Artificial Intelligence Experts Respond to Elon Musk's Dire Warning for U.S. Governors

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

(Credit: OnInnovation) If you hadn’t heard, Elon Musk is worried about the machines. Though that may seem a quixotic stance for the head of multiple tech companies to take, it seems that his proximity to the bleeding edge of technological development has given him the heebie-jeebies when it comes to artificial intelligence. He’s shared his fears of AI running amok before, likening it to “summoning the demon,” and Musk doubled down on his stance at a meeting of ...read more

Join the Hunt for Planets Around Our Closest Neighboring Stars

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

CHRX 73 B is a 12-Jupiter-mass planet circling a red dwarf star like the stars under investigation by the Red Dots campaign. (Credit: NASA, ESA and G. Bacon [STScI]) The Pale Red Dot team is coasting off the success of their discovery last year of a planet in the Proxima Centauri system system by casting its net even wider as the Red Dots campaign. Whereas Pale Red Dot focused just on Proxima Centauri, Red Dots is looking toward Barnard’s Star and Ross 154 as well. These three ...read more

How Disney Tech Can Immerse Park Guests in ‘Star Wars’

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

Disney’s planned attractions for a Star Wars theme park include requiring visitors to help pilot the Millennium Falcon through danger and fight off TIE Fighters. Credit: Disney Disney tech is getting ready to grant the wish of any Star Wars fan who ever wished to stand inside the cavernous space of a Star Destroyer hanger or help fly the Millennium Falcon during a space battle. The entertainment giant has promised a “revolutionary new vacation experience” ...read more

Adorable, Miniature Drone Joins the International Space Station Crew

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

Say hello to JAXA’s Int-Ball. (Credit: JAXA) An adorable documentarian has joined the International Space Station crew. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) recently shipped its spherical camera drone to the ISS—thank you, SpaceX—to serve as another set of eyes and ears for ground control. It’s called the JEM Internal Ball Camera, but everyone’s referring to the little feller as “Int-Ball.” Last week, JAXA released the first images of ...read more

Dog Domestication: Is A New Study Barking Up The Wrong Tree?

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

I like to believe she’s thinking “What?! Dog domestication might go back 40,000 years to a single event?” — per a new Nature Communications study — but I know she’s just wondering how long she has to sit still looking Mordorable before she gets another piece of cheese. (Credit William Zuback/Discover) Dogs are our first friends — they’re the only animal domesticated while we were still a bunch of motley hunter-gatherers. But pinpointing ...read more