Science & Technology

• New Tech Could Let Alexa Listen Before You Even Say Her Name
  
  Alexa may be eavesdropping a little longer if new Amazon technology is developed.
• Reports: Facebook Working on Self-Learning Robots
  
  Touchy-feely robots that can learn tasks through trial and error are being engineered by Facebook, according to reports.
• Scientist: Pentagon's New UFO Interest Not About Aliens
  
  The Pentagon is not really hip to the idea aliens are visiting planet Earth, despite new rules being developed by the U.S Navy for personnel to report "unidentified aircraft," according to a former science adviser to the Air Force on Space.com.
• Nukes Could Save Earth From Asteroid Strike
  
  Nuclear weapons could be used to save mankind from a run-in with an asteroid, according to James A. Green, a professor of public international law at England's University of Reading, writing for The Conversation.
• UFO Researcher Stanton Friedman Dead at 84
  
  Nuclear physicist and famed UFO researcher Stanton Friedman, who devoted his life to researching and investigating unidentified flying objects, died Monday at 84, according to the CBC.
• San Fran Bans Govt's Use of Facial Recognition Tech
  
  Being the first city in the United States to do so, tech-savvy San Francisco approved a ban on the government's use of facial recognition technology, according to The Hill.
• Experts Study Deepfake Video Detection for Candidates
  
  Over concerns of doctored videos created to mislead voters, digital forensic experts are studying mannerisms of the 2020 presidential candidates, according to The Hill.
• Report: US Testing Robot-Manned Drones to Fly Alongside Fighter Jets
  
  The U.S. military is testing whether human pilots can trust robot wingmen during complex air combat maneuvering in an aircraft dogfight, Defense One reports....
• Experts Comb Through DNA of Possible Da Vinci Hair
  
  As historians comb through 500-year-old DNA, a whitish-blond lock of hair that might be from Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci went on display Thursday at a museum in his Tuscan birthplace.
• Buzz Aldrin Calls on Humans to Colonize Mars
  
  In an opinion piece for The Washington Post, Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon, is calling on the United States to turn its focus to landing humans on another celestial body: Mars.
• Scientists Use AI to Create Speech From Brain Signals
  
  To transform brain signals into speech for people who cannot talk, neuroscientists have designed a groundbreaking device that utilizes artificial intelligence technology, according to research published in the Journal Nature.
• Navy Setting Guidelines for Reporting UFOs
  
  New Navy guidelines for its personnel to report "unidentified aircraft" are being constructed to help study the instances, rather than ignore them, according to Politico.
• Voice Analysis Software Can Diagnose PTSD
  
  Voice analysis software can help detect post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans based on their speech, a study suggests.
• More Kids Diagnosed With High Blood Pressure
  
  Pediatric blood pressure guideline changes issued in 2017 increase the number of children diagnosed with high blood pressure, a new study finds.
• Tech Causing Americans to Sit More Than Ever: Study
  
  America's couch potatoes are becoming ever more deeply rooted, and computers are the reason why.
• Major Breakthrough in Prostate Cancer Treatment Tested
  
  A major breakthrough in treating prostate cancer is being tested in clinical trials in the U.S.
• Study: Doctors Predict Obesity, BMI Using Genetic Score
  
  Doctors can assign a risk score that can accurately predict the body mass index, obesity risk, and overall risk of disease using genes, a new study determined, according to The Wall Street Journal.
• NASA Taps Musk's SpaceX for 2021 Asteroid Intercept
  
  A future NASA mission designed to intercept an asteroid and deflect it away from the Earth to avoid a potentially catastrophic impact will be contracted by Elon Musk's SpaceX.
• NY Times: Stanford Prof Denies Assisting in Gene-Edited Babies
  
  After a Chinese scientist unveiled the first gene-edited babies, a Stanford biotechnology professor Dr. Stephen Quake, facing ethical scrutiny and a university investigation, is denying assisting in the project, The New York Times reported."I had nothing to do with this,...
• Walmart Adding Thousands of Robots to US Stores
  
  Walmart will add thousands of robots to perform low-level work in its U.S. stores in a plan on increasing automation this year, according to Yahoo Finance.
• Deadly Candida Auris Fungus Is Pervasive Threat Amid Secrecy
  
  Worldwide cases of an infection known as Candida auris have become an "urgent threat," unveiling the dangers of drug-resistant germs for both bacteria and fungi from a cloud of secrecy over fear of public hysteria, The New York Times reported."It's an enormous problem,"...
• Pentagon Wants AI to Learn Language Like Babies Do
  
  If the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has its way, machines could soon be learning a new language by observing the world like babies do, according to Defense One.
• Robot Authors Not a Threat -- Yet
  
  Totally machine-generated prose came a step closer to reality with the announcement of an artificial intelligence that could produce news stories or fiction - but writers and reporters don't have much to fear just yet, author Steven Poole argues.In a commentary for the...
• BU Makes Mathematically Perfect, Sound-Blocking Ring
  
  A mathematically perfect ring built with a 3D printer can cancel out more than 90 percent of sounds, according to researchers at Boston University.
• Tel Aviv Deploys 'Zombie Lights' for Mobile-Obsessed Walkers
  
  Tel Aviv has taken a small step toward protecting the lives of "smartphone zombies."The municipality has installed special LED sidewalk lights at a busy crosswalk to alert distracted pedestrians staring at their phones when they can walk and when they should stop.Tomer...

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