Science & Technology

Who are the real machines? People follow robots in emergency situations, even when proven untrustworthy

Phys.org
Mon, 29 Feb 2016 00:00 UTC

© Rob Felt, Georgia Tech
Georgia Tech researchers built the 'Rescue Robot' to determine whether or not building occupants would trust a robot designed to help them evacuate a high-rise in case of fire or other emergency.

In emergencies, people may trust robots too much for their own safety, a new study suggests. In a mock building fire, test subjects followed instructions from an "Emergency Guide Robot" even after the machine had proven itself unreliable - and after some participants were told that robot had broken down.

The research was designed to determine whether or not building occupants would trust a robot designed to help them evacuate a high-rise in case of fire or other emergency. But the researchers were surprised to find that the test subjects followed the robot's instructions - even when the machine's behavior should not have inspired trust.

The research, believed to be the first to study human-robot trust in an emergency situation, is scheduled to be presented March 9 at the 2016 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2016) in Christchurch, New Zealand.

"People seem to believe that these robotic systems know more about the world than they really do, and that they would never make mistakes or have any kind of fault," said Alan Wagner, a senior research engineer in the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). "In our studies, test subjects followed the robot's directions even to the point where it might have put them in danger had this been a real emergency."

Comment: Humanity's planned obsolescence? The robot revolution got real in 2015

Comets & Asteroids - Summary for February 2016

Ernesto Guido
Remanzacco Blog
Mon, 29 Feb 2016 19:13 UTC

During the month of February 2016, 3 new comets were discovered, there were 2 recoveries and cometary activity was detected for 2 previously discovered objects (earlier designated as asteroids). New fragments of comet P/2015 Y2 = P/2010 V1 (IKEYA-MURAKAMI) (see previous post) reported. According to a paper available on Arxiv, at least 17 fragments have been identified.

Moreover the binary nature of asteroid (2535) Hämeenlinna and a previously unknown shower of naked-eye meteors, now known as the Volantids, have been reported (see below for more about this news). "Current comet magnitudes" & "Daily updated asteroid flybys" pages are available at the top of this blog (or just click on the underline text here).

The dates below refer to the date of issuance of CBET (Central Bureau Electronic Telegram) which reported the official news & designations.

- Comet Discoveries

Feb 14 Discovery of C/2016 C1 (PANSTARRS)
Feb 15 Discovery of P/2016 BA14 (PANSTARRS)*
Feb 19 Discovery of C/2016 C2 (NEOWISE)

SETI: Newly discovered meteor shower points to 'potentially hazardous' comet

Elizabeth Howell
Discovery News
Fri, 26 Feb 2016 10:38 UTC

© Desert Fireball Network/Curtin University
A likely Volantid meteor captured by the Desert Fireball Network in Australia.

While Earth can breathe easy for now, the SETI Institute and other astronomers are on the lookout for a "potentially hazardous" comet that may in the distant future pose a threat to our planet.

The search comes after a new meteor shower was spotted around New Year's Eve. It has never been seen before or tracked in radar observations. Calculations of the stream show the Earth is safe for the foreseeable future, but astronomers will be on the lookout for the parent body.

"In a way, the shower helped chase bad spirits away," said SETI Institute meteor astronomer Peter Jenniskens in a statement. "Now we have an early warning that we should be looking for a potentially hazardous comet in that orbit."

The shower was seen in New Zealand with a network of video surveillance camera. It is called the Volantids after the constellation Volans (flying fish). As is traditional with meteor showers, it is named after the spot in the sky from which the meteors appear to emanate.

Meteor showers are in themselves regular and harmless events, but are being used in a new video surveillance project to find comets that could be dangerous to our planet. The project is a collaboration between Jenniskens and Jack Baggaley, a physics professor at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.

Comment: For more on potentially hazardous comets and their impact on civilization, read our Comet and Catastrophe series.

A blue nebula shines in deep space in new Hubble photo

Miriam Kramer
Mashable
Sun, 28 Feb 2016 21:42 UTC

A blue-tinted cosmic bubble floats 30,000 light-years from Earth.

A newly-released photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope shows a star, named WR 31a, circled by a Wolf - Rayet nebula — the bubble-shaped blue structure made of gas and dust in the image.

"Unfortunately, the lifecycle of a Wolf - Rayet star is only a few hundred thousand years — the blink of an eye in cosmic terms," Hubble said in a statement.

Scientists gone wild create chicken embryo with dinosaur face, ostensibly to study evolution

Melissa Hogenboom
BBC
Sun, 28 Feb 2016 19:31 UTC

Sixty-five million years ago, an asteroid is believed to have crashed into Earth. The impact wiped out huge numbers of species, including almost all of the dinosaurs. One group of dinosaurs managed to survive the disaster. Today, we know them as birds.

The idea that birds evolved from dinosaurs has been around since the 19th century, when scientists discovered the fossil of an early bird called Archaeopteryx. It had wings and feathers, but it also looked a lot like a dinosaur. More recent fossils look similar.

But these early birds didn't look the same as modern ones. In particular, they didn't have beaks: they had snouts, like those of their dinosaur ancestors.

To understand how one changed into another, a team has been tampering with the molecular processes that make up a beak in chickens.

By doing so, they have managed to create a chicken embryo with a dinosaur-like snout and palate, similar to that of small feathered dinosaurs like Velociraptor. The results are published in the journal Evolution.

Portland, Oregon installs turbines in their city water pipes, powers city by flushing toilets

Erin Elizabeth
Health Nut news
Fri, 26 Feb 2016 16:42 UTC

Hydroelectric turbines have been installed in one of the main water pipelines in Portland,Oregon, utilizing the water pressure to produce electricity.

The turbines work where water is flowing downhill, and are already recouping some of the energy cost in keeping the water system running. When fully in place, these pipe generators can power hundreds of thousands of homes.

Comment: See also: Morocco unveils a massive solar thermal power plant in the Sahara

First ever biological supercomputer

Sputnik News
Sun, 28 Feb 2016 16:57 UTC

Canadian scientists have apparently opened the door to the world of biological supercomputers: this week they unveiled a prototype of a potentially revolutionary unit - as small as a book, energy-efficient with extreme mathematical capabilities and which, importantly, does not overheat.

Scientists have created an energy efficient biological supercomputer that is able to process information quickly and accurately using parallel networks in the same way that huge electronic supercomputers do.

The potentially revolutionary biological device is powered by adenosine triphosphate, protein strings, which the scientific community often refers to as the "molecular unit of currency."

The bio supercomputer, which the team of developers refers to as a prototype, because it still needs some work done on it, will open the doors to the creation of future biological supercomputers that are not only small but also more sustainable.

Harvesting fresh water from fog

EngHasel
Fri, 26 Feb 2016 22:16 UTC

Our brains will be ready to be teleported across space, when technology makes it possible - study

RT
Fri, 26 Feb 2016 17:17 UTC

Teleportation may stay in the realm of science fiction for the foreseeable future, but scientists say that our brains already react favorably to instantaneously being transported across space.

In a study published in the journal Neuron on Thursday, neuroscientists from the University of California, Davis studied how the brain would react if it were to be "beamed up" from one place to another using a virtual simulation.

When volunteers entered a virtual teleportation device ‒ similar to the ones made famous in the Star Trek franchise ‒ researchers found that that their brains gave off certain "rhythmic oscillations" of electric signals like the ones that a rat brain creates when the animal navigates a maze.

Study find ebola survivors face long-term health and neurological issues

Sarah Boseley
The Guardian
Thu, 25 Feb 2016 18:50 UTC

© 20th Century Fox/Getty Images
Pauline Cafferkey enters an isolation tent in Glasgow earlier this week before boarding a plane bound for London.

Study undertaken in Liberia suggests Ebola virus has lasting impact on the brain of survivors, causing headache, memory loss and depressed mood

Ebola survivors are continuing to suffer from neurological problems more than six months after infection, according to the early results of a new study.

The findings from research undertaken by US neurologists in Liberia appear to confirm suspicions that there are serious long-term effects of Ebola virus disease. They have been made public days after Pauline Cafferkey, the nurse who contracted Ebola while working as a volunteer in Sierra Leone, was admitted for the third time to the infectious diseases unit of the Royal Free hospital.

The study was carried out in Liberia by researchers from the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda. A team of neurologists travelled to Liberia, where they recruited 87 survivors of the epidemic for a study on the long-term impact on the brain. Four were excluded because of other conditions. The remaining 82 were examined by the team and compared with close contacts who had not contracted the Ebola virus.

Comment: The Ebola virus may have many faces and unknown effects. Best to be in the best possible health.

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Science & Technology

Who are the real machines? People follow robots in emergency situations, even when proven untrustworthy

Comets & Asteroids - Summary for February 2016

SETI: Newly discovered meteor shower points to 'potentially hazardous' comet

A blue nebula shines in deep space in new Hubble photo

Scientists gone wild create chicken embryo with dinosaur face, ostensibly to study evolution

Portland, Oregon installs turbines in their city water pipes, powers city by flushing toilets

First ever biological supercomputer

Harvesting fresh water from fog

Our brains will be ready to be teleported across space, when technology makes it possible - study

Study find ebola survivors face long-term health and neurological issues

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