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Sep 16, 2023

These farmers want to salt the earth — and grow crops in it

Posted by in categories: food, genetics

As salt encroaches on productive agricultural land, a handful of startups are finding ways to make crops grow in seawater with genetic modification and transforming solar saltwork.

Sep 16, 2023

Coca-Cola Uses AI to Create a Futuristic Coke Flavor

Posted by in categories: food, robotics/AI

Artificial intelligence experiments with artificial sweeteners.

Sep 16, 2023

Boeing flight testing Red 6 augmented reality dogfight training system

Posted by in category: augmented reality

Recent sorties by a Boeing TA-4J Skyhawk trainer incorporated an augmented reality pilot helmet produced by start-up Red 6, which Boeing hopes to eventually incorporate into its latest T-7A Red Hawk jet trainer.

Sep 16, 2023

World first: 3D-printed vegan salmon now in supermarkets

Posted by in category: food

Revo Foods.

This is according to a press release acquired by Interesting Engineering on Tuesday.

Sep 16, 2023

Bike tires made from NASA’s bizarre shape-shifting metal are now available to buy

Posted by in category: transportation

No more bicycle flats, forever.

Sep 16, 2023

Sustainable Development Impact Meetings 2023

Posted by in categories: business, sustainability

Sustainable Development Impact Meetings 2023 are being held in NYC from Sep 18 to 22. This event by the World Economic Forum will bring together business leaders, policymakers and innovators to accelerate progress on UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Sep 16, 2023

This insect-sized robot can carry 22 times its own weight

Posted by in categories: materials, robotics/AI

An insect-sized robot powered by tiny explosions can crawl, leap and carry a load many times its own weight.

The robot, developed by materials engineer Robert Shepherd at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, his PhD student Cameron Aubin and their colleagues, is powered by tiny actuators. “The actuator kind of looks like a drum. It’s a hollow cylinder with an elastomeric silicone rubber on the top,” says Aubin.

The researchers used four actuators to drive the robot’s feet. To make the robot jump or crawl, a stream of methane and oxygen is fed into each foot and sparked with electricity from a battery. The resulting reaction between the gases to form water and carbon dioxide releases energy as a small explosion, causing the rubber layer to deform. “That acts sort of like a piston,” Aubin says.

Sep 16, 2023

Boeing to test DARPA’s upcoming ‘Glide Breaker’ hypersonic interceptor

Posted by in category: military

The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has chosen Boeing to develop a prototype and conduct flight testing of its upcoming Glide Breaker hypersonic interceptor. An interceptor is a weapon designed to destroy other missiles mid-flight before they reach their targets. Glide Breaker is a planned huge leap forward in missile interceptors, as it’s designed to target the highly maneuverable class of weapons known as hypersonic glide vehicles, which are able to execute abrupt “zig-zag” maneuvers as they glide unpowered through Earth’s atmosphere at speeds of Mach 5 and higher. (Mach 1 is the speed of sound — about 767 mph, or 1,234 kph, at sea level.) This combination of speed and maneuverability makes such weapons much harder to defend against than traditional missiles.

Sep 16, 2023

Tesla Reportedly Makes One-Piece Giga Casting Breakthrough

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, sustainability, transportation

Needless to say, this could transform the way Tesla builds EVs and contribute decisively to halving production costs, which is a long-time goal of CEO Elon Musk.

The sources said the know-how to achieve that is core to Tesla’s “unboxed” manufacturing strategy unveiled by Elon Musk in March, which is key to his plan to build tens of millions of cheaper EVs over the next ten years, and still turn a profit.

Two of the insiders said Tesla’s new design and manufacturing techniques could allow the company to develop a car from the ground up in 18–24 months, compared to 3–4 years for most rivals.

Sep 16, 2023

World’s First Zero-Emission Autonomous Cargo Ship Is All-Electric

Posted by in categories: economics, robotics/AI, transportation

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development estimates, transportation accounts for 27 percent of global carbon emissions. Powered by fossil fuels, road-based transportation contributes 80 percent of these emissions and therefore countries are aggressively pushing for the electrification of vehicles. While major advances have been made for passenger cars and air transport, water transport is still lagging. Yara’s new cargo ship might just lead the way.