Lifeboat News: The Blog – Safeguarding Humanity

The gap between SSD and hard disk prices is shrinking rapidly

Posted by Shailesh Prasad in computing, electronics

Mar 6
2016

The price of SSDs is continuing to drop, and they’re becoming an ever-more tempting proposition compared to traditional spinning disks, according to a new report.

DRAMeXchange, which is a division of analyst firm TrendForce, produces a quarterly report detailing the prices PC vendors pay for SSDs, and it showed that both MLC-based and TLC-based SSDs dropped considerably in price.

MLC-based drives dropped by around 10 to 12%, and TLC-based SSD prices sank by 7 to 12% in the first quarter of 2016.

Dopamine Headphones

Posted by Shailesh Prasad in media & arts, neuroscience

Mar 6
2016

Prepare to feel music like you never have before…

Putting out fires with nothing but sound

Posted by Shailesh Prasad in futurism

Mar 6
2016

Whoa! A duo of undergraduates at George Mason University in Virginia created a device that they say puts out fires with nothing but sound. http://bit.ly/1bO8Ivq

New Metal Can Become Soft and Stiff Just Like Human Muscles

Posted by Karen Hurst in biotech/medical, engineering, robotics/AI, transportation

Mar 6
2016

This looks very promising.

The human body is designed pretty well: Our muscles are able to switch between strength and dexterity, limbs stiffening when we do an energy-fueled task like lifting a bowling ball and softening when we do something delicate like painting with a brush. This ability is very rarely replicated in engineering systems, namely because it’s expensive, but also because it’s been damn hard to clone.

However, HRL Laboratories — the same Malibu-based researchers who brought you microlattice — has announced they’ve been able to replicate the reactions of human muscle in metal. Their goal is to use this new technology to create cars with smoother rides and, more intriguingly, more human-like robots.

Continue reading “New Metal Can Become Soft and Stiff Just Like Human Muscles” | >

Artificial intelligence brings its brains and money to London

Posted by Klaus Baldauf in economics, robotics/AI

Mar 6
2016

Following two big acquisitions by US tech companies of AI startups based in academia, the capital is emerging as a hub for young scientist-entrepreneurs.

L.A.’s U.S. Bank Tower is Installing Glass Slide

Posted by Karen Hurst in futurism

Mar 6
2016

The U.S Bank Tower in Los Angeles will be opening a fully enclosed glass side called SkySlide, which will perch 1,000 feet above the street. Read on.

Own Your DNA

Posted by Karen Hurst in biotech/medical

Mar 6
2016

What happens when you no longer own your own DNA sequencing and the person who has it refuses to release it to you?.

Having your genome sequenced doesn’t always mean you have full access to the data.

Flexible Glass Could Bring Back the Flip Phone

Posted by Klaus Baldauf in mobile phones

Mar 6
2016

Schott can make a sheet of glass thinner than your hair and half a kilometer long that bends, but doesn’t yet fold.

3D-Printed Drugs Coming Soon

Posted by Karen Hurst in 3D printing, biotech/medical, health

Mar 6
2016

Frankly, in the US this makes me really nervous. Placing drug making 3D printers in your local pharmacies. I hope that the manufacturer has a mechanism setup to cause the machine not to work if it is stolen by the local drug gangs.

The brave new world of 3D-printed drugs in the healthcare industry is heating up.

It’s official: Native Americans and Siberians are cousins

Posted by Karen Hurst in genetics

Mar 5
2016

After more than a century of speculation, an international group of geneticists has conclusively proven that the Aztecs, Incas, and Iroquois are closely related to the peoples of Altai, the Siberian region that borders China and Mongolia.