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Google’s DeepMind creates AI that blows away existing speech synthesizers. 

Can we work out what ingredients could make “free will” work? Here’s a map of some of the steps it would need. 

What does a theoretical physicist do all day? Janna Levin shares some insight on perception vs. reality, and provides a glimpse of how she spends her time (hint: doing math).

Sponsored by the Hertz Foundation

Artists, illustrators, and adventurers of the 1800s has fantastical imaginations for the distant future, i.e. our present day. How do their magical predictions stack up against our reality?

We have an ethical imperative to deploy artificially intelligent robots on the battlefield, says Jerry Kaplan. They keep soldiers off the battlefield and discriminate between civilian and military life.

This is a cyborg stingray. It’s as big as a penny, guided by a laser, and moves on its own when exposed to blue light. And it’s the brainchild of Kevin Kit Parker.

The saying in coding goes: if you have to do a job more than once, automate the task. Bots will one day unburden you from these tasks.

Researchers announce a potential breakthrough in using nanotechnology to fight cancer.

The Kardashev Scale measures the advancement of cosmic societies.

Tesla’s Elon Musk gives a grave warning to those trying to hold back self-driving car technology. According to him, we have it all backwards.

The thinking behind Turing Machines and “universal systems,” is being extended to build a new kind of physics. “Constructor Theory,” is being developed by David Deutsch and Chiara Marletto to better explain life. It even suggests why morality arose. 

Google’s DeepMind and the Future of Humanity Institute are trying to find a way for human operators to stay in control if artificial intelligence starts acting out. 

We are entering a new generation of prostheses. In years to come bionic limbs will become a reality. Soon the paralyzed and amputees will have limbs that they can use as if they were their real arms and legs. Learn more about this development and the technology behind it.

Does your doctor have the right to choose not to help you if they oppose the procedure you request? Several schools of thought offer differing answers.

Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) has sent in five robots to locate the spent fuel rods in one of the Fukushima plant’s buildings. However, the robots have gone dark. Operators believe radiation from the plant melted their wires.

The current buzz is that robots are set to take our jobs – whether we work on the factory floor or the halls of finance. What could possibly be next? Perhaps robots will even replace our children.

On this week’s episode of Think Again – a Big Think Podcast, Ethan Hawke and host Jason Gots discuss fatherhood, perpetual warfare, and the daily struggle between light and dark within every person.

Creators of artificial intelligence measure how well machines can imitate human qualities like empathy, listening, affirmation, and love. Don’t reciprocate, says Sherry Turkle.

With apps and digital connectivity ruling our lives, the need to physically be somewhere is less urgent. So what does this mean for robotic or driverless cars? Will the Millennial generation’s cold shoulder for cars affect the way they cost, look, and hit the market?

With gift ideas from as little as $11, there might be something to tickle anyone’s fancy. “It is worthy of notice that in Table VI the brighter variables have the longer […]

Three current trends hint at the future of global business: the rise of artificial intelligence, the shifting center of economic gravity from west to east, and new existential problems like obesity and climate change.

New analyses of data gathered by the 2001 Mars Odyssey rover reveals that water molecules are bound up in the very soil of Mars.  

Nanotech could revolutionize diagnostics, research and development, drug delivery, tissue repair, and so much more. But challenges remain, and certain threats may arise out of this new technology.   

Future clothing will make you look dazzling with amazing special effects.   

How autonomous weapons will be utilized in our military is uncertain. Paul Scharre shares why their future use on the battlefield should be carefully considered. 

A new generation of humanoid robots are coming in the 2020s, says innovation and industry expert Alec Ross. They will care for our aging populations and revolutionize manufacturing.

SETI is searching for the same signals humans were producing in the 1960s. Why wouldn’t aliens do better? “I know perfectly well that at this moment the whole universe is listening […]

Tesla announced it’s semi-autonomous Autopilot system was involved in its first deadly crash on May 7, 2016. This marks the first fatality involving an autonomous vehicle. However, this tragedy should not hinder progress.

Healthcare, education, food production, and resource management will all have to change if we are to survive and thrive.