Lifeboat Foundation

Would you wear clothing made of muscle fibers? Use them to tie your shoes or even wear them as a belt? It may sound a bit odd, but if those fibers could endure more energy before breaking than cotton, silk, nylon, or even Kevlar, then why not?

Don’t worry, this muscle could be produced without harming a single animal.

Researchers at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a synthetic chemistry approach to polymerize proteins inside of engineered microbes. This enabled the microbes to produce the high molecular weight muscle protein, titin, which was then spun into fibers.

It’s Friday and we’re taking a deep dive into the world of artificial intelligence! Yonatan Geifman (Co-founder and CEO – Deci) joins me this week to discuss how we can use AI itself to craft the next generation of AI. We also chat about how developers can streamline artificial intelligence development and where AI is headed in the next couple years and decades to come. Also this week, I take a closer look at new research from an international group of researchers that aims to answer the question: What if photonics can help us better recognize patterns for machine learning?

The iPhone 13 will feature low earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication connectivity to allow users to make calls and send messages in areas without 4G or 5G coverage, according to the reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. In a note to investors, seen by MacRumors, Kuo explained that the ‌iPhone 13‌ lineup will feature hardware that is able to connect to LEO satellites. If enabled with the relevant software features, this could allow ‌iPhone 13‌ users to make calls and send messages without the need for a 4G or 5G cellular connection.

This is a truly enlightening 5 min. excerpt by Liz Parrish on gene therapy and its suitability to achieve radical life extension. Among other important aspects, Liz tells us about how regulatory constrains are delaying progress in this important vehicle to treat incurable diseases and aging itself. I added subtitles in Spanish. Don’t miss it!!! In the description of the video is the link to the entire interview.

Este es un extracto muy esclarecedor por parte de Liz Parrish sobre la terapia génica y su idoneidad para lograr una prolongación radical de la vida. Entre otros aspectos importantes, Liz nos cuenta cómo las restricciones regulatorias están retrasando el progreso de este importante vehículo, para tratar enfermedades incurables y el envejecimiento en sí mismo. Le he agregado subtítulos en español. No te lo pierdas!!! En la descripción del video está el enlace a toda la entrevista.

Continue reading “Liz Parrish considerations on gene therapy (excerpts from an interview) (con S/T en Español)” »

Past neuroscience studies have consistently showed that sleep plays an important role in memory consolidation. For instance, some neuroimaging research showed that the brain regions that are activated while humans are encoding waking experiences can later be reactivated during sleep, particularly during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep.

Interestingly, the same brain regions are also associated with increased local slow-wave activity (SWA). Interestingly, the activation of these brain regions and SWA are known to be associated with two mechanisms related to memory optimization, namely neural replay and synaptic homeostasis. These mechanisms are typically associated with improvements in behavior over time.

Researchers at University of Geneva in Switzerland have recently carried out a study aimed at investigating the ways in which the brain selects memories that will be reprocessed during sleep. Their findings, presented in a paper published in Nature Communications, suggest that the brain tends to prioritize the consolidation of memories or life experiences with high motivational relevance, namely those associated with rewards.

There’s no need to don uncomfortable smartwatches or chest straps to monitor your heart if your comfy shirt can do a better job.

That’s the idea behind “smart clothing” developed by a Rice University lab, which employed its conductive nanotube thread to weave functionality into regular apparel.

Continue reading “Flexible carbon nanotube fibers woven into clothing gather accurate EKG, heart rate” »

Wide Area Networks (WANs), the global backbones and workhorses of today’s internet that connect billions of computers over continents and oceans, are the foundation of modern online services. As COVID-19 has placed a vital reliance on online services, today’s networks are struggling to deliver high bandwidth and availability imposed by emerging workloads related to machine learning, video calls, and health care.

To connect WANs over hundreds of miles, fiber optic cables that transmit data using light are threaded throughout our neighborhoods, made of incredibly thin strands of glass or plastic known as optical fibers. While they’re extremely fast, they’re not always reliable: They can easily break from weather, thunderstorms, accidents, and even animals. These tears can cause severe and expensive damage, resulting in 911 service outages, lost connectivity to the internet, and inability to use smartphone apps.

Continue reading “ARROW, a reconfigurable fiber optics network, aims to take on the end of Moore’s law” »

Integrated circuits (ICs) based on organic transistors have many valuable applications, for instance, in the fabrication of paper-like displays or other large-area electronic components. Over the past few decades, electronics engineers worldwide have developed a variety of these transistors.

A promising alternative to these transistors are vertical-channel dual-gate organic thin-film transistors. These transistors have several advantageous properties, such as short channel lengths and tuneable threshold voltages (VTH). Despite these advantages, due to a lack appropriate p-and n-type devices, developing complementary inverter circuits for these transistors has so far proved challenging.

Researchers at Technische Universitat Dresden, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden Rossendorf (HZDR) and Northwestern Polytechnical University have recently developed vertical organic permeable dual-base transistors that could be integrated in logic circuits. In a recent paper published in Nature Electronics, they evaluated the potential use of these transistors in complex integrated circuits.

A thought-provoking new article poses some hugely important scientific questions: Could brain cells initiated and grown in a lab become sentient? What would that look like, and how could scientists test for it? And would a sentient, lab-grown brain “organoid” have some kind of rights? Buckle up for a quick and dirty history of the ethics of sentience. We associate the term with computing and artificial intelligence, but the question of who (or what) is or isn’t “sentient” and deserving of rights and moral consideration goes back to the very beginning of the human experience. The debate colors everything from ethical consumption of meat to many episodes of Black Mirror.

Well, we don’t want that… or do we?