Lifeboat Foundation

Summary: Researchers developed the world’s first 3D-printed brain tissue that grows and behaves similarly to natural brain tissue, marking a significant leap forward for neurological and neurodevelopmental disorder research.

This novel 3D-printing technique uses a horizontal layering approach and a softer bio-ink, allowing neurons to interconnect and form networks akin to human brain structures.

The ability to precisely control cell types and arrangements provides unparalleled opportunities to study brain functions and disorders in a controlled environment, offering new avenues for drug testing and understanding brain development and diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

By better taming the Jekyll-and-Hyde nature of an alternative to the semiconductor—one that transitions from electricity-resisting insulator to current-conducting metal—Nebraska’s Xia Hong and colleagues may have unlocked a new path to smaller, more efficient digital devices. The team reports its findings in the journal Nature Communications.

The semiconductor’s ability to conduct electricity in the Goldilocks zone—poorer than a metal, better than an insulator—positioned it as the just-right choice for engineers looking to build transistors, the tiny on-off switches that encode the 1s and 0s of binary. Apply some voltage to the control knob known as a gate insulator, and the semiconductor channel allows electric current to flow ; remove it, and that flow ceases.

Millions of those nanoscopic, semiconductor-based transistors now coat modern microchips, switching on and off to collectively process or store data. But as minuscule as the transistors already are, the demands of consumers and competition continue pushing electrical engineers to shrink them even further, either for the sake of squeezing in more functionality or downsizing the devices that house them.

Heartbeat-induced pulsations of cerebral blood vessels can directly entrain neuronal activity.

Saskatchewan’s capital city is moving forward with plans to electrify its Regina Transit fleet, signing a five-year contract with Nova Bus to acquire 53 battery electric city buses.

A subsidiary of the Volvo Group based in Quebec, Nova Bus manufactures long-range electric bus options with absolutely massive battery packs — up to 564 kWh on its biggest models, with the option of DC fast-charging or charging through overhead wires.

The first installment of its larger order will see seven of its LFSe+ 40-foot, long-range buses delivered to the City of Regina early in 2025 at a cost of $10.8 million (Canadian). The city will follow that with 13 more buses later in 2025 at a cost of $22.4 million, with an additional $21.2 million set to be spent on facility upgrades and infrastructure to support the electric buses.

After topping Tesla in the final three months of 2023, BYD is starting the year off strong with EV sales rising another 50% in January.

BYD sold 105,304 fully electric cars last month, up 48% from the 71,338 handed over last year. Production was also up significantly, with 114,365 EVs built last month, up 64% YOY.

Interestingly, BYD’s all-electric vehicles are beginning to outpace its plug-in hybrids (PHEVs). BYD’s PHEV sales were up 21% to 95,715 last month. Production was only up 9% to 90,749 units.

Also get 49fps in BG3119fps in CS2, and 41fps in Cyberpunk 2077 using the new AMD Ryzen 8700G, all without the need for an extra CPU cooler.

The project, led by a Chinese aerospace defense contractor, aims to build a system capable of propelling a train to speeds of 621 mph within a vacuum tube.

A LUXURY carmaker has confirmed the release of an EV model that’ll replace the original gas version.

The news were shared this week, with the new vehicle expected to enter production in the latter half of 2024.

Porsche has announced their electric Macan SUV.

The EPFL team, using tellurite glass produced by their Tokyo Tech colleagues, applied their expertise in femtosecond laser technology to alter the glass and study the laser’s effect. After etching a simple line pattern onto a 1 cm diameter tellurite glass and exposing it to UV light and the visible spectrum, Torun found it could generate a current consistently for months.

Bellouard expressed his excitement at the breakthrough, saying, “We’re locally turning glass into a semiconductor using light. We’re essentially transforming materials into something else, perhaps approaching the dream of the alchemist!”

This development may pave the way for windows to function as single-material light-harvesting and sensing devices in the future.