Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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A team of MIT researchers has figured out a way to create a supercapacitor simply by mixing cement, the binding ingredient of concrete, and a fine charcoal product called carbon black together with water.

Better yet, this mixture could allow a home to store a full day’s worth of energy in its foundation, potentially paving the way to an efficient renewable energy storage solution that doesn’t rely on mining rare Earth metals.

Roads made up of the material could even power electric cars wirelessly, the researchers say, or windmills could store their generated energy in their base.

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North Carolina State University researchers have discovered a new welding method for composite metal foam (CMF), preserving its light, strong, and thermally insulating properties, vital for numerous applications.

Researchers at North Carolina State University have now identified a welding technique that can be used to join composite metal foam (CMF) components together without impairing the properties that make CMF desirable. CMFs hold promise for a wide array of applications because the pockets of air they contain make them light, strong and effective at insulating against high temperatures.

Characteristics and Challenges of CMF.

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Supernovae–stellar explosions as bright as an entire galaxy–have fascinated us since time immemorial. Yet, there are more hydrogen-poor supernovae than astrophysicists can explain. Now, a new Assistant Professor at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) has played a pivotal role in identifying the missing precursor star population. The results, now published in Science, go back to a conversation the involved professors had many years ago as junior scientists.

The Enigma of Hydrogen-Poor Supernovae

Some stars do not simply die down, but explode in a stellar blast that could outshine entire galaxies. These cosmic phenomena, called supernovae, spread light, elements, energy, and radiation in space and send galactic shock waves that could compress gas clouds and generate new stars. In other words, supernovae shape our universe. Among these, hydrogen-poor supernovae from exploding massive stars have long puzzled astrophysicists. The reason: scientists have not been able to put their finger on their precursor stars. It is almost as if these supernovae appeared out of nowhere.

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A Tesla driver using the new Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta v12 software managed to showcase a new behavior: FSD Beta autonomously looking for a parking spot.

The Tesla v12 software update is expected to introduce what CEO Elon Musk has been calling “end-to-end neural nets”. The biggest difference with previous FSD updates is that the vehicle’s controls would now be handled by neural nets rather than being coded by programmers.

It is being touted as the difference maker.

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Figure AI eyes a $1.9 billion valuation as Microsoft and OpenAI show interest in its life-saving robots

Figure AI, a startup developing human-like robots, is in talks to secure up to $500 million in a funding round potentially led by Microsoft and OpenAI.

The company is looking to attract additional investors, with Microsoft potentially investing $95 million and OpenAI contributing $5 million. The deal could value Figure AI at $1.9 billion before pre-financing.

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Thanks to advancements in the development of patented synthetic human-like hearts first created at Michigan State, researchers can study human heart development and congenital heart disease on highly accurate models. This is facilitating the development of new therapies and pharmaceutical drugs to treat a variety of heart-related diseases just in time for the observance of American Heart Month in February.

Similar in size and development to fetal human hearts, these mini heart organoids are becoming increasingly complex and realistic. The MSU research team that created the mini hearts first published their findings in 2020. They have quickly become a world leader in this field and their latest advancements have been published in Nature Communications and Stem Cell Reports.

Aitor Aguirre, associate professor of biomedical engineering and chief of the division of developmental and in MSU’s Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering, explained that the introduction of realistic models is essential to the discovery of effective and clinically translatable solutions to . An estimated 21 million annual deaths are related to this condition, including disorders of the heart and blood vessels. And that number is growing.

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