Page 10942
Apr 7, 2016
Lithium study helps scientists unlock ageing puzzle
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: biotech/medical, health, life extension
A common drug could hold the key to long life, in flies at least, according to research.
At low doses, lithium prolonged the life of fruit flies in lab experiments.
Scientists say the finding is “encouraging” and could eventually lead to new drugs to help people live longer and healthier lives.
Apr 7, 2016
Your next car will need a firewall
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: cybercrime/malcode, internet, security, transportation
As our cars become increasingly connected to the internet, and eventually drive themselves, we’re going to want them to be rock-solid secure. The recent Chrysler exploit and FBI warning both highlighted just how vulnerable our vehicles can be to malicious hackers.
The idea of anti-virus software for cars has been around for several years, and this year there’s even an entire conference about in-car cybersecurity. Karamba Security is a new company in the space that is offering what amounts to a firewall for your ride.
Don’t miss our biggest TNW Conference yet! Join us May 26 & 27 in Amsterdam.
Apr 7, 2016
Elon Musk: Tesla Model 3 orders hit $14 billion in one week
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: Elon Musk, sustainability, transportation
One week after Elon Musk unveiled the Tesla Model 3, the company’s first mass-market car, hundreds of thousands of people have paid $1,000 to reserve the car despite its expected late-2017 launch.
That reservation figure totals to $14 billion (theoretical dollars) in sales, or 325,000 cars, with one big caveat: With only $1,000 down, some — perhaps many — of these orders will inevitably be adjusted or canceled over the next few years. In any event, that’s $325 million paid in preorders to date for a car that basically doesn’t exist yet.
Over 325k cars or ~$14B in preorders in first week. Only 5% ordered max of two, suggesting low levels of speculation.
Continue reading “Elon Musk: Tesla Model 3 orders hit $14 billion in one week” »
Apr 7, 2016
Toyota taps its $1 billion budget to develop technology to keep you from crashing
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in category: transportation
The Japanese carmaker is using real and virtual experiments to train cars to drive themselves—and to take the wheel when a driver is in trouble.
Apr 7, 2016
Solar Cells Will be Made Obsolete
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: computing, nanotechnology, solar power, sustainability
A new kind of nanoscale rectenna (half antenna and half rectifier) can convert solar and infrared into electricity, plus be tuned to nearly any other frequency as a detector.Right now efficiency is only one percent, but professor Baratunde Cola and colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech, Atlanta) convincingly argue that they can achieve 40 percent broad spectrum efficiency (double that of silicon and more even than multi-junction gallium arsenide) at a one-tenth of the cost of conventional solar cells (and with an upper limit of 90 percent efficiency for single wavelength conversion).
Apr 7, 2016
MIT researchers develop 3D printing process that creates fully functional robots as soon as they come off printer
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: 3D printing, computing, robotics/AI
Researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have developed a new 3D printing process that creates fully functional robots from the moment they come out of the printer.
MIT process of robot making is quite streamlined, as the robot’s solid and hydraulic parts are created in one step. CSAIL Director Daniela Rus, who oversaw the project, said that their approach of printable hydraulics is a step ahead in the rapid fabrication of functional machines.
The single-step process involves printing a small six-legged robot that crawls with the help of 12-hydraulic pumps embedded in its body. Working of the printer includes inkjet printer deposits drops of material quite small in size. The object is printed layer wise from bottom to the top. High-intensity UV light solidifies the materials that were used to create the object.
Apr 7, 2016
21st Century SmelloVision and the Truly Tricky Problem of Artificial Olfaction
Posted by Karen Hurst in category: futurism
Unlike sight and sound, nobody has developed a system that can accurately reproduce smells. Now one researcher has begun to think seriously about how artificial olfaction might work.
Apr 7, 2016
Guangzhou restaurant fires its robot staff for their incompetence
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: food, robotics/AI
To the Robots of this restaurant “You’re Fired!”.
Employing robots and artificial intelligence in Chinese restaurants has turned out to be not such a smart idea after all, with restaurants in Guangzhou either closing down or firing their mechanical staff.
According to Workers’ Daily, two restaurants which made use of robotic waiters have closed down and a third which remains open has given all but one of the robots the sack.
Continue reading “Guangzhou restaurant fires its robot staff for their incompetence” »
Apr 7, 2016
US spy planes use AR software above major US cities and ‘target Muslim areas’
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: augmented reality, surveillance
Interesting
The software can be used by pilots to superimpose information onto pilots’ screens as they circle above areas, which include one San Bernardino mosque after the shooting last year.
Continue reading “US spy planes use AR software above major US cities and ‘target Muslim areas’” »