Lifeboat Foundation

Magnetorotational instability—a process that might explain the dynamics of astrophysical accretion disks—has finally been observed in the laboratory.

What do black holes, forming stars, and a tank of liquid metal in Princeton, New Jersey, have in common? The first two might and the third one definitely does play host to an important process in magnetized-fluid dynamics called magnetorotational instability (MRI). MRI has been well studied theoretically and computationally, and related processes have been seen experimentally [1]. But until now, there has not been an unambiguous laboratory confirmation of its existence. Yin Wang and his colleagues at Princeton University have demonstrated MRI in an ingenious liquid-metal experiment—the culmination of more than 20 years of work [2].

The team’s discovery is significant because MRI has long been suspected of being at the heart of accretion [3]. Accretion, in which material spirals inward in a flattened disk around a black hole or a young star, is a major source of the light coming from those objects. For accretion to occur, the material in the disk must lose its angular momentum. However, angular momentum is conserved: much like the trash we generate in our daily lives, it does not cease to exist when it is not wanted. Instead, angular momentum must be passed from the inner parts of the disk to the outer parts. What drives this angular-momentum transport has long been a mystery.

On August 12, the hybrid magnet of the Steady High Magnetic Field Facility (SHMFF) in Hefei, China, generated the world’s highest steady magnetic field by a working magnet measuring 45.22 teslas (T). In comparison, Earth’s magnetic field at 0° latitude and 0° longitude only has a strength of 0.000032 teslas.

It surpassed the 45-tesla prior world record set by a hybrid magnet in 1999 at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory of the United States.

It will be commercially available in early 2023.

London-based SolarBotanic Trees (SBT) unveiled its solar and storage system that is shaped liked a tree. The company aims to deploy its technology to charge electric vehicles (EVs) to begin with, Electrek.

With the world moving towards less-carbon emissions, there is a rush toward harnessing renewable sources of energy. Not only do these technologies need improvements in their power generation efficiencies, but they also need to be aesthetically pleasing.

Musk texted a Morgan Stanley banker, two weeks after he publicly announced his intent to buy Twitter.

The potential of World War III appears to be a reason why the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, wanted to call off his buyout offer for Twitter, Business Insider.

Wikimedia Commons.

Continue reading “Elon Musk wanted to back out of Twitter deal because of World War III. Here’s what the lawyers said in court” »

In 1998 I was exposed to the term “disruptive innovation” for the first time. I read a wonderful book, “The Innovator’s Dilemma” by Clayton Christensen, where I learned the difference between incremental innovation and disruptive innovation. He analyzed the hard drive industry and showed that while many companies were trying to increase the capacity of the drives, other companies changed the form factor and made the drives smaller. This resulted in disruptive progress in the industry. We also recently witnessed dramatic advances in artificial intelligence (AI), where in 2013/2014 AI systems started outperforming humans in image recognition.

Identifying novel targets and designing novel molecules is not the only way to innovate in the biopharmaceutical industry. Sometimes, innovation in delivery systems for well-know and established therapeutics may be just as disruptive as the new targeted medicine.

Nuro, a Softbank-backed developer of street-legal autonomous, electric delivery vehicles, has struck a long-term partnership with Uber to use its toaster-shaped micro-vans to haul food orders, groceries and other goods to customers in Silicon Valley and Houston using the Uber Eats service starting this year.

People using the Uber Eats app in Houston and Mountain View, California (where Nuro is based) will be able to order deliveries using the new autonomous service this fall, with plans to expand the program to other parts of the San Francisco Bay Area in the months ahead, the companies said.

The SoftBank-backed developer of street-legal autonomous, electric vehicles, has a long-term partnership with Uber to use its toaster-shaped micro-vans to haul food orders, groceries and other goods in Silicon Valley and Houston.

Continue reading “Uber Taps Nuro’s Street-Legal Robots For Food Deliveries” »

Deepfakes are scarily simple to create. But will this technology create a reality of “alternative facts” where “truth goes to die”? No. Deepfakes are a technology, and more widespread abuse is expected with more widespread availability. Over time, we will adopt better transparency, better detection, and, most importantly, each of us users will become more aware and thus better equipped to fight the abuse of Deepfakes.

What are deepfakes?

Continue reading “Deepfakes — The Danger Of Artificial Intelligence That We Will Learn To Manage Better” »

By leveraging a bizarre property of quantum mechanics called entanglement, quantum batteries could theoretically recharge in a flash. Now, progress is being made towards making them a reality.

New artificial intelligence and space radar technology has uncovered scores of vessels hiding outside North Korea’s largest port, laying bare the sheer number of ships looking to cover their tracks in unprecedented detail.

The finding comes courtesy of Global Fishing Watch’s (GFW) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data, which reveals hundreds of vessels, many of them cargo ships, outside of Nampho in recent weeks despite not broadcasting over traditional maritime channels.

While vessels entering North Korean waters often switch off their automatic identification system (AIS) transponders to avoid detection by sanctions monitors, open-source satellite.