Lifeboat News: The Blog – Safeguarding Humanity

Get the latest international news and world events from around the world.

Jul 22
2023

MIT Scientists Turn Seawater to Drinking Water With the Push of a Button

Now that’s something mach can use.

MIT researchers have recently developed a portable desalination unit that can remove particles and salts to turn seawater into drinking water.

The suitcase-sized device, weighing less than ten kilograms, requires less power to operate than a cell phone charger and can also be driven by a small, portable solar panel.

It automatically generates drinking water that exceeds World Health Organization quality standards. The technology is packaged into a user-friendly device that runs with the push of a button.

Jul 22
2023

Microsoft to stop locking vital security logs behind $57-per-user monthly plan

Microsoft will expand access to important security log data after being criticized for locking detailed audit logs behind a Microsoft 365 enterprise plan that costs $57 per user per month. The logging updates will start rolling out “in September 2023 to all government and commercial customers,” the company said.

“Over the coming months, we will include access to wider cloud security logs for our worldwide customers at no additional cost. As these changes take effect, customers can use Microsoft Purview Audit to centrally visualize more types of cloud log data generated across their enterprise,” Microsoft announced yesterday.

Microsoft Purview Audit Premium is available on the $57-per-user Microsoft 365 E5 plan for businesses as well as the similar A5 education plan and G5 government plan. There’s also a Purview Audit Standard service that comes with a much wider range of plans, including the Microsoft 365 Business Basic tier that costs $6 per user per month.

Jul 22
2023

AI And SaaS Are Not Ready For Each Other—But That’s About To Change

Artificial intelligence today is spreading like wildfire. New and more powerful applications are emerging almost daily, and people are interacting with AI more in their everyday lives.

All of this is very exciting for modern enterprises, which have reinvented themselves as digital powerhouses post-pandemic. Still, digital transformations don’t happen overnight, and tech companies—and SaaS models in particular—were the saving grace of businesses sprinting to align their customer experiences with new consumer expectations and data-driven capabilities.

But AI is a different animal. Not only does it require huge sums of data, but it also requires a new approach to how that data is obtained and managed within the enterprise. Businesses expecting a simple “build it and leave it” experience with AI are in for a shock, and many will undoubtedly ask, “Can SaaS deliver AI at speed and scale?”

Jul 22
2023

Drones with AI targeting system claimed to be ‘better than human’

An artificial intelligence targeting system is better than humans at identifying valid targets, claim its makers, though the full results are classified.

By David Hambling

Jul 22
2023

It’s Raining Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria

This is an educational video. It does suggest a bit of a solution and it’s a good reason to be careful about eating snow maybe or drinking rain water? I’m no expert but now I’m wary though I haven’t heard of anyone getting sick from doing so.

Bacteria are everywhere, including clouds, and the rain that falls from them. Not only can they survive the harsh environment and hitchhike across continents, they can share their genes, too. Including the ones that make them resistant to antibiotics.

Hosted by: Hank Green (he/him)
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Sources:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969722083681?via%3Dihub.
https://cen.acs.org/articles/86/i15/Bacteria-Clouds.html.
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https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/987590
https://nouvelles.ulaval.ca/2023/04/27/des-genes-de-resistan…e1d9292a65
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004896972…ihub#s0080
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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5864199/pdf/413…cle_42.pdf.
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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3574924/pdf/pnas.201212089.pdf.
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2019/md/c9md00120d.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00194/full.
https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Plasmid.
https://www.britannica.com/science/bacteria/Exchange-of-genetic-information.
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/antibiotic-resistance.

Images Sources:

Continue reading “It’s Raining Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria” | >

Jul 22
2023

Uncharted territory: do AI girlfriend apps promote unhealthy expectations for human relationships?

I think an AI girlfriend or boyfriend would mess up your social skills and emotions/mental health. The article mentions other issues as well. It could turn some into “incels” meaning feeling resentful towards real women and possibly violent, not just domestic violence in my opinion but I’m not an expert but I’ve read about that a bit.

Chatbots such as Eva AI are getting better at mimicking human interaction but some fear they feed into unhealthy beliefs around gender-based control and violence.

Jul 22
2023

ChatGPT comes to Android next week, but you can sign up today

I thought you could already use it through the web on your phone? In any case, I have an account in Windows under Chrome.

Two months after launching for iOS, ChatGPT is available to “pre-order” for Android users who want to take the ubiquitous chatbot on the go. If it’s anywhere as popular as the iPhone version, expect to see some big numbers over the next few weeks.

Of course any mobile user can access ChatGPT or other OpenAI tools via the web interface, but the superior experience of a dedicated app has proven extremely compelling, to put it lightly. iPhone users downloaded it half a million times in the first week, impressing everyone until Threads came along and blew it out of the water.

The ChatGPT app on Android looks to be more or less identical to the iOS one in functionality, meaning it gets most if not all of the web-based version’s features. You should be able to sync your conversations and preferences across devices, too — so if you’re iPhone at home and Android at work, no worries.

Jul 22
2023

Google touts AI for news, insists journalists can’t be replaced

This is the future huh? As Long as it doesn’t replace journalists. If it entrances them that’ll be great!

Tech giant says AI-powered tool is not intended to replace ‘essential’ role journalists play in covering the news.

Jul 21
2023

Insanely athletic $1,600 robot dog gets GPT-powered conversation option

Chinese company Unitree has opened pre-orders on its second-gen robot dog companion. The Go2 can follow you around at jogging speeds, perform some wild gymnastic feats, and even talk to you through a GPT-enabled system that writes code on the fly.

As far as basic stats, this little robo-dog weighs about 15 kg (33 lb), stands about 40 cm (16 in) tall, and is about 70 cm (28 in) from … where the nose would be to where the tail would be? Its aluminum/high-strength plastic chassis can carry more than half its own weight as payload if necessary, and it’ll run for an hour or two on a battery charge.

And I do mean run; the US$1,600 base model can manage 5.6 mph (9 km/h), and the $2,800 Pro model ups that to 7.8 mph (12.6 km/h), so it’ll easily keep up with most folk on a jog.

Jul 21
2023

Can Gray Hair Be Reversed?

Head to https://linode.com/scishow to get a $100 60-day credit on a new Linode account. Linode offers simple, affordable, and accessible Linux cloud solutions and services.

Researchers have identified the processes that cause gray hair and have done experiments to reverse it. And believe it or not, we’ve had some of these options for decades.

Hosted by: Savannah Geary (they/they)
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Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever: Matt Curls, Alisa Sherbow, Dr. Melvin Sanicas, Harrison Mills, Adam Brainard, Chris Peters, charles george, Piya Shedden, Alex Hackman, Christopher R, Boucher, Jeffrey Mckishen, Ash, Silas Emrys, Eric Jensen, Kevin Bealer, Jason A Saslow, Tom Mosner, Tomás Lagos González, Jacob, Christoph Schwanke, Sam Lutfi, Bryan Cloer.
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Sources:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05960-6
https://faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1096/fj.08-125435
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https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/c…-twins.pdf.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ics.