Daily Blog 05/08/2011
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Last year I drew a comic about the oil spill in which Michael Bay spun an over-the-top worst-case disaster scenario. One of the panels was actually slightly more plausible than the others. It was based on a real disaster which almost happened in 1973, and in two weeks it may come closer to happening than ever before.
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Robots develop altruism, just as biology predicts (Wired UK)
Robots in a Swiss laboratory have evolved to help each other, just as predicted by a classic analysis of how self-sacrifice might emerge in the biological world.
“Over hundreds of generations…we show that Hamilton’s rule always accurately predicts the minimum relatedness necessary for altruism to evolve,” wrote researchers led by evolutionary biologist
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Magnetic ‘Throwbot’ joins the fight against piracy (Wired UK)
The dumbbell-sized bot can be fired from a cannon in five seconds, and can survive throws of 120 feet. Then it uses its magnetic wheels to scale up a (metallic) ship’s hull, before leaping on deck.