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Machines will achieve human-level artificial intelligence by 2029, a leading US inventor has predicted.

Humanity is on the brink of advances that will see tiny robots implanted in people’s brains to make them more intelligent, said Ray Kurzweil.

The engineer believes machines and humans will eventually merge through devices implanted in the body to boost intelligence and health.

“It’s really part of our civilisation,” Mr Kurzweil explained.

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Newborn stars shine like celestial sparklers in a new portrait of the nearby Triangulum Galaxy – the most detailed ultraviolet image of a galaxy ever taken. Astronomers will use the image, taken by NASA’s Swift telescope, to create an “age map” of the galaxy’s components to understand how galaxies evolve over time.

The Triangulum galaxy, also known as M33, lies about 2.9 million light years from Earth and is a member of the “Local Group” of galaxies that includes the Milky Way.

It is about 10 times less massive than our galaxy and about half as wide. “[But] despite M33’s small size, it has a much higher star-formation rate than either the Milky Way or Andromeda,” says image creator Stefan Immler of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, US. “All of this star birth lights up the galaxy in the ultraviolet.”

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Here’s an interesting clock made out of humans

See the clock ticking here http://billychasen.com/clock/

Edmunds Inside Line reports that a “panel of 47 distinguished internationals automotive journalists” has named the finalists in its “World Car of the Year” competition. Three finalists have been named in each of four categories. A winner for each category will be announced at the 2008 New York Auto Show in late March. Cars sold on at least two continents are eligible for the award, and several of the finalists are available on the U.S. market. Autoblog advises readers, “Regardless of how spotless the chosen journalist’s driving record is, it’s still a subjective vote, so don’t be dismayed if your favorite chunk of steel didn’t make the list this year. Instead, be pleased that the majority of the vehicles are actually available in the States.”

A press release from the World Car of the Year program lists the finalists in each category. Audi leads the list with two nominations for its R8 and one for its S5. The only U.S.-based manufacturer to earn a nomination is Ford, for its Mondeo sedan, not available in the U.S.

Mitchell Baker has one of the best job titles in computing: she’s chief lizard wrangler at Mozilla, creator of the Firefox web browser, which has a reptilian mascot named after Godzilla. If I ever had a fancy dress party, I’d invite her to appear in character. And she might. Although she trained as a lawyer, she’s also a trapeze artist, so there’s clearly more to her than meets the eye.

Mozilla started with Netscape Communications, but the company was originally called Mosaic, after the first popular web browser. Baker joined Netscape’s legal department in 1994, and has been involved with Mozilla/Firebird/Firefox ever since.

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