Lifeboat Foundation

Scientists are able to use brain tests on three-year-olds to determine which children are more likely to grow up to become criminals. It sounds like Minority Report come to life: An uncomfortable idea presenting myriad ethical concerns. But, though unnerving, the research is nuanced and could potentially be put to good use.

In the study, published in Nature Human Behavior this week, researchers led by neuroscientists at Duke University showed that those with the lowest 20% brain health results aged three went on to commit more than 80% of crimes as adults. The research used data from a New Zealand longitudinal study of more than 1,000 people from birth in the early 1970s until they reached 38 years old. This distribution, of 20% of a population accounting for 80% of an effect, is strong but not unusual. In fact, it follows the “Pareto principle.” The authors write in their paper:

In Pareto’s day, the problem definition was that 20% of families owned 80% of land in Italy. The so-called Pareto principle is alive and useful today: for example, in software engineering, 20% of the code is said to contain 80% of the errors.

Continue reading “The disturbingly accurate brain science that identifies potential criminals while they’re still toddlers” »

George Musser explains the central role of weirdness in physics, and shatters the dreams of those who hope humans can one day tap into psychic powers.

Robots have been a major focus in the technology world for decades and decades, but they and basic science, and for that matter everyday life, have largely been non-overlapping magisteria. That’s changed over the last few years, as robotics and every other field have come to inform and improve each other, and robots have begun to infiltrate and affect our lives in countless ways. So the only surprise in the news that the prestigious journal group Science has established a discrete Robotics imprint is that they didn’t do it earlier.

Editor Guang-Zhong Yang and president of the National Academy of Sciences Marcia McNutt introduce the journal:

In a mere 50 years, robots have gone from being a topic of science fiction to becoming an integral part of modern society. They now are ubiquitous on factory floors, build complex deep-sea installations, explore icy worlds beyond the reach of humans, and assist in precision surgeries… With this growth, the research community that is engaged in robotics has expanded globally. To help meet the need to communicate discoveries across all domains of robotics research, we are proud to announce that Science Robotics is open for submissions.

Continue reading “New journal Science Robotics is established to chronicle the rise of the robots” »

It is not often that a scientist walks the red carpet at a Silicon Valley party and has Morgan Freeman award them millions of dollars while Alicia Keys performs on stage and other A-listers rub shoulders with NASA astronauts.

But the guest list for the Breakthrough prize ceremony is intended to make it an occasion. At the fifth such event in California last night, a handful of the world’s top researchers left their labs behind for the limelight. Honoured for their work on black holes and string theory, DNA repair and rare diseases, and unfathomable modifications to Schrödinger’s equation, they went home to newly recharged bank accounts.

Founded by Yuri Milner, the billionaire tech investor, with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Sergey Brin, the Breakthrough prizes aim to right a perceived wrong: that scientists and engineers are not appreciated by society. With lucrative prizes and a lavish party dubbed “the Oscars of science”, Milner and his companions want to elevate scientists to rock star status.

Continue reading “Breakthrough prize awards $25m to researchers at ‘Oscars of science’” »

Continue reading “Space Warp Dynamics: The startup that's working on sending humans to Proxima Centauri” »

“Finding the first planet like Earth beyond our solar system would transform how we think about our place in the universe.”

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For my art meets science connoisseur friends.

The winners of this year’s “Art in Science” photo competition have been announced. See the winning entries in the gallery below.

Last month in Paris, the Hello Tomorrow Global Summit brought together entrepreneurs and inventors, investors and industry for a two-day event exploring the science shaping the future.

Now in its third year, the conference is unique in the sci-and-tech futures circuit for putting scientists, academics and inventors centre stage, and in the same room as the investors and business types who can help bring their ideas to life. Some of the leading minds of tomorrow were there to present, discuss and debate their work.

Among them were some 500 startups battling for the Hello Tomorrow Challenge, a prize awarding early-stage science and tech ventures across 10 categories – from air quality to aeronautics – with equity-free cash, mentoring and exposure.

Products such as Semantic Scholar and Microsoft Academic could be a boon for scholars.