Lifeboat Foundation

Complex terrain and Yutu 2’s reliance on solar power limit driving speed.

China’s Yutu 2 lunar rover recently spotted something intriguing on the far side of the moon, but it’ll take the vehicle a few months to reach the object for a closer look.

Yutu 2 photographed a strangely cube-shaped rock last month, during the robot’s 36th lunar day of activities. The rover drive team estimates that the object, which has been dubbed the “mystery hut,” to be around 260 feet (80 meters) away. That doesn’t sound far, but it’ll take careful planning and effort by the Yutu 2 team to cover that distance safely.

I’ve seen better. But, always worth a look, for robotics people. We need some DARPA challenge thing for robotic hands.

It’s delicate enough to shake a friend’s hand, but powerful enough to crush its enemies.

Continue reading “This Is the Robotic Hand That Could Finally Take Over Your Job” »

Researchers at Kobe University and Osaka University have successfully developed artificial intelligence technology that can extract hidden equations of motion from regular observational data and create a model that is faithful to the laws of physics.

This technology could enable researchers to discover the hidden equations of motion behind phenomena for which the laws were considered unexplainable. For example, it may be possible to use physics-based knowledge and simulations to examine ecosystem sustainability.

The research group consisted of Associate Professor YAGUCHI Takaharu and Ph.D. student CHEN Yuhan (Graduate School of System Informatics, Kobe University), and Associate Professor MATSUBARA Takashi (Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University).

One of the Saildrone Explorer USVs Task Force 59 is testing in the Gulf of Aqaba. (US Naval Forces Central Command/US 5th Fleet)

The US Navy’s 5th Fleet is testing a Saildrone Explorer unmanned surface vessel (USV) at Jordan’s Aqaba Naval Base.

An ancient Greek drug derived from the saffron plant could improve the treatment of people with severe COVID-19 and reduce the COVID mortality rate by as much as 50%, according to a report published earlier this month in the European Journal of Internal Medicine by an Israeli researcher from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Hadassah Medical School.

The drug, colchicine, dates back thousands of years to ancient Egypt, where it was known for its special healing properties. It is one of a few medicines that survived until modern times. Most recently, it has been used to treat and prevent inflammation caused by gout that can lead to painful arthritis and Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF), which is common among Jewish people of North African descent.

Prof. Ami Schattner researched and analyzed all patients treated in controlled trials of this ancient drug for the past 20 years. He found that among its uses and potential uses, colchicine also appears effective in treating COVID-19.

Continue reading “Ancient Greek drug could cut COVID-19 deaths” »

A black hole laser in analogues of gravity amplifies Hawking radiation, which is unlikely to be measured in real black holes, and makes it observable. There have been proposals to realize such black hole lasers in various systems. However, no progress has been made in electric circuits for a long time, despite their many advantages such as high-precision electromagnetic wave detection. Here we propose a black hole laser in Josephson transmission lines incorporating metamaterial elements capable of producing Hawking-pair propagation modes and a Kerr nonlinearity due to the Josephson nonlinear inductance. A single dark soliton obeying the nonlinear Schrödinger equation produces a black hole-white hole horizon pair that acts as a laser cavity through a change in the refractive index due to the Kerr effect.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A NASA spacecraft has officially “touched” the sun, plunging through the unexplored solar atmosphere known as the corona.

Scientists announced the news Tuesday during a meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

The Parker Solar Probe actually flew through the corona in April during the spacecraft’s eighth close approach to the sun. Scientists said it took a few months to get the data back and then several more months to confirm.

Circa 2009 real teleportation not just in the quantum realm.

Ground-state entanglement induces emergence of negative-energy-density regions in quantum systems by squeezing zero-point oscillation, keeping total energy of the systems nonnegative. By use of the negativity of quantum energy density, protocols of quantum energy teleportation are proposed that transport energy to distant sites by local operations and classical communication. The energy is teleported without breaking any physical laws including causality and local energy conservation. Because intermediate subsystems of the energy transfer channel are not excited during the protocol execution, the protocol attains energy transportation without heat generation in the channel. We discuss the protocol focusing around qubit chains. In addition, we address a related problem of breaking ground-state entanglement by measurements.

Working with Intel, Dell has created a new laptop called Concept Luna with the aim of making future PCs easier to repair, reuse and recycle. Dell said that if it incorporated all the design ideas, it could reduce a computer’s carbon footprint by up to 50 percent compared to current laptop models.

A key feature of Concept Luna is the redesigned components and a new, more efficient layout. To start with, the motherboard is 75 percent smaller at just 5,580 square millimeters and has a 20 percent lower component count. Everything is rearranged, with the motherboard close to the top cover to expose it to a larger cooling area. It’s also separated from the battery charging unit in the base, allowing better passive cooling that could eliminate the need for a fan.

The extra efficiencies also reduce power requirements, allowing the designers to use a smaller battery with deep-cycle cells that offer a “long charge that can be maintained across many years of use, increasing refurbishment and reuse beyond the first product life it services,” Dell said.