Lifeboat Foundation

Ameca, a highly realistic android, has now been upgraded to include GPT-3, one of the largest neural networks and language prediction models.

Back in December 2021, UK-based Engineered Arts revealed what it described as “the most advanced android ever built” – a machine with strikingly lifelike motions and facial expressions. Since then, the company has been working to upgrade Ameca (as she is called) with speech and other capabilities.

In the video demonstration below, automated voice recognition has been combined with GPT-3, a large neural network and language prediction model that makes use of 175 billion parameters. This allows Ameca to recognise what people are saying and respond to questions. Before speaking, her output is fed to an online text-to-speech service, which generates the voice and visemes for lip sync timing.

White Spruce trees are on the march northward in the Arctic increasing the rate of warming.

Trees are growing in the Arctic tundra where none have survived before. The Arctic is warming four times faster than the rest of the planet which means the barriers that made Arctic terrain hostile to trees are diminishing. Forests are marching towards the North Pole.

Last August a paper appeared in the Journal Nature entitled, “Sufficient conditions for rapid range expansion of a boreal conifer.” It is one of a number of papers describing a changing pattern of tree growth and range across the Arctic landscape in Alaska, Siberia, Canada, and Scandinavia. The more trees establish themselves in high latitude environments, the faster warming is coming as a low albedo effect takes hold.

Continue reading “Arctic Greening is Happening Faster Than We Thought” »

Just like more than a half-century ago, the same company will work with NASA again.

Goodyear rolled up its sleeves to produce lunar vehicle tires in collaboration with Lockheed Martin and General Motors. The project is expected to be ready in 2025.

The companies hope to be the first to establish long-term commercial vehicle operations on the Moon. Goodyear offers its vast expertise in tires, a mission-critical component for traversing the lunar surface.

Continue reading “Goodyear to produce airless tires for Moon rovers of Artemis program” »

The much-delayed engine could help reduce the U.S.’s reliance on Russian models.

Blue Origin’s much-delayed BE-4 engine may be close to hitting the launch pad. As Bloomberg points out in a report, the U.S. Space Force recently announced in a statement that “Vulcan launch system development activities continue to make progress” towards a first test launch in December.

Continue reading “Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin nears certification for its BE-4 engine” »

https://youtube.com/watch?v=86YLFOog4GM

Can you believe that we have a state-of-the-art laboratory in space?

The International Space Station has been in low Earth orbit since 1998. Astronauts started to use the station in November 2000, when a module that provided a long-term life support and control system was added to the first two modules.

Continue reading “5 facts about the ISS that reveal why it is a masterpiece of engineering” »

The device can provide high-resolution 3D imaging of the neural network.

Researchers can now view the mouse brain through the skull thanks to a new holographic microscope. Led by Associate Director Choi Wonshik of the Center for Molecular Spectroscopy and Dynamics within the Institute for Basic Science, Professor Kim Moonseok of The Catholic University of Korea and Professor CHOI Myunghwan of Seoul National University developed a new type of holographic microscope.

The results were published in Science Advances on July 27.

Continue reading “A novel holographic microscope could image mouse brain through its skull” »

“All the effort that went into making this image a success was worth it.”

The Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year winners have been announced. The top spot goes to an image that’s so impressive it almost doesn’t look real. Austrian photographer Gerald Rhemann captured the image of Comet Leonard and its glowing tail on Christmas Day, 2021, from Namibia, a report from LiveScience.

Rhemann’s image provides an ethereal view of the gas cloud surrounding the comet being swept away by solar wind as the space rock was making its way through the central Solar System. Gerald Rhemann / Royal Museums Greenwich, Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2022.

Is artificial intelligence (AI) as smart as humans or is it smarter? As per scientists, it takes the human brain 25 years to reach full maturity, but new research claims that the AI used by Elon musk’s Tesla could equal that in only 17 years.

Researchers have long predicted that artificial intelligence will eventually surpass human intelligence, although there are different predictions as to when that will happen.

AI at the Edge, NAD-Enhancing Drugs, and Laser Beam Toting Sharks!! — Discovering, Enabling & Transitioning Technology For Special Operations Forces — Lisa R. Sanders, Director of Science and Technology for Special Operations Forces, USSOCOM.

Lisa R. Sanders is the Director of Science and Technology for Special Operations Forces, Acquisition, Technology & Logistics (SOF AT&L), U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM — https://www.socom.mil/), located at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, where she is responsible for all research and development funded activities — https://www.socom.mil/SOF-ATL/Pages/eSOF_cap_of_interest.aspx.

Continue reading “Lisa R. Sanders — Director of Science and Technology, SOF AT&L, U.S. Special Operations Command” »