Lifeboat Foundation

DETROIT — General Motors on Friday said it expects to reopen the remaining three North American assembly plants that have been idled because of the global microchip shortage by Nov. 1.

GM also said it plans to resume building Chevrolet Malibu sedans for the first time in nearly nine months at a plant that has partially reopened in Kansas.

The automaker said its plant in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, which has been shut since mid-August, would start building Chevy Blazers on Oct. 18 followed by Chevy Equinoxes as soon as Nov. 1.

The Pentagon’s first chief software officer said he resigned in protest at the slow pace of technological transformation in the US military, and because he could not stand to watch China overtake America.

In his first interview since leaving the post at the Department of Defense a week ago, Nicolas Chaillan told the Financial Times that the failure of the US to respond to Chinese cyber and other threats was putting his children’s future at risk.

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Continue reading “US has already lost AI fight to China, says ex-Pentagon software chief” »

Speaking of cars, consider the future of transportation and mobility, entailing the advent of self-driving cars.

It would seem that self-driving cars will be a welcomed boon to humanity. Predictions are that the regrettable 40,000 annual fatalities due to car crashes in the United States alone will be reduced enormously, and likewise, the estimated 2.3 million car crash injuries will nearly disappear.

What’s not to like about the emergence of self-driving cars?

Continue reading “Bothering And Even Spying On Your Neighbors Via An AI Self-Driving Car” »

With the jump, SpaceX is now the world’s second most valuable private company, trailing only TikTok parent Bytedance, which is worth $140 billion, according to CB Insights.

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In a scene from season one, Jim Holden shows exquisite command of high school physics as he maneuvers himself onto a spaceship gangway.

As a fan of science fiction and science, I have to say that The Expanse has a bunch of great science. It’s not just the science in the show. The characters also seem to demonstrate an understanding of physics. One scene from the first season stands out in particular as a classic physics example.

I guess I should give a spoiler alert, but I’m not really giving away any major plot elements. But you have been warned.

Continue reading “The Expanse Gets Artificial Gravity Right in This Neat Trick” »

Strongest and toughest glass known developed by McGill University scientists.

Scientists from McGill University develop stronger and tougher glass, inspired by the inner layer of mollusk shells. Instead of shattering upon impact, the new material has the resiliency of plastic and could be used to improve cell phone screens in the future, among other applications.

While techniques like tempering and laminating can help reinforce glass, they are costly and no longer work once the surface is damaged. “Until now there were trade-offs between high strength, toughness, and transparency. Our new material is not only three times stronger than the normal glass, but also more than five times more fracture-resistant,” says Allen Ehrlicher, an Associate Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at McGill University.

Circa 2019

Most people don’t give a second thought to the poop they flush away. But perhaps they should, because the energy contained within our repellent remains is impressive.

If you let poop fester—and you probably shouldn’t in polite company—bacterial digestion will produce a methane-rich ‘biogas’ that can be harnessed for energy. You can also dehydrate a deuce to make powdery fuel or combustible bricks with a similar energy content to coal. These schemes may sound outlandish, but wastewater plants all over the developed world take advantage of this salvageable energy to subsidize their operations. One UK-based treatment plant, for example, gets 50 percent of its power using poop.

As adults live longer, demand for dental implants continues to grow. However, researchers at Kyoto University and the University of Fuki in Japan may be closer to finding a way to help adults continue to function with natural dentition.

According to the University of Fuki, scientists investigated the effects of monoclonal antibodies for USAG-1. Investigators focused on the USAG-1 gene that interacts with the two mechanisms responsible for tooth development — bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) and Wnt signaling. They found administering USAG-1-neutralizing antibodies affects BMP signaling only. The authors reports a single administration was enough to generate a whole tooth in mice and, in subsequent experiments, ferrets as well.

From Decisions in Dentistry. June 2021;7, 11.

Circa 2014

Four women have had new vaginas grown in the laboratory and implanted by doctors in the US.

A tissue sample and a biodegradable scaffold were used to grow vaginas in the right size and shape for each woman as well as being a tissue match.

Continue reading “Doctors implant lab-grown vagina” »