Daily Archives: July 27, 2017

In BriefA Finnish research team has taken a step towards the future offood by developing a method for producing food from electricity. Ifscaling it up proves to be successful, it could be a tool in thefight against world hunger and climate change. The Electric Bioreactor Farm

Finnish researchers have created a batch of single-cell protein that is nutritious enough to servefor dinner using a system powered by renewable energy. The entire process requires only electricity, water, carbon dioxide, and microbes. The synthetic food was created as part of the Food From Electricity project, which is a collaboration between Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) and the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.

After exposing the raw materials to electrolysis in a bioreactor, the process forms a powder that consists of more than 50 percent protein and 25 percent carbohydrates the texture can also be changed by altering the microbes used in the production.

The next stage, according to Juha-Pekka Pitknen, principal scientist at VTT, is to optimize the system because, currently, a bioreactor the size of a coffee cup takes around two weeks to produce one gram of the protein. Pitknen said in a LUT press release,We are currently focusing on developing the technology: reactor concepts, technology, improving efficiency, and controlling the process.

He predicted that it would take about a decade before a more efficient incarnation of the system would be widely available Maybe 10years is a realistic timeframe for reaching commercial capacity, in terms of the necessary legislation and process technology.

The potential impact of food produced using electricity and otherwidely available raw materials is enormous. Currently, there are two main ways that it could be used.

First, as a means of feeding starving people and providing a source of food in areas that are not suited to agricultural production. Pitknen said that, in the future, the technology can be transported to, for instance, deserts and other areas facing famine, providing a source of cheap and nutritious food to those who need it most.

The machine also works independently of environmental factors, meaning that it could feed people consistently Jero Ahola, a Professor at LUT, said in the press release that it does not require a location with the conditions for agriculture, such as the right temperature, humidity or a certain soil type.

Second, as a means of decreasing global emissions by reducing the demand for food livestock and the crops necessary to feed them. Currently, the meat industry accounts for between 14 and 18 percent of global emissionsof greenhouse gases, as well as taking up swarths of land that could be applied for other ends.

The food from electricity project could decrease the amount of unsustainable farming needed to fill our bellies as it provides us with a smaller, cheaper, and renewable method of getting our nutrients. Other solutions to this problem include lab-grown meat or turning to insect farming, whichproduces less waste and requires less energy.

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A Team of Scientists Just Made Food From Electricity and it Could ... - Futurism

In BriefPhysicists offer the best evidence to date that quantumentanglement exists, and the quantum world is free of theconstraints of local realism. This may mean we are closer toquantum cryptography, quantum computing, and interstellarcommunication. New Loophole-Free Bell Test

One of the most interesting (and confusing) phenomena in quantum physics is quantum entanglement. We observe this quantum effect when we see entangled particles affect each other regardless of distance. For example, when we measure the state of one particle at a distance from another and the measurement of the state of the first instantly influences the state of the other, we have quantum entanglement.

Einstein was disturbed by this, and didnt like the idea that quantum entanglement might violate the speed of light if the particles were somehow sending each other information faster than light could travel. Therefore, he developed the idea of local realism, which assumes a pre-existing value for any possible measurement of a particle an objective value a particle must have. This theory is based on the idea of locality, the principle that there is a minimum amount of time it takes for distant objects to influence each other, and realism, the idea that objects exist whether or not they are measured.

In the 1960s, Physicist John Bell developed a famous test to determine whether particles really do influence each other in the way quantum entanglement suggests. In the Bell test, a pair of entangled particles are sent in different directions toward different locations. A device measures the state of each particle in each location, and the settings of each device are set at random; this way its impossible for device one to know the setting of device two at the time of measurement, and vice versa.

If quantum entanglement is real, then local realism shouldnt work, and the Bell inequality test should be violated. If scientists do observe violations of the Bell inequality test, it means that quantum mechanics violates locality, realism, or both making local realism incorrect. In recent research, physicists have reported some of the best evidence to date that quantum entanglement exists, and the quantum world is free of the constraints of local realism. Researchers performed a Bell inequality test that was,essentially,loophole-free, and demonstrated that two atoms one-quarter of a mile apart shared correlations probably caused by quantum entanglement. According to local realism, this should be impossible.

Although the test in this research was essentially loophole-free, all loopholes are not completely closed. One of the last possible loopholes that remain for most Bell tests has to do with how particle states are measured. It is critical that hidden variables are not somehow allowing particles to synchronize their properties by influencing the choice of measurement. This is called the freedom of choice or free-will loophole. In this research, the team used a high-speed quantum random number generator to eliminate this loophole, but the minuscule possibility of communication between random number generators or with other experimental elements technically remains possible.

Other research has used humans to randomly choose numbers, relying upon the randomness of unique human minds. The physicists in this study felt that an extraterrestrial random number generator is the only way to truly close the loophole since such massive distances would prevent covert communication. There are several such extraterrestrial random number generators under development in physics labs now, intended for this purpose.

Closing the loopholes matters, because scientists hope to use quantum entanglement to safely encode messages. The demands of quantum cryptography would mandate further refinement of the measurement process. Ultimately, the hope is that quantum entanglement will allow us to transmit quantum information over long distances almost instantaneously, making quantum computing and interstellar communication possible.

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Physicists Take One Large Step Towards Proving Quantum Entanglement - Futurism

The Virtual World

With the release of theOculus Riftin March 2016, the age of virtual reality (VR) truly began. VR techhad been generating buzz since the 1990s, but the Rift was the firsthigh-end VR system toreach the consumermarket, andearly reviews confirmed that it delivered the kind of experience users had been hoping for.

Virtual reality was finally real.

Research into VR exploded in this new era, and experts soon started to find innovative ways to make virtual experiences more immersivemore real. To date, VR technologies have moved beyond just sight and sound. Weve developed technologies that let userstouch virtual objects, feel changes in wind and temperature, and even taste foodin VR.

However, despite all this progress, no one would mistake a virtual environment for the real world. The technology simply isnt advanced enough, and as long as we rely solely on traditional headsets and other wearables, it never will be.

Before we cancreate a world that is truly indistinguishable fromthe real one, we will need to leave the age of virtual reality behind and enter a new era the era of neuroreality.

Neuroreality refers to a reality that is drivenby technologies that interface directly with the human brain. While traditional VR depends on a user physically reacting to external stimuli (for example, swinging a controller to wield a virtual sword on a screen)a neuroreality systeminterfaces directly with the users biology through abrain-computer interface (BCI).

Notably, this technology isnt some far-flung sci-fi vision. Its very real.

To rehash the basics: BCIs are a means of connecting our brains to machines, and they can be either invasive (requiring an implant of some sort) or non-invasive (relying on electrodes or other external tech to detect and direct brain signals). Experts have predicted that advances in BCIs will lead to a new era in human evolution, as these devices have the potential to revolutionizehow wetreat diseases,learn,communicatein short, they are set to utterly transform how we see and interact with the world around us.

In fact, some companies arealreadyinnovating in the newly emerging field of neuroreality.

Founded by physicistDan Cook in 2013, EyeMyndsgoal is to create a VR system that allows the user to navigate a virtual world simply by thoughtno immersion-breaking controller required.

When youre in the virtual worldwhether youre playing a game or something elseyou dont want to have to keep thinking about what youre doing with your hands, Cook told Digital Trendsin November. Its much better to have pure brainwave control. It will be a much more satisfying experience and will allow for a much greater level of immersion. You can forget about your live human body, and just focus on whats going on in front of you.

Cook likens the experience to dreaming. In a dream, you can run around without moving your physical legs. That dreaming and imagining creates brain signals that we can read,he toldThe Guardian. With what we want to do, you wont need eyeballs to see, or ears to hear, or hands and feet. We can bypass all of that.

EyeMynds system is non-invasive, meaning it wouldnt require the user to undergo any sort of device implantation. Instead, they would wear a headset that includes EEG sensors to track their brainwaves.

Cooks isnt the only company exploring the use of brainwave-detecting external tech to make the VR experience feel more seamless.Boston-based startup Neurable, bioinformatics company EMOTIV, and social networking giant Facebook are all working on non-invasive devices that would allow users to navigate the virtual world through thought alone.

However, as Joy Lyons, chief technology officer of audio tech startupOSSIC, told Vice at the 2016 VRLA Summer Expo, the ideal hardwarefor creating a new reality isnt an external headset, no matter how advanced. Its a chip in the brain.

Earlier this year, serial entrepreneur Elon Musk founded Neuralink, a company with the goal of developing cutting-edge technologythat connects a persons brain to the digital world through an array of implanted electrodes. Shortly before Musks announcement, Braintree founder Bryan Johnson announced a similar venturethat he is investing $100 million to unlock the power of the human brain and make our neural code programmable. Johnsons company,Kernel, is working to create the worlds first neuroprosthesis

Musk himself has predicted that well eventually be able to create computer simulations that are indistinguishable from reality, and if these brain interfaces come to fruition, they could act as the platform through which we experience those simulations, allowing us to not only see a realisticworld but touch it and trulyfeel it.

In a detailed report announcing the launch of Neuralink, Tim Urban described the potential impact of this proposed tech on our understanding of reality. Instead of relying on external hardware like goggles, gloves, and headphones to trickour senses into believing that what we encounter in the virtual world is real, we could program realities that trigger the same parts of our brains that would be engaged if the experiences actually were real.

There would be no more need for screens of course because you could just make a virtual screen appear in your visual cortex. Or jump into a VR movie with all your senses, asserted Urban. Youll be able to actuallyexperiencealmost anything for free.

The same part of your brain that is stimulated when you taste pizzacould be triggered to engage when you bite into a slice in this new reality, and the same part that lets you smell the ocean air in reality could be simulated and provide that feeling while standing on the shore of a virtual Atlantic ocean.

The difference between the real world and the virtual one would be undetectable. For all intents and purposes, a difference would not exist.

Figuring out the tech to actually make this happen wont be easy, and overcoming the non-tech related obstacles will present an additional challenge (such as developing a comprehensive map of the human brain and all our neurons). Elective brain surgery is an extremely controversial subject, and past experiments havent yielded such promising results. Neuralink and like-minded companies will need toengage in years of research before their devices will be ready for human implantation, and even then, theyll have regulatory hurdles to overcome.

Still, BCI research is progressing rapidly, so while asystem of electrodes that can effectively project an entirely new world directly into our brains might seem like a sci-fi pipe dream, it really shouldnt. After all, just two decades ago, the virtual reality experience delivered today by the Rift felt woefully out of reach, and now, anyone with $600 can bring it home with them (and the price is dropping at a remarkable rate).

AsCooktoldThe Guardian, we arent as far as we may think from the day when navigating virtual worlds using just our thoughts is the norm:Ten years from now, this will seem obvious.

Disclosure: Bryan Johnson is an investor in Futurism; he does not hold a seat on our editorial board or have any editorial review privileges.

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Neuroreality: The New Reality is Coming. And It's a Brain Computer Interface. - Futurism