The University of Carnegie Mellon plans to create a research center focusing on Ethics of Artificial Intelligence.  Previous decade, faster computer chips, cheap sensors and large collections of data have helped researchers improve on computerized tasks like machine vision and speech recognition, as well as robotics. For further readings please click here

According to a 98-page report released on Thursday, Uber described the potential of autonomous flying cars to free frustrated commuters from clogged highways. Uber believes that within a decade it will be possible to build a network of affordable, electric flying cars that take off and land vertically at speeds of up to 200 mph. Uber doesn't plan to build its own flying cars but wants to collaborate with companies, governments, and communities to push the nascent field forward. Uber's report is the latest example of mounting hype surrounding technology's impact on transportation, ranging from autonomous taxis to flying cars and self-driving trucks. Read more…

Global warming is a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants. There has been report from Live Science saying that there are five deadly diseases emerging from Global Warming and these are Anthrax, Zika, Zombie diseases, Tick-borne illness and Cholera.

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Most of us think of a placebo as a simple psychological trick --a fake pill might give us hope, but it produces no real effects. Yet, recent research has shown an increase in the placebo response over the past couple of decades. Just last week, the results of a new study published in the journal Pain suggest that a placebo can have real, even profound, physical benefits.

People with chronic lower back pain were recruited to participate in research at a public hospital in Lisbon, Portugal. First, they filled out questionnaires describing the intensity of their pain and their degree of disability. The researchers randomly assigned the patients to two groups. One continued with treatment as usual: the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) they were currently taking to prevent pain. The other group received their usual pain drugs as well as placebo pills in a typical prescription medicine bottle. They were told that a placebo pill contained no medication, and the bottle's label read "Placebo pills. Take 2 pills twice a day."

"We were very careful about making sure that they understood that there was nothing in the pill that could affect pain," said Irving Kirsch, senior author of the study and a professor at Harvard Medical School. After three weeks, both groups filled out a second questionnaire about their pain. On average, the pain medication group experienced a 9% reduction in usual pain, a 16% reduction in maximum pain and no reduction in disability. By contrast, the placebo group averaged a 30% reduction in both usual and maximum pain, while reporting nearly the same reduction, 29%, in disability. Read more.... http://journals.lww.com/pain/Abstract/publishahead/Open_label_placebo_treatment_in_chronic_low_back.99404.aspx

The fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 has done heavy damage to Samsung's reputation and profits. Its next victim could be the environment.

Greenpeace is blasting Samsung for failing to detail how it will dispose of the millions of Note 7 smartphones it's recalling around the world. If the South Korean tech company chooses to dump them, it would create the equivalent of about 28 shipping containers of toxic waste, according to the environmental advocacy group. And that doesn't even include the battery chargers.

Samsung decided last month to permanently halt sales and production of the Note 7, one of its flagship smartphones, after persistent reports of the devices bursting into flames.The world's largest smartphone maker has said it sold more than 3 million Note 7 devices worldwide. Greenpeace cites reports suggesting another 1.3 million were produced but not sold. That amount of phones would contain 20 metric tons of cobalt, one metric ton of tungsten, about 100 kilos of gold and more than 1,000 kilos of silver, according to a report Tuesday from Greenpeace and a German research institute. Read more....http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/dumping-4-3-million-samsung-phones-is-an-environmental-disaster-warns-greenpeace/

Scientists in the US Department of Energy- Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee have accidentally discovered a method to convert carbon dioxide into ethanol for use as a fuel for internal-combustion motors.

What happened?

Scientists were trying to study the first step of a proposed reaction but they realized that the catalyst was doing the entire reaction on its own. By putting copper and carbon together to create manospikes on silicon exposing matter to carbon dioxide dissolved in water and electrifying it and the solution was transformed into a highly concentrated blend of ethanol. This newfound ability to recycle the greenhouse gas could potentially help slow global warming. Currently, the research behind this new process is still in the early stages. The scientists are continuing to study the method to make it even more efficient and to learn more about how it could be put to use in a large-scale operation. Read more