Futurism

A brief history of cyborgs, superhumans and robots in pop music

The recent Wellcome Collection Superhuman Exhibition has shown how human enhancement permeates our culture from sport to comic books. A rich seam also runs through popular music — a medium that has explored both the joy and the alienation of living in a world dominated by technology and imagining what it’s like to become cybernetic.…

io9 Robert Bidder

How a new kind of “black silicon” is revolutionizing solar cells

Black silicon solar cells are a relatively new technological advance that allows for the absorption of light in the infrared spectrum — about 25% of incoming sunlight. These cells are capable of pulling in an incredible 99.7% of the light that hits their surfaces, compared to traditional cells which absorb 95%. And now, owing to…

io9 George Dvorsky

Is a bra that detects breast cancer finally becoming a reality?

We’re still very much in the early stages of introducing wearable technology to our wardrobes — but a newly developed medical device called the First Warning System is showcasing its incredible potential. Worn like a sports bra, and equipped with sensors, AI, and pattern recognition software, the device can reportedly detect angiogenic activity — cell…

io9 George Dvorsky

Should we terraform Venus first?

As a future terraforming species, we take it for granted that Mars will be our first megaproject. But while transforming the Red Planet into something more hospitable for life seems the most logical — if not easiest — first step towards colonizing the solar system, it may actually make more sense to tackle our sister…

io9 George Dvorsky

This video shows why two-dimensional wonder material graphene is about to change everything

There’s little doubt that graphene is set to be the next big thing in materials technology. At a mere one atom thick, it is incredibly flexible, eternally stretchy, conductive, and self-cooling. And as time passes, we are truly getting a better sense of the possibilities, including such things as video screens as thin and flexible…

io9 George Dvorsky

The Dr. Horrible television premiere was a glimpse of the post-TV future

Last night marked the first broadcast TV airing of the web sensation Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. I didn’t watch it. Sorry CW network, but I’ve already got the whole thing memorized from watching it repeatedly online and on DVD. But I loved seeing everybody from Felicia Day to my geeky friends tweeting about it —…

Television Annalee Newitz

Could artificial trees solve the global warming crisis?

We’ve known about the effects of climate change for decades now, but the past few years (and even months) have been particularly revealing. This past year, for instance, we’ve seen arctic sea ice levels reach an historic low, while the United States has experienced its worst wildfire season on record (not to mention all the…

io9 George Dvorsky

Why three wheeled cars could be the future of driving

When it comes to automobiles, the conventional wisdom is you need four wheels or more. So why are there cars driving around with three wheels? We’ll take a look at the science (and the economics) of tossing out one of your wheels. Tripods are good for cameras, artistic-looking tables, or even tricycles, but their utility…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

The Great Barrier Reef has lost half its coral in less than 30 years

The past 27 years has seen a shocking reduction in the amount of coral cover in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef — according to a new study, it’s down to half the size it was in 1985. This rather depressing analysis shows a drop of 50.7%, thanks to data gathered from more than 2,000 surveys of…

io9 Tim Barribeau

Who would win in a battle: Unicorns or Gray Goo?

Unicorns are incredibly potent magical creatures whose horns pack a lot of healing and transformative power. Meanwhile, gray goo is the nightmare scenario for nanotechnology, in which nanotech runs wild forever, turning all organic matter into more of itself. But if these two amazing phenomena collided, which one of them would win? You decide, in…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders

Vernor Vinge and Temple Grandin to speak at Singularity Summit 2012

The final list of speakers has been announced for Singularity Summit 2012, an annual futurist confab that brings together some of the world’s leading thinkers on such topics as robotics, regenerative medicine, artificial intelligence, brain-computer interfacing, and of course, the Technological Singularity. And this year’s lineup features a diverse bunch, from science fiction author Vernor…

io9 George Dvorsky

Will philosophy unlock the puzzle that is artificial intelligence?

Quantum physicist David Deutsch has penned a provocative and must-read article for Aeon Magazine in which he argues that artificial intelligence might someday be possible — but only if a major breakthrough is made in our fundamental understanding of how human cognition and consciousness works. And to get there, he says, we’ll need to listen…

io9 George Dvorsky

What comes next after the Noosphere?

We’re living in the era of the noosphere: a term that describes how humans fundamentally change the world around them. Just like the atmosphere or the biosphere, the term “noosphere” describes a feature of our entire planet — except that this feature is us. But it won’t stop there. What other “spheres” will we discover…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

It is now possible to receive text messages from a cow’s vagina

The problem: producing milk is stressful. So stressful, in fact, that it can make outward signs that a cow is in heat all but impossible to spot. The solution: vaginal text messages. Thanks to some handy new heat-sensing tech, cows are now capable of broadcasting SMS messages with their genitals to alert farmers that they…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Is this what people will be talking about on Reddit a thousand years from now?

Redditor gonzoblair has produced this fantastically comprehensive and twisted vision of what the front page of Reddit might look like in the year 3012. Click to see larger image. And be sure to mention your favorite links in the comments.

io9 George Dvorsky

New project aims to upload a honey bee’s brain into a flying insectobot by 2015

Every once in a while, there’s news which reminds us that we’re living in the age of accelerating change. This is one of those times: A new project has been announced in which scientists at the Universities of Sheffield and Sussex are hoping to create the first accurate computer simulation of a honey bee brain…

io9 George Dvorsky

How did this game bot score higher than humans on a Turing Test?

Anyone who plays video games knows that game bots, artificially intelligent virtual gamers, can be spotted a mile away on account of their mindless predictability and utter lack of behavioral realism. Looking to change this, 2K Games recently launched the BotPrize competition, a kind of Turing Test for nonplayer characters (NPCs). And remarkably, this year’s…

io9 George Dvorsky

9 Historical Figures Who May Have Predicted Our Future

We like to think that many of our fantastic dreams of the future — from space colonization to artificial intelligence and human enhancement — are fairly recent conceptions. But nothing could be further from the truth. Futurist visionaries have been speculating about these possibilities for centuries. And now, as we head into an era of…

io9 George Dvorsky

Breakthrough: This electronic implant can dissolve inside your body

The boundary that divides man from machine continues to dissolve — and in more literal ways than you might imagine. Scientists today announced a new class of electronics that can disappear completely, resorbing into its environment after carrying out a designated task. The potential applications of this technology — dubbed “Transient Electronics” by its creators…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Should we eliminate the human ability to feel pain?

In yesterday’s Daily Explainer we told you all about pain — why it exists, how it works, and how scientists are trying to quantify its effects. Though pain has clearly served an important evolutionary purpose, not everyone is convinced that we still need it. A growing number of forward-looking thinkers are suggesting that we need…

io9 George Dvorsky

A brief history of cyborgs, superhumans and robots in pop music

How a new kind of “black silicon” is revolutionizing solar cells

Is a bra that detects breast cancer finally becoming a reality?

Should we terraform Venus first?

This video shows why two-dimensional wonder material graphene is about to change everything

The Dr. Horrible television premiere was a glimpse of the post-TV future

Could artificial trees solve the global warming crisis?

Why three wheeled cars could be the future of driving

The Great Barrier Reef has lost half its coral in less than 30 years

Who would win in a battle: Unicorns or Gray Goo?

Vernor Vinge and Temple Grandin to speak at Singularity Summit 2012

Will philosophy unlock the puzzle that is artificial intelligence?

What comes next after the Noosphere?

It is now possible to receive text messages from a cow’s vagina

Is this what people will be talking about on Reddit a thousand years from now?

New project aims to upload a honey bee’s brain into a flying insectobot by 2015

How did this game bot score higher than humans on a Turing Test?

9 Historical Figures Who May Have Predicted Our Future

Breakthrough: This electronic implant can dissolve inside your body

Should we eliminate the human ability to feel pain?

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