Monthly Archives: January 2021

Locked Out

With recent highs in the price of Bitcoin, an unfortunate phenomenon is emerging: People who accrued vast fortunes in the cryptocurrency are realizing that theyve long since lost the passwords to their encrypted digital wallets.

Take Stefan Thomas, a programmer in San Francisco, who told The New York Times that he has 7,002 Bitcoin tucked away currently worth about $236 million, nearly a quarter billion dollars but that he has no idea how to access it and can only guess two more passwords before being locked out forever.

Even setting aside the long term prospects for crypto, the key message of these horror stories is that taking digital finances into your own hands is a huge risk if you cant manage your passwords.

The problem of buying or mining crypto and then forgetting how to access it is so widespread that theres a whole industry emerging for cybersecurity experts who can help the would-be wealthy actually access their fortunes after forgetting their passwords.

Even sophisticated investors have been completely incapable of doing any kind of management of private keys, Diogo Monica, cofounder of the crypto security startup Anchorage told the NYT.

For Thomas and others in his situation, having millions of dollars just out of reach has soured the whole idea of decentralized currency like Bitcoin, according to the NYT.

This whole idea of being your own bank let me put it this way, Do you make your own shoes?' Thomas told the NYT. The reason we have banks is that we dont want to deal with all those things that banks do.

READ MORE: Lost Passwords Lock Millionaires Out of Their Bitcoin Fortunes [The New York Times]

More on crypto: Crypto Thief Stole $54 Million by Guessing Weak Passwords

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Man Has Only Two Password Guesses Left to Recover $236 Million in Bitcoin - Futurism

Ganymede Signal

NASAs Juno space probe has made an exciting discovery in Jupiters orbit,according to a NASA ambassador: the small spacecraft reportedly detected an FM radio signal coming from the Jupiters largest moon, Ganymede.

Its almost certainly a natural signal, the ambassador said.

Its not E.T, Patrick Wiggins, one of NASAs Ambassadors to Utah, told local Utah news station KTVX reports. Its more of a natural function.

The intriguing blurb remains shrouded in mystery. No other outlet appears to have confirmed Wiggins remarks, and there doesnt appear to be any scientific paper or press release that corresponds with Wiggins claims. Futurism has reached out to Wiggins and NASA for more details on the claim, and well update the story if we hear back.

The signal was likely caused by electrons oscillating at a lower rate than their spin, amplifying radio waves considerably, according to KTVXs reporting. The process, known as cyclotron maser instability (CMI), is also behind the auroras on Jupiter that by Juno observed in 2017.

In other words, the discovery didnt come as a shock, especially considering they were picked up near Jupiters polar regions, where magnetic field lines connect to Ganymede.

Weve known about this decametric radio emission emanating from Jupiter since the 1960s. On Earth, these signals roughly coincide with the Wi-Fi signals we use to surf the web, as ABC4 points out.

Juno was only able to spot the radio emission for five seconds as it was orbiting Jupiter at 50 kilometers per second, Wiggins said.

READ MORE: FM radio signal found coming from Jupiter moon [KTVX]

More on Juno: NASA Detects Bright Flashes of Light on Jupiter

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NASA Reportedly Detects Signal Coming From One of Jupiter's Moons - Futurism

Weather Delays

A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship was supposed to autonomously undock from the International Space Station and head home on Monday morning, but bad weather down on Earth has left it temporarily stranded.

For now, the cargo ship remains attached to the ISS while NASA and SpaceX work on a backup schedule to send it home, Space.com reports. This mission was supposed to mark the first autonomous undocking from the ISS, but for now it remains on hold.

Earlier Dragon cargo ships had to splashdown in the Pacific, which meant there was a longer wait between landing and getting equipment or scientific experiments in the hands of researchers on Earth. But the Dragon currently docked to the ISS can land near Florida, according to Space.com, meaning experiments will be in better shape when they reach the lab.

Some of these experiments, which include studying the impacts of microgravity on heart cells and how stem cells grow into 3D organs, are extremely sensitive to the impacts of gravity. So the sooner they get to the labs at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, the better.

But for now, the ship remains docked to the ISS until the bad weather over the Atlantic Ocean clears up and NASA and SpaceX give the return the go-ahead.

Thankfully, as Space.com notes, the Dragon can remain safely attached to the ISS for twice as long as previous models, so its cargo should still be just fine.

READ MORE: Bad weather on Earth delays SpaceX Dragons return from space station [Space.com]

More on SpaceX: Dock a SpaceX Spacecraft to the ISS in This Amazing Simulator

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Bad Weather Leaves SpaceX Dragon Stuck at Space Station - Futurism

Congratulations are in order for Elon Musk, who as of Thursday is the wealthiest person on the planet, with a net worth of around $188.5 billion.

On Thursday, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO tweeted that he was open to suggestions for what to do with his immense wealth, especially ways to donate money that really make a difference.

So we came up with some ideas for how to spend Musks money for the betterment of humanity and the planet, just in case hes reading. And to be fair, none of these ideas are too outlandish for a multi-billionaire who once launched a sports car into space.

Unfortunately, the German government calculated the cost of ending world hunger in October, according to The Guardian, and at $330 billion, its still a teensy bit outside Musks grasp. But ending hunger in the U.S. would be considerably cheaper, at about $25 billion worth of direct payments and investments in social safety nets.

Since Musks personal wealth has increased by over $160 billion during the pandemic alone, thats just a drop in the bucket for him!

Based on Musks own 2019 estimate, it will cost passengers between $100,000 and $500,000 for a one-way ticket to their new life on Mars.

Assuming, of course, that cost is the only factor here and that all of the logistical and medical challenges have been surmounted, Musk could now personally sponsor somewhere between 377,000 passengers (at $500,000 per ticket) and 1,885,000 passengers at ($100,000 per ticket) to their new homes on the Red Planet.

According to the latest data provided by the Department of Education, public universities and other post-secondary institutions in the U.S. collected $81.3 billion in tuition and fees during the 2017-2018 school year.

While that number has likely gone up since then, our back-of-the-envelope calculation indicates that, with some wiggle room, Musk could chip in and cover about two years of education for every American student already at a public university. Or maybe just one year. Either way, itd be a nice gesture.

What better way is there to realize the ultimate goal of clean transportation than to directly pluck gas-burning cars off the street? At about $37,990 a pop, Elon Musk can now afford to buy over 4.96 million 2021 Tesla Model 3s and give them directly to those who cant afford them. Of course, even thats assuming that Musk doesnt get some sort of CEO discount.

Hopefully this one is self-explanatory.

More on Elon Musk: Elon Musk Is Now Officially The Wealthiest Person on Earth

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5 Things Elon Musk Could Do Now That He's the World's Richest Person - Futurism

An international team of astronomers have detected a violent eruption of light emanating from a galaxy some 570 million light years away that repeats itself like clockwork every 114 Earth days.

The explanation? They believe the repeating flares are caused by a supermassive black hole, about 20 times the mass of the one at the center of our own Milky Way, ripping a chunk out of an orbiting star whenever it gets too close.

The discovery was made using NASA data and a network of telescopes operated by The Ohio State University.

Its really exciting, because weve seen black holes do a lot of things, but weve never seen them do something like this cause this regular eruption of light before, said Patrick Vallely, Ohio State graduate student and co-author ofa study about the discovery due to be published inThe Astrophysical Journal, in a statement.

Its like an extra-galactic Old Faithful, he added, referring to the famous geyser in Yellowstone National park that erupts almost exactly on schedule.

The star approaches the black hole on a highly elliptical orbit, losing about three times the mass of Jupiter every time it gets too close,causing a huge flare visible from Earth.

Usually such events completely destroya star, meaning the discovery is extremely exotic.

The team was also able to spot 17 flares each spaced 114 days apart, a regularity and consistency that has never been observed before.

Knowing the schedule of this extragalactic Old Faithful allows us to coordinate and study it in more detail, Anna Payne, lead author of the paper and a NASA Fellow at the University of Hawaii, said in the statement. The team was able to accurately predict a flare on both September 6 and December 26.

The researchers also found evidence of a second supermassive black hole within the same galaxy, suggesting that two galaxies are in the process of merging, one of the most violent types of interaction in the known universe.

In general, we really want to understand the properties of these black holes and how they grow, Kris Stanek, a co-author and professor of astronomy at Ohio State, said in the statement.

Thanks to the flares predictability, the scientists are hoping to glean insights into the phenomenon.

The ability to exactly predict the timing of the next episode allows us to take data that we could not otherwise take, and we are taking such data already, Stanek said.

READ MORE: Old Faithful cosmic eruption shows black hole ripping at star [Ohio State University]

More on supermassive black holes: A Supermassive Black Hole Is Missing, NASA Say

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A Black Hole Bites a Chunk Out of This Star Every 114 Days - Futurism

Flying in Style

General Motors has shown off two truly wild-looking autonomous vehicle and flying car concepts at this years virtual-only CES. Both concepts fall under the carmakers luxury-oriented Cadillac brand, promising a plush and comfortable vision of the not-so-distant future.

Neither concept, both of are part of Cadillacs Halo portfolio, are meant to go into production any time soon that is, if they ever make it into production at all, since thats not really the point.

As the brand name suggests, the autonomous vehicle is decked out with a sectional-style, plush seating arrangement, allowing you to chat comfortably as the vehicle takes care of the driving.

The car can adjust anything from temperature, humidity and down to the scent being pumped into the car, all based on data from biometric sensors reading the passengers vital signs, as CNET reports.

Voice and hand-based gesture controls largely eliminate the need for any buttons or dials in the interior of the vehicle as well.

Cadillacs electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, on the other hand, looks a lot like other flying taxi concepts we have seen in the past. A single electric motor powers four rotors, allowing it to carry just a single passenger to a nearby destination at 56 mph.

We dont have an awful lot of details beyond just that, which makes sense as this is mostly a design exercise at this point, as The Verge points out.

General Motors also revealed more details about its upcoming ultra-luxury electric vehicle called Celestiq. The car will include a four quadrant smart glass roof as well as a pillar to pillar display that runs the entire width of the car, as Engadget reports.

READ MORE: GM surprises with autonomous Cadillac and flying car concepts [The Verge]

More on GM: Huge Amounts of Money Are Pouring Into the Electric Vehicle Market

Original post:
This Is Cadillac's Wild Flying Car Concept - Futurism

A man found himself in the hospital with severe organ failure after grossly misunderstanding how to consume psychedelic mushrooms.

Instead of ingesting the psylocibin, he injected them directly into his bloodstream, according to Insider. And while the man did try to boil the shrooms first, he must not have killed them offentirely, because they started to grow inside his bloodstream, taking hold of his system and causing serious injury including organ failure.

This was, unfortunately, more than merely a trip gone bad. The 30-year-old man had, in the past, been treated for bipolar disorder and came across psilocybin after researching ways to help treat condition online, according to a case report published Monday in the Journal of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. Preliminary research suggests that he may have been on to something psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms, seems to treat depressive symptoms in some patients.

But that assumes that those patients are ingesting the compound not injecting it.

Because the fungi treated the mans veins like any other damp, dark place, they proliferated and he found himself vomiting blood, confused, and unable to speak coherently in the hospital with severe kidney and liver damage. Doctors had to put him on a ventilator and filter his blood over the course of his three-week hospital stay, according to the case report.

All in all, the case report describes a one-off horror story. But it does illustrate how dangerous it can be when people are left to seek out new treatments for themselves without proper support or guidance.

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A Man Injected Himself With Mushrooms and the Fungi Took Over His Blood - Futurism

Residents in Shenyang, China are being tested for COVID-19 by a plastic-wrapped robotic arm, Euronews reports. The goal of the arm, which is being controlled by a health worker from the next room, is to minimize contact and reduce the risk of cross contamination between people.

The disembodied arm is capable of taking a throat swab a routine yet delicate medical procedure. The person being tested simply open their mouth and bites down on a contraption to make sure they remain motionless while the robot does its work.

A robotic voice will even tell the person being tested to say aaah.

The robot, dubbed Lingcai, is part of a greater mass testing campaign to battle an ongoing outbreak in the surrounding Liaoning province, according to Euronews.

Officials are hoping the robot will reduce the risk of cross-infection and even increase the rate of testing. According to Chinese state-owned newspaper the Global Times, the robot can even automatically register the subjects information to both speed up the process and ensure sampling authenticity.

More here:
China Is Using Robots to Administer COVID Tests - Futurism

So, do you look in a crystal ball or something?

Thats one of the most common quips Jim Bottomley hears when he shares that hes a futurist.

The Sooke man is always hesitant to share what he does for a living because hes been perceived as highfalutin or stuck up by some.

Its not about pie in the sky sort of predictions, said the 63-year-old. I want to help people understand the future of humanity.

Simply put, a futurist is someone who helps make predictions and possibilities of the future based on trends, technology and research.

Although predictions are the name of the game, he cant tell you what the interest rate will look like in two to three years. One of the key rules he follows is not giving solid numbers, as he says its destined to be wrong.

Bottomley never imagined that he would end up becoming a futurist, but the stars aligned for him back in the 1980s.

READ MORE: Sooke author short-listed for national writing prize

He was working under the pet foods division of Quaker Oats Co. when his boss asked him whether they should invest more into cat food or dog food. Bottomley conducted interviews and extensive research to give the best presentation to the board. He determined that cats were the leading trend, and the team moved forward with his suggestion.

From that moment on, his path to becoming a futurist was set.

Fast forward, Bottomley has worked with all sorts of clientele, anywhere from political parties to cosmetic companies. He said he enters any conversation with a new client by asking them what they are trying to sell. By their response, he can tell whether theyre headed towards success or failure.

Take the Ford F150, for example, said Bottomley. Some would say, youre selling a truck. Youre selling intimidation. Big protective vehicles seem protective, and customers are always looking for safety.

He pointed out other companies, like Revlon, depend on emotional benefits. While chatting with their marketing executives, he helped their team determine that they werent just selling lipstick. They were selling hope.

RELATED: The long road to recovery will have a few bumps for Greater Victorians

Bottomley said the timeline for how long he spends researching and preparing a presentation to each client ultimately depends on the industrys scope. During his time working for the American dairy industry, the clients felt like their consumers didnt fully understand the effort farmers put into their milk and beef products.

Bottomley helped them navigate the situation by suggesting that the addition of a cow on the cartons side with a farmer might improve public reception.

I had no idea what a futurist was until I met him myself, said Doni Eve, a friend of Bottomleys since 2016 and member of the Sooke Writers Collective.

Hes done a fantastic job carving out a niche for himself, and Im surprised at how much research he does to understand the challenges companies face. Hes just a vibrant and engaging person to be around.

Since the first wave of the pandemic, Bottomley said speaking gigs and interested clients have dramatically dropped.

Trends change, said Bottomley. I have no plans to retire anytime soon, but its hard to predict how quickly business will bounce back and whether it will be as successful as before. But youve just got to take your shot.

Looking ahead, the Sooke man has focused his efforts towards writing Hypnotizing Lions, a psychological thriller novel centred around an escape from a prison psychiatric hospital. Hes been working on it since 1984 and plans to release it later this year.

ALSO READ: Head in the clouds: Sooke resident recalls former career as astronaut training officer

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Eyes Up

DARPA, the research and development division of the Pentagon, is working to give bulky night-vision goggles a major overhaul.

The ultimate goal is to make night-vision goggles that look like any other pair of glasses and do away with the giant headgear currently in use, according to a DARPA press release on Monday, citing neck strain and limited fields of view caused by existing gear.

Replacing night-vision goggles array of optical equipment will be tricky. But recent advances by DARPA scientists made it possible to convert infrared thermal vision light to the visible spectrum with a single eyeglass lens, resulting in a much more lightweight and comfortable piece of equipment.

Our warfighters experience significant neck strain from current [night-vision goggles] caused by the weight of the optics extending 4-5 inches in front of their helmets, Rohith Chandrasekar, program manager in DARPAs Defense Sciences Office, said in the press release. If youve never worn [night-vision goggles] for hours at a time imagine wearing a baseball cap all day with a two-pound weight attached to the front of the bill that gives you a small sense of the stress experienced.

According to Chandrasekar, doing away with all the optical equipment inside current goggles will actually make the glasses far more efficient, since they convert infrared to visible light all in one step.

This will further simplify [night-vision goggle] systems by advancing from the multi-step conversion currently used to a single step up-conversion process, Chandrasekar said in the release. Some of these processes even conserve the momentum of photons, which, in theory, could enable night vision without the need for any optics.

READ MORE: With new tech, DARPA aims for night-vision goggles the size and weight of regular eyeglasses [DARPA]

More on night-vision goggles: The Armys New Night Vision Goggles Let Soldiers Look Around Corners

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DARPA Working on Night-Vision Goggles the Size of Normal Glasses - Futurism