Lifeboat Foundation

When you read about what some startups are doing these days it seems like you’re reading a sci-fi book. Earlier this year we published an article titled “3 Companies Building Nanorobot Companies” and we talked about using software, robots, and synthetic biology to engineer synthetic organisms (essentially nanorobots) that can be used to create efficiencies. According to BCC Research, the global market for microbes and microbial products was projected to approach $154.7 billion in 2015 and almost double to $306 billion by 2020. Healthcare is largest consumer of microbes (61%) followed by energy (24%) and manufacturing (13%). The massive size of the microbe industry is just begging for a bit of disruptive technology to address it and that’s exactly what Zymergen is getting up to.

Founded in 2013, San Francisco startup Zymergen has taken in a total of $174 million from a whole slew of investors that include Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Softbank. Their most recent funding round of $130 million closed just last week and was led by Softbank, a publicly traded Japanese technology conglomerate. This should come as no surprise considering Softbank has recently announced their intention to become the world’s number one technology investor with up to $100 billion allocated to investing in future technology companies.

1st question that comes to mind is why? Then, I think about how this can be used against enemy states or would be criminals who are considering kidnapping or assignation attempts on leaders; then I see opportunity.

In Brief:

Continue reading “Cool Automatons: Humanoid Robots Have Been Given the Ability to Sweat” »

A webinar presented by: James Goldmeyer, PhD

The use of CRISPR-Cas9 for gene editing has opened up many new avenues for scientific exploration around gene function. The rapid expansion of the field has led to a wide range of technology formats for use in both gene knockout and precision knockin genome engineering experiments. The seemingly ever-increasing toolset has also led to a widening knowledge gap for newcomers to the field to overcome in determining the proper reagents for performing experiments.

During this webinar we will discuss the basics of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing and the key criteria and decision points in selecting reagents based on your desired application. We will review all types of guide RN…A and Cas9 nuclease formats and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each.

DeepMind, an artificial intelligence firm that was acquired by Google in 2014 and is now under the Alphabet umbrella, has developed a computer than can refer to its own memory to learn facts and use that knowledge to answer questions.

That’s huge, because it means that future AI could respond to queries from humans without being taught every possible correct answer.

TNW Momentum is our New York technology event for anyone interested in helping their company grow.

Continue reading “DeepMind’s new computer can learn from its own memory” »

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California Space Center (CSC) founder Eva Blaisdell announced in a press release sent to CoinReport the launch of “Copernic,” a blockchain-based, finance-focused rights management system developed for the space industry.

Named after legendary Polish astronomer Copernicus, Copernic will provide the infrastructure for the future space economy and ecosystem to be built upon, said CSC.

Continue reading “California Space Center announces blockchain system for space economy” »

Another huge leap forward in mass production of Quantum devices found.

Harnessing solid-state quantum bits, or qubits, is a key step toward the mass production of electronic devices based on quantum information science and technology. However, realizing a robust qubit with a long lifetime is challenging, particularly in semiconductors comprising multiple types of atoms.

The close collaboration between experiments in Prof. David Awschalom’s group and theory and simulations in Prof. Giulia Galli’s group, both in the Institute for Molecular Engineering, has enabled a crucial step toward solid-state qubits in industrially important semiconductors. In a paper, published Sept. 29 in Nature Communications, the two groups showed that electron qubits bound to atom-like defects in a commercial silicon carbide wafer can exhibit the longest electronic coherence times ever measured in a natural crystal.

Continue reading “Exceptionally robust quantum states found in industrially important semiconductor” »

More on that “Quantum State of Mind”.

Collective Evolution: Lanza’s theory implies that if the body generates consciousness, then consciousness dies when the body dies. But if the body receives consciousness in the same way that a cable box receives satellite signals, then of course consciousness does not end at the death of the physical vehicle. This is an example that’s commonly used to describe the enigma of consciousness.

Nice.

Now used to brighten displays, quantum dots could one day guide a surgeon’s hand.