interestingengineering.com 2030: How soft robotics and genetic storage could power androids
From soft actuators that mimic real muscle to DNA drives that can store petabytes in a sugar cube, humanity is engineering life itself.
US researchers say their new coronagraph design could allow for direct imaging of exoplanets that current telescopes can't see.
Trump seems to be on course to transform the American financial system to be much more like an emerging market financial system, which will have profound knock-on effects.
adamtooze.substack.com Chartbook 376 Trump trolling the Fed chair, whilst legal warfare rages over America's administrative state. Is America nearing stage 4?
Yes, the President of the United States did start his day on Thursday April 17 2025 by taunting Jerome Powell, the Chair of the Federal Reserve, the world’s most powerful central bank and anchor of the dollar system.
AI is coming for music, too: New diffusion AI models that make songs from scratch are complicating our definitions of authorship and human creativity.
www.technologyreview.com AI is coming for music, too
New diffusion AI models that make songs from scratch are complicating our definitions of authorship and human creativity.
Neural stem cells outside the brain: Discovery opens new paths for regenerative medicine.
medicalxpress.com Neural stem cells outside the brain: Discovery opens new paths for regenerative medicine
For decades, scientists assumed that neural stem cells (NSCs) only occur in the brain and spinal cord. A new international study, led by Hans Schöler of the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Münster, has now refuted this assumption and discovered a new type of neural stem cell outsid...
www.flyingmag.com Zipline Drone Delivery Takes Flight in Texas With Walmart—for Free
Long-promised service launches out of a Walmart Supercenter in Mesquite, marking Zipline’s official debut in Dallas-Fort Worth.
www.technologyreview.com China’s EV giants are betting big on humanoid robots
Technical know-how and existing supply chains give Chinese electric-vehicle makers a significant head start in the sector.
www.businessinsider.com Is the tech industry ready for AI 'super agents'?
AI 'super agents' could revolutionize work, but their computational demands may outpace current tech infrastructure, Barclays analysts warn.
World's smallest injectable pacemaker powers itself using body fluids.
interestingengineering.com World's smallest injectable pacemaker powers itself using body fluids
The device is smaller than a grain of rice and can be paired with a soft, wireless wearable designed to be attached to the patient’s chest.
Are AI Models Advanced Enough To Translate Literature? The Debate Is Roiling Publishing.
themarkup.org Are AI Models Advanced Enough To Translate Literature? The Debate Is Roiling Publishing – The Markup
Major publishers are experimenting with automated translations, hundreds of which have already been produced
Will AI R&D Automation Cause a Software Intelligence Explosion?
www.forethought.org Will AI R&D Automation Cause a Software Intelligence Explosion? | Forethought
AI companies are increasingly using AI systems to accelerate AI research and development. Today’s AI systems help researchers write code, analyze research papers, and generate training data. Future systems could be significantly more capable – potentially automating the entire AI development cycle f...
China aims for world's first fusion-fission reactor by 2031
asiatimes.com China aims for world's first fusion-fission reactor by 2031 - Asia Times
Jiangxi, an inland province famous for copper and coal resources, plans to build a fusion-fission reactor or "artificial sun" by 2031
www.forwardfuture.ai Biohybrid and Soft Robotics: Living Machines Changing AI, Healthcare, and Industry
Explore the global rise of biohybrid and soft robotics, where living tissues meet machines. Discover groundbreaking innovations, from self-healing robots to cyborg jellyfish, and the ethical questions shaping the future of robotics.
DNA scaffolds enable self-assembling 3D electronic devices.
techxplore.com DNA scaffolds enable self-assembling 3D electronic devices
Researchers at Columbia Engineering have for the first time used DNA to help create 3D electronically operational devices with nanometer-size features.
Isar Aerospace's first Spectrum rocket about to displace the V-2 as Germany’s largest rocket.
arstechnica.com This launcher is about to displace the V-2 as Germany’s largest rocket
Isar Aerospace’s first Spectrum rocket will launch from Andøya Spaceport in Norway.
mindmatters.ai AI researchers: Chatbots are spouting Russian, Chinese propaganda
The main point is that, for a free society, digital literacy matters more than ever.
Large educational improvements have been demonstrated in Africa with AI too. What seems to be happening is that benefits students gain from one-on-one tutoring, happen with AI which effectively functions as the same thing.
The article says they are using less powerful software in America than China, which is not what I would have expected for an American company.
venturebeat.com ‘Gradually then suddenly’: Is AI job displacement following this pattern?
Many technological shifts have coincided with economic downturns. Will 2025 be the year AI not only augments jobs but starts to replace them?
Google DeepMind has launched Gemini Robotics and Gemini Robotics-ER, two AI models based on Gemini 2.0 that bring advanced reasoning, interactivity, and dexterity to real-world robotics.
deepmind.google Introducing Gemini Robotics and Gemini Robotics-ER, AI models designed for robots to understand, act and react to the physical world.
Introducing Gemini Robotics and Gemini Robotics-ER, AI models designed for robots to understand, act and react to the physical world.
AI Scientist Passes Peer Review for First Time
How DeepSeek became a fortune teller for China’s youth - AI-powered BaZi analysis has become the new oracle for a disillusioned generation seeking answers.
www.technologyreview.com How DeepSeek became a fortune teller for China’s youth
AI-powered BaZi analysis has become the new oracle for a disillusioned generation seeking answers.
Something I heard recently both surprised me, yet at the same time resonated with me. It was the view that the 21st century is being modeled in China's image where the 20th century was modeled on America. The US thought it would make China more like it, instead America has become more like China - transactional and authoritarian in its dealings with the world.
Paradoxically their approach is to use less training data. HF are saying they have reverse engineered some of the capabilities of OpenAI’s o1 model, by using an approach called 'Test-time compute scaling' which OpenAI have acknowledged using, but not disclosed exactly how.
https://the-decoder.com/study-shows-test-time-compute-scaling-is-a-path-to-better-ai-systems/
Just as the investor funded AI companies think they have the shallowest of moats, and a chance to build revenue, no - once again Open Source is snapping at their heels. Someone is going to blink first in this race, and I suspect it will be the investor funded AI companies.
The video game industry is a huge employer. It makes you wonder how much longer we will be saying that.
AGI, genetic editing of humans for starters. Advanced robotics, the discovery of alien life. Maybe another new paradigm in our understanding of the science and the universe on a par with Einstein's?
They are not going up in China.
At least all the China EV tariffs will take some of the pressure off them. They can continue to trundle on being second-rate.
Here's the paper citied - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202407892