[tt] KurzweilAI.net Daily Newsletter

Thu Feb 7 15:12:10 UTC 2008

KURZWEILAI.NET NEWSLETTER

NEWS
====

*************************
The AI Chasers
The Futurist March-April 2008
*************************
MIT roboticist Rodney Brooks,
Adaptive A.I. Inc. founder Peter
Voss, Self-Aware Systems founder
Steve Omohundro, Powerset CEO Barney
Pell, and Google research director
Peter Norvig discuss how they see AI
developing in the years ahead, when
a human-level AI might emerge, and
how worried we should be about that
whole killer-robot-goes-on-rampage...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=7953&m=37981

*************************
Window opened on Alzheimer's
conundrum: Mouse-brain study shows
protein plaques to be a cause of the
problem
Nature News Feb. 6, 2008
*************************
Harvard Medical School researchers
have found that the brain protein
plaques characteristic of
Alzheimer's disease can form
extraordinarily fast, and seem to be
the starting point of further
degeneration in the brain--at least
in mice. The research helps settle a
long-standing debate about whether
such plaques are a primary cause or
a symptom...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=7952&m=37981

*************************
'Holy Grail' Of Nanoscience: DNA
Technique Yields 3-D Crystalline
Organization Of Nanoparticles
Science Daily Feb. 6, 2008
*************************
Brookhaven National Laboratory
researchers have for the first time
used DNA to guide the creation of
three-dimensional, ordered,
crystalline structures of
nanoparticles, an achievement some
see as the "holy grail" of
nanoscience. The ability to engineer
such 3-D structures is essential to
producing functional materials that
take advantage of...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=7951&m=37981

*************************
Pursuing Synthetic Life, Dazzled by
Reality
New York Times Feb. 5, 2008
*************************
"Scientists who seek to imitate
living cells say they can't help but
be perpetually dazzled by the
genuine articles, their flexibility,
their versatility, their childlike
grandiosity," says New York Times
writer Natalie Angier. "No matter
what outrageous or fattening things
we may ask our synthetic cells to
do, scientists say, it's nothing...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=7950&m=37981

*************************
New Electronics Promise Wireless at
Warp Speed
Scientific American Feb. 5, 2008
*************************
Phiar Corporation, a company that
builds RF detectors and receivers,
is using metal-insulator components
with nanoscale thicknesses instead
of solid-state semiconductor
electronics to enhance the
performance and cut the costs of
wireless networks by introducing a
simpler, less expensive
manufacturing process....
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=7949&m=37981

*************************
Particle Accelerator May Reveal
Shape Of Alternate Dimensions
Science Daily Feb. 4, 2008
*************************
When the world's most powerful
particle accelerator starts up later
this year, exotic new particles may
offer a glimpse of the existence and
shapes of extra dimensions, claim
researchers from the University of
Wisconsin-Madison and the University
of California-Berkeley. The telltale
signatures left by a new class of
particles--Kaluza-Klein...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=7948&m=37981

*************************
Are Americans Afraid of the
Outdoors?
Scientific American Feb. 5, 2008
*************************
The electronic world is replacing
the natural world for leisure time
in rich nations, University of
Illinois at Chicago researchers
believe. Outdoor pursuits, ranging
from camping to hunting, have
entered a persistent and growing
decline since 1987. Their
statistical analysis shows that the
increase in video games, movie
rentals and other...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=7947&m=37981

*************************
Electromagnetic Railgun Blasts Off
Technology Review Feb. 6, 2008
*************************
The Naval Surface Warfare Center
has fired the most powerful
electromagnetic railgun, sending a
seven-pound bullet out at seven
times the speed of sound with 10.6
megajoules of kinetic energy. The
device is part of the U.S. navy's
railgun development program. A
railgun could eventually send a
40-pound slug 200 miles in six
minutes--10 times...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=7946&m=37981

*************************
Scientists develop fluorescent
proteins for live cell imaging,
biosensor design
PhysOrg.com Feb. 6, 2008
*************************
Carnegie Mellon University
scientists have developed a key
component of a novel molecular
biosensor technology--new "fluorogen
activating proteins" (FAPs), which
can be used to monitor biological
activities of individual proteins
and other biomolecules within living
cells in real time....
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=7945&m=37981

*************************
Rewritable holograms promise 3D
displays
NewScientist.com news service Feb. 6, 2008
*************************
University of Arizona researchers
have developed a material that can
create rewritable holograms, which
could bring 3D displays to the home
or provide high-capacity computer
memory. A layer of the material can
record a holographic image, erase
it, and replace it with another in a
few minutes. The researchers hope to
refresh pictures at video...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=7944&m=37981

*************************
New Thoughts On Language
Acquisition: Toddlers As Data Miners
Science Daily Feb. 4, 2008
*************************
Indiana University researchers are
studying a groundbreaking theory
that young children are able to
learn large groups of words rapidly
by data mining. They are studying
whether this phenomenon contributes
to a system approach to language
learning that helps explain the ease
by which 2- and 3-year-olds can
learn one word at a time. Once...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=7943&m=37981

*************************
The neural basis of 'number sense'
in young infants
PhysOrg.com Feb. 5, 2008
*************************
Research reported in PLoS Biology
shows that very young infants are
sensitive to both the number and
identity of objects, and these
pieces of information are processed
by distinct neural pathways.
3-months-old infants were watching
images of objects where the number
or identity of objects occasionally
changed. Electrical activity
measured on...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=7942&m=37981

*************************
Scientists make breakthrough in
single-molecule sensing
PhysOrg.com Feb. 6, 2008
*************************
In a study that could lay the
foundation for mass-produced
single-molecule sensors, Rice
University researchers have
demonstrated a means of
simultaneously making optical and
electronic measurements of the same...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=7941&m=37981

<------Related Company Message------------>

"Fantastic Voyage.... takes pains
to say: 'this is not a panacea, it's
just a beginning. You must make your
own path, keep up with research and
be a scientist.' This is a
refreshingly no-nonsense attitude,
and it's one of the main reasons
that I have a high degree of trust
and respect for the work that Ray
Kurzweil and Terry Grossman have
made available to us. -Mike T." To
learn more about Ray & Terry's
Longevity Program, see
http://www.RayandTerry.com
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/adRedirect.php?id=29&m=37981

<------------------------->

*******************************************************************************
You are currently subscribed to the KurzweilAI.net newsletter as "tt at postbiota.org".

To change your email preferences or unsubscribe, please visit

http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/preferences.html?hash=ca95e1a17def621bf9513aa49e51f2bd&m=37981

To see all news items and new articles, please visit http://www.kurzweilai.net

If you have news or editorial related questions, please reply to: news at kurzweilai.net