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May 16, 2016
We’re about to see a mind-blowing demographic shift unprecedented in human history
Posted by Sean Brazell in category: futurism
The world is about to see a mind-blowing demographic situation that will be a first in human history: There are about to be more elderly people than young children.
For some time now, demographers and economists have observed that the proportion of elderly adults around the world is rising, while the proportion of younger children is falling.
But within a few years, just before 2020, adults aged 65 and over will begin to outnumber children under the age of 5 among the global population, according to a chart shared by a Bank of America Merrill Lynch team led by Beijia Ma, citing an earlier report from the US Census Bureau.
May 16, 2016
The Big Bang is not the beginning of our universe — it’s actually the end of something else entirely
Posted by Sean Brazell in category: cosmology
Caltech theoretical physicist Sean Carroll explores what existed before the Big Bang in his new book, “The Big Picture.”
Produced by Delano Samuels and Jessica Orwig
May 16, 2016
Peter: Nanorobots… Inside You
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: computing, health, nanotechnology, robotics/AI
This blog is a status update on one of the most powerful tools humanity will ever create: Nanotechnology (or nanotech).
My goal here is to give you a quick overview of the work going on in labs around the world, and the potential applications this nanotech work will have in health, energy, the environment, material sciences, data storage and processing.
As artificial intelligence has been getting a lot of the attention lately, I believe we’re going to start to see and hear about incredible breakthroughs in the nanotech world very soon.
May 16, 2016
Disney unveils wall-climbing ‘gravity defying’ robot
Posted by Sean Brazell in category: robotics/AI
May 16, 2016
Evidence of ancient giant asteroid discovered in Australia
Posted by Sean Brazell in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks
ACTON, Australia, May 16 (UPI) — Researchers in Australia recently found a collection of spherules, evidence of a massive asteroid that struck Earth as it was still forming.
Spherules are tiny glass beads formed from material vaporized in the intense heat of an asteroid impact. They were found in northwestern Australia by a team of geologists led by Andrew Glikson of the Australian National University.
The glass beads were found scattered among ancient ocean sediments dated to the middle of the Archean Eon — 3.46 billion years ago. The spread of the spherules deposit suggests the impact would have left a crater between 12 and 18 miles in diameter.
Continue reading “Evidence of ancient giant asteroid discovered in Australia” »
May 16, 2016
Should we synthesise a human genome?
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: biotech/medical, ethics, genetics, law
As specialists gather in private to discuss a grand plan for constructing a human genome, Drew Endy and Laurie Zoloth argue that such an enormous moral gesture should not be discussed behind closed doors.
Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images.
At Harvard today, an invitation-only group of about 150 scientists, lawyers, and entrepreneurs, met to discuss if and how to construct from scratch an entire human genome – the heritable genetic material that in nature is transferred from parents to children.
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May 16, 2016
Coming soon: A “Made in India” space shuttle — By Madhura Karnik | Quartz
Posted by Odette Bohr Dienel in categories: space, space travel
“This month, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)—India’s equivalent of NASA—will begin the mission to launch its indigenous space shuttle, the Press Trust of India reported on May 15.”
