Lifeboat Foundation

In a trio of studies published on June 27 in the journal Nature Microbiology 0, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered “fingerprints” of mysterious viruses hidden in an ancient group of microbes that may include the ancestors of all complex life on Earth: from fungi to plants to humans.

Ths discovery is significant; it explores the hypothesis that viruses were imperative to the evolution of humans and other complex life forms.

These microbes – known as Asgard archaea after the abode of the gods in Norse mythology – are usually found in the frigid sediments deep in the ocean and in boiling springs, and existed on Earth before the first eukaryotic cells, which carry their DNA inside a nucleus.

A decade of Higgs Boson research has passed since the god particle was first discovered on July 4th, 2012. In the last ten years, scientists have extracted large amounts of data from the Large Hadron Collider.

“The construction of the storage went well, especially considering that the solution is completely new,” said Polar Night co-founder and chief technology officer Markku Ylönen in a statement.

“We managed to get everything in order despite some challenges and a short delay.”

Continue reading “First ‘sand battery’ developed to heat homes or balance renewable energy for grid” »

A man suffering from a rare type of cancer called pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) which can surround the organs in the abdomen has survived thanks to a groundbreaking multi-organ transplant procedure. Andy Voge, 33, thought he had six months to live before he met a doctor from the U.K. who…

A non-volatile silicon photonics switch based on phase-change materials actuated by graphene heaters shows a switching energy density that is within an order of magnitude of the fundamental thermodynamic limit.

On-chip training of machine learning algorithms is challenging for photonic devices. Here, the authors construct nonlinear mapping functions in silicon photonic circuits, and experimentally demonstrate on-chip bacterial foraging training for projection-based classification.

Neuromorphic photonics/electronics is the future of ultralow energy intelligent computing and artificial intelligence (AI). In recent years, inspired by the human brain, artificial neuromorphic devices have attracted extensive attention, especially in simulating visual perception and memory storage. Because of its advantages of high bandwidth, high interference immunity, ultrafast signal transmission and lower energy consumption, neuromorphic photonic devices are expected to realize real-time response to input data. In addition, photonic synapses can realize non-contact writing strategy, which contributes to the development of wireless communication.

The use of low-dimensional materials provides an opportunity to develop complex brain-like systems and low-power memory logic computers. For example, large-scale, uniform and reproducible transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) show great potential for miniaturization and low-power biomimetic device applications due to their excellent charge-trapping properties and compatibility with traditional CMOS processes. The von Neumann architecture with discrete memory and processor leads to high power consumption and low efficiency of traditional computing. Therefore, the sensor-memory fusion or sensor-memory-processor integration neuromorphic architecture system can meet the increasingly developing demands of big data and AI for low power consumption and high performance devices. Artificial synaptic devices are the most important components of neuromorphic systems. The performance evaluation of synaptic devices will help to further apply them to more complex artificial neural networks (ANN).

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-grown TMDs inevitably introduce defects or impurities, showed a persistent photoconductivity (PPC) effect. TMDs photonic synapses integrating synaptic properties and optical detection capabilities show great advantages in neuromorphic systems for low-power visual information perception and processing as well as brain memory.

Transcriptional activity in plants is controlled with a programmable gene circuit.

Making pizza is not rocket science, but for this actual rocket scientist it is now. Benson Tsai is a former SpaceX employee who is now using his skills to launch a new venture: Stellar Pizza, a fully automated, mobile pizza delivery service. When a customer places an order on an app, an algorithm decides when to start making the pizza based on how long it will take to get to the delivery address. Inside Edition Digital’s Mara Montalbano has more.