Nova Spivack – Minding the Planet

I believe the next big leap for the Web is what I am calling "The World Wide Database." The World Wide Database is a globally distributed network of data records that reside on millions of nodes around the network which collectively behaves as a giant virtual, decentralized database system. Google Base is an attempt to [...]

This organization has some very cool projects studying exotic new energy devices. Check out their Projects page. Related Posts:Water Powered Car — Too Good to Be True? Video.Interesting New Magnetic Motor Announced: Big Claims MadeFascinating US Air Force Teleportation Physics StudySteorn Set to Demo "Free Energy" Device TomorrowVery Cool Laser Graffitti Technology

This article discusses recent research into encoding short 100 word messages into the DNA of living organisms. The error-correcting characteristics of DNA enable such messages to be passed down without degrading across generations. By embedding short messages into hardy organisms such as particular strains of bacteria, it may be possible to preserve information over longer [...]

I am playing around with the barely functional live beta of Google Base that just launched. There’s not much there, but what I do see is interesting. At the very least this is going to be serious competition for Ning. Beyond that it may compete with Craigslist and other classifieds and events listing services. It’s [...]

From Boing Boing today: Xeni Jardin: A report in this week’s issue of Science says 20 percent of human genes have been patented in the United States: The study (…) is the first time that a detailed map has been created to match patents to specific physical locations on the human genome. Researchers can patent [...]

My friend Ken Schaffer’s startup, TV2Me, is starting to really push the envelope on video streaming. Their box enables you to stream your own cable, satellite or terrestrial TV signal to your laptop or cell phone or PC, no matter where you are, with incredible fidelity. You hook up their component to your cable box [...]

Here is a good article from IBM that provides decent, not-overly-technical, overview of the technologies that make up the Semantic Web, and the value they offer. Related Posts:Radar Networks Profiled in Technology ReviewWeb 3.0 Roundup: Radar Networks, Powerset, Metaweb and Others…How the WebOS Evolves?Folktologies — Beyond the Folksonomy vs. Ontology DistinctionNew Version of My "Metaweb" [...]

I’ve been thinking a bit about how the GUI for computer desktops could be improved so that it is possible to have more information available without cluttering the screen with windows and folders etc. One approach that is kind of interesting is to think of the desktop as a sphere instead of a plane. You [...]

Steven Spielberg has applied for a patent on a new cinema technology which he claims will bring viewer right inside the movie.   "But in the future, you will physically be inside the experience, which will surround you top, bottom, on all sides. This sounds a bit like a larger version of the immersive movie-rides [...]

Today I read this nice article which provides a short consumer-friendly overview of the history of the Digital Physics paradigm. Digital Physics is not mainstream physics — but it is growing and someday could become huge. It brings together computer scientists and physicists in an interdisciplinary approach to physics. While many advocates simply take the [...]

Japanese researchers have developed a technology for the remote control of humans. Hmm… sounds kind of creepy. The system uses weak electrical stimulation of the vestibular system, causing the subject to shift balance and change direction. This technology can also be used to create vestibular illusions — for example, it can be used to make [...]

I just read that a Japanese team is actually developing technology to store data in human fingernails. I proposed this concept on this blog last year in this  post.   That may qualify as prior art. I wonder if they are going to try to patent this? Not that I mind, I think it’s a great [...]

A cutting-edge research program is injecting human brain cells into monkey brains, to investigate whether this causes their brains to become more "human." This poses a potential ethical challenge: If the monkeys do become more human, would they be considered "human subjects" and be protected by ethical guidelines governing research onto humans? At which point [...]

Fascinating article about research which has successfully extracted video from monitoring cat neurons. They have actually reconstructed what the cat actually saw from its neural signals. This opens the door to recording our day-to-day perceptions (lifelogs) and perhaps even to recording our dreams. And of course there might be options for playback as well. This [...]

A new technique has been successfully tested which appears to be able to bring dogs back to life after 3 hours of being clinically dead. This research may hold promise not only for saving lives in cases where clinical death happens before surgery can be performed or completed, but also perhaps for preserving and later [...]

The Fembots are coming… see the photo Related Posts:Must-Know Terms for the 21st Century IntellectualSimulated Universes and the Nature of ConsciousnessVirtual Out of Body ExperiencesMetaweb and Radar NetworksBig Thinkers' Most Dangerous Ideas

Quantum researchers have proposed a new model of time travel that may overcome paradoxes (such as going back in time and undoing something that causes an impossibility in your future  — for example, preventing yourself from being born). The basic idea is that if you travel to your past you cannot interact with anything that [...]

Researchers in Europe have completed the first phase of what may be the largest computational physics experiment in history: They built and ran a simulated universe through 14 billion years of development. The experiment used up 25 million megabytes of memory, and the biggest supercomputer in Europe for a month. The result was a “Cube [...]

Here is a thought-provoking article that discusses several possible directions for the future evoloution of the human species. It includes comments by Richard Dawkins, as well as several scenarios with pictures of what humans might look like in the distant future. Related Posts:Big Thinkers' Most Dangerous IdeasScientist Says "Never in Our Imagination Could This Happen." [...]

NASA’s research on subvocalization technology is moving forward. Their system intercepts nerve signals to the vocal cords before the speaker makes a sound and then figures out what words they signify. This technology will enable people to speak silently on the phone or to their computers, without moving their lips or making a sound. It’s [...]

Significant new research findings indicate that a new ice age may be starting sooner than anyone expected… CLIMATE change researchers have detected the first signs of a slowdown in the Gulf Stream — the mighty ocean current that keeps Britain and Europe from freezing. They have found that one of the “engines” driving the Gulf [...]

There’s a very interesting event taking place at MIT tonight — the first (and only?) Time Traveler Convention. The organizers are inviting anyone in the future who is capable of time travel to travel back to the geo coordinates of this event (to be held at MIT) and attend it, along with proof that they [...]

Here is an interesting article about an analysis of SMS messaging versus e-mail messaging on mobile networks. The conclusion is that e-mail messaging is more efficient for mobile consumers because email networks are scale-free networks. The article predicts that services based on scale-free topologies will ultimately win out over less optimal alternatives. Thanks to Murli. [...]

A number of readers sent me links this week about the new Sony patent for ultrasonic neural stimulation.  It is definitely interesting and could represent a useful new approach to non-invasive brainstate manipulation. However, it is by no means anywhere near being useful for entertainment, virtual reality, or mind control. Our understanding of how the [...]

I just read this really cool idea about how to design a programming language for the global brain — think of it as grid computing, but where some of the agents in the grid are humans and others are computers, working together to solve problems. I’ve had similar ideas to this over the years, for [...]

This interesting abstract from CERN proposes a third form of matter that is between matter and antimatter: "unmatter." Interesting idea to track. It could have huge implications if confirmed. Related Posts:New Wireless Power Technology — No More Wires!Water Powered Car — Too Good to Be True? Video.Global Institute for New EnergyHafnium Bombs – The Next [...]

Many years ago I spoke with Will Wright — one of the most interesting visionaries I’ve met (and who happens to be the creator of Sim City) about his dream of a universe game — one in which the player could evolve life from the simple cellular level all the way up through galactic scale [...]

A new study claims that life on earth emerges and is wiped out in 62 million year cycles. The dinosaurs vanished 65 million years ago. That implies we are 3 million years overdue for a mass-extinction cycle. Or maybe we’re 3 million years into one? Data indicates that species are presently going extinct at an [...]

MIT neuroscientist, Guosong Liu, has found that human neurons compute in trinary, using signals that are the equivalents of -1, 0 and 1. By contrast, all computers compute in binary, using just 0 and 1. Because the units of trinary computation can in some cases be additive (e.g. 1+1=2) or can "cancel out" (e.g. -1 [...]