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Aug 16, 2016

Regenerative Medicine: Plasma Being Used To Improve Bone Healing

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, food, nuclear energy, space travel, weapons

Scientists have just found a way to make use of plasma, the fourth state of matter, to improve bone development. Using cold fusion, researchers were able to initiate increased bone growth.

It is a bit ironic that plasma is the least known state of matter, when in fact it is the most abundant in the universe. It is found in our Sun and all other stars, lightning, in our TVs, fluorescent light, and neon signs, and (purportedly) even in our favorite fictional weapon in the Star Wars universe, the lightsaber.

Plasma can be classified according to the degree of ionization, temperature, etc, but whatever form it may take, plasma has been used in various fields, such as in spacecraft propulsion, agriculture, and quite recently, in medicine.

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Aug 16, 2016

New Evidence For a Fifth Fundamental Force of Nature Could Completely Change Our Understanding of The Universe

Posted by in categories: cosmology, particle physics

Recent findings indicating the possible discovery of a previously unknown subatomic particle may be evidence of a fifth fundamental force of nature, according to a paper published in the journal Physical Review Letters by theoretical physicists at the University of California, Irvine.

“If true, it’s revolutionary,” said Jonathan Feng, professor of physics & astronomy. “For decades, we’ve known of four fundamental forces: gravitation, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces. If confirmed by further experiments, this discovery of a possible fifth force would completely change our understanding of the universe, with consequences for the unification of forces and dark matter.”

The UCI researchers came upon a mid-2015 study by experimental nuclear physicists at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences who were searching for “dark photons,” particles that would signify unseen dark matter, which physicists say makes up about 85 percent of the universe’s mass. The Hungarians’ work uncovered a radioactive decay anomaly that points to the existence of a light particle just 30 times heavier than an electron.

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Aug 16, 2016

AI: Your Tutor & Nurse

Posted by in categories: futurism, robotics/AI

Leading AI scientist Ben Goertzel says, “In the future, an AI will tutor your children and take care of your grandma. It won’t be Terminator robots marching down the street.” Watch Episode 2 of “Future First” with Popular Science.

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Aug 16, 2016

Gary Johnson Wants Driverless Secret Service Cars and a US-Led Gene Editing Revolution

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, geopolitics, life extension, robotics/AI, transhumanism

My exclusive interview with Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson on some hard science & tech issues, including transhumanism, longevity, AI, and gene editing. This is also my first story for Futurism. For the record, I am trying, along with millions of others, to get Gary Johnson into the Presidentia l debates! No matter who you plan to vote for, it would be good for America to have him in the debates so a third voice is heard:


Libertarian Presidentia l candidate Gary Johnson wants humans to live a lot longer and isn’t worried about AI becoming the Terminator. Here, Futurist Zoltan Istvan gains an exclusive interview with Johnson, who is polling double digits nationally and hopes to be in the Presidentia l debates with Trump and Clinton in October.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author. They do not necessarily represent the views of Futurism or its affiliates.

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Aug 16, 2016

He must be serious about Mars: Elon Musk invests $2 billion in carbon fibers

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space

Carbon colonial transporter —

He must be serious about Mars: Elon Musk invests $2 billion in carbon fibers.

The lightweight materials will increase the amount of payload a rocket can carry.

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Aug 16, 2016

Ford to ship self-driving cars without steering wheels, brake or gas pedals by 2021

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

Ford says it’s going to deliver self-driving cars by 2021 – and these will ship in volume, and will also lack steering wheels, brake or gas pedals, offering full Level 4 self-driving features which don’t require a human driver at all, the company announced at a press conference in Palo Alto today.

The car maker says that it has held off making any announcements about when to deliver self-driving vehicles until now because it isn’t in a race to make announcements. But it did say it is making self-driving vehicle deployment a priority, because of the advantages it offers in terms of customer experience and passenger safety.

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Aug 16, 2016

The First Arrival Trailer Makes Talking to Aliens Terrifying

Posted by in categories: alien life, entertainment

Absolutely, undeniably awesome.


We got about a minute of footage last week, and now the full trailer for the movie adaptation of Ted Chiang’s “Story Of Your Life” is here. And it is tense.

Whereas before, the footage ended with Amy Adams’ Dr. Banks getting her first look inside one of the weird alien monoliths that have appeared, the trailer goes much further. We see her actually communicating with the aliens, while the rest of the world goes appropriately batshit. There’s a lot less action in this sci-fi movie than there is drama, and it all looks great.

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Aug 16, 2016

Prof. Lubin Wants to Send Our Digital Selves to the Stars

Posted by in categories: futurism, space

Prof. Lupin of UCSB recently launched a crowdfunding campaign to create “Voices of Humanity”, a project aimed at equipping all future missions to space with a digital archive of humanity!

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Aug 16, 2016

Aerojet Rocketdyne to Mature 3D Printed MPS-130 CubeSat Propulsion System for NASA

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, biotech/medical, education, space travel

Next to the medical field, as we follow the significant impacts 3D printing is making on the world, that of aerospace is right at the top of the list. While some are still confused about the actual importance of 3D printing as it hasn’t really affected them personally yet, it’s important to think on a much bigger scale. And there’s not much of a bigger scale than space.

For those who are cynical about the technology, pointing back to the continual supply of keychains and figurines (we all have to start somewhere, thank you!) being pumped out in plastic at the desktop, when you take a look at how long NASA has been involved with additive manufacturing—and how many parts they are using now—well, that’s impressive. Not only that, because of numerous 3D printed parts, larger components are being made that would not have been possible previously, and certainly not with such a level of customization, speed, and affordability.

Continue reading “Aerojet Rocketdyne to Mature 3D Printed MPS-130 CubeSat Propulsion System for NASA” »

Aug 16, 2016

A possible cause of the Big Bang and current acceleration of the Universe

Posted by in categories: cosmology, information science, physics

We consider a solution of the Einstein equations for a system comprised of merging black holes and show that the solution contains a term which represents a repulsive force. This repulsive term is proportional to 1/r, where r is the distance from the system, and it is additional to the common Newtonian term which is proportional to 1/r2. This repulsive force acts as an effective dark energy if the total mass of the Universe is decreased.

As seen below, a shape of the gravitational potential is often illustrated by a funnel made of rubber film where a heavy ball (blue) is located in the center. In this model, a fast decrease of the gravitational mass corresponds with a sharp ascent of the ball. The film attached to the ball forms a cone-type hill in the center of the funnel. Light balls (green) on the central cone run away from the center. The central cone expands fast but keeps it exterior slope; this corresponds to long-term repulsive force.

A mechanism of the repulsive force may be applied to a model of the expanding Universe. This may imply that the Big Bang and accelerated expansion of the Universe is not related to current processes in the Universe but to a relic repulsive gravitational force or to a configuration of space-time that originates in the previous cycle of the Universe when at the last stage of a collapse the intensive generation of gravitational waves resulted in sharp decrease of the gravitational mass of the Universe. This process generated a powerful repulsive force that transformed the Big Crunch into the Big Bang. Because the repulsive acceleration decreases with time, the current Universe expands with lower acceleration. Decreasing acceleration of the Universe can be verified by observations. Gravitational waves caused by the compression of the Universe may not disappear at the stage of expansion and form the relic gravitational radiation.

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