In 2000, Allen, Varner and Zinser addressed the possibility of a Moral Turing Test (MTT) to judge the success of an automated moral agent (AMA), a theme that is repeated in Wallach and Allen (2009). While the authors are careful to note that a language-only test based on moral justifications, or reasons, would be inadequate, they consider a test based on moral behavior. “One way to shift the focus from reasons to actions,” they write, “might be to restrict the information available to the human judge in some way. Suppose the human judge in the MTT is provided with descriptions of actual, morally significant actions of a human and an AMA, purged of all references that would identify the agents. If the judge correctly identifies the machine at a level above chance, then the machine has failed the test” (206). While they are careful to note that indistinguishability between human and automated agents might set the bar for passing the test too low, such a test by its very nature decides the morality of an agent on the basis of appearances. Since there seems to be little else we could use to determine the success of an AMA, we may rightfully ask whether, analogous to the term "thinking" in other contexts, the term "moral" is headed for redescription here. Indeed, Wallach and Allen’s survey of the problem space of machine ethics forces the question of whether in fifty years (or less) one will be able to speak of a machine as being moral without expecting to be contradicted. Supposing the answer were yes, why might this invite concern? What is at stake? How might such a redescription of the term "moral" come about?
“MINNEAPOLIS – The Minnesota Department of Public Safety recorded 39 tornadoes, 26 funnel clouds, 11 reports of damage from thunderstorm winds and 69 reports of hail in Thursday’s storms. “
39 tornadoes in one day.
During our heat wave this summer, which seemed to last about two months, we had constant violent storms, downpours and tornado warnings in Minnesota. We are all relieved that our heat wave and humidity that produced all these storms is finally easing off.  It’s hard not to ascribe our bizarre weather to climate change, especially now that we know for sure that there’s no doubt climate change is happening now and is increasing with time. This month we had outbreaks of multiple tornadoes, like these:
This multiple-tornado cell was seen near Appleton, Minnesota on August 12, 2010.
The photos below were taken on August 12th in Minnesota too.
Want to see more? There are dozens of tornado videos from this year on Youtube.
I’m now on vacation for at least a week.
Meanwhile, here is something for everyone to consider. In 2007, Andrew Revkin wrote a series of articles in the NYT called “The Climate Divide“. It was about how people all over the world are preparing to “adapt” to climate change. Adaptation actually just means survival. And we know that the wealthy are already working to insulate themselves from climate risk. Are the rest of us? Not so much, because someone, somewhere, is funding the outrageous myth that climate change isn’t real — even as they themselves prepare for it.
Many people do know it’s happening and are doing what they can. Here is just one way they are experimenting with survival — the idea of living and working on the water.
For private firms, it means experimenting with new housing, as Dura Vermeer is doing here in Maasbommel [the Netherlands]. The company has also built a floating greenhouse near the Hague and, along with other firms, has received government approval to try other kinds of housing in 15 areas in the country at risk for flooding. Other proposals — for entire floating cities, for instance — are still preliminary, but are being talked about seriously as a possible way forward.
It’s worth thinking about how and where to live in the near future, but I don’t know of any type of building that is really tornado-proof.  I hope someone comes up with a structure that can withstand 300+ mph winds soon.
Silver had already been recognized in ancient Greece and Rome for its infection-fighting properties but in modern times pharmaceutical companies made more money developing antibiotics. However, thanks to emerging nanotechnology applications, silver has made a comeback in the form of antimicrobial nanoparticle coatings for textiles, surgical instruments, lab equipment, floors or wall paints. The flip side of silver's desired toxicity towards microbes is that it might have toxic effects for humans as well and this has raised debate about the safety of nanosilver products. Although scientists have worked to reduce the toxicity of antimicrobial nanosilver in products, concerns remain. Not helping to put these concerns to rest is a new report from a group of researchers in Germany that shows that toxicity of silver nanoparticles increases during storage because of slow dissolution under release of silver ions.
NanoHorizons Inc., a leader in the creation of nanoscale performance additives for textile, health care, and industrial applications, will provide its SmartSilver antimicrobial additives for IFS Coatings' line of antimicrobial powder coatings.
Harnessing darkness for practical use, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a laser power detector coated with the world's darkest material - a forest of carbon nanotubes that reflects almost no light across the visible and part of the infrared spectrum.
A cluster of carbon nanotubes coated with a thin layer of protein-recognizing polymer form a biosensor capable of using electrochemical signals to detect minute amounts of proteins. With further development, this biosensor could provide a crucial new diagnostic tool for the detection of cancer and other illnesses.
In cancer research, nanotechnology holds great promise for the development of targeted, localized delivery of anticancer drugs, in which only cancer cells are affected. By carrying out comprehensive studies on mice with human tumors, scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, have obtained results that move the research one step closer to this goal.
With a single breath, a Breathalyzer can tell a police officer when a driver has had too much to drink. Now, thanks to a team of investigators at the Israel Institute of Technology, a single breath may be enough to tell a doctor that their patient has cancer.
A normally benign protein found in the human body appears to be able - when paired with nanoparticles - to zero in on and kill certain cancer cells, without having to also load those particles with chemotherapy drugs.
One tool in the eventual armamentarium of clinical oncologists could be the new microfluidic image cytometry (MIC) platform developed by Hsian-Rong Tseng and his colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles and the Nanosystems Biology Cancer Center.
Both certificate programs are designed to meet the growing demand for skilled professionals who can conceptualize, design and manufacture optical and optomechanical components, systems and instruments.
Agilent's high-performance liquid chromatography polymer chip (HPLC-Chip) and quadrupole time-of-flight (QTOF) LC/MS technology provided researchers a new view of the oligosaccharide (sugar) structures produced in breast milk across stages of lactation among human mothers.
Photon etc., pioneer in Bragg based hyperspectral imaging, brings new possibilities to nanotechnologists with the introduction of a turn-key Resonant Raman Spectroscopy (RRS) System.
Scientists at Tohoku University in Japan have recorded data at a density of 4 trillion bits per square inch, which is a world record for the experimental 'ferroelectric' data storage method.
Researchers demonstrate enhanced performance of a hybrid photovoltaic device, where poly[3-hexylthiophene] (P3HT) is used as active material and a solution-processed thin flat film of ZnO modified by a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of phenyl-C61-butyric acid (PCBA) is used as electron extracting electrode.
Tony Beavers brings this fascinating paper to our attention, "Moral Machines and the Threat of Ethical Nihilism." Excerpt from the paper: 
