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Category: Science Snippets

  • First Designed and Built Living Cell

    George Rebane By now you’ve probably heard that Man has been able to mess with some snippets of DNA and fabricate a new double helix that when inserted into an ‘empty’ (of nucleus) cell body, the thing became a living and self-replicating cell.  While not the real deal of starting from scratch with a bunch…

  • TechTest2010 Weekend

    George Rebane Today the fourth annual merit scholarship TechTest was given in the Science Lecture Hall of Nevada Union High School.  The test was administered by NUHS physics teacher Mr John McDaniel who also heads the TechTest academic committee.   I visited the lecture hall this morning and took the nearby pictures.  Mr McDaniel told me that…

  • Water + Sunlight = Energy

    George Rebane I’ve been an open critic of ARRA ever since it started a year ago.  But I do want to report on a possible benefit that may derive out of ARRA funds that are being channeled through the Advanced Research Projects Agency(Energy branch) to Sun Catalytix, a start-up in Massachusetts.   Physorg.com reports – With…

  • Tech Scattershots – 5jan2010

    George Rebane dedicated ereaders not long for this world flexed muscles control computers for the masses Top ten scientific breakthroughs for 2009 Some major technology themes for 2010  The dedicated ereader’s demise is coming on schedule.  Ray Kurzweil, rich genius and tech inventor extraordinaire, is unveiling his platform independent Blio ebook software at the annual…

  • Why Reason Fails

    George Rebane “It ain’t what you don’t know that worries me, it’s what you know that ain’t so.”  Will Rogers We are often taught that parties can always settle their differences by engaging in a reasoned dialogue – ‘Come, let us reason together.’  But the evidence, today available in thousands of comment threads on more…

  • Singularity Signposts – 22sep2009 (updated)

    George Rebane – Advanced, cheaper solar panels rival fossil-fuel electricity;– Human made crises coming faster than we can deal with them;– Orwellian public monitoring system developed by EU;– Nanotube springs as energy storage devices may replace batteries;– New omni-flu vaccine, ‘one dab’ll do ya’.– The future of human enhancement from Nick Bostrom New breakthroughs in…

  • Singularity’s Apprehensive Approach

    George Rebane ‘Scientists Worry Machines May Outsmart Man’ is the title of an uneven yet revealing piece in the 25jul09 NYT by John Markoff.  The article was apparently motivated by a quiet (‘secret’ sounds too sinister) conference at Asilomar on Monterey Bay sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence last February.  It…

  • ‘Is it Time for the Turing Test to Retire?’

    George Rebane Definitely not.  This question is asked by Dr. Aladdin Ayesh in a brief but serious article with the above title.  I presume Dr. Ayesh is a computer scientist, but he seems to be confused about how Alan Turing proposed his test for machine intelligence or, if you wish, AI almost sixty years ago.…

  • Summer Science/Math Festival Starts in July

    George Rebane Wayne Watson, Nevada County’s ‘Mr Science Guy’, will sponsor and host “a Summer Science (and mathematics) Video Festival beginning July 8th. This is an opportunity to meet and perhaps share your interests in science, as well as enjoy some very interesting science from the past into the future. The material should be suitable…

  • Singularity Signposts – 20may2009 Machine Augmented Man (Soon)

    George Rebane Let’s look ahead ten years or so.  You have finished lunch and are about to go back to work when you see something in a store window and go inside.  You examine the article and decide to pull up a couple of similar articles for comparison.  By thinking a command you make an…

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