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NASA and GM Develop Robonaut 2

by Socrates
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The Robonaut is a robotic astronaut first developed about 10 years ago by DARPA and NASA with the goal of assisting human space exploration or, ultimately, conducting non-human space exploration altogether.  Though the original version never actually made it into space it seems that version 2.0 is being developed by NASA and GM. The new Robonaut R2 is more dexterous, stronger, smarter, faster and more efficient. It is supposed to automate tasks that are dangerous, dull, repetitive or otherwise challenging for human astronauts. One such task, for example, is space walking which requires long and tedious pre- and post-space-walk procedures for all human astronauts. Robots can potentially cut out operation time, minimize risk and even improve the quality of the work carried out during the space-walk missions.   the Original Robonaut Video   the new R2 Humanoid Robonaut Video   [...]

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Synthetic Life Video Presentation

by Socrates
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This is a 20 min TEDMED video of Craig Venter who talks about his work on digitizing the genetic code, synthetic genomics and software making its own hardware — all with the goal of creating synthetic life. Craig Venter points out himself that things such as moving genetic software across the branches of life, and thereby turning one species into another, may sound not only like complete science fiction but even like genomic alchemy, yet the science behind designing synthetic life is well on its way and progress is advancing constantly. Related articles by Zemanta Creating Artificial Life (biosingularity.wordpress.com)

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Do you want to live forever? (the full documentary)

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Here is the full documentary film directed by Christopher Sykes about the eccentric and radical gerontologist Dr. Aubrey de Grey and his quest for immortality: So, how about you? Do you want to live forever?

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Regenerative Medicine on TEDMED

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Dr. Anthony Atala from the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in an amazing video demonstrating the promise of regenerative medicine in general and artificially grown organs, in particular. Here is the timeline description of the video as posted by Singularity Hub. 1:46 – Atala alerts the audience to the scope of the problems with organ transplants and limited organs. Starting with the quote from above. 2:28 – An interesting time-elapsed video of a salamander regrowing a fore-limb. 3:55 – Biomaterials can act as a bridge to encourage tissue growth over damaged areas or gaps. The bridge length, however, is limited to about 1 cm. 5:15 – Using cells that are cultured outside the body, Atala can take an artificial scaffold and create a new organ. 6:20 – Atala uses a bio-reactor to exercise and condition muscle tissue before it [...]

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IBM: 5 Innovations that will Change Cities in the Next 5 Years

by Socrates

Buildings that know when they need to be fixed before something breaks; sensors that tell the fire department details of a fire before they receive the emergency phone call; smart water and sewage systems that filter and recycle water. . . See the modern city as it will be in 5 years time as foreseen by IBM. (Main story at http://asmarterplanet.com)

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Singularity University: Ray Kurzweil’s Opening Address

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TechCrunch, Nov. 13, 2009 Over the last week, Singularity University has been holding an Executive Program with the goal of preparing executives for the “imminent disruption and opportunities resulting from exponentially accelerating technologies.”

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