Monthly Archives: April 2017

In Brief Last year, Elon Musk announced his intent to dig tunnels as a way to address traffic congestion in cities. Today, we got a brief glimpse into how The Boring Company is progressing. A Boring New Project

Last year, Elon Musk announcedvia Twitter his intention to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging as a way to avoid traffic. He later shareda clever name for the initiative The Boring Company and though information is still scarce, the project does seem to be coming along nicely.

It now has a websitewitha futuristic concept video, and this week, what appears to be massive, branded proof of the Boring Companys first drilling machine hit the internet.The image should go a long way toward alleviating lingering doubts that The Boring Company is anything more than a billionaires idea of a joke or a cover-up for Musk to work on a Hyperloop in secret.

When Musk spoke on the concept of tunneling at the Hyperloop Pod Competitions first phase in 2016, he called it a really simple and obvious idea. He laterexplained to Bloombergthat he considers it a more practical solutionto traffic congestion than airborne vehicles, which would require more infrastructure and regulatory approval though those obstacles arent stoping companies like Uber and E-Volofrom pursuing the tech.

While it may not be as cool as SpaceXs plans to colonizeMars, Teslas tech to power self-driving cars, or Neuralinks goal ofmerging our brains with machines,you cant deny what a simple hole in the ground could do to manage vehicle congestion in urban areas.

Given Musks track record when it comes to introducing practical innovations built on remarkable tech, it certainly looks like it wont be long before Musks Boring Company starts creating as much buzz as any of his other ventures. Clearly, the first step to that is adding a store to the website so they can start selling some of that cool merch Musk showed off last month.

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Elon Musk Just Released the First Ever Video of His Boring Tunnel - Futurism

In BriefAfter he attempts the world's first human head transplant,neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero plans to attempt another world first:reawakening a brain that has been cryogenically frozen. One Worlds First After Another

Given the remarkable advances that have been made in medicine in recent years, its hard to believe anything is still truly impossible. Artificial intelligences are diagnosing diseases, real-life cyborgs walk among us, and were finding promising new clues on ourquest for immortality. Even more remarkable breakthroughs are on the way, but if any one research team truly faces seemingly insurmountable odds, it has to be that of Professor Sergio Canavero, Director of the Turin Advanced Neuromodulation Group.

Four years ago, the acclaimed neurosurgeon announced his plan to complete the worlds first human head transplant, and this week, in an interview with OOOM, he confirmed that the controversial operation will take place within the next 10 months. According to Canavero, the operation will occur in Harbin, China, with Xiaoping Ren of Harbin Medical University leading the surgical team, and contrary to previous reports, a Chinese citizen, not Russian Valery Spiridonov, will be the recipient of a donor body.

However, the most remarkable news to come out of Canaveros interview doesnt have anything to do with the head transplant at all, but what he plans to do afterwards: As soon as the first human head transplant has taken place, i.e., no later than in 2018, we will be able to attempt to reawaken the first frozen head.

Canavero plans to remove the brain from a head that has been frozen at -196 degrees Celsius (-320 degrees Fahrenheit) and submerged in liquid nitrogen. Hell then place the brain in a donor body in an attempt to effectively bring the patient back from the dead and, in the process, clear up humanitys questions about the afterlife.

If we bring this person back to life, we will receive the first real account of what actually happens after death, said Canavero. The head transplant gives us the first insight into whether there is an afterlife, a heaven, a hereafter, or whatever you may want to call it or whether death is simply a flicking off of the light switch and thats it.

Clearly, this is the stuff of science fiction, and the medical community and society at large has every reason to be very skeptical of its potential for success.

The advocates of cryogenics are unable to cite any study in which a whole mammalian brain has been resuscitated after storage in liquid nitrogen, Clive Coen, Professor of Neuroscience at Kings College London, told The Telegraph, adding, Irreversible damage is caused during the process of taking the mammalian brain into sub-zero temperatures.

Even if it did work and the frozen brain did wake up, theres no telling what kinds of complications the patient could experience, from decreased mental faculties to unimaginable mental trauma. Though we do now live in a world in which the seemingly impossible is becoming possible, some experiments might be better suited for works of sci-fi than modern hospitals.

Excerpt from:
Cryogenically Frozen Brains Will Be 'Woken up' and Transplanted in Donor Bodies Within Three Years, Neurosurgeon ... - Futurism

In BriefPhysicists have developed a new mathematical model that showshow time travel is theoretically possible. They used Einstein'sTheory of General Relativity as a springboard for theirhypothetical device, which they call a Traversable AcausalRetrograde Domain in Space-time (TARDIS). Bending Time

Even before Einstein theorized that time is relative and flexible, humanity had already been imagining the possibility of time travel. In fact, science fiction is filled withtime travelers. Some use metahuman abilities to do so, but most rely on a device generally known as a time machine. Now, two physicists think that its time to bring the time machine into the real world sort of.

People think of time travel as something as fiction. And we tend to think its not possible because we dont actually do it,Ben Tippett, a theoretical physicist and mathematician from the University of British Columbia, said in a UBC news release. But, mathematically, it is possible.

Essentially, what Tippet and University of Maryland astrophysicist David Tsang developed is a mathematical formula that uses Einsteins General Relativity theory to prove that time travel is possible, in theory. That is, time travel fitting a laypersons understanding of the concept as moving backwards and forwards through time and space, as interpreted by an external observer, according to the abstract of their paper, which ispublished in the journal Classical and Quantum Gravity.

Oh, and theyre calling it a TARDIS yes, Doctor Who fans, hurray! which stands for a Traversable Acausal Retrograde Domain in Space-time.

My model of a time machine uses the curved space-time to bend time into a circle for the passengers, not in a straight line, Tippet explained. That circle takes us back in time. Simply put, their model assumes that time could curve around high-mass objects in the same way that physical space does in the universe.

For Tippet and Tsang, a TARDIS is a space-time geometry bubble that travels faster than the speed of light. It is a box which travels forwards and then backwards in time along a circular path through spacetime, they wrote in their paper.

Unfortunately,its still not possible to construct such a time machine. While is it mathematically feasible, it is not yet possible to build a space-time machine because we need materials which we call exotic matter to bend space-time in these impossible ways, but they have yet to be discovered, Tippet explained.

Indeed, their work isnt the first to suggest that time traveling can be done. Various other experiments, including those that rely on photon stimulation, suggest that time travel is feasible. Another theory explores the potential particles of time.

However, some think that a time machine wouldnt be feasible because time traveling itself isnt possible. One points to the intimate connection between time and energyas the reason time travelingis improbable. Another suggests that time travel isnt going to work because theres no future to travel to yet.

Whatever the case may be, theres one thing that these researchers all agree on. As Tippet put it, Studying space-time is both fascinating and problematic.

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New Research Shows That Time Travel Is Mathematically Possible - Futurism

In Brief Earth just crossed another dangerous threshold for climate change: an atmospheric carbon dioxide reading of 410 ppm. This is another reason why concerted, global effort is essential for the health and survival of our planet. Breaking Dangerous Records

On April 18, Earth breached its latest climate change milestone when atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were measured at 410 parts per million (ppm). The Keeling Curve, a University of California San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography program,recorded the milestone at Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. This was sobering for scientists, albeit hardly surprising: since last year when our planets dangerous new normal atmospheric CO2 levels were 400 ppm scientists have warned the public that the next milestone of 410 ppm was coming.

Were in a new era, Ralph Keeling, director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanographys CO2 Program in San Diego told Yale Environment 360. And its going fast. Were going to touch up against 410 pretty soon.

There is nothing uniquely significant about the numbers 400 or 410, but they offer points for comparison to scientists. These milestones are just numbers, but they give us an opportunity to pause and take stock and act as useful yard sticks for comparisons to the geological record, University of Southampton paleoclimate researcher Gavin Foster told Climate Central in March.

Now more than ever it is critical that all countries work together to achieve a greener world. While natural factors like El Nio have driven more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the past two years, these new records are mostly driven by humans burning fossil fuels in tremendous amounts, in turn creating record amounts of carbon dioxide.

The rate of increase will go down when emissions decrease, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) atmospheric scientist Pieter Tans told Climate Central. But carbon dioxide will still be going up, albeit more slowly. Only when emissions are cut in half will atmospheric carbon dioxide level off initially.

Recognizing the importance of taking action to stop climate change, scientists and laypeople across the United States marched for science on Earth Day, April 22. The focus of the march was science rather than political ideology. Addressing the crowd in San Diego, Keeling declared: The climate change debate has been over for decades.

Recent research shows that the global energy supply must be only 25 percent (or less) dependent on fossil fuels by 2100 to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. Various countries are taking action to meet their own goals that are in accord with these global guidelines. China, for example, has introduced a cap on coal and will peak coal emission by 2030. Germany will ban combustion engines by 2030. Here in the U.S., high-profile advocates for the environment have funded a 20-year clean energy fund to the tune of $1 billion.

Britain recently set a record the world was happy to see: it had its first coal-free power day in 135 years. Now is the time for a concerted, worldwide effort, so hopefully well start seeing more positive records like that one.

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We Just Blew Through Another Climate Change Milestone - Futurism

In Brief NASA is put in an ethical quandary when it comes to pushing mankind where it has never gone before. Radiation poses a severe threat to astronauts in space, and when it comes to Mars, NASA may have to take a step further. The Right Dosage of Radiation

Its easy to talk about humanitys role in deep space exploration, but its another thing to actually figure out the logistics of the endeavor. One of the greatest risks involved in human space exploration is the risk of radiation. While the Earth and Sun do pose some radiation risk to our astronauts, the greatest source of trouble comes from outer spaceand is known as galactic cosmic radiation, ancient waves emanating from supernovas of the past.

NASA astronauts are listed as radiation workers by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). In accordance with NASA, OSHA has worked to establish the ALARA Principle, meaning that NASA keeps radiation exposure as low as reasonably achievable. With this in mind, OSHA waived the terrestrial radiation requirements for NASA, having the Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer set the limit. This lead to the current protocol that ensures that astronauts arent exposed to radiation that will increase their risk of death from cancer by more than 3percent. But if its a trip to Mars that were talking about, these low-Earth orbit standards will be modified to fit the expedition.

While NASA has learned a lot with previous research into the long-term effects of living in space, the space agency still has a ton of data to understand, and even more ethical gray areas to define. When on the International Space Station, astronauts are exposed to ten times as much radiation as on Earth. A Mars trip would up that exposure to 100 times more than on Earth. NASA has begun to study the effects of long-term exposure with the help of astronaut Scott Kelly, Mark Kelly (his Earth-dwelling retiree twin), and cosmonautMikhail Kornienko.

For as long as there have been catalogs of health effects, radiation has been the most intractable, most severe, hardest problem to solve, says Dan Masys, biomedical and health informaticist of the University of Washington. Now, 20 or more years into advances in space technology and propulsion and systems and vehicles, radiation is still the deal breaker. It has never changed. NASA is working on various means of lessening exposure to radiation, with faster rockets, better barriers between the astronauts and space, and drugs all on the table.

But at the end of the day, the question isnt about a group of brave astronauts, its about the future of humanity. Billionaire tech innovators like Elon Musk are lobbying for humanityseventual expansion in our solar system for the key reason of preserving humanity itself. In order to ensure that a single catastrophic event doesnt spell out the end times for the only life we know to exist in the universe, we must push it forward, or as Musk suggests: establish a colony of 1 million people on Mars as soon as we feasibly can.

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The First People to Colonize the Solar System Will Risk Deadly ... - Futurism

In BriefResearchers have developed two-dimensional material withbreakthrough electric and magnetic properties. These have thepotential to make quantum computers work in more regularconditions. Exploring 2D Materials

Two-dimensional materials have been creating a buzz recently, ever since scientists were able to isolate graphene. Research into other 2D materials abounds, as these have potential applications in a wide range of fields, including photovoltaics, semiconductors, and electrodes. Now, researchers from the University of California, Irvine (UCI), and elsewhere have explored the physics behind these 2D materials and their potential to push computing to new levels of power and speed.

In particular, the UCI researchers published a study in the journal Nature that details the development of 2D quantum materials that have breakthrough electrical and magnetic attributes that can make topological quantum computers which are still theoretical and other advanced electronics possible.

Finally, we can take exotic, high-end theories in physics and make something useful, said Jing Xia, UCI associate professor of physics andastronomy. Were exploring the possibility of making topological quantum computers for the next 100 years.

The 2D materials were observed under extremely cold temperatures using a fiber-optic Sagnac interferometer microscope, a sensitive magnetic microscope built by Xia. It can handle and accurately analyze minuscule material samples.

The UCI researchers developed a compound called chromium germanium telluride (CGT), a superthin carbon film. Just like graphene, CGT can potentially replace silicon in next-generation computers. However, unlike graphene, CGT also has magnetic properties that also make it a viable material for a computers memory and storage systems.

In another study, published in the journalScience Advances, the UCI team observed another 2D material. Under the Sagnac interferometer, they found that in the interface between bismuth and nickel theres an exotic superconductor that breaks time-reversal symmetry.

Both materials conduct electronic signals carried by Dirac or Majorana fermions and not by electrons, as in silicon. Because they dont have mass, these particles can move almost at the speed of light, and are ideal for braiding operations that are needed in quantum computing.

The issue now is to try to achieve this at normal temperatures, Xia said. A separate study that appeared in Nature Materials explores just that, proving that its possible to stabilize 2D surface states. This is necessary for working quantum computers, as existing ones are already limited by extreme conditions that allow quantum bits (qubits) to function. Qubits are at the heart of what makes quantum computers powerful. Unlike regular binary bits, qubits can be 0s and 1s at the same time, allowing them to process information better. 2D materials can create better processors to handle these qubits.

Once quantum computers become workable in regular conditions, they are expected to change the way research is done, allowing us to solve the worlds most complex problems faster than ever before.

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New Materials Conduct Electricity at the Speed of Light - Futurism - Futurism