Future Science: Essays from the Cutting Edge

Max Brockman introduces the work of today’s brightest and most innovative young scientists in this fascinating collection of writings, describing the very boundaries of our knowledge. Future Science features 19 scientists, most of whom are presenting their innovative work and ideas to a general audience. (...) Know more at http://goo.gl/yfy80.

Autonomous machines, networks and robots will self-improve in the future

Autonomous machines, networks and robots will self-improve in the future by publishing their own upgrade suggestions on the Internet, says Sandor Veres of the University of Southampton’s Faculty of Engineering and the Environment. This leap to increased autonomy will be facilitated by machines and humans publishing information. (...) Know more at http://goo.gl/U8W8l. 

Block diagram of knowledge generation, sharing between humans and machines, and its distribution via publications (credit: S.M. Veres).

After an apocalypse, what’s left of digital stores of knowledge?

The editor of the Gawker media sci-fi blog io9, Annalee Newitz, is working on a book about how humans will regroup after the apocalypse. Such a book to be considered non-fiction is a remarkable commentary on the world we live in, with gold at a record high, the U.S. government on the verge of default, supplies of cheap oil running out and the environment crashing down on the heads of more humans than anyone ever imagined could simultaneously inhabit spaceship earth. (...). Know more at http://goo.gl/D98LG.