Lifeboat Foundation

Read more

Researchers from MIT have designed artificial muscles filled with water and powered by lithium batteries.

Researchers at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) have used the infrastructure of the former TAMA300 gravitational wave detector in Mitaka, Tokyo, to demonstrate a new technique to reduce quantum noise in detectors. This new technique will increase the sensitivity of the detectors comprising a collaborative worldwide gravitational wave network, allowing them to observe fainter waves.

When it began observations in 2000, TAMA300 was one of the world’s first large-scale interferometric gravitational wave detectors. At that time TAMA300 had the highest sensitivity in the world, setting an upper limit on the strength of gravitational wave signals; but the first detection of actual gravitational waves was made 15 years later in 2015 by LIGO. Since then, detector technology has improved to the point that modern detectors are observing several signals per month. The scientific results obtained from these observations are already impressive, and many more are expected in the coming decades. TAMA300 is no longer participating in observations, but is still used as a testbed for new technologies to improve other detectors.

The sensitivity of current and future gravitational wave detectors is limited at almost all the frequencies by quantum noise caused by the effects of vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic fields. But even this inherent quantum noise can be sidestepped. It is possible to manipulate the vacuum fluctuations to redistribute the quantum uncertainties, decreasing one type of noise at the expense of increasing a different, less obstructive type of noise. This technique, known as vacuum squeezing, has already been implemented in gravitational wave detectors, greatly increasing their sensitivity to higher frequency gravitational waves. But the optomechanical interaction between the electromagnetic field and the mirrors of the detector causes the effect of vacuum squeezing to change depending on the frequency. So at low frequencies, vacuum squeezing increases the wrong type of noise, actually degrading sensitivity.

Idaho-based beef purveyor Snake River Farms is donating 35,000 10-ounce steaks to Bay Area food banks, with a total value of $2 million, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. It’s part of a larger initiative the company announced last week, which will send $8 million worth of its American wagyu to cities around the country to feed hospital workers, laid-off restaurant staff and other communities affected by the Covid-19 crisis. Snake River is relying on regional distribution partners in Los Angeles, Seattle, New York and San Francisco to help them get their donation to nonprofits.

With restaurants shut down, Snake River Farms is giving its premium beef a good home.

Like all communities, space colonies need to be socially stable. What do succeeded and failed Utopia’s on Earth teach us?

Most utopian communities are, like most start-ups, short-lived. What makes the difference between failure and success?

Let us not forget to finally get rid of this old killer.

The Campaign To Wipe Out Polio: Good News And Bad News : Goats and Soda The World Health Organization is celebrating the eradication of another strain of the polio virus. Yet major challenges remain in the global effort to get rid of the disease.

Continue reading “Ghost Viruses And The Taliban Stand In The Way Of Wiping Out Polio” »

The region is accustomed to lockdowns, but New Delhi’s ban on high-speed internet is undermining the medical community’s ability to fight the pandemic.

‘Only one VPN is working over the airtel. However, it is punishingly slow,’ says a social activist.

Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) administration has completely blocked the Virtual Private Network (VPNs), which were used by the local civilians to access banned social media sites including WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram.

According to a Kashmir-based social activist, the administration has banned VPN applications that were widely used in the Valley to access black-listed social media sites. “Only one VPN is working over the airtel. However, it is punishingly slow,” he said.

Continue reading “Jammu & Kashmir administration blocks Internet VPNs” »

Indian authorities have said a recent uptick in “terrorist violence” is behind the move. But rights groups have warned that civil liberties are at risk.