Lifeboat Foundation

Automated irrigation systems in the Northern part of Israel were briefly disrupted recently in an attack that once again shows how easy it can be to hack industrial control systems (ICS).

The Jerusalem Post reported that hackers targeted water controllers for irrigation systems at farms in the Jordan Valley, as well as wastewater treatment control systems belonging to the Galil Sewage Corporation.

Farms were warned by Israel’s National Cyber Directorate prior to the incident, being instructed to disable remote connections to these systems due to the high risk of cyberattacks. Roughly a dozen farms in the Jordan Valley and other areas failed to do so and had their water controllers hacked. This led to automated irrigation systems being temporarily disabled, forcing farmers to turn to manual irrigation.

For a long time, scientists have been trying to figure out how plants start the process of turning sunlight into sugar through photosynthesis. But now, some researchers have finally decoded those tricky signals that plants send to themselves! Humans can’t survive without photosynthesis. Without plants, there would be no animals, including humans. So, if we understand how to manipulate plant growth, we can also control the quantity of food we produce and our life.

#brightside.

Continue reading “The Most Difficult Language in the World Can Save Millions” »

The Chinese delivery giant Meituan flies drones between skyscrapers to kiosks around the city. I went to see how it works.

My iced tea arrived from the sky.

😗

German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg first introduced his uncertainty principle in a 1925 paper. It’s special because it remains intact no matter how good our experimental methods get; this isn’t a lack of precision in measurement. It doesn’t matter how smart you are, or how sophisticated your equipment, is you can’t think your way past it. It’s a fact of nature.

Legendary physicist and master bongo player Richard Feynman put it like this: “The uncertainty principle ‘protects’ quantum mechanics. Heisenberg recognized that if it were possible to measure both the momentum and the position simultaneously with greater accuracy, quantum mechanics would collapse. So he proposed that must be impossible.”

Continue reading “Our Existence Always Contains Some Uncertainty. This Physics Principle Explains Why” »

Many of us will be familiar with feelings of sluggishness and lethargy in the afternoon, but for those with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), the problem is more severe.

Fortunately, researchers have now identified a drug that offers a good chance of helping. And no, it doesn’t come in espresso form.

Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) for people who have OSA can severely affect daily life. It means having overwhelming urges to sleep at inappropriate times – while driving or eating, for example – and often struggle to complete simple tasks.

The demo is clever, questionably real, and prompts a lot of questions about how this device will actually work.

Buzz has been building around the secretive tech startup Humane for over a year, and now the company is finally offering a look at what it’s been building. At TED last month, Humane co-founder Imran Chaudhri gave a demonstration of the AI-powered wearable the company is building as a replacement for smartphones. Bits of the video leaked online after the event, but the full video is now available to watch.

The device appears to be a small black puck that slips into your breast pocket, with a camera, projector, and speaker sticking out the top. Throughout the 13-minute presentation, Chaudhri walks through a handful of use cases for Humane’s gadget: * The device rings when Chaudhri receives a phone call. He holds his hand up, and the device projects the caller’s name along with icons to answer or ignore the call. He then has a brief conversation. (Around 1:48 in the video) * He presses and holds one finger on the device, then asks a question about where he can buy a gift. The device responds with the name of a shopping district. (Around 6:20) * He taps two fingers on the device, says a sentence, and the device translates the sentence into another language, stating it back using an AI-generated clone of his voice. (Around 6:55) * He presses and holds one finger on the device, says, “Catch me up,” and it reads out a summary of recent emails, calendar events, and messages. (At 9:45) * He holds a chocolate bar in front of the device, then presses and holds one finger on the device while asking, “Can I eat this?” The device recommends he does not because of a food allergy he has. He presses down one finger again and tells the device he’s ignoring its advice. (Around 10:55)

Continue reading “Is buzzy startup Humane’s big idea a wearable camera?” »

and future products will look more appetizing and taste better.

Watch these 3D-printed foods gradually change from a mess to cheesecake.

After eight tries, a team of mechanical engineers from Columbia University successfully 3D printed a cooked slice of cheesecake from seven ingredients.

😗😁

Researchers are working on edible computer chips to control robots that can operate inside the human body to precisely deliver drugs before safely being digested.

By Matthew Sparkes

Continue reading “Edible computer chips could control digestible drug-delivery robots” »

A team of researchers at the Italian Institute of Technology recently unveiled what is being billed as the world’s first fully rechargeable, edible battery. As detailed in a paper published with Advanced Materials, the new device utilizes riboflavin (often found in shiitake mushrooms) as its anode and quercetin (seen in capers) as the cathode. Activated charcoal amplified the electrical conductivity alongside a water-based electrolyte. Nori seaweed—most often seen in sushi—served as the short circuit prevention separator, while beeswax-encased electrodes and food-grade gold foil contacts also contributed to the design.

The battery relies on chemical components often found in shiitake mushrooms, capers, and seaweed—and may come in handy for children’s toys.