We hereby present the newest developments courtesy of Peter Diamandis and his team at Abundance Insider on all at the forefront of creating the ultimate Vision of the possible for all to review and enjoy--truly exciting times indeed!!
MIT’s New Robot Can Visually Understand Objects It’s Never Seen Before
What it is: Whereas most computer vision systems rely on enormous labeled datasets, a team of researchers at MIT’s CSAIL has built a computer vision system capable of recognizing and mapping objects it has never seen before. Coined "Dense Object Nets" (DON), the neural network uses a brief visual inspection of its target object to autonomously map out its various points and create a complex coordinate system of its shape. Geared with this 3D visual roadmap, DON-geared robots can then act upon different objects with minimal direction. Instructed to pick up a shoe by its tongue, for instance, and the robot will seamlessly identify the tongue of any newly presented shoe — regardless of shape, size, orientation or style — grasping with almost intuitive ease.
Why it's important: Independent of any pre-training with labeled datasets, DON’s ability to visually map out unfamiliar objects without human intervention marks a considerable step forward in computer vision. Capable of what researchers term “self-supervised” learning, DON could one day be used in a variety of tasks that require higher levels of what we might call “human intuition.” Think: sorting recyclables and learning new forms of plastic waste as they enter a waste management center, organizing complex warehouses, or even tidying your home according to a picture of your desired living room look. And with current-day advances in “self-supervised” learning, MIT’s researchers now strive to hone DON-geared bots that can figure out where to grasp objects all on their own, bypassing human input from start to finish. Share on Facebook
Spotted by Marissa Brassfield / Written by Claire Adair
Contrary to Current Fears, AI Will Create Jobs and Grow GDP
What it is: In separate reports, McKinsey and Tata recently outlined the socioeconomic impacts of AI and automation over the next 10 to 12 years, with both expecting AI to contribute to GDP growth -- as much as 1.2 percent over the next 10 years -- and $13 trillion in net economic benefits could be captured over the next 12 years. These forecasts also introduce several opportunities for entrepreneurs. At a technical level, a paucity of labeled data sets, lack transparency in AI systems, and difficulty in generalizing models across domains will need to be solved. At a social level, employees will need to be retrained, and policymakers will need steady hands through the transition.
Why it's important: It’s clear that exponential technologies are accelerating and combining in exciting, unexpected ways for the benefit of humanity. At the same time, the resulting social changes will also happen faster than anything we have experienced in the past, creating discomfort for a large number of people. What opportunities does this create for your business? New markets? New ways to attract top talent? Share on Facebook
Spotted by Marissa Brassfield / Written by Jason Goodwin
Scientists Invent Technique to Create Unlimited Source of Renewable Energy
What it is: A September 3 article published in Nature by scientists at the University of Cambridge describes a first-of-its-kind semi-artificial photosynthesis cell. The University of Cambridge team converged synthetic biology and artificial photosynthesis techniques to more readily and controllably convert the energy of sunlight into storable biofuel. Their process breaks water into hydrogen gas (H2) and oxygen gas (O2) using the biological catalysts Photosystem II and hydrogenase. Semi-artificial photosynthesis adds the tunability of various chemistry and materials science methods to achieve greater efficiencies in converting H2O to H2 and O2. This process is a major step in mass producing photosynthesis cells that only use energy from the Sun.
Why it's important: Peter often discusses our transition from evolution by natural selection to evolution via intelligent direction. Building on this concept, biomimicry enables engineers and designers to accelerate the optimization and evolution processes even further. Share on Facebook
Spotted by Peter Diamandis / Written by Max Goldberg
Brain Scan Could Help Reveal If a Person is a Suicide Risk
What it is: Spotting the signs of suicide can be difficult. Now, building on their work published last year, researchers at Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh have been awarded a $3.8 million grant from the NIMH to establish a more precise method of identifying those at risk. In the 2017 study, the team applied a Gaussian Naïve Bayes algorithm – a type of machine learning – to suicidal subjects’ neuronal signatures of death and related concepts, accurately identifying suicidal individuals with 91 percent accuracy, and also correctly discriminated 9 people who had previously attempted suicide from 8 who had not. The team now looks to expand their studies to include a larger number of subjects, with the ultimate goal of predicting future behavior and identifying a peripheral measure (think galvanic skin response, heart rate, etc) that correlates with neuronal activities, enabling clinicians to test in office without the need for an fMRI.
Why it's important: As the digitization of health data sets explodes, a large number of new and novel applications of machine learning are popping up to simultaneously solve big problems (e.g. identifying suicide risk) and provide deep insights into of our biology (e.g. areas of the brain associated with suicidal behavior). What opportunities do you see when thinking about these discoveries as building blocks? Share on Facebook
Spotted by Morgan McDermott / Written by Jason Goodwin
Running Quantum Algorithms in the Cloud Just Got a Lot Faster
What it is: Earlier this year, Rigetti Computing rolled out Forrest, a quantum development package that allowed users to interface with Rigetti’s quantum processors in the programming language Python over the cloud. Rigetti recently announced a more robust Quantum Cloud Services and a $1 million incentive competition to accelerate quantum advantage -- showcasing that a quantum computer can solve a valuable problem with a higher quality, faster, or cheaper solution than a classical computer.
Why it's important: Packed with different mechanisms to shield the ever-so-sensitive quantum-bits (qubits) from the heat, noise, and electric fields of the environment, quantum computers are currently fairly large, expensive devices. Rigetti is trying to digitize, and thereby move towards demonetized, delocalized, and democratized access to quantum computing power. The Rigetti team is taking valuable lessons from the classical computing and data storage progression to cloud-based hardware. In parallel, incentive competitions are an excellent innovation driver, with the power to kickstart entire industries. Share on Facebook
Spotted by Marissa Brassfield / Written by Max Goldberg
Researchers to Release First-Ever Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes in Africa
What it is: Burkina Faso’s government has just granted scientists permission to release up to 10,000 genetically engineered mosquitoes in the coming year — the first time any genetically modified animal would be released into the wild in Africa. Working under coordination of the “Target Malaria” project, teams in Burkina Faso, Mali and Uganda are striving to build the legislative groundwork for a more significant “gene drive” that could one day entirely eliminate the deadly disease. While not intended to severely impact the insect population for now — no mutations related to malaria transmission are involved (yet) — these genetically engineered mosquitoes would have a “sterile male” mutation, preventing all males from producing offspring.
Why it's important: In just 2016, malaria cases grew to an estimated 216 million, and only a year before, between 438,000 and 720,000 people were killed by the parasite (nearly 90 percent of whom were in sub-Saharan Africa). But now with $70 million in backing from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the three research teams under Target Malaria hope this initial launch will establish the necessary public trust among locals and regulators alike for a much more hard-hitting, long-term bioengineering solution: "gene drive" mosquitoes. Aimed at propagating a particular suite of genes throughout the population of a species, a malaria-targeting "gene drive" could either enhance resistance to the parasite or bias sex ratios, causing a population crash. And by targeting the disease at its source, such an initiative might put an end to one of the continent’s greatest debilitators, once and for all. Share on Facebook
Spotted by Marissa Brassfield / Written by Claire Adair
Breakthrough Opens Door To $100 Ultrasound Machine
What it is: University of British Columbia engineers recently built a new ultrasound transducer that can lower the cost of ultrasound to under $100. The patent-pending sensor is smaller than most bandages and can be powered by a smartphone. Conventional ultrasounds operate using a piezoelectric transducer; the UBC team synthesized a polymer resin (I.e. polymer capacitive micro-machined ultrasound transducers) to replace the expensive piezoelectrics. The sonograms produced from this new polymer-based transducer are as clear as traditional sonograms; in addition, the new polymer is flexible and can be built into a variety of wearable devices. “You could miniaturize these transducers and use them to look inside your arteries and veins,” said engineer Robert Rohling. “You could stick them on your chest and do live continuous monitoring of your heart in your daily life. It opens up so many different possibilities.”
Why it's important: We are rapidly approaching a 1-trillion-plus sensor economy, where you’ll be able to know anything, anywhere, at anytime. A variety of sensors will augment our five biological senses with unthinkable data acquisition capabilities. Healthcare is one of the first areas that will benefit from sensors. Imagine a future where we no longer need to worry about curing cancer, because our personal tumor-seeking sensor-shell can detect early signs of cancer before cells even become cancerous. Share on Facebook
Spotted by Marconi Pereira / Written by Max Goldberg
Startup Inks ‘World’s Largest Deal’ For Driverless Grocery Deliveries
What it is: San Francisco startup UDELV recently signed a deal with a number of grocery chains in Oklahoma City to provide purpose-built autonomous delivery vans to deliver groceries starting next year. Vehicles will have 18 compartments for individual deliveries, opened by a code given to the customer via mobile app. While the vehicles will have Level 4 autonomy, a driver will remain behind the wheel until regulators approve full autonomy.
Why it's important: Like Kroger’s recent announcement with Nuro, this adds momentum to the autonomous vehicle space as a whole, and particularly to the concept of specialty vehicles. These delivery vehicles are often overlooked in analyses of adoption, congestion and regulatory planning. Could non-personal transport be a metric to watch for broad adoption of driverless cars? Share on Facebook
Spotted by Marissa Brassfield / Written by Jason Goodwin
Nvidia Researchers Develop AI System That Generates Synthetic Scans of Brain Cancer
What it is: A current limitation on the accuracy of machine learning and AI systems is access to training data, particularly in a healthcare setting, where privacy concerns add additional limits. To address this need, Nvidia, the Mayo Clinic, and the MGH and BWH Center for Clinical Data Science have created a general adversarial network (GAN) to create synthetic 3D MRIs of brains with cancerous tumors. These synthetic images were then used to train neural networks to identify the presence of cancer on real patient data. So far, images have increased the accuracy of models by up to 80 percent, a 14 percent improvement and big step in identifying cancer earlier.
Why it's important: Applying seemingly trivial concepts from one area to another -- like using a GAN to create faces -- can enable breakthroughs and a tangible positive impact. Look for Nvidia and team to fine-tune this approach to other types of cancer and disease in the brain to dramatically improve patient care. Share on Facebook
Spotted by Marissa Brassfield / Written by Jason Goodwin
Machines Will Do More Work Than Humans By 2025, Says The WEF
What it is: The World Economic Forum has just released its latest AI job forecast, projecting changes to the job market on a historic scale. While machines currently constitute roughly 29 percent of total hours worked in major industries -- a fraction of the 71 percent accounted for by people -- the WEF predicts that in just 4 years, this ratio will begin to equalize (with 42 percent total hours accounted for by AI-geared robotics). But perhaps the report’s most staggering projection is that machine learning and digital automation will eliminate 75 million jobs by 2025. However, as new industries emerge and technological access allows people to adopt never-before-heard-of professions, the WEF offers a hopeful alternative, predicting the creation of nearly 133 million new roles aided by the very technologies currently displacing many in our workforce.
Why it's important: Already, more than 57 million workers -- nearly 36 percent of the U.S. workforce -- freelance. And based on today’s workforce growth rates as assessed by 2017’s Freelancing in America report, the majority of America’s workforce will freelance by 2027. Advancements in connectivity, AI and data proliferation will free traditional professionals to provide the services we do best. Doctors supplemented by AI-driven diagnostics may take more advisory roles, teachers geared with personalized learning platforms will soon be freed to serve as mentors, and barriers to entry for entrepreneurs -- regardless of socioeconomic background -- will dramatically decline. Share on Facebook
Spotted by Marissa Brassfield / Written by Claire Adair
New Electric Drone Has Groundbreaking Flight Time
What it is: Impossible Aerospace has announced the US-1, an unmanned quadcopter that can fly for over 2 hours on a single charge. That's over four times as long as similar battery-powered drones, and on par with gas-fueled systems. US-1 can carry a payload of up to 2 kg (~4.4 pounds), with options like multispectral sensors, survey cameras and optical cameras.
Why it's important: Beyond its substantial flight time improvement, the US-1 demonstrates the engineering breakthroughs enabled by first-principles thinking. "Most drones are designed with the philosophy that once you are done figuring out the payload and propulsion, you add the battery pack," Impossible Aerospace CEO Spencer Gore, who previousy worked at Tesla, told IEEE. "Instead, from the very beginning, we designed a battery pack that was meant to fly." Share on Facebook
Spotted by Marissa Brassfield / Written by Marissa Brassfield
New Technique Heals Wounds With Reprogrammed Skin Cells
What it is: Cutaneous ulcers are a pervasive problem affecting those with bedsores, burns, and chronic diseases like diabetes. Beyond the pain, they can lead to infections and even amputations. To speed up and create a more effective treatment, researchers at the Salk Institute have discovered a way to reprogram mesenchymal skin cells -- which help close wounds but cannot rebuild healthy skin -- into stem-cell-like basal keratinocytes, which are precursors to many different types of skin cells. After identifying a set of four proteins -- dubbed “reprogramming factors” -- the team applied a topical solution onto mesenchymal cells in a petri dish and later ulcers in mice. In just 18 days, the mesenchymal cells were transforming into normal skin cells, and 3 to 6 months later, the cells were functioning like normal skin with no visible scar tissue.
Why it's important: As the authors note, this initial proof of concept for the in-vitro regeneration of three-dimensional tissue “could be useful for repairing skin damage, countering the effects of aging and helping us to better understand skin cancer,” all of which point to an increased healthy lifespan. Share on Facebook
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