Lifeboat Foundation

These are some of the fun science stories from this year that we couldn’t wait to talk about with friends.

Juno just picked up some odd frequencies at Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon, which hint at its structure below. This includes the possibility of water oceans.

Emerging technologies including AI, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), 5G, and blockchain (and related digital currencies) have all progressed on their own merits and timeline. Each has found a degree of application, though clearly AI has progressed the furthest. Each technology is maturing while overcoming challenges ranging from blockchain’s energy consumption to VR’s propensity for inducing nausea. They will likely converge in readiness over the next several years, underpinned by the now ubiquitous cloud computing for elasticity and scale. And in that convergence, the sum will be far greater than the parts. The catalyst for this convergence will be the metaverse — a connected network of always-on 3D virtual worlds.

The metaverse concept has wide-sweeping potential. On one level, it could be a 3D social media channel with messaging targeted perfectly to every user by AI. That’s the Meta (previously Facebook) vision. It also has the potential to be an all-encompassing platform for information, entertainment, and work.

Continue reading “How AI, VR, AR, 5G, and blockchain may converge to power the metaverse” »

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Undoubtedly the fear of death, encoded in our DNA to improve our chances of survival, is one of the least pleasant characteristics we are forced to live with. The idea that our life must have an end and then there is nothingness is not at all attractive, so it is not surprising that in the course of his history man has imagined countless ways to circumvent death.
Immortality (or eternal life) is the concept of surviving forever or for an indefinite period of time, without facing death or overcoming death itself.

Immortality can be intended in two main meanings, physical and spiritual. Physical immortality is generally conceived as the endless existence of the mind from a physical source, such as a brain or a computer. Spiritual immortality is generally conceived as the endless existence of an individual after physical death.

Continue reading “The Future Technology To Become Immortal” »

Magnets could be the ‘secret sauce’ required for viable nuclear fusion.

Tokamak Energy, a company working on nuclear fusion technology, has recently announced a major breakthrough in its research and development. Testing of its cryogenic power electronic technology for its superconducting magnet’s high-efficiency operation was, by all accounts, a big success.

The company’s bid to provide the world with near-limitless energy uses a combination of spherical tokamaks and high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets. According to reports, tests of the new power electronics showed twice the efficiency of previous systems.

Continue reading “Tokamak Energy Has Just Made a Breakthrough in Nuclear Fusion” »

A small box glowing with a brilliant blue light has saved the lives of numerous babies since its inception, and it’s only getting started.

This innovative box is called Crib A’Glow, and it’s a low-cost phototherapy solution for treating newborn babies with neonatal jaundice, a condition in which a baby’s skin and the whites of the eyes appear yellow due to excess bilirubin. When untreated, this ailment, which is extremely common as newborns haven’t developed the liver function to properly process the bilirubin, can cause hearing loss, blindness, brain damage, and even death, which is why instant treatment is recommended. This is where the novel phototherapy unit comes in.

Crib A’Glow was developed by Virtue Oboro 0, a mother and graphic designer from Nigeria, after her son’s experience with jaundice. Shortly after giving birth in 2015, Oboro noticed the classic yellow hue commonly associated with the disease in her son, and right after, he was diagnosed with jaundice. However, due to a lack of available phototherapy units in the hospital, his health deteriorated to the point that a blood transfusion was needed immediately. Her son survived the incident; however, Oboro was a changed woman after that.

Apparently, China has managed to launch three new ships in a day.

According to sources like the Alibaba Group-owned South China Morning Post, Chinese ship makers managed to launch three new warships on Christmas Eve 2021. Destined for Thailand, Pakistan, and their own fleets, these ships are some of the country’s most advanced vessels.

Almost a mockery of the Christmas hymn I Saw Three Ships\.

Meta surely won’t have a free run.

Chinese search engine giant Baidu has launched its own version of the metaverse, called Xi Rang, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported. A video released by the media outlet shows users experiencing the metaverse through virtual reality (VR) headsets and handheld controllers.

Continue reading “China Steps In the Metaverse with Baidu: Meet Xi Rang” »

We are publishing a detailed study of a 280-billion parameter transformer language model called Gopher, a study of ethical and social risks associated with large language models, and a paper investigating a new architecture with better training efficiency.