SYDNEY, Australia (PNN) - June 1, 2015 - The Mark of the Beast is more almost here than ever before.

The likelihood of a forced RFID implant under the guise of a martial law pandemic emergency might be a little too obvious, as far as future tyranny goes.

Before it comes to that, it seems that plenty of people will be voluntarily subjecting themselves to cattle-like status, by jumping at the chance to ditch the inconvenience of a wallet and get a “smarter” payment system that can be embedded under their skin.

REDMOND, Washington (PNN) - May 19, 2015 - A comprehensive Microsoft study is offering insights into how living in the digital age is affecting our ability to sustain attention, and how our brains are adapting to the constant flow of new stimuli. Although the results confirmed the suspicions that the information overflow is affecting our ability to focus on one task for long periods of time, the news isn't all bad, as it seems we're also training our brains to multitask more effectively.

Artificial intelligence is getting smarter by leaps and bounds - within this century, research suggests, a computer AI could be as "smart" as a human being. And then, says Nick Bostrom, it will overtake us: "Machine intelligence is the last invention that humanity will ever need to make." A philosopher and technologist, Bostrom asks us to think hard about the world we're building right now, driven by thinking machines. Will our smart machines help to preserve humanity and our values - or will they have values of their own?

WATERLOO, Ontario, Canada (PNN) - April 30, 2015 - Astrophysicists from the University of Waterloo have compiled the most comprehensive 3D map of our cosmic surroundings to date. The map describes how ordinary matter is distributed in space up to a distance of about a billion light-years away from us. This survey will help scientists better understand the distribution of dark matter and explain why, to some extent, galaxies are moving erratically with respect to us.