Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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There is a growing desire to integrate rapidly advancing artificial intelligence (AI) technologies into Department of Defense (DoD) systems. AI may give battlefield advantage by helping improve the speed, quality, and accuracy of decision-making while enabling autonomy and assistive automation.

Due to the statistical nature of machine learning, a significant amount of work has focused on ensuring the robustness of AI-enabled systems at inference time to natural degradations in performance caused by data distribution shifts (for example, from a highly dynamic deployment environment).

However, as early as 2014, researchers demonstrated the ability to manipulate AI given adversary control of the input. Additional work has confirmed the theoretical risks of data poisoning, physically constrained adversarial patches for evasion, and model stealing attacks. These attacks are typically tested in simulated or physical environments with relatively pristine control compared to what might be expected on a battlefield.

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The body you inhabit is made up of lots of moving parts that need to communicate with each other.

Some of this communication – in the nervous system, for example – takes the form of bioelectrical signals that propagate through the body to trigger the appropriate response.

Now, US researchers have discovered that the epithelial cells that line our skin and organs are able to signal the same way to communicate peril. They just use a long, slow ‘scream’, rather than the rapid-fire communication of neurons.

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Researchers from Kyoto University have achieved a significant advancement in materials science by developing the world’s first three-dimensional van der Waals open frameworks (WaaFs). This innovation challenges the conventional belief that van der Waals interactions are too weak for open framework materials, demonstrating their potential for stable and highly porous materials.

Published in Nature Chemistry, the study presents a strategy using octahedral metal-organic polyhedra (MOPs) as building blocks to construct WaaFs. These frameworks exhibit high , exceptional porosity, and reversible assembly, opening new avenues for applications in gas storage, separation, and catalysis.

WaaFs utilize van der Waals interactions, which were previously considered too weak, to form robust three-dimensional frameworks. These structures maintain their integrity at temperatures up to 593 K and achieve surface areas exceeding 2,000 m2/g, making them highly stable and efficient for various industrial applications.

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Brain implants hold immense promise for restoring function in patients with paralysis, epilepsy and other neurological disorders. But a team of researchers at Case Western Reserve University has discovered that bacteria can invade the brain after a medical device is implanted, contributing to inflammation and reducing the device’s long-term effectiveness.

The research, published in Nature Communications, could improve the long-term success of brain implants now that a target has been identified to address.

“Understanding the role of bacteria in implant performance and brain health could revolutionize how these devices are designed and maintained,” said Jeff Capadona, Case Western Reserve’s vice provost for innovation, the Donnell Institute Professor of Biomedical Engineering and senior research career scientist at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center.

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Researchers have enabled a man who is paralyzed to control a robotic arm through a device that relays signals from his brain to a computer.

He was able to grasp, move and drop objects just by imagining himself performing the actions.

The device, known as a brain-computer interface (BCI), worked for a record 7 months without needing to be adjusted. Until now, such devices have only worked for a day or two.

The BCI relies on an AI model that can adjust to the small changes that take place in the brain as a person repeats a movement – or in this case, an imagined movement – and learns to do it in a more refined way.

“This blending of learning between humans and AI is the next phase for these brain-computer interfaces,” said the neurologist. “It’s what we need to achieve sophisticated, lifelike function.”

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Science, Policy And Advocacy For Impactful And Sustainable Health Ecosystems — Dr. Catharine Young, Ph.D. — fmr. Assistant Director of Cancer Moonshot Policy and International Engagement, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)

Dr. Catharine Young, Ph.D. recently served as Assistant Director of Cancer Moonshot Policy and International Engagement at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/) where she served at OSTP to advance the Cancer Moonshot (https://www.cancer.gov/research/key-i… with a mission to decrease the number of cancer deaths by 50% over the next 25 years.

Dr. Young’s varied career has spanned a variety of sectors including academia, non-profit, biotech, and foreign government, all with a focus on advancing science.

Dr. Young previously served as Executive Director of the SHEPHERD Foundation, where she championed rare cancer research and drove critical policy changes. Her work has also included fostering interdisciplinary collaborations and advancing the use of AI, data sharing, and clinical trial reform to accelerate cancer breakthroughs.

Dr. Young’s leadership in diplomacy and innovation includes roles such as Senior Director of Science Policy at the Biden Cancer Initiative and Senior Science and Innovation Policy Advisor at the British Embassy, where she facilitated international agreements to enhance research collaborations.

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