A new video upload. Why the story of Asimov’s Foundation is relevant today.
Can our civilization collapse?
Apple TV has released a new TV series, Foundation, based on Asimov’s book series by the same name.
Samsung thinks it has a better way to develop brain-like chips: borrow existing brain structures. The tech firm has proposed a method that would “copy and paste” a brain’s neuron wiring map to 3D neuromorphic chips. The approach would rely on a nanoelectrode array that enters a large volumes of neurons to record both where the neurons connect and the strength of those connections. You could copy that data and ‘paste’ it to a 3D network of solid-state memory, whether it’s off-the-shelf flash storage or cutting-edge memory like resistive RAM.
Each memory unit would have a conductance that reflects the strength of each neuron connection in the map. The result would be an effective return to “reverse engineering the brain” like scientists originally wanted, Samsung said.
The move could serve as a ‘shortcut’ to artificial intelligence systems that behave like real brains, including the flexibility to learn new concepts and adapt to changing conditions. You might even see fully autonomous machines with true cognition, according to the researchers.
The ZyCoV-D vaccine is also the world’s first DNA vaccine against Covid-19.
Like other vaccines, a DNA vaccine, once administered, teaches the body’s immune system to fight the real virus.
ZyCoV-D uses plasmids — or small rings of DNA that contain genetic information — to deliver the jab between two layers of the skin.
ZyCov-D is also India’s first needle-free Covid-19 jab.
It is administered with a disposable needle-free injector, which uses a narrow stream of the fluid to penetrate the skin and deliver the jab to the proper tissue.
Falcon Heavy is now scheduled to loft Astranis’ first commercial communications satellite to orbit next spring, the San Francisco-based company announced Thursday (Sept. 23).
A new computer model demonstrates that vaccinations have impacts well beyond just preventing disease and death: they can also slow the spread of antimicrobial resistance.
Pneumococcal diseases—which include illnesses ranging from inner ear infections to pneumonia and meningitis—are a leading cause of death globally among children under five. While there are effective vaccines against pneumococcal diseases, access is still a challenge for populations in low-income—and some middle income—countries. And antimicrobial resistance to the antibiotics commonly used to treat these infections is a growing problem.
“We wanted to model the value of vaccinating—not only to show that vaccination reduces death or disability from these diseases, but also to quantify whether vaccination can slow antimicrobial resistance,” says Andrew Stringer, an assistant professor of veterinary and global health at NC State.
The Israeli mask company Sonovia has released a report from a leading Italian textile-testing laboratory showing that its fabric eliminates the COVID-19 Delta variant particles with over 99.95% effectiveness.
The lab is next expected to test the fabric against the MU strain, which carries several mutations to the spike gene, and is labeled a “variant of interest” by the World Health Organization, said Sonovia Chief Technology Officer Liat Goldhammer-Steinberg.
The MU strain has not yet entered Israel, according to any official reports, but Health Ministry officials have warned of its potential negative impact.
VisMederi is a commercial research laboratory located in Italy. It says on its website that the company “currently receives orders worldwide in the field of vaccines, where it conducts analytical testing of biological samples and validation of bioanalytical methods for the pharmaceutical industry.”