To resolve the growing space debris problem, several experts have suggested levying a service fee on all spacecraft owners and using the collected funds as a 'bounty' to encourage operators to help safely deorbit or remove the largest pieces of space debris. [More]
Smart machines: What's the worst that could happen? — MacGregor Campbell —New Scientist — Jul 26, 2009
A panel of 25 AI scientists, roboticists, and ethical and legal scholars has been convened to address the issues involved with the rapid growth of artificial intelligence. [More]
A group of scientists has gathered at Asilomar, California to discuss whether there should be limits on research that might lead to loss of human control over computer-based systems that carry a growing share of societys workload. In 1975, a group of scientists met at the same location for a groundbreaking discussion on self-regulation of the emerging field of genetic engineering. [More]
A new study suggests that under the right circumstances, terrorists could break into computer systems and launch an attack on a nuclear state triggering a catastrophic chain of events that would have a global impact. [More]
Much as meteorologists predict the path and intensity of hurricanes, Indiana University's Alessandro Vespignani believes we will one day predict with unprecedented foresight, specificity and scale such things as the economic and social effects of billions of new Internet users in China and India, or the exact location and number of airline flights to cancel around the world in order to halt the spread of a pandemic. [More]
Despite concerns over legal and safety issues, the Pentagon is moving ahead with the Active Denial System or "Pain Ray" by seeking to upgrade it so that it can be fired from an aircraft. [More]
Henry Markram, director of the Blue Brain Project, predicted at the TED Global conference that a detailed, functional artificial human brain can be built within the next 10 years. [More]
The US government is launching a competition, which will run until the end of 2010, to find the best way of tracking pieces of space junk down to the size of a pool ball. [More]
Expert Warns of Pakistani Nuclear Security Vulnerabilities — Global Security Newswire — Jul 20, 2009
A British analyst argues that security weaknesses in Pakistan could allow al-Qaeda or Taliban extremists to seize a nuclear weapon. [More]
A profile of Solaren, an early-stage company that has raised money from investors to launch solar panels into space and use high-powered radio waves to beam back energy to earth. [More]