“The next programming paradigm is life science. We’re going to create a living world, this century.” Andrew Hessel
Finally, someone else articulating this truth with the scientific authority that might be better heard and received.

Your homework for the leisurely holiday weekend is at Caltech DNA and Natural Algorithms Group.
There are three major scientific mysteries of the natural world (via DNA.Caltech.edu):

How can life arise from a mixture of inert molecules?
How does the body develop from a single cell?
How does the mind arise from a collection …

As we’ve long tracked, the eyeborgs continue to grow in numbers amongst us.
“The species has evolved to this point in time, but who says that’s the end of the line?” – David Jönsson

Not new, but worth reminding.

With a new pair of meat hands “One year after double hand transplant, progress elusive” we learn that it takes three to four years of intensive therapy to bring replacement meat hands online, because the nerves have a long way to grow.
In contrast, with a new mech arm, back in …

Big Think asks: Why should we drug our drinking water?
Jacob Appel: I think when you ask questions about whether or not any pharmaceutical or any products be added to the drinking water, you’re really asking two sets of questions. One is: should any product that might be …

The fate of the meat world
View more presentations from Humanity+.

“Homo sapiens, the first truly free species, is about to decommission natural selection, the force that made us. Soon we must look deep within ourselves and decide what we wish to become.” — Edward O. Wilson, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge …

This morning I watched a bird — I believe a finch — in the back yard. He was making use of the bird house, which is quite small, featuring perhaps a 3/4″ hole for a front door.

This bird arrived on the perch with about a 4 inch long stick in …

Wired:
The researchers’ algorithm is composed of a series of five equations through which data from cameras can be run. Each equation represents tricks used by fly circuits to handle changing levels of brightness, contrast and motion, and their parameters constantly shift in response to input. Unlike Lucas-Kanade, the algorithm doesn’t …

More extraordinarily high-signal outputs from the seemingly inexhaustible cognition engine behind Sentient Developments:
Cognitive liberty is not just about the right to modify one’s mind, emotional balance and psychological framework (for example, through anti-depressants, cognitive enhancers, psychotropic substances, etc.), it’s also very much about the right to not have one’s mind …

Yesterday in PhysOrg, as referred by KAI
A model that replicates the functions of the human brain is feasible in 10 years according to neuroscientist Professor Henry Markram of the Brain Mind Institute in Switzerland. ‘I absolutely believe it is technically and biologically possible. The only uncertainty is financial. It is …

EETimes:
Medtronic Inc. has started trials in monkeys of an implantable device that can automatically sense and respond to brain waves.