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Firstly, the space agency must develop a battery that can withstand Venus’ hellish conditions.

You may be surprised to learn that humans have sent several landers to Venus’ surface. The Soviet Venera missions, for example, transmitted the first-ever image from another planet on October 20, 1975, after sending its Venera 9 lander to the surface of Venus.

That mission lasted less than two hours on the planet’s surface due to the immense atmospheric pressure and scorching temperatures on Earth’s so-called evil twin.

Now, NASA aims to build a lander called LLISSE, that can withstand those conditions and beam a wealth of data about our nearest planetary neighbor back to Earth.


Lunar and Planetary Institute.

The Soviet Venera missions, for example, transmitted the first-ever image from another planet on October 20, 1975, after sending its Venera 9 lander to the surface of Venus.

The fungus has been traditionally used as a fire starter.

A fungus called tinder fungus that grows on the bark of rotting beech and birch trees has been used as a fire starter for a long time, but it may just have a new use: the creation of plastics.

Researchers at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland proceeded to analyze the internal structure of the fungus, formally called Fomes fomentarius, to understand its strong yet lightweight consistency.


Dhoxax/iStock.

Humans have used the material to feed fires for centuries. But it recently piqued the interest of the scientific community as a replacement for certain plastics, according to a study published in the journal Science Advances on Wednesday.

The devices would not need batteries because they can harvest power from LTE signals instead.

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. This is a feature that would allow you to, for instance, know everything that is in your fridge and when it expires.


A new technology developed by engineers at the University of California San Diego can allow that possibility, according to a press release published by the institution on Tuesday.

The innovation is the first backscatter integrated circuit that can enable wireless communication and battery-less operation coming from a single mobile device.

“This approach enables a robust, low-cost and scalable way to provide power and enable communications in an RFID-like manner, while using smartphones as the devices that both read and power the signals,” said Patrick Mercier, one of the new paper’s senior authors and a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California San Diego.

In addition to queueing up songs, it will provide insightful commentary too.

Music streaming service Spotify is the latest tech company to launch an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered product. Dubbed DJ, the service was launched for users in the U.S. and Canada on Wednesday, a company press release said.

Personalized suggestions are what Spotify is known for. The company has used machine learning to understand music, its users, and their preferences and looked to match them (pun intended) successfully. At a time when companies are keen to use generative AI models in their products, Spotify too has jumped into the fray.


Spotify/ YouTube.

The German company will launch its operating system by the mid of this decade.

German luxury and commercial vehicle brand, Mercedes Benz, has announced its software partnership with Google to offer “super-computer-like” navigation and other services in every car, Reuters.


Mercedes’ plans for the future

Mercedes’ partnership with Google follows the route that conventional carmakers such as Ford, Renault, Nissan, and General Motors have taken to add Google’s suite of services to their cars. This partnership allows users to tap into Google’s Maps, Assitant, and other services and use traffic information to determine the best routes to reach their destination.

Further, the company is revamping how the software side of its cars works. Moving away from attempts to integrate different software packages into the car, Mercedes will now own the operating system dubbed MB.OS and ask partners to build their services to work with the OS.

The transient electronic bandage reduces inflammation, and dissolves into your body after use.

Northwestern scientists have created a groundbreaking medical device with the potential to revolutionize healing: an electrotherapy patch that accelerates wound recovery and safely self-dissolves when no longer necessary.

Cost-effective solution for closing wounds.


Norhtwestern University.

This innovative bandage was tested on diabetic ulcers in animal trials, showing over 30% faster healing than untreated lesions! It could be important for people who have diabetes whose sores can lead to debilitating outcomes like having limbs amputated or even death.

A precise replica of the patient’s heart is created as a soft, flexible shell.

MIT engineers’ newly developed robotic heart will help doctors adjust therapies to individuals’ unique heart structures and functions. The personalized 3D-printed heart can control and imitate the patient’s capacity to pump blood.


Melanie Gonick/MIT

As explained by MIT, the procedure begins with the researchers converting medical images of a patient’s heart into a three-dimensional computer model, which they then 3D print with a polymer-based ink.

The language model could command robot arms, drones, and home assistant robots.

Imagine a scenario in which you can directly communicate with robots, enabling them to complete various tasks for you. To achieve this, Microsoft has outlined its plans to partner with OpenAI to develop ChatGPT’s capabilities to control robots. The software giant used the chatbot and “controlled multiple platforms such as robot arms, drones, and home assistant robots intuitively with language,” the company wrote in a blog post.

Robots still rely heavily on hand-written codes to perform their tasks, while humans find spoken language the most intuitive way to communicate.


Ipopba/iStock.

How can ChatGPT help in this regard?

Productivity app Notion has started charging customers for its recently introduced AI features. The move potentially paves the way for companies such as Microsoft to start charging extra fees for AI assistants.

Notion offered the AI assistant as part of a “private alpha” earlier this year. The feature allows users to invoke the AI to perform tasks such as autocompleting passages of text, brainstorming ideas, creating summaries of documents or simply fixing the spelling and grammar (which has suddenly become an ‘AI’ task in several. modern apps).


Notion charges users up to $10 per month to use its AI assistant. Are the days of free AI tools coming to an end?