Setting the stage Can we? Should we? Is this really a good idea? I believe those ships have sailed where sexbots are concerned since the issue is no longer whether we can or should but rather what to do now that we have them. My Oct. 17, 2017 posting: ‘Robots in Vancouver and in Canada (one of two)’ features Harmony, the first (I believe) commercial AI (artificial intelligence)-enhanced sex robot n the US. They were…

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For some reason it took a lot longer than usual to find this research paper despite having the journal (Nature Communications), the title (Spontaneous formation …), and the authors’ names. Thankfully, success was wrested from the jaws of defeat (I don’t care if that is trite; it’s how I felt) and links, etc. follow at the end as usual. An April 19, 2018 Stanford University news release (also on EurekAlert) spins fascinating tale, An experiment…

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The science of collisions, although it looks more like kissing to me, at the nanoscale could lead to some helpful discoveries according to an April 5, 2018 news item on Nanowerk, Helmets that do a better job of preventing concussions and other brain injuries. Earphones that protect people from damaging noises. Devices that convert “junk” energy from airport runway vibrations into usable power. New research on the events that occur when tiny specks of matter…

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An April 4, 2018 news item on ScienceDaily announces a light-based approach to killing bacteria, Researchers from RMIT University [Australia] have developed a new artificial enzyme that uses light to kill bacteria. The artificial enzymes could one day be used in the fight against infections, and to keep high-risk public spaces like hospitals free of bacteria like E. coli and Golden Staph. E. coli can cause dysentery and gastroenteritis, while Golden Staph is the major…

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This is all about a local (Burnaby is one of the metro Vancouver municipalities) quantum computing companies, D-Wave Systems. The company has been featured here from time to time. It’s usually about about their quantum technology (they are considered a technology star in local and [I think] other circles) but my March 9, 2018 posting about the SXSW (South by Southwest) festival noted that Bo Ewald, President, D-Wave Systems US, was a member of the…

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Here’s more about the latest Café Scientifique talk from an August  22, 2018 announcement received via email, Our next café will happen on TUESDAY, AUGUST 28TH at 7:30PM in the back room at YAGGER'S DOWNTOWN (433 W Pender [St., Vancouver]). Our speaker for the evening will be DR. KATIE MARSHALL from the Department of Zoology at UBC [University of British Columbia]. Her topic will be: GETTING THE MESSAGE: WHAT IS GENE EXPRESSION AND WHY DOES…

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The American Chemical Society (ACS) is holding its 256th meeting from August 19 – 22, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts, US. This August 21, 2018 news item on Nanowerk announces a ‘shipwreck’ presentation at the meeting, Thousands of shipwrecks litter the seafloor all over the world, preserved in sediments and cold water. But when one of these ships is brought up from the depths, the wood quickly starts deteriorating. Today, scientists report a new way to…

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Since my August 20, 2018 post featured an opinion piece about the possibly imminent replacement of radiologists with artificial intelligence systems and the latest research about employing them for diagnosing eye diseases, it seems like a good time to examine some of the mythology embedded in the discussion about AI and medicine. Imperfections in medical AI systems An August 15, 2018 article for Slate.com by W. Nicholson Price II (who teaches at the University of…

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Mutaz Musa, a physician at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell (Department of Emergency Medicine) and software developer in New York City, has penned an eyeopening opinion piece about artificial intelligence (or robots if you prefer) and the field of radiology. From a June 25, 2018 opinion piece for The Scientist (Note: Links have been removed), Although artificial intelligence has raised fears of job loss for many, we doctors have thus far enjoyed a smug sense…

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Mutaz Musa, a physician at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell (Department of Emergency Medicine) and software developer in New York City, has penned an eyeopening opinion piece about artificial intelligence (or robots if you prefer) and the field of radiology. From a June 25, 2018 opinion piece for The Scientist (Note: Links have been removed), Although artificial intelligence has raised fears of job loss for many, we doctors have thus far enjoyed a smug sense…

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