Over the last 10 years, policies were put in place to prevent Canadian scientists from freely discussing taxpayer-funded science with the public.
"Media relations contacts" were enlisted to monitor and record interactions with the press. Interviews and often the questions to be asked were vetted ahead of time, and responses given by scientists frequently monitored or prohibited.
Nature, one of the world's top science journals, called the policy a "Byzantine approach to the press, prioritizing message control and showing little understanding of the importance of the free flow of scientific knowledge."
The new government in Canada is lifting these restrictions. Scientists at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans were told Thursday they can now speak to the media.
In a statement on Friday afternoon, Navdeep Bains, Canada's new minister of innovation, science and economic development said "Our government values science and will treat scientists with respect.
This is why government scientists and experts will be able to speak freely about their work to the media and the public."
Gill Pratt, executive technical adviser at Toyota, offers a note of caution, even as more car companies start putting AI elements into their cars.
Speaking in Tokyo at the announcement of a Silicon Valley AI research center that Toyota is to open in early 2016, Pratt pointed out the big shortcoming in an AI system as applied to automobile:
soon fail when faced with tasks that human drivers find simple."
From the article:
Drivers, for example, can pretty much get behind the wheel of a car and drive it wherever it may be, he said. Autonomous vehicles use GPS and laser imaging sensors to figure out where they are by matching data against a complex map that goes beyond simple roads and includes details down to lane markings.
The cars rely on all that data to drive, so they quickly hit problems in areas that haven't been mapped in advance.
... A truly intelligent self-driving car needs artificial intelligence that can figure out where it is even if it has no map or GPS, and manage to navigate highways and follow routes even if there are diversions or changing in lane markings, he said.
I regularly drive a stretch of road that's just a few miles long, but between construction, accidents, poor marking, bicycles, and heavy traffic I'd be nervous about letting an AI system navigate.
In what real-world driving scenarios would you most want humans to take over?
A controversial fertility company called OvaScience is preoccupied by an enduring mystery in human biology--why eggs fail--and the palpable hope that we can do something about it.
The company offers a new treatment, called AUGMENT, based on what it considers to be egg precursor cells found in a woman's ovaries.
AUGMENT, which costs UP TO $25,000, along with thousands more in clinic fees and roughly $25,000 for the IVF cycle that must accompany it, relies on mitochondria from putative egg precursor cells to boost the success of in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Seventeen babies have been born so far.
The company, which has attracted hundreds of millions of dollars from investors, is poised to introduce a second treatment. But many scientists doubt that egg precursor cells actually exist.
***
In 2012, a company raised over a million dollars on Indiegogo to build a robotic dragonfly.
It was originally supposed to be delivered in 2013. Unfortunately for backers, the company seems to be struggling to complete the project.
They haven't been able to resolve issues with the drone falling apart after just a few seconds of flight.
Unless they locate investors soon, they're going to run out of funds to continue work at full force.
They're in the process of uploading all design work and their knowledge base, in case they have to officially cancel the project.
They say some part-time work will continue as long as funds allow.
The TechCrunch article warns, "This is just the latest example of how consumers need to be more careful with crowdfunding.
There are no guarantees with crowdfunding and there is more risk involved than what's advertised."
Scan a 300-page book in just five minutes or so?
For a mere $199 and shipping — the current price on Indiegogo — a Chinese company says you can buy a device to do just that.
And a related video is most convincing.
The Czur scanner from CzurTek uses a speedy 32-bit MIPS CPU and fast software for scanning and correction.
It comes with a foot pedal and even offers WiFi support.
Create a book cloud for your DIY digital library?
Imagine the possibilities for Project Gutenberg-style efforts, schools, libraries and the print-challenged as well as for booklovers eager to digitize their paper libraries for convenient reading on cellphones, e-readers and tablets.
Even at the $400 expected retail price, this could be quite a bargain if the claims are true.
***
What Could Go Wrong?
Dominion Virginia Power today will formally seek a second license extension for its Surry nuclear power plant, becoming the first utility in the U.S. to try to push the operating range for nuclear reactors to 80 years.
If successful, the utility's pair of reactors in Surry County would be eligible to operate past 2050.
The Surry plant, along with its North Anna sister site in Louisa County, were initially granted 40-year permits and operate today on 20-year renewals.
Those two plants provide about 40 percent of Virginia's electricity.
***
Los Angeles will introduce a smart street lighting system, featuring connected LEDs and fully-integrated 4G LTE wireless technology.
In a collaboration between Dutch tech firm Philips and Swedish telco Ericsson, the SmartPole project aims to deliver LA citizens public lighting which is energy efficient and improves network performance in urban areas.
By the close of this week, a total of 24 SmartPoles will be installed across the Hollywood area.
The city plans to place 100 poles over the coming year, with a further 500 to follow.
***
Could this stuff kill off living sperm and end humanity?
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have found that the parts of two common types of 3D printers are toxic to zebrafish embryos.
The researchers made this discovery accidentally when a graduate student whose work involves developing tools for studying zebrafish embryos "noticed that zebrafish embryos die after exposure to parts from the 3-D printer."
According to the report, "While the embryos exposed to parts from the plastic-melting printer had slightly decreased average survival rates compared to control embryos, the embryos exposed to parts from the liquid-resin printer had significantly decreased survival rates, with more than half of the embryos dead by day three and all dead by day seven.
And of the few zebrafish embryos that hatched after exposure to parts from the liquid-resin printer, 100 percent of the hatchlings had developmental abnormalities."
No comments:
Post a Comment