Mind Set Daily

Topics covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "Disney Can Track Your Every Move with NSA-Style Wristbands" Families planning trips to one of Disney’s theme parks can now get waterproof rubber wristbands embedded with computer chips in lieu of paper tickets. When scanned, the bands can act as a park entry ticket, a FastPass, a hotel room key and a credit card. The “Magic Bands” — which are currently optional — are part of a new MyMagic+ “vacation management system” that can track guests as they move throughout the park.   "Study Finds No Time Travelers On The Internet" If you had traveled from the future to the present, you might be likely to mention some things that you'd learned there (for example: buy this lottery ticket). Using this logic, physicists searched for prescient mentions of future events on the present-day internet, scouring Twitter, Facebook, Google, Google+ and Bing. They used these services to see if anybody had mentioned Pope Francis or the comet ISON before these terms existed, looking at the time span from the early 2000s to mid-2013, the idea being that both terms represented major events travelers-from-the-future might talk about somewhere online. Find out more by listening to this episode! Support Mind Set Central Subscribe or donate

Topics covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "Can A Human Fall In Love With A Computer?" Short Answer: Love conquers all. he film Her, which opens across the country this month, tells a love story between a man and some software. It may seem far-fetched, but researchers say it’s plausible. If so inclined, they could stitch together existing systems into one irresistible romance algorithm.   "The Internet Of You" When people describe the Internet of Things, they’re referring to a network of Web-enabled devices that speak to one another. But the next step is to take the user out of the loop and connect our personal data to the world around us. For this to happen, we’ll need a wearable network of gadgets, an Internet of You. Find out more by listening to this episode! Support Mind Set Central Subscribe or donate

Topics covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "Facebook Self-Censorship" Facebook knows pretty much everything about you — and that includes when you type out posts but decide not to hit “enter.”   "Google Wants To Move Into Your Home" Google is already heavily criticized for trying to know almost everything about us, and now the firm wants to get inside our homes, literally. Listen to this episode to find out more! Support Mind Set Central Subscribe or donate

Topics covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "Scientists Reveal Life May Have Developed Below Ground" How life on Earth came into existence is still one of the greatest mysteries in science but new research into the “deep biosphere” indicates that the first replicating life-forms on the planet may have originated deep underground rather than, as commonly believed, on the surface. Scientists have now discovered microbes living and reproducing as deep as 3.1 miles below ground and studies have shown that they are likely to have survived in complete isolation from the surface biosphere for millions and perhaps even billions of years. Knowledge of the Earth’s deep biosphere and how it survives such environmental extremes could also help astrobiologists searching for life on Mars, where the planetary surface is known to be hostile for living organisms. To gain the knowledge and answers we may just have to go underground, just think about it...   "200,000 People Apply to Live on Mars" If you have ambitions of being one of the first people on Mars, listen up: A Dutch company says it is moving along with its plan to send four lucky Earthlings to colonize the Red Planet. The catch: They won’t ever come back. Enthusiasm has been growing since the project’s first big announcement in April. More than 200,000 people have signed up to be prospective astronauts. Apparently, they’re OK with living out the rest of their lives on Mars. The technology for a return flight doesn’t exist and having a one-way trip greatly reduces costs, the company has said. But will the money come through? Will the technology really be developed by 2018 for the unmanned mission and to send people there by 2025? Will four humans survive the journey in a tight space capsule and embrace a desolate planet as their home? Just think about it... Listen to this episode to find out more! Support Mind Set Central Subscribe or donate

Topics covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "Clearing China’s Smog with Artificial Rain" China is notorious for smog emergencies, thanks to its severe air pollution. Smog has done everything from grounding planes at major airports to closing schools across the country. China’s smog is so dense that it’s even crept over to Japan and across other parts of Asia. Although the country is working on putting measures into place to combat pollution, China still needs a more immediate solution for clearing up the heavy smog. This is why the country is putting its hopes on artificial rain, according to the China Meteorological Administration. Instead of cloud seeding, though, maybe they could experiment with using lasers for rain creation — or even better, invest in a smog-sucking vacuum. Both are alternative ideas to cloud seeding and Right now, the results are literally up in the air. Just think about it...   "The NSA Has Been Infiltrating Online Games" To the National Security Agency analyst writing a briefing to his superiors, the situation was clear: their current surveillance efforts were lacking something. The agency's impressive arsenal of cable taps and sophisticated hacking attacks was not enough. What it really needed was a horde of undercover Orcs. That vision of spycraft sparked a concerted drive by the NSA and its UK sister agency GCHQ to infiltrate the massive communities playing online games including World of Warcraft, according to secret documents disclosed by whistleblower Edward Snowden. Perhaps the next time you boot up World of Warcraft, your really turning on another game, the world of spycraft. Just think about it... Find out more by listening to this episode! Support Mind Set Central Subscribe or donate

Topics covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "The River of Blood" Villagers' shocked as Slovakian waterway turns red overnight like something from a horror film. Rumours were swirling in a Slovakian town this week when a river running through it turned bright red. The river is in a small community on the border to the Czech Republic, and it had changed colour over night and turned into 'blood'. Police have been called in to investigate the matter, but it is believed to be a faulty filtering system from a slaughterhouse upstream.   "Radio Beams to Remotely Disable Vehicles" End of the high-speed car chase? Engineers invent system that disables a vehicle's engine remotely using radio beams. The RF Safe-Stop system uses blasts of electromagnetic pulses to remotely shut off any car engines that targeted by the device. RF Safe-Stop works because the targeted radio frequency pulses ‘confuse’ the electronics within the car, and this causes the engine to cut out as a safety measure. Find our more by listening to this episode! Support Mind Set Central Subscribe or donate

Topics covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "Japan Wants To Turn The Moon Into A Giant Power Plant" Shimizu Corporation, a Japanese architecture and engineering firm, has a plan to effectively turn the moon into a giant solar power plant. Once complete, this hypothetical plant could continuously send energy to "receiving stations" around the globe by way of lasers and microwave transmission. This idea gets around two major hurdles for solar power, as there is no weather or darkness to curb electricity production on the moon.   "Google Glass Makes Its Way Into Operating Rooms" Hands-free devices like Google Glass can be really transformative when the hands they free are those of a surgeon. While average users might find Glass’s tiny display tiring to look at, surgeons are already accustomed to looking through magnifying glasses while they work.     "Battle over Google Glass etiquette" Man thrown out of diner for wearing Google Glass may prove the latest tech vs. privacy flashpoint. Mobile phones, digital cameras and laptops have all stoked debates on the sphere of privacy — and now it seems Google Glass is set to become the focus of such disputes. Support Mind Set Central Subscribe or donate

Topics covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "Mysterious Arrows" Giant Concrete Arrows That - Point Your Way Across America... The Internet has been buzzing in recent weeks with chatter about a mysterious series of giant arrows. They trace a sort of dotted line across northern Utah and several other states.     "The Iron Man Suit" U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) wants its operators to be protected with what it informally calls an Iron Man suit, named after the fictional superhero. In September, SOCOM made a Broad Agency Announcement for proposals for prototypes of the Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit, or TALOS. Find out more by listening to this episode! Support Mind Set Central Subscribe or donate

Topics covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "Inside the Head of a Headbanger" New research suggests that, for some fans, heavy metal music fills deep-seated psychological needs. Heavy metal fans tend to be stereotyped as angry, alienated, and rebellious. The genre “attracts the misfits and the crazies,” as an Arizona music writer put it last year. “The aggression and precision speaks to them, gives them an outlet for their pent-up rage or whatever hard-to-define thing lives inside them.” A newly published study attempts to explain that hard-to-define thing. A research team at the University of Westminster paints a psychological portrait of those who love metal, reporting that fans “show a particular constellation” of personality traits. "US Oil Dominance will be Short Lived" The International Energy Agency says North America’s shale boom doesn’t diminish the supremacy of the Middle East in the global oil market. The fossil fuel boom underway in the United States has transformed the global energy landscape, with the U.S. poised to eclipse all other countries as the leading producer of oil and gas in the world in 2013. But according to a new report from the International Energy Agency, that dominance will be short lived and doesn’t mark an end to the Middle East’s 40-year-reign as the world’s energy leader. Listen to this episode to learn more! Support Mind Set Central Subscribe or donate

Topics covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "Do We Live in the Matrix?" Tests could reveal whether we are part of a giant computer simulation — but the real question is if we want to know... In the 1999 sci-fi classic The Matrix, the protagonist, Neo, is stunned to see people defying the laws of physics, running up walls and vanishing suddenly. These superhuman violations of the rules of the universe are possible because, unbeknownst to him, Neo’s consciousness is embedded in the Matrix, a virtual-reality simulation. Physicists can now offer us the same choice, the ability to test whether we live in our own virtual Matrix, by studying radiation from space. As fanciful as it sounds, some philosophers have long argued that we’re actually more likely to be artificial intelligences trapped in a fake universe than we are organic minds in the “real” one. So should we say yes to the offer to take the red pill and learn the truth — or are the implications too disturbing? Just think about it... "Robo-Friends: The Emotional Distance Between Humans And Robots Is Shrinking" As robots advance, it's going to get harder and harder for people to remain detached. Roombas are basically extremely smart vacuum cleaners, but to some owners they start to feel like pets or friends. As more advanced robots enter more parts of our lives, especially in the workplace, there could be growing emotional and psychological consequences for their human caretakers. Listen to this episode to find out more! News Story Links: Matrix Robo-friends Support Mind Set Central Subscribe or donate

Topics covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "Typhoon Haiyan - Result of Climate Change?" The Philippines delegate at the UN Climate Change talks that began recently has blamed Typhoon Haiyan on climate change, and urged sceptics to 'get off their ivory towers' No matter where you stand on climate change, it is obvious that our weather is becoming more extreme every year. Take the politics out of the debate and you may get a clearer picture on the situation. There are not two sides, but the whole of humanity. There are no winners and losers, we all either win or lose in the future we make for ourselves. Just think about it...   "Super Smog Hits North China City" Visibility shrank to less than half a football field and small-particle pollution soared to a record 40 times higher than an international safety standard in the northern Chinese city Harbin as the region entered its high-smog season. Air pollution has been identified as a major cause of cancer and is being officially classified as carcinogenic to humans. Meanwhile many of the world's countries continue produce record amounts of smog and air pollutants each year. We need to clear the air on this subject, we need to breathe. Just think about it... Find out more by listening to this episode! News Story Links: Typhoon Haiyan Super Smog Support Mind Set Central Subscribe or donate

Topics covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily Man Dies Opening Pandoras Box Mystery surrounds the death of a 37-year-old man who collapsed after opening ‘Pandora’s box’.Jason Airey was found slumped unconscious by his parents in the bedroom of their Carlisle home in May this year. A box bearing the words ‘Pandora’s box’ was beside him. Mysterious disease rapidly turning starfish to ‘slime’ SAN FRANCISCO—Scientists are struggling to find the trigger for a disease that appears to be ravaging starfish in record numbers along the U.S. West Coast, causing the sea creatures to lose their limbs and turn to slime in a matter of days. US Navy Secrets 'Sold For Lady Gaga Tickets' A US Navy commander has been accused of passing secrets to a Malaysian businessman in exchange for bribes, including access to prostitutes and Lady Gaga tickets. Until Next Time... Support Mind Set Central Subscribe or donate

Topic covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "The Li-Fi Revolution" Scientists have a bright idea, The next generation of wireless internet could use converted LED lightbulbs to transmit data faster and more cheaply than traditional Wi-Fi signals. If the hype is to be believed, Li-Fi could be the next Wi-Fi. Computers or other devices placed near a Li-Fi bulb can connect to the net, using light frequencies rather than the usual radio waves. The bulb is embedded with a microchip that produces a signal, yielding rates faster than typical connection speeds. Many experts claim that Li-Fi represents the future of mobile internet thanks to its reduced costs and greater efficiency compared to traditional Wi-Fi. Have a lightbulb and a Li-Fi kit? well —you have the internet. Of course, there are still a few technical details— that would need to fall into place before Li-Fi becomes ubiquitous. So for now, Li-Fi remains an experiment but with a bright future. Just think about it... Listen to this episode to find out more! Link 1 - Link 2 News Clip Link Support Mind Set Central Subscribe or donate

Topic covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "The Power of an Hour" (The Dangers of Daylight Savings Time) The biannual ritual of turning clocks might feel like second nature to us today, it is actually a fairly new phenomenon that has only taken effect on a global scale within the past several decades. The subtle time shift can take a noticeable toll on the human body. With verdicts on the benefits and costs of daylight saving time up for debate, it may be no surprise that the yearly time changes inspire polarized reactions. That is the power of an hour, just think about it... Listen to this episode to find out more! News Story and Clip Link Support Mind Set Central Subscribe or donate

Topic covered on today's episode of Mind Set Daily "A Chip In The Head" Would you like to surf the Internet, make a phone call or send a text message using only your brain? Would you like to “download” the content of a 500 page book into your memory in less than a second? Would you like to have extremely advanced nanobots constantly crawling around in your body monitoring it for disease? Would you like to be able to instantly access the collective knowledge base of humanity wherever you are? All of that may sound like science fiction, but these are technologies that some of the most powerful high tech firms in the world actually believe are achievable by the year 2020. Are you ready for this kind of a future? These technologies are being developed right now, and they will be enthusiastically adopted by a large segment of the general public. At some point in the future, having a brain implant may be as common as it is to use a smart phone today. Just think about it... Listen to this episode to find out more! News and Clip Link Support Mind Set Central Subscribe or donate