Lifeboat Foundation

So far, no one has commercialized nuclear fusion, but the race is on to be the first to figure it out. Whoever does will be able to bring power to the more than 1 billion who don’t have access to electricity, power cars and help companies operate businesses without having to create harmful emissions.

Jeff Bezos and others have sunk more than $127 million into General Fusion, a start-up trying to commercialize fusion energy. Microsoft is partnering with the company. The goal: to provide energy to 1 billion people that don’t have electricity.

In the wake of the October 29 Indonesian crash of a brand new Boeing 737 MAX 8 that took the lives of 189 passengers, the FAA has issued Emergency Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2018−23−51. The 737 is the most widely flown aircraft in the world, This tragedy opens an important conversation between regulators, operators and pilots.

Lion Air, an experienced 737 operator, was the launch carrier last year for the 737 MAX 8 and the MAX 9 in March. While it will take a long time to analyze the Lion Air 610 accident, the AD points out that current system architecture has created vulnerabilities.

Already, 1,000 smart city pilots are under construction or in their final urban planning stages across the globe, driving forward countless visions of the future.

As data becomes the gold of the 21st century, centralized databases and hyper-connected infrastructures will enable everything from sentient cities that respond to data inputs in real time to smart public services that revolutionize modern governance.

Connecting countless industries—real estate, energy, sensors and networks, and transportation, among others—tomorrow’s cities pose no end of creative possibilities and stand to completely transform the human experience.

Continue reading “The Smart Cities of the Future Are Already Taking Off” »

Is this the guilt-free sports utility vehicle for the animal-loving, environmentally-conscious car enthusiast?

Aston Martin’s new Lagonda — unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show — is electric-powered and… vegan.

The Britain-based manufacturer says the luxury interior of the long, sleek vehicle is leather-free.

Continue reading “Aston Martin Lagonda: new SUV is electric-powered and… vegan” »

An air-to-air imaging technology developed by NASA has resulted in the first images ever taken of interacting shockwaves produced by in-flight supersonic jets. The new images, in addition to being beautiful, will help NASA design jets capable of producing gentle rumbles instead of loud sonic booms when breaking the sound barrier.

The project, called AirBOS, or Air-to-Air Background Oriented Schlieren flights, recently took place at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, reports NASA in a press release. A new imaging system used during the test is now the first to capture high-quality images of interacting shockwaves produced by two different aircraft.

An exclusive look at how Alphabet understands its most ambitious artificial intelligence project.

A new blueprint from city transportation planners and engineers, who say it’s never too early to start thinking about the future.

In my 50s, too old to become a real expert, I have finally fallen in love with algebraic geometry. As the name suggests, this is the study of geometry using algebra. Around 1637, René Descartes laid the groundwork for this subject by taking a plane, mentally drawing a grid on it, as we now do with graph paper, and calling the coordinates x and y. We can write down an equation like x + y = 1, and there will be a curve consisting of points whose coordinates obey this equation. In this example, we get a circle!

It was a revolutionary idea at the time, because it let us systematically convert questions about geometry into questions about equations, which we can solve if we’re good enough at algebra. Some mathematicians spend their whole lives on this majestic subject. But I never really liked it much until recently—now that I’ve connected it to my interest in quantum physics.

If we can figure out how to reduce topology to algebra, it might help us formulate a theory of quantum gravity.

Continue reading “The Math That Takes Newton Into the Quantum World” »

Jetpack Aviation has leap-frogged its own flying car project with the announcement that it’s taking pre-orders now on a self-stabilizing, jet turbine-powered flying motorcycle capable of 150 mph speeds, 20 minute endurance and 15,000 ft altitudes.