Yearly Archives: 2017

9 Ways You Can Use Your Devices for Advanced Scientific Research

Want to help solve world problems like finding a cure for cancer? Looking to make a global impact in 2018 with minimal effort on...

The Technologies We’ll Have Our Eyes on in 2018

It’s that time of year again when our team has a little fun and throws on our futurist glasses to look ahead at some...

Digitized to Democratized: These Are the 6 Ds of Exponential Technologies

“The Six Ds are a chain reaction of technological progression, a road map of rapid development that always leads to enormous upheaval and opportunity.”...

Want Self-Healing Robots and Tires? Elastomers May Hold the Key

We all have scars, and each one tells a story. Tales of tomfoolery, tales of haphazardness, or in my case, tales of stupidity. Whether the...

What Is It That Makes Humans Unique?

If an extraterrestrial civilization were to observe and study our planet from an objective perspective, there is no doubt that among the millions of...

How Neuroscience Is Beginning to Rewire the Brain From the Inside Out

In an interview at Exponential Medicine in San Diego, Singularity University faculty and speaker Dr. Divya Chander takes a look at how emerging technologies are letting us...

There’s Healing Power in the Secret Electrical Language of Our Cells

Why can we heal a wound, but not grow back a severed limb? Michael Levin thinks the key lies in the secret electrical language...

The 7 Hub Stories That Got the Most Social Media Love This Year

I bet you think 2017 was a hot mess, a relentless series of tragedies and catastrophes that exposed humanity for what little it's worth....

How a Machine That Can Make Anything Would Change Everything

“Something is going to happen in the next forty years that will change things, probably more than anything else since we left the caves.”...

What Does Cryptocurrency Have to Do With Blockchain Anyway?

There’s a common misconception about cryptocurrencies that goes something like this: Blockchain is a revolutionary new way of sharing information and is clearly a...

Reality 2.0: A Way to Upgrade Your Perception of Reality

Imagine enhancing your perception of the environment around you, other people nearby, and even yourself. Imagine reliving past experiences as if they are happening...

Here’s a Winter Reading List to Help You Kickstart the Year

Whether you’re an entrepreneur or a seasoned executive, the holiday season is an ideal time for professional and personal reflection. While it’s best to...

Is Your Computer Secretly Mining Bitcoin Alternatives? A Guide to ‘Cryptojacking’

Nothing comes for free, especially online. Websites and apps that don’t charge you for their services are often collecting your data or bombarding you...

The Power to Give Anyone, Anywhere the Skills They Need Is Within Reach

On a recent Friday afternoon, I was summoned to the top floor of a technology accelerator in San Francisco’s Soma neighborhood to meet Tom...

Do Our Brains Use Deep Learning to Make Sense of the World?

The first time Dr. Blake Richards heard about deep learning, he was convinced that he wasn’t just looking at a technique that would revolutionize...

The Hidden Human Workforce Powering Machine Intelligence

The tech industry touts its ability to automate tasks and remove slow and expensive humans from the equation. But in the background, a lot...

How One of Silicon Valley’s Oldest Companies Survived Tech’s Biggest Transitions

In an industry that celebrates newcomers and disruptors, tech companies over a decade old take on the air of grizzled veterans. Still, some Silicon...

This Self-Driving AI Is Learning to Drive Almost Entirely in a Virtual World

I don’t have to open the doors of AImotive’s white 2015 Prius to see that it’s not your average car. This particular Prius has...

The Enormous Promise and Peril of Bioengineering’s Pandora’s Box

We’re standing on the threshold of extraordinary capability in synthetic biology. CRISPR-Cas9, the genome editing technique discovered in 2014, is at the forefront of...

This Week’s Awesome Stories From Around the Web (Through December 16)

BITCOIN Bitcoin Is a Delusion That Could Conquer the World Derek Thompson | The Atlantic “What seems most certain is that the future of money will test...

Will Artificial Intelligence Become Conscious?

Forget about today’s modest incremental advances in artificial intelligence, such as the increasing abilities of cars to drive themselves. Waiting in the wings might...

The Massive Project to Clean Up the Ocean With a Two-Kilometer Screen

Every year, eight million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean, threatening just about every marine species and ecosystem. As the global population grows...

How Clinical Trials Are Making the Case for MDMA in Psychotherapy

In an interview at Exponential Medicine in San Diego, speaker Brad Burge discussed the innovative applications of MDMA in psychotherapy. Burge is the director of strategic communications...

There’s a Growing Abundance of Capital to Fund Bold Ventures

There is a growing abundance of capital to fund entrepreneurs’ massive transformative purposes (MTPs) and moonshots. Last year, venture capitalists in the United States poured...

These Creepy Mini-Brains May Finally Crack Deadly Brain Cancer

Brain organoids look like something between a malformed human brain and a character from Monsters, Inc. But don’t be fooled by their grotesque appearance. Ever...

Why Intelligent Optimism Is Crucial to Human Progress

There is nothing to be gained from blind optimism. But an optimistic mindset can be grounded in rationality and evidence. It may be hard...

History Suggests the Hyperloop Is an Uncertain Promise for Future Cities

Proponents of Hyperloop have repeatedly suggested that their transportation technology will create new “mega-regions,” essentially reshaping the scope of cities. Multiple startups are now...

This Week’s Awesome Stories From Around the Web (Through December 9)

ROBOTICS New Robots Can See Into Their Future Brett Israel | Berkeley News “Using this technology, called visual foresight, the robots can predict what their cameras will see...

Ultrafast 3D Printing Alternative Makes Complete 3D Objects in Seconds

3D printing allows engineers to custom build intricate structures impossible with traditional manufacturing, but the layer-by-layer approach can be slow and limits the shapes...

Black Holes Are Simpler Than Forests and Science Has Its Limits

Albert Einstein said that the "most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible." He was right to be astonished. Human brains...

Why Humanoid Robots Are Still So Hard to Make Useful

Picture a robot. In all likelihood, you just pictured a sleek metallic or chrome-white humanoid. Yet the vast majority of robots in the world...

These Bacteria Use New DNA Bases to Make a Protein Not Found in Nature

All of nature’s bewildering complexity can be reduced to a four letter code—DNA’s four bases: A, T, C, and G. But now scientists have...

Neuroscience Could Bring Us Eternal Bliss, But Is That a Good Thing?

What if the secret to eternal happiness is a brain implant? If you’re thinking that sounds like the premise of a Black Mirror episode, you’re...

Robotic Materials Will Distribute Intelligence All Over a Robot’s Body

The classical view of a robot as a mechanical body with a central “brain” that controls its behavior could soon be on its way...

How to Design the Future We Want and Find the Path That Leads to It

Everyone wants to know the future, but how exactly? Authors Julia Rose West and Alida Draudt aim to help people better see the future...

Let Me Blow Your Mind: The Importance of Awe in Education

Many people live a life of routine and monotony. But those who seek out wonder, meaning, and intellectual complexity in their lives are found...

Oxford Study Says Alien Life Would Evolve and Adapt Just Like Life on Earth

The alternative universe known as science fiction has given our culture a menagerie of alien species. From overstuffed teddy bears like Ewoks and Wookies...

The Tantalizing Dream of Blanketing the Sahara in Solar Panels

In 1986, a power surge during a safety test of the reactor at Chernobyl caused a catastrophic explosion. Thirty-one people were directly killed by...

This Week’s Awesome Stories From Around the Web (Through December 2)

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Can A.I. Be Taught to Explain Itself? Cliff Kuang | New York Times “Kosinski’s results suggested something stranger: that artificial intelligences often excel by...

Here Are 4 Significant Things We Can Do to Combat Climate Change Now

Earlier this month, 13 US government agencies (NOAA, NASA, DOE, etc.) concluded that climate change is real and caused mainly by human activity. There is...

Study Finds ‘Dark Matter’ and ‘Dark Energy’ May Not Exist—Here’s What to Make of It

Dark matter and dark energy are mysterious, unknown substances that are thought to make up more than 96% of the universe. While we may...

The Doctor in the Machine: How AI Is Saving Lives in Healthcare

Artificial intelligence has received its fair share of hype recently. However, it’s hype that’s well-founded: IDC predicts worldwide spend on AI and cognitive computing...

Film ‘Unrest’ Is an Intimate Look Into Life With a ‘Disease Medicine Forgot’

In an interview at Exponential Medicine in San Diego, documentary filmmaker Jennifer Brea shared her difficult yet powerful journey with chronic fatigue syndrome. Brea was a...

How Bursts of Ultrasound Can Be Used to Flip Switches in the Brain

It sounds like the beginning of a Stephen King novel: a protagonist bolts up in bed, his unsuspecting brain picking up ultrasound waves crashing...

9 Robot Animals Built From Nature’s Best-Kept Secrets

Millions of years of evolution have allowed animals to develop some elegant and highly efficient solutions to problems like locomotion, flight, and dexterity. As...

Design Takes Tech From Useful to Irresistible—and It Can Be Learned

Nathan Shedroff is one of the pioneers of experience design as a strategy. He is the founding director of the groundbreaking MBA in Design...

Thought-Controlled Prosthetic Hand Restores 100 Realistic Touch Sensations

When Keven Walgamott reached out and grasped his wife’s hand, his face broke into an enormous smile. For the first time in 14 years, he...
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How Will Humans Colonize Space in the Years Ahead?

Exploration is one of humanity’s greatest drivers. We’ve moved around the planet and into almost every environment—mountains, deserts, jungles, and swamps. But will we be...

What We Can Learn From the Second Life of Google Glass

For every new piece of technology that gets developed, you can usually find people saying it will never be useful. The president of the...

8 Ways AI Will Transform Our Cities by 2030

How will AI shape the average North American city by 2030? A panel of experts assembled as part of a century-long study into the...
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