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Category Archives: Transhuman News

NYC Commuters are Suspended in Time in Stainless

Posted: January 13, 2014 at 3:43 pm

Artist Adam Magyar uses sophisticated software and high-speed camera rigs of his own design to capture beautifully haunting slow-motion footage of commuters, trains and passengers inside NYC's Grand Central Terminal.

Magyar compiled the footage into a 24-minute short film called Stainless. Josh Hammer describes the "long-running techno-art project" in a must-read profile on Magyar and his work, recently published over at Matter:

In a growing body of photographic and video art done over the past decade, Magyar bends conventional representations of time and space, stretching milliseconds into minutes, freezing moments with a resolution that the naked eye could never have perceived. His art evokes such variegated sources as Albert Einstein, Zen Buddhism, even the 1960s TV series The Twilight Zone. The imagessleek silver subway cars, solemn commuters lost in private worldsare beautiful and elegant, but also produce feelings of disquiet. "These moments I capture are meaningless, there is no story in them, and if you can catch the core, the essence of being, you capture probably everything," Magyar says in one of the many cryptic comments about his work that reflect both their hypnotic appeal and their elusiveness. There is a sense of stepping into a different dimension, of inhabiting a space between stillness and movement, a time-warp world where the rules of physics don't apply.

Magyar's aesthetic is absolutely captivating; if you're into this style of art, you'll definitely want to read up on him and his work.

[Adam Magyar via Matter]

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NYC Commuters are Suspended in Time in Stainless

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Tory Starbuck performs the song Veraline in Futurist Manifesto. 1988 Galactic Rebel Revolution. – Video

Posted: at 3:43 pm


Tory Starbuck performs the song Veraline in Futurist Manifesto. 1988 Galactic Rebel Revolution.
Tory, Stacey Halstead (Space), Brian Hayes (Brain Wave) and J.C. play at Bernards Pub in St. Louis Mo. Tory #39;s vocals are almost inaudible due to soundman pro...

By: Tory Starbuck

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Tory Starbuck performs the song Veraline in Futurist Manifesto. 1988 Galactic Rebel Revolution. - Video

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Your Favorite Futurist Is Wrong

Posted: at 3:43 pm

S

Nobody knows the future. This may seem like an obvious statement, but it bears repeating. Nobody knows the future.

Most people can generally accept this idea. But when it comes to our favorite prognosticator, we often put blinders on. Futurism is an imperfect craft in which the most earnest and educated individual must practice a fair amount of hand-wavy illusion building to even begin the process of prediction. When it comes to futurist-minded people that we like, we're more willing to remember their hits and forget their misses.

I've done a few radio interviews this month about Isaac Asimov's 1964 predictions for the world of 2014. Everyone wants to know: was Asimov right or was he wrong? And the answer isn't so simple. Like any vision of the future, even the "accurate" predictions are open to interpretation. And your take on their accuracy probably tracks closely with whether you're a fan of the man and his work.

From Asimov's 1964 New York Times article:

Communications will become sight-sound and you will see as well as hear the person you telephone. The screen can be used not only to see the people you call but also for studying documents and photographs and reading passages from books.

There are a thousand different ways to slice and dice this prediction. On its face, this prediction is spot on. But that assessment comes with the biases any person living here in the early 21st century might bring to the table.

A generous reading of this prediction will say that he predicted Skype-like technology. A more skeptical reading of this prediction will look at the dozens of landline videophone predictions from the 1950s and 60s not to mention the real-world research being done at Bell Labs and conclude that Asimov was simply repeating a common futurist trope. And that by omitting mention of the infrastructure that would deliver sight-sound telephones the internet he really missed the mark.

People have gotten quite defensive about the way that I've analyzed Asimov's predictions. And I understand why. People love Asimov. We're infinitely more forgiving of the people we love, even if we didn't know them personally. That's the nature of fandom.

But I've tried to put Asimov's predictions in the context of the early 1960s, and in so doing have pointed out that his ideas were actually pretty conservative for the time. Conservative, in the sense that he hedges many of his bets with little caveats.

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Robonaut Climbing legs For International Space Station In Motion – Video

Posted: January 12, 2014 at 3:50 am


Robonaut Climbing legs For International Space Station In Motion
NASA engineers are developing climbing legs for the International Space Station #39;s robotic crew member Robonaut 2 (R2), marking another milestone in space hum...

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Robonaut Climbing legs For International Space Station In Motion - Video

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Kerbal Space Program – Apex Aeronautics [.23] – Episode 6 – Space Station Communication Array – Video

Posted: at 3:50 am


Kerbal Space Program - Apex Aeronautics [.23] - Episode 6 - Space Station Communication Array
This is the beginning of a new campaign I #39;ve started in Kerbal Space Program. I #39;m masquerading as Apex Aeronautics (a fictitious engineering company) led by ...

By: Shawn Miller

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Kerbal Space Program - Apex Aeronautics [.23] - Episode 6 - Space Station Communication Array - Video

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NASA: International space station operation extended by Obama until at least 2024

Posted: at 3:50 am

The international space station received a significant boost Wednesday when the Obama administration vowed to keep the laboratory in orbit at least until 2024, a four-year extension, NASA officials said Wednesday.

The decision is not a shocker, because the alternative would involve putting the ISS through a controlled de-orbit just six years from now. The $100billion, nearly 1million-pound laboratory which took 13 years, more than 100 rocket and shuttle launches, and 160 spacewalks to construct would crash into the vast open space of the South Pacific.

But the extension is a relief for NASA, which spends about $3billion a year on the space station. It shores up the marketability of the ISS as a platform for scientific research and commercial operations, which can require many years of planning.

This is also good news for the private launch companies SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp., which have contracts to supply cargo to the station and could compete for future contracts. SpaceX, Boeing and Sierra Nevada are interested in launching crews to the station by 2017, and the extension makes the competition for a contract look like a better investment of time and energy.

What a tremendous gift the administration has given us, said William H. Gerstenmaier, the head of NASAs human spaceflight program. That really changes the way folks see their investment, especially the commercial side. It also changes the research side.

There is unlikely to be much resistance to the decision in Congress, where the station has bipartisan support.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said the move will bolster the labor force on Floridas Space Coast, which has been suffering since the decision to retire the space shuttle.

This means more jobs at the Kennedy Space Center as we rebuild our entire space program, Nelson said in a recorded statement. Now, with 10-year extended life on the station, we process those payloads at KSC, we have the commercial rockets take both humans and cargo to the station.

John Abney Culberson (R-Tex.) said the extension of the station was a foregone conclusion, citing national security.

Its inevitable and Im delighted that NASA understands the value of ensuring that America continues to hold the high ground, said Culberson, a member of the House appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA. He said that abandoning the station would be like General Meade handing over Little Round Top voluntarily. He added, To the Chinese.

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NASA: International space station operation extended by Obama until at least 2024

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New bioinformatics tool for complex genome analysis

Posted: at 3:49 am

Scientists from The Genome Analysis Centre (TGAC) in Norwich UK have developed a new bioinformatics tool to boost complex genome analysis.

The tool supports Illuminas recently released Nextera LMP kit, which enables the production of jumping libraries of up to 12kb. These Long Mate Pair libraries are an invaluable resource for analysing large areas of the genome, carrying out complex assemblies and other downstream bioinformatics analytics.

However, LMP libraries are intrinsically noisy and to maximise their value, post-sequencing data analysis is required.

Richard Leggett, at TGAC, said: Regulating laboratory protocols and selection of sequenced data for downstream analysis are vital in making effective use of mate pair libraries.

However, quality control of the libraries can require significant bioinformatics analysis. Further processing is also required to extract true mate pair reads, remove fragment junction adaptors and clip reads.

For this reason we developed NextClip, a tool for comprehensive quality analysis of Nextera LMP libraries and preparation of reads for scaffolding.

Mate pair libraries are formed by making large fragments of DNA (5-12 kb in length for Nextera) and are sequenced from either end of the fragment to produce two sequences of DNA that are separated by a known distance.

Sequence reads from Long Mate Pair libraries are an important tool in the construction of complex genome assemblies because they connect large repeat regions.

Grouping the data generated from mate pair library sequencing with shorter insert paired-end reads provide a powerful combination, allowing the joining together of longer DNA sequences, with higher certainty.

The Genome Analysis Centre is a research institute focused on the development of genomics and computational biology. Based at Norwich Research Park, it receives strategic funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council - 9.2 million in 2012-2013 - as well as support from other research funders.

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With more living to 100 and beyond, scientific puzzles and actuarial challenges

Posted: at 3:49 am

Published: Saturday, January 11, 2014 at 9:29 p.m. Last Modified: Saturday, January 11, 2014 at 9:29 p.m.

Even now, one prominent scientist says the life expectancy revolution is giving us roughly a 10-year postponement of death.

Mortality is being shifted outward, said James Vaupel, director of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany. All you have to do is look at the historical change in the start of old age, the point when your chance of death rises above 1 percent. For Swedish women in 1950 this happened at age 57; in 1960 it was age 63, and in 1970 it was 68.

The prospect of living to 100 stirs up lots of emotions, but it is especially daunting for actuaries the folks who juggle sophisticated math equations to set the prices and payouts for pensions, annuities, life insurance and long-term care policies.

If they bet wrong on when baby boomers will die, the insurance and financial services industries could be in turmoil.

Lately, their normally quiet and careful profession has experienced a dramatic upheaval: In the last 10 years, according to best estimates, the number of people over the age of 110 appears to have doubled.

Longer lives have sharpened the problem of underfunded pension systems, and indirectly threatened the retirement security of many Americans.

So in 2002, as it was becoming apparent that standard life expectancy tables were being undermined by a huge longevity risk, members of a professional group, the Society of Actuaries, assembled leading demographers and scientists to help them answer a pressing question: Just how long will a normal lifespan get?

We thought we would meet and we would have an answer, and that would be that, said Anna Rappaport, an actuarial consultant and one of the founders of the societys Living to 100 Symposium.

Were now meeting for the seventh time, and were still asking the same questions.

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Eczema anti itch cream – Video

Posted: at 3:49 am


Eczema anti itch cream
A review about Neosporin eczema anti itch cream.

By: Sooth Skin

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Eczema anti itch cream - Video

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Top 5 Beauty Products for Sensitive Skin and Eczema – Video

Posted: at 3:49 am


Top 5 Beauty Products for Sensitive Skin and Eczema
Hi Guys! Here are some products I swear by for my sensitive skin. I also have mild eczema and these products help me out so much with the sensitivity! Dont forget to comment and subscribe for...

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