1st June 2019, 1 min read

Science and Technology links (June 1st 2019)

1. The DeepMind engineers built an artificial intelligence (a software program) that can learn to play 3D shooter games at super-human levels.
2. Researchers have found a way to grow large quantities of cells that can generate blood; it works for mice.
3. Europe passed a law to protect privacy online (GDPR). It comes with annoying warnings regarding cookies. This law had a significant negative effect on emerging European technology firms (startups). It has also increased Google’s monopoly power at the expense of smaller players.
4. “When adjusting for the unreliability of solar and wind, existing coal will be cheaper than new solar and wind in all the major regions until at least 2040“.
5. There has a been a massive drop in the number of books borrowed from libraries by college students. Myself, I switched to ebooks a decade ago and my office contains a single book: Knuth’s book.
6. Even old people suffering from Alzheimer’s make new neurons (brain cells).