Lifeboat Foundation

Researchers have been trying to build artificial synapses for years in the hope of getting close to the unrivaled computational performance of the human brain. A new approach has now managed to design ones that are 1,000 times smaller and 10,000 times faster than their biological counterparts.

Despite the runaway success of deep learning over the past decade, this brain-inspired approach to AI faces the challenge that it is running on hardware that bears little resemblance to real brains. This is a big part of the reason why a human brain weighing just three pounds can pick up new tasks in seconds using the same amount of power as a light bulb, while training the largest neural networks takes weeks, megawatt hours of electricity, and racks of specialized processors.

That’s prompting growing interest in efforts to redesign the underlying hardware AI runs on. The idea is that by building computer chips whose components act more like natural neurons and synapses, we might be able to approach the extreme space and energy efficiency of the human brain. The hope is that these so-called “neuromorphic” processors could be much better suited to running AI than today’s computer chips.

In medicine, a prosthesis, or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trauma, disease, or a condition present at birth. A pioneering project to develop advanced pressure sensors for use in robotic systems could transform prosthetics and robotic limbs. The innovative research project aspires to develop sensors that provide enhanced capabilities to robots, helping improve their motor skills and dexterity, through the use of highly accurate pressure sensors that provide haptic feedback and distributed touch.

It is led by the University of the West of Scotland (UWS), Integrated Graphene Ltd, and supported by the Scottish Research Partnership in Engineering (SRPe) and the National Manufacturing Institute for Scotland (NMIS) Industry Doctorate Programme in Advanced Manufacturing. This is not for the first time when the team of highly talented researchers have decided to bring the much needed transformative change in prosthetics and robotic limbs.

The human brain relies on a constant stream of tactile information to carry out basic tasks, like holding a cup of coffee. Yet some of the most advanced motorized limbs — including those controlled solely by a person’s thoughts — don’t provide this sort of feedback. As a result, even state-of-the-art prosthetics can often frustrate their users.

It’s said that the metal that made up the outer skin of the Apollo Lunar Excursion Module was no thicker than a couple of soda cans stacked on top of each other. How it never failed even once is beyond us. But if you think the LEM looked like a screaming metal deathtrap, imagine a similar Soviet spacecraft half the size and more claustrophobic.

Blink and you miss it! 🌏

Planet Earth has recorded its shortest day since records began.

The 1.59 milliseconds shaved off the usual 24-hour spin on June 29 raises the prospect of a leap second having to occur to keep clocks aligned. This would be the first time global clocks have been sped up.

Continue reading “Earth records its shortest ever day as 1.59 milliseconds was shaved off 24-hour spin” »

Electrons find each other repulsive. Nothing personal—it’s just that their negative charges repel each other. So getting them to pair up and travel together, like they do in superconducting materials, requires a little nudge.

In old-school superconductors, which were discovered in 1911 and conduct electric current with no resistance, but only at extremely cold temperatures, the nudge comes from vibrations in the material’s atomic lattice.

But in newer, “unconventional” superconductors—which are especially exciting because of their potential to operate at close to room temperature for things like zero-loss power transmission—no one knows for sure what the nudge is, although researchers think it might involve stripes of electric charge, waves of flip-flopping electron spins that create magnetic excitations, or some combination of things.

“This launch represents the conclusion of the production and launch phase, and the commencement of the satellites’ critical missile detection and early warning mission,” Maj. Matt Blystone, program manager at the Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC), told reporters today at a pre-launch briefing.

SBIRS, conceived in 1996, was designed to replace the elderly Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites, the first of which was launched in 1970. The operational constellation comprises three satellites in Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO) and two hosted payloads on classified satellites in Highly Elliptical Orbits over the poles. Lockheed Martin is the SBIRS prime contractor and Northrop Grumman the payload integrator.

Assuming the Thursday launch goes as planned, the last of the satellites, SBIRS GEO-6, is expected to be up and running by “late spring, early summer” next year, Blystone said. The time between now and then will be filled with various tests of the satellite and its subsystems.

The startup is hiring Ritesh Jain, VP of engineering at Intel, to help it move from the prototype phase of its chip development to mass production.

ESA is prepping to send a spacecraft to Venus — a feat which will require state-of-the-art methods to get through the planet’s grueling atmosphere.

ESA is prepping to send a spacecraft to Venus — a feat which will require state-of-the-art methods to get through the planet’s grueling atmosphere.

Lengthy outages loom after storms, as surging electricity demand and global supply-chain issues quadruple wait times for the vital equipment.