They Can Grow New Body Parts from Cells ... Easily

Scientists recently published results that describe how they use TNT (not the explosive) to reprogram skin cells to make other types of cells they used in the body to fix problems.

The main things they did: make vascular cells to make blood flow again to test subjects (animals) with skin flaps and removed femoral arteries. They also made nerve cells to to help subjects recover from stroke.

The process has 2 parts: a chip (developed 6 years ago) that injects the "cargo," and the cargo itself -- plasmid, DNA, or even RNA. The cargo induces plasticity (it fires novel cell reprogramming factor genes into the skin cells) through tiny channels in the cell membranes (much smaller than the older process for doing this).

The researchers were "surprised how it worked so well" and don't completely understand it yet, but they've also achieved or see themselves achieving similar results in making insulin-producing cells that can sense glucose levels, changing white fat cells to brown, and working with eyes and ears.

They also explained that they see the technology going much further, relaying transfection to deeper than skin levels, since they can do this with almost any cell type. It requires no lab equipment, so they see it being done at point-of-care.

Japan's Soccer Robots Wear Cleats This Year

This was the main improvement demonstrated by the kid-sized humanoid robots playing at this year's RoboCup in Nagoya.

According to the first place U of Bordeaux team, Rhoban Football Club,

"The main innovation of the robot is located in its feet. The feet are no longer flat but are put on the ground on top of 4 cleats at each foot corner. Only these cleats are in contact with the ground and 'sink' into the artificial grass. This greatly improve the stability of the robot walking on the ”soft” turf."

Fingerprints, Eyescans, Photos Mandatory in All of India

A fingerprint scan, an eyescan, and a headshot photo are being taken for every Indian right now. The database started out as a voluntary program before becoming mandatory.

The "biometric identification program" called "AADHAR" now has 1.15b people in its database -- 99% of all Indian adults are documented.

Many Indians don't otherwise have birth certificates or other documentation. There is also a lot of fraud and theft related to identity (not just with crossing borders and regular crime, but also with the government's attempts to send money to assist the poor) in the country of many uneducated people.

Now in India every bank account and tax return must be linked to a person's biometric ID, and an AADHAR is required to receive any government benefits. According to the government, this is expected to save India around $11b per year.

The project cost the equivalent of $1.5b dollars, and was undertaken in the name of security as well as order, including monitoring border-crossers between Indian and Pakistan and Bangladesh.

There is criticism. Rights groups say the savings are not as great as the government claims, and fraud can still go on because a middle man whose role it is to confirm AADHAR and distribute government welfare can still deny resources or engage in corrupt behavior. There have already been leaks of personal data as well.

The country's supreme court has confirmed the right of the government to link AADHAR to social benefits and tax returns, but hasn't yet ruled on whether the state can force Indians to register without violating his right to privacy.

New Cameras That Don't Use Lenses

They can be super tiny, light, and very thin. They're the new cameras being developed by Caltech that use OPAs (optical phased array).

They made a new version of the same project they did last year; this time an 8x8 (64 receptor) lensless camera, as a small proof-of-concept that works.

"We've created a single thin layer of integrated silicon photonics that emulates the lens and sensor of a digital camera, reducing the thickness and cost of digital cameras. It can mimic a regular lens, but can switch from a fish-eye to a telephoto lens instantaneously -- with just a simple adjustment in the way the array receives light," according to the lead investigator.

The OPA is a grid of receptors. They each can be controlled to take in light from a particular direction. So, when they focus all their 64 receptors on a target that has 2 lights on in front, the 2 lights are perceived in the recorded image. The concept can be scaled up from there to higher resolution.

Future of AI 'Scariest' Thing - Elon Musk

Musk has been making the point for a while now, and he repeated his opinion several times at a widely publicized long interview on stage at the the National Governors Association in Rhode Island this week.

He said he was exposed to the cutting edge of AI, and that it was the "scariest problem" facing human civilization. He it actually represented an "existential threat" to people, and he said it several times.

Musk said he didn't know of a solution for it.

He was also talking about electronic cars and solar power, and the discussion, complimented by several thoughtful questions from the governors in attendance, went into corporate and regulatory considerations in the 3 industries in question, but turned back to the dangers of AI frequently.

"AI is a fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization in a way that car accidents, airplane crashes faulty, drugs or bad food were not. They were harmful to certain individuals within society but not to society as whole,” he said.

Musk said AI so unusual that people should be pro-active in regulating it before it's too late. When he was asked by the governors for details about what sort of regulation, he seemed to retreat a bit from the position and called for more insight to be collected at the government level, because currently, it doesn't even have that.

He gave a few examples of the kinds of dangers AI posed, too, after saying the biggest threat was a deep level AI inside networks. One example that seemed to quiet the room was that an AI programmed to maximize stock value could invest in military, pull out of consumer goods, and shoot down a passenger plane over a warring region, while sending an anonymous tip-off that there was an enemy plane flying near the plane, a situation similar to what actually happened with the second Malaysian Air plane on the Ukraine-Russia border a couple years ago (although Musk said he did not believe that particular instance was necessarily any kind of conspiracy).

Hot New Trend: Green Walls

Large vertical gardens planted on walls outdoors is the latest city-cooling venture being undertaken in places like warm dry Madrid.

Right now people are talking about the wall outside the CaixaForum, on which 15,000 plants from 300 native species grow, including yucca, ferns and begonias. The wall is as long as a city block. It has been there since 2008, though, designed by French botanist Patrick Blanc.

The CaixaForum wall is built using a polyurethane sheet, a plastic mesh, and a non-biodegradable felt blanket (which acts like a sponge to hold water and provide a place for roots to take hold). Water is fed by irrigation hose lines from the top of the wall. 

How does greenery improve cities? Besides the shade it provides (keeping the sun from baking the pavement and building walls), it dampens city noise, releases water vapor into the air, increasing humidity, which can be a good thing in places that are not already uncomfortably humid, and adds oxygen to the air. City residents also like the look of the walls, and they provide a focus for tourism (visitors to cities don't often get to see the variety of plants native to the country).

Besides building roof and wall gardens, Madrid is funneling city funds (and offering tax breaks) into expanding parks, converting vacant spaces into gardens and parks (water is provided by re-paving certain areas with rainwater-capturing porous material), installing heat-deflecting windows, and painting roofs to reflect sunlight.

According to an architectural firm consulted by the city, if Madrid covered 10-25% of its roofs or walls in greenery, noise would be cut 10 decibels, particle pollution would go down 20%, and temperatures would go down 18 degrees F.

New Trains Don't Use Rails

It runs along regular asphalt roads, using rubber tires instead of steel wheels, following painted lines, and it's electric.

Cost is a big factor that limits cities' ability to serve commuters and freight with trains. A company in China called CRRC Zhuzhou Institute made something they're calling "the first railless train."

This little 3-car train is 30 feet long and tops out at 70 kmh. It can travel 20 km on a charge using its battery with 300 passengers.

Although the train follows lines painted on the road, it also has a system in it where the train can sense its surroundings and plan its own route, according to CRRC. 

Although it's autonomous, it has a drivers' seat. The train doesn't have a collision-avoidance system yet.

They're building a route for these trains in Zhuzhou city, China, starting next year.

Driverless, Zero Emissions Cargo Ships

A fully electric, zero emissions cargo ship will set sail next year in Europe.

This first one will be sent out by Norway. It's the Yara Birkeland.

Currently, Yara uses diesel trucks to haul what it plans to use these ships for. The transport is taking place between Norwegian ports -- it's not like they're doing international shipping. But confidence in the project seems high. They announced that their Birkeland will be remote controlled in 2019, unmanned in 2020. Yara's shares shot up from 7.7 to 322.8 kroner Monday.

The shipping industry currently accounts for 2.3% of global emissions. They use a lot of dirty diesel fuels (I don't mean that diesel is dirty, but these vessels have historically used dirty fuel).

Dronefence Gets Funding

Drones in commercial, industrial, government, public, and private spaces -- everywhere -- pose various threats. And they can be just a plain nuisance as well.

One company working on this problem is Dronefence. They have a patent-pending tech that basically uses 2 cameras in stereo and a sensor, as well as some software, to identify drones in the air, check if their registration passes muster, and sound an alarm if it doesn't. The system also records video footage of the drone.

Currently, Dronefence is just working on the identification. How to deal with intruding drones is another thing. But they've now acquired seed funding for their project from VP Capital, Larnabel Ventures, Boundary Holding, and the Technology and Business Consulting Group.

World's First Hybrid Aeroboat

It's capable of travelling over water, snow, sand and land, it can carry 10 people, and it has no problem with steep slopes and embankments ... and it's about to be unveiled at the Skolkovo Foundation’s Startup Village in Russia this week. ... By the way, its very different from hovercraft, and it goes way faster (keep reading).

Who will end up buying these boats? Government agencies (for emergencies and surveillance), corporations (for transporting passengers and cargo to infrastructure sites such as oil and gas rigs in shallow waters), and individuals (for transport and recreation).

“They can be used for a whole variety of applications, including search and rescue operations, transportation of people and cargo, leisure, sports, fishing, monitoring of ports and surveillance,” according to the designers.

The Aeroboat was made as a joint Russia-India project, and was designed by IIAAT Holding. The St. Petersburg firm designed the Aeroboat in order to do what is currently impossible: Shallow water, dry patches, and marine plant-life in marshy or flooded areas pose a problem for traditional boats and other vehicles, and nevermind that terrain sometimes changes drawstically with the seasons.

So how is it different from hovercraft?

Besides being more robust, cheaper to maintain and fuel, the company explained, "Hovercrafts work on static air-cushion, whereas Aeroboats work on dynamic air-cushion. This feature gives Aeroboats a huge advantage in terms of speed and maneuverability.

"While hovercrafts on average move at around 45-50 kmh, Aeroboats are capable of going at around 150 kmh and even more on water, These speed levels are critical, especially during search and rescue operations, where sometimes every minute of swiftness can result in saving lives, as well as frequency in transportation of both passengers and cargo."

Other interesting things about the Aeroboat: IIAAT developed nanomaterial-based anti-friction technology for the engine and selected mechanical parts, which greatly reduces friction and energy losses. The Aeroboat comes with either a standard gas or a hybrid gas-electric engine for increased efficiency and reduced pollution.

"Additionally, we are equipping our Aeroboats with [Internet of Things] technology, which allows us to remotely monitor and control/diagnose the equipment, as well as troubleshoot selected faults," commented Sukrit Sharan, a senior board member of IIAAT. IIAAT is working with InfoWatch Group (Russian cybersecurity) in order to ensure its IoT tech stays secure.

India has already bought 25 units, and 5 have been delivered, and its expected the Aeroboats will be used in India's vast regions of rivers and canals, which are sometimes dry land, sometimes monsoon flood. A similar but different use is predicted for Russia, where there is also government interest, because parts of the country with rivers and canals that are sometimes frozen, and so boats can't transport year-round.

And guess what? They're already working on a new version: an electric-only one Aeroboat with tandem wings.

New Tech Means More People Will Be Making Money From Their Intellectual Property - Russian Economic Diversification Authority

According to Igor Drozdov, the board chairman of the Skolkovo Foundation, who spoke at Russia's SPIEF economic forum this year, new technologies will allow more people "to earn real money using intellectual property institutions."

He also talked about tech that would be developed in order to protect IP, describing projects similar to what Microsoft is currently working on.

"Currently, works of authorship are analyzed by humans, but as artificial intelligence technologies become more and more sophisticated, they can at one point analyze texts just like humans, making AI expert evaluation possible."

Paradigm Shift From Industrial to Knowledge City

In 2017, the idea has come to the fore that there has been a shift towards a knowledge/creative class, and the new method of production is knowledge. Recently, the subject featured large at the 2017 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Cities that have developed lately into strong knowledge economies are considered to have had seeds decades ago in investment in education.

The new drivers of competitiveness of cities: No power losses, evolution and dynamics of the city’s economy, higher disposable income, personal wealth, and high technologies.

According to Roberto dos Reis Alvarez, Executive Director, Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils, who spoke at SPIEF on these ideas, "First, the Seamless City. Cities should operate in a way that we are not wasting energy-created heat, but just light. A second key idea ... was really about evolution. And how could cities be adaptive to ... all these transformations... A third conversation was about the Wellcity, this is really about wellness at the personal level. ... And finally, this concept of the free city."

Russia's place in the future knowledge economy was highlighted by Alexey Kudrin, Chairman of the Board, Center for Strategic Research Foundation: "By 2025, 60% of the world's GDP will be produced in 600 major cities. ... In Russia, only two cities – Moscow and St. Petersburg – can somehow take part in this global competition. The first two cities produce 27% of Russia's GDP; it is 13% in the US and 9% in Europe."

The speakers talked about building new cities, but with modern technology, because current infrastructure is lagging behind tech. "When Russia will create ... large cities and agglomerations which will become the hubs bringing together technology and intellectual potential, social capital and quality of life, it is only then that it will be competitive on a global scale," said Kudrin. "Those 15 cities with a population of more than a million people, and another five cities that would be able to gather more than a million people around taking the agglomeration into account, should receive special support and, perhaps, a special status,"

The goal of these new cities is one that would require special civil workers, another speaker noted. "There is a need to have such a mayor who would have his own vision of the future and would be working hard in their position, and for a long time."

And these would also require new transportation -- airports and high-speed railways.

Microsoft Obtains Patent to Use for Detecting Pirated Content

The company was granted a patent for technology that scans items users have stored on the cloud when they are shared. 

Microsoft envisions using software based on the patent for services like Google Drive, Dropbox and other storage services, social networks, and pirate sites. 

A summary of how the patent is understood: "When objects are shared by one user with another user, prohibited content, if identified as such, can be blocked from being shared, while the remainder of the shared objects can be accessed by the other user."

Microsoft intends that people who share copyrighted content can be banned.

It is illegal to share copyrighted content, although not illegal to store it on the cloud.