Lifeboat Foundation

I think it’s finally time to change the N in FAANG to Nvidia, rather than Netflix.

Futuristic advancements in AI and healthcare stole the limelight at the tech extravaganza Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2024. However, battery technology is the game-changer at the heart of these innovations, enabling greater power efficiency. Importantly, electric vehicles are where this technology is being applied most intensely. Today’s EVs can travel around 700km on a single charge, while researchers are aiming for a 1,000km battery range. Researchers are fervently exploring the use of silicon, known for its high storage capacity, as the anode material in lithium-ion batteries for EVs. However, despite its potential, bringing silicon into practical use remains a puzzle that researchers are still working hard to piece together.

Enter Professor Soojin Park, PhD candidate Minjun Je, and Dr. Hye Bin Son from the Department of Chemistry at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH). They have cracked the code, developing a pocket-friendly and rock-solid next-generation high-energy-density Li-ion battery system using micro silicon particles and gel polymer electrolytes. This work was published on the online pages of Advanced Science on the 17th of January.

Employing silicon as a battery material presents challenges: It expands by more than three times during charging and then contracts back to its original size while discharging, significantly impacting battery efficiency. Utilizing nano-sized silicon (10-9m) partially addresses the issue, but the sophisticated production process is complex and astronomically expensive, making it a challenging budget proposition. By contrast, micro-sized silicon (10-6m) is superbly practical in terms of cost and energy density. Yet, the expansion issue of the larger silicon particles becomes more pronounced during battery operation, posing limitations for its use as an anode material.

Tech giant Google has finally unveiled its much-hyped Gemini AI, a series of generative AI models it claims are its “largest and most capable” to date.

“This new era of models represents one of the biggest science and engineering efforts we’ve undertaken as a company,” said Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

Continue reading “Google’s new Gemini AI beats GPT-4 in 30 of 32 tests” »

This cotton picking electric robot from Turkey could boost farm output by up to 20% by picking up what bigger tractors leave behind.

Stellantis was the last major automaker to commit.

A privately-owned spacecraft headed for the Moon has blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was used to launch the lunar lander, nicknamed Odysseus, with the hope that it will land on the Moon’s south pole – where scientists predict there could be a source of water. If all goes well, it will be the first time a private firm has successfully landed on the Moon. It would also be the first US mission in 51 years to complete a soft touchdown on the lunar surface. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/1rbfUog #Space #Moon #BBCNews

Although solar flares have been classified based on the amount of energy they emit at their peak, there has not been significant study into differentiating flares since slow-building flares were first discovered in the 1980s. Scientists have now shown that there is a significant amount of slower-type flares worthy of further investigation.

Solar flares occur when magnetic energy builds up in the Sun’s atmosphere and is released as electromagnetic radiation. Lasting anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, flares usually reach temperatures around 10 million degrees Kelvin. Because of their intense electromagnetic energy, solar flares can cause disruptions in radio communications, Earth-orbiting satellites and even result in blackouts.

The width-to-decay ratio of a flare is the time it takes to reach maximum intensity to the time it takes to dissipate its energy.

Mission accomplished. Except Rober wasn’t done yet. Out of curiosity — and in preparation for the challengers to follow — he wondered if it was possible to make an even smaller blaster. One, say, three million times smaller? To answer that, he asked Pallav Kosuri, an assistant professor at the Integrative Biology Laboratory at the Salk Institute, if it was possible.

Kosuri’s reply: Sure! You just need to make it out of DNA.

Continue reading “Ex-NASA engineer Mark Rober created the world’s smallest Nerf gun — from DNA” »

More spy pictures are emerging of the as yet unnamed BYD pickup truck. Most importantly there are pictures indicating that right-hand drive models are already being tested. This means that it will almost certainly be heading to the Australian market and possibly the South African market soon.

Chinese media has been keen on talking about the RHD version of this car being spied but as you will see none of the pictures clearly show the steering wheel on the right. However, if you look at the windscreen wipers, on the near head on spy shot, these appear to be positioned for a car driven from a seat on the right.