First Ever Warp Drive, Hyperloop Confirmed, and Baby AI

Warp Drive, Black Holes, And Other Phenomena

Harold White's faster-than-light Warp Drive is a term people don't usually come across, as it immediately defies Einstein's theory of relativity. At a closer glance though, it starts to appear intriguing and actually quite possible. Inspired by a 1994 paper that suggested the possibility of warping space-time around a ship, he and his team have announced their involvement in the building of such a mechanism, the product of which could look like this. We shouldn't expect anything from them or their successors for decades, but I wanted to point out that it's happening, and with new appeal as White noted his spacecraft would require considerably less mass than previously stated.

Among the Curiosity rover's missions is detecting signs of life on Mars' cold environment, and concern has been raised that as of late, its tests on an iron sulfate mineral called jarosite could be seriously messing up the results and preventing us from knowing what truly lies on Mars surface. Its task is to flash-heat a mixture of this mineral and organic compounds to a temperature of 1000 degrees C, but the problem is that this causes oxygen to react dangerously with the compounds. The unprecedented consequences of this practice should be a warning call for Curiosity scientists as they continue to investigate our promising neighbor planet.

Typical rotation curve (B), actual curve (A) including contribution of dark matter

A new study may dissolve the mystery surrounding dark matter, an elusive substance said to be very abundant in our universe -if it exists. Previous attempts to understand it failed because the studies made too many assumptions; now there is better data to construct a rotation curve graph that is truly reflective of the velocity of objects spiraling around the center of our galaxy. The implications are tremendous and could help clarify the way dark matter forms galaxies, how it plays a role elsewhere, and what exactly "it" is.

No one at present knows how a recently discovered black hole grew to be so large, but we do possess knowledge of its size- the thing is an impressive but coma-inducing 12 billion times as heavy as our Sun; by comparison the Milky Way's black hole is only 4 million times as massive as our sun. Located in a flowing quasar, the black hole is said by scientists at Peking University to have existed ever since the universe was very young, like a toddler. The leading hypothesis is that two smaller black holes merged to create the ultimate gravitational death trap.

Believable Light For The Destitute Few

For this next one, watching the video is probably the best way to understand this piece of tech but I'll summarize for anyone who's short on time. Italian scientists have developed an LED skylight that is capable of not only recreating that natural blue light we're so familiar with, but also administering the same warmth and feel of a typical sunny day to anyone in a room. There is a name for this phenomenon: it's called Rayleigh scattering, and has to do with shorter wavelengths adding a navy blue tint to the sky. This new technology's achievement in recreating this will go a long way- whether you're in a subway, wish to alleviate your depression, or plan to visit Mars, you can't deny that any sensory experience which reminds you of a glorious summer day will brighten your mood and make you feel much closer to home. We should expect them a while from now as they still cost upwards of 60 grand, but now you're aware.

Random Stories That Don't Belong Anywhere Else

With a somewhat poor renewables sector in India, the State Bank of India is planning to provide tens of billions of dollars in the form of debts to private sector project developers. This will have positive effects on the country obviously, as the 15 GW of energy put to a halt until now will finally have some financial backing. I see this story as just one more example of a rising trend in the global community: stepping away from fossil fuels and taking hold of our future on this earth. That is, until we leave and form colonies elsewhere.

What if I told you that soon, carrying a wallet around will be obsolete? Well, that's the goal of Iowa's DMV in digitizing our information on driver's licenses. The idea has existed for years, and despite security concerns like instant access to private info, many are thinking it could be orchestrated effectively. However, it's unlikely we'll see physical documents disappear completely, says news site Singularity Hub.

$2 billion will be spent by Apple on its newest batch of Eco-friendly data centers, one in Denmark and the other in Ireland, with a release date of 2017 if all goes well. Their biggest European project to date according to Tim Cook, there are many good reasons for this planned construction. It will supply hundreds of workers with jobs, erase privacy issues by keeping European data In Europe, and decrease our reliance on harmful forms of energy.

Elon Musk's Hyperloop Dream is Making Headway

A massive transportation network of this scale and size has so far existed only on paper, but that could soon change as Hyperloop Transportation Technologies wants to design a 5-mile long, California-located transit system for use in zipping passengers across the state. If all goes well, this could turn into a nationwide substitute for monorails, subway trains, and even planes. They're very serious about this project, CEO Dirk Ahlborn said, and believe the above level tubes could get tourists or pedestrians from NorCal to SoCal in under an hour. The only thing standing in the way of this engineering team's feat is a sum of cash totaling $100 million, which they do plan to receive through a direct public offering later this year. Then construction begins. A longer track built in the future could reach higher speeds, but for now their Hyperloop will test some designs and prove the concept can work.

Google's First Step On a Path To True AI

I'm going to end this week's wrap-up with probably the biggest and most significant of the bunch. People over at Google (or rather, their AI firm DeepMind) were able to design a computer program that can complete tasks without handholds. In other words, it mastered retro videogames all by itself, and even devised some strategies no one had ever thought of before. Called an "agent", the machine is capable of learning for itself. When shown the screen, it experimented with button-pressing in the same way an infant is taking its first steps. Eventually it learned scoring points is a good things, and the mastery took off from there. Again, no human input. One of its shortcomings lies in the algorithm, which possesses no memory. Consequently the baby AI fails at games which require long term planning and seeing the "bigger picture". The team has announced their work on an algorithm that erases this problem.

Many believe this is a hallmark achievement in the development of true AI. "One day machines will be capable of some form of creativity, but we’re not there yet,” DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis said. While being observed, the machine agent felt almost like a small child learning the ropes of how to eat food; as described by the team, it was using the process of trial and error to solve tasks, a trait very unique to the human species. I'll conclude by saying that when this tech reaches a point where it behaves in the same way an adult would handle a business inference, and has integrated voice response and a robot body to boot, you can bet your booty the world is gonna change, and in some pretty major ways. Brace yourselves.