Category Archives: Futurism

In Brief While the market for electric cars and home batteries rise, the future for these technologies remain uncertainty. To help policy makers and investors make sound choices, researchers from the Imperial College in London came up with a prediction tool. Calculating Possibilities

When it comes to renewable energy, generation and storage are two facets of technology that have to be tackled simultaneously. For the latter, the development of electric cars and lithium-ionbatterystorageprojects seem to be the number one factor. Yet, when compared to their fossil fuel counterparts, the future of these technologies remain largely uncertain.

To this end, researchers from the Imperial College in London have developed a new tool that could facilitate the prediction of costs and outcomes for electric cars and home batteries. In a study published in the journal Nature Energy, the Imperial researchers demonstrated how their tool could be used. They predicted that electric cars could rival petrol by 2022, and that home batteries could become competitive by the 2030s.

An informed understanding of the potential future costs of electricity storage technologies is essential to quantify their uptake as well as the uptake of low-carbon technologies reliant on storage, the researchers wrote.

Their prediction tool was the result of compiling data from the installed capacity and price of energy storage technologies like Teslas Powerpack over time. It could be used to figure out how the costs would drop in the future when investment would increase installed capacity.

With this analysis tool we can quantify when energy storage becomes competitive and identify where to invest to make it happen, thereby minimizing investor and policy uncertainty, lead researcher Oliver Schmidt, from the Grantham Institute and the Center for Environmental Policy at Imperial, said in a press release.

In short, this could help investors and policy makers make informed decisions when it comes to the future of renewable energy, electric vehicles, and energy storage devices. As another example, the team predicted that EVs could catch up with petrol in terms of costs by 2034 at the latest, given current oil prices. The introduction of Teslas low-cost EV, the Model 3, could also affect the outcome.

As co-author Iain Staffel from the Center for Environmental Policy explained, This tool allows us to combat one of the biggest uncertainties in the future energy system, and use real data to answer questions such as how electricity storage could revolutionize the electricity generation sector, or when high-capacity home storage batteries linked to personal solar panels might become cost-effective.

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New Tool Predicts the Cost Effectiveness of Electric Energy and Storage - Futurism

In Brief Microsoft has announced the creation of its new research lab, Microsoft Research AI, which will focus on general-purpose artificial intelligence (AI) technology development and provide ethics oversight for its AI operations.

Microsoft has created a new research lab which will focus on general-purpose artificial intelligence (AI) technology development. The lab will be called Microsoft Research AI, and will capitalize on the companys existing AI expertise whilepursuing new hires from related fields like cognitive psychology. The lab will also seek out academic partnerships, including a formal collaboration with MITs Center for Brains, Minds and Machines. Located within Microsofts Redmond HQ, the lab will ultimately be home to a team of more than 100 AI scientists exploring learning, natural language processing, perception systems, and other areas.

The purpose of combining these disciplines and striving toward more general AI will be to develop a single system that can master a broad array of challenges and tasks. This mirrors a goal that other tech companies like Google are pursuing. This kind of system could ultimately plot out the most efficient route for a road trip, relate to a human conversation partners sense of humor, or even optimize a budget. This broader focus is in contrast with the more common and specific AI systems we see now, like those that perform facial recognition tasks.

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Microsoft Takes On Google and Deep Mind with AI Research Lab - Futurism

In Brief NASA admitted today that under the current budget they cannot afford to get humans to Mars. NASA's next steps will depend on its funding, but now more than ever, the future of Mars colonization rests in the hands of commercial space companies. Budget Bummer

NASA has been talking about getting humans to Mars for years, and continues to provide updatedplans for getting there. Unfortunately, though, NASAs chief of human spaceflight, William H. Gerstenmaier, just announced that the agency cant achieve the Mars goal on its current budget.

I cant put a date on humans on Mars, and the reason really is the other piece is, at the budget levels we described, this roughly 2 percent increase, we dont have the surface systems available for Mars, Gerstenmaier said during a propulsion meeting of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics on Wednesday. And that entry, descent, and landing is a huge challenge for us for Mars.

Essentially, the SLS rocket and Orion craft have cost the agency a lot. As a result, NASA hasnt even been able to begin designing vehicles to land on Mars or ascend from the surface.

NASAs next moves will depend on funding. Gerstenmaier indicated the agency might be interested in a Moon exploration mission one that is more extensive than the current plan to build the Deep Space Gateway in the Moons orbit. Beyond just being a launching pad for further space exploration, the gateway could support an extensive moon surface program, says Gerstenmaier.

Fortunately for our Red Planet dreams, it isnt just up to NASA. Getting humans to Mars is a team effort. Agencies like NASA are really at the mercy of political moods and budgetary restraints, so they need to do as much as they can with what resources are there. One way they can maximize impact is to partner with private companies.

This month Elon Musk announcedwe might be getting an update about the SpaceX Mars mission in September at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Australia. For now, though, SpaceX has set a deadline of 2018 for an unmanned Mars mission and 2025 for a manned mission. Both Boeing and Blue Origin are also planning to put humans on Mars. It may turn out that the we in Vice President Pences remarks about putting American boots on Mars is the larger American we, and not the government or NASA.

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NASA Just Announced They Can't Afford to Get Humans to Mars - Futurism

In Brief Microsoft has launched its Rural Airband Initiative, which aims to bring internet access to remotel areas in 12 U.S. states. The TV White Spaces project will provide 2 million rural Americans with internet that is a fifth of the cost of fiber cable-based internet and half the cost of 4G networks. Going the Extra Mile

At the historic Willard Hotel where a little over 100 years ago Alexander Graham Bell demoed the coast-to-coast telephone call, Microsoft announced on Monday its latest effort to bring internet access to American rural areas. The project makes use ofunused television broadcast channels which are called white spaces.

Back in 2010, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted rules that opened up TV white spaces for broadband use. Microsoft itself has considerable experience with this spectrum, having deployed 20 TV white spaces projects in 17 countries that have served 185,000 users, Brad Smith, the companys president, wrote in a press release.

Now, through Microsofts Rural Airband Initiative, the tech giant aims to open up broadband access to 2 million people in rural areas in America by 2022. Microsoft has 12 partners working in 12 states including Arizona, Kansas, New York, and Virginia for its TV White Spaces projects, which will be up and running inthe next 12 months.

This project will provide rural Americans with internet that is a fifth of the cost of fiber cable-based internet and about half the cost of 4G networks.

After the United Nations declared internet access as a basic human right, a number of tech industry heavyweights have stepped up to the task of bringing internet connectivity to the worlds remote areas. There are several othersimilar initiatives to bring internet access to all of North America, including a couple in New York and Canada.

Social media giant Facebook has been working on its Aquila project for the past two years. The idea is to beam internet to far flung areas using Facebooks solar-powered Aquila drones, which recently completeda second successful test flight.

Elon Musks SpaceX is approaching the problem with a different strategy. The plan is to improve internet access around the world by launching 4,000 satellites in orbit. SpaceX completed its applications to the FCC for this global internet network back in November 2016. This plan seems to have inspired satellite internet startup OneWebbacked by Virgin Groups Richard Branson, Qualcomm, and Airbus which would launch 720 satellites to build a global wireless internet network.

It seems unthinkable that in such a day and age, where internet is available even through your smartphones and wearable gadgets, there are still 4 billion people wholack such access. Hopefully, efforts likeMicrosofts will soon bridge this information divide.

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Microsoft Is Bringing Affordable Broadband Internet to Rural America - Futurism

In BriefA study published earlier this year warned scientists ofpotential complications with CRISPR/Cas9, but after review byresearchers at another institution, the findings of that study arebeing brought into question. It remains to be seen whether theoriginal study will be corrected or retracted, but this developmenthighlights the importance of peer review in science. Wrongfully Accused?

A study published earlier this year warned scientists of potential complications in their work with CRISPR/Cas9, but after review by researchers at another institution, the findings of that study are being brought into question. The original paper was publishedby a team at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) in May of this year in the journal Nature Methods.

In the studys original press release, co-author Stephen Tsang said: We feel its critical that the scientific community consider the potential hazards of all off-target mutations caused by CRISPR, including single nucleotide mutations and mutations in non-coding regions of the genome. The researchers had sequenced the genomes of mice whose genes had previously been editing using CRISPR in an attempt to cure their blindness. The genomes revealed there were 1,500 single-nucleotide mutations and over 100 larger deletions,= and/or insertions in two of the mice which had been modified using the gene-editing technique.

In their study, the researchers attributed these genetic anomalies to the use of CRISPR but a team of researchers from Harvard University and MIT have reviewed the paper and are challenging that attribution. In a paper published in bioRxiv a pre-print server for biology research which is not a peer reviewed journal the researchers pointed out the CUMC study had several serious problems. The most glaring of which, the Harvard and MIT researchers argue, is that the mutations found in the mice that were attributed to CRISPR were more likely than not already present in those mice before they were exposed to the gene-editing technique.

The third mouse whose genome had been edited with CRISPR did not demonstrate the mutations, and was also not as genetically similar as the two mice who did. The Harvard and MIT research team argue that this supports the theory that the mutations in the pair of mice were not caused by CRISPR. It should be noted that this criticism comes from a small study that was not peer reviewed.

The teams goal in refuting the research is to make sure the rest of the scientific community is reminded of the lasting impact claims that are not well supported by data can have. Given these substantial issues, we urge the authors to revise or re-state the original conclusions of their published work so as to avoid leaving misleading and unsupported statements to persist in the literature, the team explained in their paper.

The peer review process is essential to scientific disciplines other than biology and genetics, of course. Whether researchers are making claims about climate change, artificial intelligence, or medical treatments, rigorous review of their methods, data, and analysis by other scientists who are doing similar work is essential. This process ensures that the research and the way it is presented is accurate, of high quality, and will be useful not only to the scientific community, but to the general public.

For teams who have spent months if not years heavily focused on a single study, trial, or data set, it can be very easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. Peer review offers research teams the chance to address inconsistencies, data that doesnt add up, and conclusions that make assumptions or inferences that arent supported by the data.

While there have certainly been instances where teams have intentionally fabricated data in order to mislead their peers and the public, most members of the scientific community do not mislead intentionally. But thats why the peer review process is so important. It remains to be seen if the team at CUMC plans to revisit, or possible retract, their paper in light of the response.

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Researchers Refute Study That Claims CRISPR Causes Unexpected Mutations - Futurism

FDA Panel Recommends Approval

Today a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel unanimously recommended that the agency approve atreatment that genetically alters a patients own cells to fight leukemia. If the agency does make the approval, the first-ever such treatment will be the start of the living drug era of human medicine, in which we harness technology to boost our natural immune system and improve its ability to master formerly unbeatable diseases.

While this gene therapy treatment for leukemia, known as CTL019, will be the first to reach the market, there are more on the way. Treatments for an aggressive type of brain tumor, as well as myeloma and other varieties of leukemia, are also in development.

This technique is a true example of personalized medicine: a unique version of the treatment must be created for every patient from their own cells. After the cells are removed by medical personnel, they are frozen, shipped to Novartis (the therapys maker), processed, refrozen, and shipped back to the medical center.

Assuming this treatment is approved, it will be a first for the FDA. Though the approval wouldnt necessarily be surprising in light of theresults of the trials, which were stunning: patients facing death after all other treatments failed who receivedjust a single dose of the gene therapy experiencedlong remissions that could, intime, prove curative. The FDA panel therefore recommended approval for treatment of relapsed or treatment-resistant B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children and young adults ages 3 to 25.

One attendee of the panels meeting was thefirst patient from the trials, Emily Whitehead, age 12. She almost died as a result of leukemia, which was considered fatal until she was treated at age 6. Since that time she has been cancer free. We believe that when this treatment is approved it will save thousands of childrens lives around the world, Tom Whitehead, Emilys father, told the panel, according to The New York Times. I hope that someday all of you on the advisory committee can tell your families for generations that you were part of the process that ended the use of toxic treatments like chemotherapy and radiation as standard treatment, and turned blood cancers into a treatable disease that even after relapse most people survive.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania developed the treatment, which is now licensed to Novartis. The disease its meant to treat, however, is rare affecting only about 5,000 people annually. Around 60 percent of them are young adults and children. Standard treatments can cure most children, but approximately 15 percent of patients, like Emily, do not respond to treatment or experience relapses.

Novartis will limit the use of CTL019 initially because the treatment process is complex and managing side effects demands expert care. Therefore, only about 30 or 35 medical centers will have access to the treatment upon its release. Furthermore, staffat thosecenters will receive special training and approval to administer it, according to The New York Times. Although analysts predict that the cost of these unique treatments may exceed $300,000, a Novartis spokesman declined to specify a price whenNYTinquired.

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An FDA Panel Just Approved A Treatment That Genetically Alters Your Own Cells - Futurism

In BriefThe battle for the future of Bitcoin is heating up. Twoopposing camps, one consisting of miners and the other ofdevelopers, are struggling to work out an ideological rift thatcould lead to a civil war that splits the cryptocurrency in two assoon as August. A House Divided Bitcoin may be themost popular, longest standing cryptocurrency, but that doesnt mean its path forward is without potential conflict. In fact, analysts are now predicting that the cryptocurrency is on the brink of a civil war that would put Captain America and Iron Mans to shame.

Like the Marvel story, the Bitcoin rift is an ideological one.On one side of the divide are the bitcoin miners who oversee every transaction made on the Bitcoin blockchain. On the other side are the developers thathave maintained Bitcoins bug-proof software theyre led by a group called Core.

The problem of how to handle increased Bitcoin traffic has caused the rift. The former group wants to increase Bitcoins block size limit in order to process more transactions. Meanwhile, the latter wants to move data off the main network, which would diminish the influence of miners and essentially make Bitcoin more enterprise-friendly, like its main competitor, Ethereum.

Its moderates versus extremists, Stephen Pair, chief executive officer of bitcoin wallet provider BitPay, told Bloomberg. It depends on how much a person values the majority of people staying on one chain at least for a little while longer, versus splitting and allowing each [to pursue] their own vision for scaling.

Whats ironic about this situation is that its made possible by blockchains decentralized nature, which is often heralded as one of the technologys most interesting features. The absence of a central Bitcoin authority has made it difficult for a consensus to be reached.

At any rate, a compromise called the SegWit2x updatehas been developed, and it should be available by July 21. It changes how some of Bitcoins data will be storedwhile also doubling the block size limit.

Though support for SegWit2x is reportedly high, no one knows for sure how it will be received until it is actuallyreleased. Its a high-stakes game of chicken, Arthur Hayes from Hong Kong-based BitMEX told Bloomberg. If youre a trader, theres a lot of uncertainty as to what happens.

Bitcoin has been enjoyinga continuous upward trend in market valuefor the past several months at one point, it was evenmore valuable than gold. Well have to wait to see if this growth can continue past the next couple of weeks, which will possibly be the most turbulent in Bitcoins history. As Hayes said, Once theres a definitive signal about what will be done, the price could move very quickly.

Disclosure: Several members of the Futurism team, including the editors of this piece, are personal investors in a number of cryptocurrency markets. Their personal investment perspectives have no impact on editorial content.

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The Finance World Is Preparing for a Bitcoin Civil War - Futurism

In Brief Two friends driving from California to New York in a Tesla Model S just broke the record for quickest transcontinental run in an electric vehicle. The achievement is the latest to illustrate the impressive progression of electric vehicles.

Two friends, Jordan Hart and Bradly DSouza, have beaten the previous record for the fastest transcontinental run in an electric vehicle by more than three hours. Using a Tesla Model S, they traveled fromRedondo Beach, California, to New York City in just 51 hours and 47 minutes. The previous record was 55 hours.

The duo achieved the feat through a combination of bullishness and optimal driving strategies, only stopping to eat once and selectively ignoring the vehicles recommendations. I believe that our knowledge of the limitations and willingness to push the boundaries whenever possible is what made the largest difference, DSouza told The Verge.

Despite some hardware obstacles, like their Tesla Model S 85D being less efficient than the Model S used by the previous record holders, the pair endured no environmental hardships. As Hart explained, We hit essentially zero traffic jams, only [four] minutes of inclement weather, and arrived in NYC on a holiday to find the streets almost empty/devoid of traffic.

This represents a victory for not only the two Tesla owners, who were doing the run to raise awareness of human trafficking, but also for Tesla specifically and the electric car market in general. It illustrates the capabilities of EV technology and will potentially speed up the acceptance of EVs into the mainstream.

Fastest transcontinental run isnt the only EV record to be broken recently. Steven Peeters and Joeri Cools broke the hypermiling record for a Tesla, achieving a whopping 901.2 kilometers (~560 miles) on a single charge, and the Nio EP9 broke the record for fastest speed of an electric vehicle, getting to a dizzying 312 km/h (194 mph). The age of impressive electric vehicles is well and truly upon us.

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Two Guys Just Drove a Tesla Model S From California to NYC in a Record Breaking 52 Hours - Futurism

In BriefEthereum startup ConsenSys and the nation of Mauritius areexploring a partnership and the creation of Ethereum Island, ablockchain technology hub. This would help transform the localeconomy and bring blockchain to more people around the world. Global Blockchain Hub

Ethereum startup ConsenSys and the African nation of Mauritius are actively exploring a partnership. This collaboration would allow the two to create Ethereum Island, a blockchain technology hub for innovators hoping to extend into Asia, Africa, and elsewhere in the world. ConsenSys founder Joseph Lubin and a team of executives toured Mauritius in early July to meet with the Bank of Mauritius, the countrys Board of Investment, and various authorities in both the public and private sectors.

Located 700 miles east of Madagascar along Africas eastern coast, Mauritius is an established, offshore financial hub. Now the nation is hoping to solidify itself as a leader in blockchain technologies. In 2016, it began the regulatory sandbox license process in order to appeal to blockchain innovators.

Mauritius has also been working to become a center for the migration of tech knowledge from Silicon Valley, and other innovation locations, to the rest of the world. This has been referred to as a Silicon Corridor approach in a local publication. Beyond this, Mauritius offers enthusiasm for blockchain technology, a knowledge of technologies and regulatory issues more generally, and the nimbleness and ability to adopt new tools and technologies quickly that is typically associated with smaller countries.

For this plan to work for ConsenSys, it will need to invest locally in human capital something thats likely to be beneficial for both the company and the local community. The company would present and establish the basics of a blockchain ecosystem as it worked to develop a talent pool within the ecosystem. A ConsenSys Academy based in Mauritius similar to the Dubai version from May 2017 is one possible human capital tactic the company could take.

The presence of a strong blockchain ecosystem will also help Mauritius to accomplish its own economic goals, aside from employing its citizens. We are working to take our economy to another level, and these kinds of technologies are very important in our strategy, Atma Narasiah, head of technology, innovation and services at the Board of Investment Mauritius, told CoinDesk in May.

Lubin and the ConsenSys team appear to have come away from the meetings impressed by the knowledge and enthusiasm for the technology they saw in Mauritius. Lubin emphasized, We expected to encounter significant enthusiasm but we were overwhelmed with the excitement that we felt in every single meeting. If Mauritius puts together a concerted effort to be a world leader, it will be.

Disclaimer: Futurism has a personal affiliation with ConsenSys. This is a piece of editorial content. ConsenSys does not have any review privileges on editorial decisions.

Disclosure: Several members of the Futurism team, including the editors of this piece, are personal investors in cryptocurrency markets. Their personal investment perspectives have no impact on editorial content.

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Ethereum Island May Soon Exist Off the Coast of Africa - Futurism

In Brief Mary Lou Jepsen, former head of display technology at Oculus, has founded a startup called Openwater that hopes "to create a wearable to enable us to see the inner workings of the body and brain at high resolution." A Wearable MRI

What if you couldseedirectly into another persons brain? Theability to read minds, referred to as telepathy, is yet another concept thatsabundant in science fiction, but a former Facebook executive says that we could all be capable of at least seeing inside someone elsesmind provided that were equipped with the right technology.

Mary Lou Jepsen was the head of display technology at Oculus before founding her own startup called Openwater. The companys goal, while ambitious, is in theory quite simple: to create a wearable to enable us to see the inner workings of the body and brain at high resolution. In short, telepathy courtesy of a brain-computer interface (BCI) a wearable device that works like an Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine.

I dont think this is going to take decades, Jepsen said of the techs development, during an interview withCNBC. I think were talking about less than a decade, probably eight years until telepathy. Her company plans to make avery limited number of prototypes available to their early access partners by next year.

Wearable MRI technology could be quite an asset in terms ofdisease diagnosis and treatment. With just one quick look, a physician couldsee whats happening inside a persons brain, or elsewherein the body.Of course, this raises many questions and concerns about privacy, which Jepsen says the company is working on. Were trying to make the hat only work if the individual wants it to work, and then filtering out parts that the person wearing it doesnt feel its appropriate to share, she said.

Openwater isnt the only one working to give the human brain machine-like capabilities. In fact, Facebook is also developing a device similar to Jepsens. BCIs, which already haveapplications in prosthesis use, could also become apopular means to prepare humankind for future of intelligent machines.

This is whatTesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has in mind withhis mind/machine merging venture, Neuralink. The U.S. Department of Defenses research arm,DARPA, is also working on projects that would combinehumans with machines. Another company is Kernel, which has been working on a neuroprosthesis that can make the brains neural code programmable.

Disclosure: Bryan Johnson is an investor in Futurism; he does not hold a seat on our editorial board or have any editorial review privileges.

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This Wearable MRI Device Could Help Us Read Minds - Futurism