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Posted in futurism
Over the course of almost 60 years, the information age has given the world the internet, smart phones, and lightning-fast computers. This has been made possible by about doubling the number of transistors that can be packed onto a computer chip every two years, resulting in billions of atomic-scale transistors that can fit on a fingernail-sized device. Even individual atoms may be observed and counted within such “atomic scale” lengths.
Physical limit
With this doubling reaching its physical limit, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) has joined industry efforts to prolong the process and find new techniques to make ever-more powerful, efficient, and cost-effective chips. In the first PPPL research conducted under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Lam Research Corp., a global producer of chip-making equipment, laboratory scientists properly predicted a fundamental phase in atomic-scale chip production through the use of modeling.
Offices now require collaborative meeting rooms that use technology to enable greater parity between the in-person and virtual-participant experience.
Out with the giant conference table, in with the big screen.
The traditional layout of meeting rooms is undergoing a radical rethink as companies grapple with ways to create optimal collaboration spaces for hybrid teams.
At the newly-designed offices of the pharmaceutical giant GSK, architects at FCA reconfigured a key boardroom to look more like a small movie theater. Multiple projection screens are intended to create a sense of parity among virtual and in-person participants; carpeting and acoustical panels are installed to improve a meeting’s sound quality; and plush seating makes marathon sessions more comfortable.
An automated system called Guardian is being developed by the Toyota Research Institute to amplify human control in a vehicle, as opposed to removing it.
Here’s the scenario: A driver falls asleep at the wheel. But their car is equipped with a dashboard camera that detects the driver’s eye condition, activating a safety system that promptly guides the vehicle to a secure halt.
That’s not just an idea on the drawing board. The system, called Guardian, is being refined at the Toyota Research Institute (TRI), where MIT Professor John Leonard is helping steer the group’s work, while on leave from MIT. At the MIT Mobility Forum, Leonard and Avinash Balachandran, head of TRI’s Human-Centric Driving Research Department, presented an overview of their work.
The presenters offered thoughts on multiple levels about automation and driving. Leonard and Balachandran discussed particular TRI systems while also suggesting that — after years of publicity about the possibility of fully automated vehicles — a more realistic prospect might be the deployment of technology that aids drivers, without replacing them.
How to make a muon beam
Posted in futurism
To create muons, accelerator operators at Fermilab send trillions of protons through a series of sophisticated machines:
For the Muon g-2 experiment, researchers create billions of muons to study their surprising properties.
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — The Arlington County Board gave unanimous approval Saturday to Amazon’s plans to build a unique, helix-shaped tower as the centerpiece of its emerging second headquarters in northern Virginia.
Amazon announced the plans in February 2021 for the eye-catching, 350-foot tower to anchor the second phase of its redevelopment plans. The new office towers will support a second headquarters for Amazon that is expected to welcome more than 25,000 workers when it’s complete.
The helix is one of several office towers granted approval, but the helix stands out. The spiral design features a walkable ramp wrapping around the building with trees and greenery planted to resemble a mountain hike.