Lifeboat Foundation

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

A new type of material can learn and improve its ability to deal with unexpected forces thanks to a unique lattice structure with connections of variable stiffness, as described in a new paper by my colleagues and me.

The new material is a type of architected material, which gets its properties mainly from the geometry and specific traits of its design rather than what it is made out of. Take hook-and-loop fabric closures like Velcro, for example. It doesn’t matter whether it is made from cotton, plastic or any other substance. As long as one side is a fabric with stiff hooks and the other side has fluffy loops, the material will have the sticky properties of Velcro.

A team of Stanford scientists claims to have tested a new brain-computer interface (BCI) that can decode speech at up to 62 words per minute, improving the previous record by 3.4 times.

That’d be a massive step towards real-time speech conversion at the pace of natural human conversation.

Max Hodak, who founded BCI company Neuralink alongside Elon Musk, but wasn’t involved in the study, called the research “a meaningful step change in the utility of implanted BCIs” in an email to Futurism.

A new chemical process developed by Danish company Vestas can ensure that wind turbine blades are recycled at the end of their life, instead of being abandoned or going to landfill sites.

Wind power is one of the best ways to decarbonise the world’s electricity. Recent years have seen explosive growth in capacity additions, as well as gigantic new turbine designs able to generate as much as 18 MW. The costs keep falling, while efficiencies continue to improve. The trend is now obvious: renewable energy is the future and will inevitably displace fossil fuels.

Borislav/iStock.

Researchers inserted the gene into the part of the catfish genome that codes for an essential reproductive hormone. The produced hybrids showed increased disease resistance and sterility.

Earlier this year, Google fired Blake Lemoine, for claiming that the company’s chatbot was a self aware person. While the claim was derided, the belief that one day AI will become conscious is widespread and, according to a recent survey, held by 79% of experts. But many claim this is a fundamental error. While machines are becoming ever more capable and intelligent we still have no idea how a machine could create consciousness nor are neuroscientists able to provide an explanation for how the human brain does so.

Should we accept that consciousness arises in biological beings and that AI just isn’t made of the ‘right stuff’? Or, is it possible that a computer that observes, interacts, and represents its own internal state to itself might also give rise to consciousness? Then again, is the puzzle deeper still on the grounds that we have no means of determining whether an intelligent machine, an organism or even a person other than ourselves is conscious or not?

Legendary anti-reality theorist Donald Hoffman, fearless computer scientist and philosopher Bernardo Kastrup and distinguished AI ethicist and philosopher Susan Schneider lock horns over the possibility of AI consciousness. Theories of Everything’s Curt Jaimungal hosts.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning have made tremendous progress in the past few years including the recent launch of ChatGPT and art generators, but one thing that is still outstanding is an energy-efficient way to generate and store long-and short-term memories at a form factor that is comparable to a human brain. A team of researchers in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis has developed an energy-efficient way to consolidate long-term memories on a tiny chip.

Shantanu Chakrabartty, the Clifford W. Murphy Professor in the Preston M. Green Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering, and members of his lab developed a relatively simple device that mimics the dynamics of the brain’s synapses, connections between neurons that allows signals to pass information. The artificial synapses used in many modern AI systems are relatively simple, whereas biological synapses can potentially store complex memories due to an exquisite interplay between different chemical pathways.

Chakrabartty’s group showed that their artificial synapse could also mimic some of these dynamics that can allow AI systems to continuously learn new tasks without forgetting how to perform old tasks. Results of the research were published Jan. 13 in Frontiers in Neuroscience.

Summary: Advancements in brain mapping and the development of new digital tools over the past decade have opened the door to exciting new discoveries in neuroscience and brain sciences.

Source: University of Oslo.

A billion people worldwide suffer from brain diseases such as dementia, addiction and depression. Scientists carrying out brain research at UiO are now contributing to a more efficient utilization of research data by developing 3D brain atlases and new analytic tools.

Is Director of the Division of Research, Innovation and Ventures (DRIVe — https://drive.hhs.gov/) at the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (https://aspr.hhs.gov/AboutASPR/ProgramOffices/BARDA/Pages/default.aspx), a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) office responsible for the procurement and development of medical countermeasures, principally against bioterrorism, including chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats, as well as pandemic influenza and emerging diseases.

Dr. Patel is committed to advancing high-impact science, building new products, and launching collaborative programs and initiatives with public and private organizations to advance human health and wellness. As the DRIVe Director, Dr. Patel leads a dynamic team built to tackle complex national health security threats by rapidly developing and deploying innovative technologies and approaches that draw from a broad range of disciplines.

Continue reading “Dr. Sandeep Patel, Ph.D. — BARDA — Developing Effective Life-Saving Medical Countermeasures For All” »

Dr. Renee Wegrzyn, Ph.D. is the inaugural director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H — https://arpa-h.gov/), an agency that supports the development of high-impact research to drive biomedical and health breakthroughs to deliver transformative, sustainable, and equitable health solutions for everyone. ARPA-H’s mission focuses on leveraging research advances for real world impact.

Previously, Dr. Wegrzyn served as a vice president of business development at Ginkgo Bioworks and head of Innovation at Concentric by Ginkgo, where she focused on applying synthetic biology to outpace infectious diseases—including Covid-19—through biomanufacturing, vaccine innovation and biosurveillance of pathogens at scale.

Continue reading “Dr. Renee Wegrzyn, Ph.D. — ARPA-H — Transformative, Sustainable, Equitable Health Solutions For All” »