Today, a feature story in the technology section of NBC News, Dawn of the bot? New era nears, experts say, brings additional attention to the exciting future of robotics. Science fiction is quickly taking a back seat to science fact. Just look at a new report by the country’s leading roboticists. By 2030, it says, robots will be everywhere.   At the gym, they’ll help you train. In operating rooms, flea-sized robots will zip through your blood vessels to repair tissues. Using voice commands and hand gestures, humans will control robots in the cold vacuum of space, while bots deep underwater and high in the air will collaborate to protect the […]

The CCC congratulates three computer scientists recently elected as members to the National Academy of Sciences: Naomi Halas, Juris Hartmanis, and Éva Tardos. Last week, 84 new members and 21 foreign associates from 14 countries were elected to the organization in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Halas is the Stanley C. Moore Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and founding director of the Laboratory for Nanophotonics and director of the Rice Quantum Institute at Rice University. From the Rice news release: “Since joining the Rice faculty in 1990, Halas has specialized in studying how light interacts with engineered nanoparticles. Her research spans a broad […]

In recent weeks, several new activities of the Federal Big Data Initiative have been launched with the goal of addressing the challenges and opportunities of Big Data. The initial launch last year featured more than $200 million in new commitments from six Federal departments and agencies. Now in its second year, Federal agencies continue to launch programs that use cutting-edge technologies analyze and extract useful knowledge from Big Data for the benefit of society. The community has been encouraged to participate, the NIH announced increased involvement, and this Friday, May 3 the White House will host a Big Data workshop. The workshop is sponsored by the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the NITRD Big Data […]

Twenty years ago today (April 30, 2013), physicists at CERN opened the World Wide Web to everyone with a simple web page.  The actual page is long gone, but CERN has recreated it here in honor of the 20th anniversary.  The Washington Post Tech Section highlighted the Anniversary by saying: The Web site itself isn’t much to look at — just a rundown of the product that includes a look at its development history, instructions of how to create your own pages and technical information about the World Wide Web — but it laid the groundwork for an estimated 630 million Web sites to come in the next 20 years, […]

An interesting article in The Atlantic by computer scientist Ben Schneiderman on “an ecological model of research and development.” Donald Stokes (Pasteur’s Quadrant: Basic Science and Technological Innovation, 1997) stresses work that is motivated by both considerations for use and fundamental understanding …   Stokes and many other analysts provide a rigorous foundation for those who see value in the combined pursuit of basic and applied research, who believe that practical and theoretical work fit together well, and that mission-driven and curiosity-driven research invigorate each other. While Stokes advocates “use-inspired basic research”, this author adds “theory-inspired applied research.” In short, I am raising the expectations for researchers or all kinds; […]