused scientists to wonder where they fit into the Homo sapiens puzzle. The remains discovered in Morocco will helpsolve these mysteries, even as it suggests new questions for further research.

For example, the recent finds at Jebel Irhoud confirm that Homo sapiens had flatter faces, similar to ours today. National Museum in London paleoanthropologist Christopher Stringer speculates that the flattened faces of early Homo sapiens may be related to the advent of speech. We really are at very early stages of trying to explain these things, Dr. Stringer told theThe New York Times.

The larger, rounder brain of modern humans is a more recent development. Dr. Gunz indicates that the human brain may have evolved into a rounder shapeduring a later phase of human existence. Two areas of the brain in particular the cerebellum and the parietal lobe, both toward the back of the head seem to have adapted over thousands of years. That being said,scientists dont yet know how the rounder brain changed how humans think.

Flint blades from around the same time have been found elsewhere across Africa, and the Jebel Irhoud fossils suggest that they may have been made by early humans. Dr. Gunz and his team believe that is this is true: Homo sapiens may have evolved across the continent as a network of groups. The only way well ever know for sure and resolve other questions these findings may bring up will bethrough additional research, which will require adequate funding.

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New Discovery of the Oldest Known Human Remains Will Change the Narrative of Human Evolution - Futurism