Automakers, Google Take Different Roads to Automated Cars

Google had pursued the dream of creating one of a kind of fully automated vehicle but till now it is still experimenting with its self driving car. An automated vehicle pioneer namely Raj Rajkumar has recently stated that automated cars will a take a considerable time and effort to emerge and it will require a close partnership and monitoring by the human for a long time. This might come as a jolt for the Google self-driving car program head Chris Urmson who had earlier stated that Google is on the verge of successfully bringing a fully automated vehicle devoid of any input from human by 2020.

Google aims at improving the automated technology

Raj Rajkumar and his colleagues at Carnegie Mellon have emphasized the need of having a solid human intervention at different stages of automated vehicles development. Having a car, which possesses partial automation, will certainly help in reducing few accident risks but it will also end in creating new safety challenges.

A fully automated vehicle or system will not be a right option at the moment as it might lead to scuffle between the system and human. For example, while driving if a automated system suddenly demands the users to make decision regarding the routes then it will put the vehicle users and driver in a fix.

Google is taking a different approach at building the automation strategy, which will be better in every aspect and devoid of any safety issue and it will be available for open buying within next few years.

Major vehicle makers focus Rajkumar’s ways

In the past few years, major vehicle makers such as General Motors and Volkswagen along with the Tesla Motors had showed their interest in the self-driving cars. But these mainstream car players are focusing on the path of automation laid-down by Rajkumar which asks for human intervention during the different stages of development. In order to get advantage over the Google’s self driving car these players had kicked off their different plans of introducing the automated cars. Tesla is currently testing its AutoPilot system, which will offer a hands-free highway cruising along with automated parking capability to the vehicle.

It should be noted that technology which allows the vehicle to park itself is already in the market and many vehicles are getting equipped with the system which brings automatic braking and corrects the steering of vehicle along with maintain a safe distance from other vehicles plying on the road.

Time to retake the control of vehicle has to be optimized

The moment of alerting a driver and by the time a driver can retake the control during the emergency is one of the major sources of worry for the automated car manufacturers. Various studies conducted on the partially automated vehicle have resulted in an average response time of 17 seconds in which a driver is able to retake the control of the vehicle. This means that if an alert is generated by the automated system (vehicle is running at 60miles per hour) and by the time a person will able to regain the control of vehicle it will have covered more than a quarter of a mile.

Graphene Made Superconductive by Doping with Lithium Atoms

In today’s scientific world, there is nothing that can surprise you anymore. This is because of the fact that the scientists have been making a lot of improvisations in the world of physics as in every other field. And that is the reason as to why you will be glad to know about the new sort of superconductor. According to the recent research, grapheme has now been discovered to be the best possible superconductor if it is doped with the right proportion of Lithium atoms as then the charge transfer rate becomes even higher than it formerly used to be. But in order to know more of it, you definitely need to read this up.

How is it made possible? 

Graphene is the single carbon atom layer of the same kind of material that has been subjected to the tests as to how it can be connected to a number of devices all at a go. In this case, a thought has been subjected as to how the thing can be evolved to have the best out of its super electrical properties and its super conducting phenomena as well. Formerly it was found that if Graphene was coated with some other materials, then it could serve an even better purpose than it formerly did but the scientists could not figure out what it is. The finally after years of research it has been brought out that if lithium can be used, then it may turn out to be just the thing that is required to get hold of the desired effect.

The process 

In order to bring out the result, what the scientists did is to have samples of the right kind of Graphene and that too on a Silicon Carbide substrate- then the samples were kept in a vacuum area and cooled to 8K. When that was done, the samples were then accessorised with the lithium atoms and then the results turned out to be really amazing.

In this way, the energy gap of the electrons could be reduced to a great extent. Now the scientists are probing deeper and conducting further tests as to whether it is possible to have a complete loss of electrical resistance which i turn will enhance the power of the superconductor and serve the purpose in an even better way. In case of further demonstrations, amends will be made in order to see whether the superconductor can actually expel the external magnetic field and that is the test that will reveal that it is a true sort of superconductor.

It was at first theoretically proposed that if the right sort of lithium could be used up as a doping material, then it could bring about positive results. But the recent researches have revealed that it is something more than it and is indeed a grand thing that has come up and this superconductor can be used in a lot of fields as because of its multi faceted manner of working.

Asus’s GX700: First Ever Water Cooled Laptop

Asus’s GX700 – World’s First Water-Cooled Laptop

In the PC gaming world, liquid cooling is considered to be a luxury something one would not consider in investing especially for a laptop unless it’s an Asus. Cooling a high power gaming laptop has been limited to fan cooling but Asus has now introduce liquid cooling to it. Gaming seems to be a big theme of IFA 2015 in Berlinand at the event the GX700 was unveiled.

Acer’s releasing of a whole new line of Predators and Lenovo has taken on the challenge with a new range of gaming PC of its own. However none have gone as far as Asus which was introduced as the world’s first water-cooled laptop. A 17-inch laptop furnished with a 4K display and to-be-named Nvidia GPU, has an unlocked Intel Skylake processor.

The GX700 links to a huge boxy base station which comprises of all the essential hardware in achieving efficient water cooling, a reservoir and pump together with a radiator. When the connections on the rear of the notebook are secured the liquid cooling system tends to work its heat moving system, giving the laptop the additional thermal headroom needed for overclocking and standard tests.

An Immense Pixel Pushing Machine

It is however, not clear how the system handles issues like air bubbles which could be an issue in PC cooling loop such as this or what type of maintenance is essential for the water cooling station. Liquid cooling system on a gaming PC should be cleaned approximately every six months or so where the process involves soaking, inspecting and at times, replacing sections of the loop.

Water cooling has been usually an interesting addition which the gamers would join in order to improve the cooling setup. It has become quite easy to integrate it into modern PC since the size of the other components have been reduced and the developers have started designing self-contained water-cooling kits which could reduce the task of installation.

At this point of time the Asus GX700 seems to be a mystery and Asus has been refraining in divulging in any of the machine’s specifications other than revealing that it is the first 17-inch laptop with a 4K display.

Nvidia GeForce Graphic Card

It is known that there will be an Nvidia GeForce graphic card inside and it is presumed that it will be ready to overclock once the water cooling rig is linked with the GX700 to amp up the performance. This laptop is an immense pixel pushing machine and once docked, it turns everything up to that extra bit further in the absurd sphere.

The enclosed case of GX700 does not seem like it has been made with maintenance in mind and it is to be seen what Asus has in mind, With the combination of a top of the line mobile GPU with all new Intel CPU, 4K display together with the proprietary water cooling base station the price could be up and over $3,000 mark.

 If the final price tend to be above that it would probably be impossible for all users to purchase it, with the exception of the most well-to-do PC gamers.

Physicists Show ‘Molecules’ Made of Light May Be Possible

Physicists - Building Objects Out of Photons

A team of theoretical physicists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology – NIST, have come up with building objects out of photons and the discoveries indicate that the weightless particles of light can be linked into a kind of molecule having its own peculiar force. The discoveries are build on earlier research which many team members have contributed prior to joining NIST.

 In 2013, collaborators from Harvard, Caltech and MIT had found a way of binding two photons together so that one would sit right on top of the other, overlaid as they tend to travel. Their experimental demonstration was considered an invention since no one had constructed anything by joining single photons, motivating some to imagine that life lightsaber were very near.

In a forthcoming paper in Physical Review Letter, the NIST and University of Maryland based team together with other collaborators had showed in theory thattwo hydrogen atoms are near each other in a hydrogen molecule. Alexey Gorshkov of NIST has commented that `it is not a molecule per se, but one can imagine it as having a similar kind of structure and that they are learning how to build complex states of light which in turn could be built into more complex objects.

Modern Technologies Depend on Light

This seems to be the first time anyone has ever shown how to fixtwo photons a finite distance apart. Binding photons need extreme conditions which are difficult to produce with a plenty of lab equipment. However there are various other reasons in making molecular light humbler than lightsabers but nonetheless useful. Gorshkov states that `lots of modern technologies depend on light from communication technology right to high definition imaging and several of them could be enhanced if we could engineer their interaction between photon.

 For instance, engineers would require a method to regulate accurately the light sensors and Gorshkov says that the findings could make it very easy in the creations of a `standard candle’ which could shine a precise number of photons at a detector. Possibly more important to industry, binding as well as entangling photons would enable the computers in using photons as a means of information processors; a task that electronic tends to switch in the computer to do currently.

Important to Test the New Theory in Practice

This would not only provide a new basis in creating computer technology but it could also be the outcome in substantial conservation of energy. Other data and phone messages which presently tend to travel as light beams via fibre optic cable need to be converted into electrons for the purpose of precession which is an inefficient step that tends to waste a great amount of electricity.

If the transport as well as the processing of the data could be done directly with photons, it would reduce the energy losses. Gorshkov had indicated that it would be important to test the new theory in practice for these as well as other possible benefits.

He adds that `it is a cool new way to study photons and there are massless and fly at the speed of light and slowing them down and binding them, would show us other things we had not been aware of prior to it’.

Misuse Of Artificial Intelligence 'Could Do Harm

Google’s Head – Demis Hassabis – Artificial Intelligence, Powerful Technology

The head of Google’s £400m machine learning business, Demis Hassabis, has called for a responsible debate on the role of ethics in the creation of artificial intelligence. It seems to be a technology which is so powerful that probably in the near future, could mean that the computers would be able to advice on the best way to treat patients, handle climate change or even feed the poor.

 With this potential power there is also a big responsibility. Mr Hassabis has stated that artificial intelligence is like any new powerful technology. It needs to be used in a responsible manner and if misused could cause much harm.

He informs that all need to be aware of that and those developing it – the companies and universities need to realise and take their responsibilities seriously and have proper concern as the main focus of their mind. He adds that they tend to engage actively with artificial intelligence community at MIT at Cambridge, Oxford and there are lot of academic institutes speculating about this and they interact with them actively and openly in their research.

Artificial Intelligence – Science of Making Machine Smart

Mr Hassabis is of the belief that there are valid concerns which need to be discussed and debated, decades prior to anything which could actually give cause to any potential consequence or power that may result in worry and hence the need to have the answers in place much in advance.

He was responding to apprehensions with regards to the development of artificial intelligence raised with others by the technology entrepreneur and a DeepMind investor, Elon Musk and Professor Stephen Hawking. Prof Hawking had informed his colleague Rory Cellan-Jones that mankind would end, with artificial intelligence.

Hassabis’ work is focused on learning machine that are capable to scrutinise large amount of data and support human understanding of the exponential rise of digitised information. He informs that artificial intelligence is the science of making machines smart and we are capable to fill machines with intelligence, they would be able to assist us as a society in solving all types of big problems which then could have better control on all things like disease and healthcare to big issues like climate change and physics, where the ability for machines to understand and obtain insights in large amount of data could be beneficial to human scientist as well as doctors’.

Computers Unable to Copy Human Behaviour/Way of Thinking

Mr Hassabis adds that the computers cannot copy human behaviours or overtake human way of thinking. London is doing well in artificial intelligence. DeepMind which is located in King’s Cross has grown to a 150 strong company of computer scientists and mathematicians.

Mr Hassabis has advised the UK not to misuse its leading position in the developing sector and has commented that they are proud to be a UK company. He further adds that though they are owned by Google, their whole operation is in UK and Cambridge, Oxford, University College London, Imperial has very strong machine learning departments.

This is something that UK is strong in and he thinks that it is great UK success story. However, unlike in the past, when they were at the beginning of the computer age and Silicon Valley ended with all the innovation as well as reaping the commercial benefits, they will now ensure that they stay at the forefront of what would be an incredibly important technology in the forthcoming 10 or 20 years’.