Lifeboat Foundation

Stanford researchers have developed a speech brain-computer interface (BCI) they say can translate thoughts into text at a record-breaking speed — putting us closer to a future in which people who can’t talk can still easily communicate.

The challenge: “Anarthria” is a devastating condition in which a person can’t speak, despite being able to understand speech and knowing what they want to say. It’s usually caused by a brain injury, such as a stroke, or a neurological disorder, such as Parkinson’s disease or ALS.

Some people with anarthria write or use eye-tracking tech to communicate, but this “speech” is far slower than the average talking speed. People with anarthria due to total paralysis or locked-in syndrome can’t even move their eyes, though, leaving them with no way to communicate.

Nightmare material or truly man’s best friend? A team of researchers equipped a dog-like quadruped robot with a mechanized arm that takes air samples from potentially treacherous situations, such as an abandoned building or fire. The robot dog walks samples to a person who screens them for potentially hazardous compounds, says the team that published its study in Analytical Chemistry. While the system needs further refinement, demonstrations show its potential value in dangerous conditions.

NASA will roll the fully assembled core stage for the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will launch the first crewed Artemis mission out of NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans in mid-July. The 212-foot-tall stage will be loaded on the agency’s Pegasus barge for delivery to Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Media will have the opportunity to capture images and video, hear remarks from agency and industry leadership, and speak to subject matter experts with NASA and its Artemis industry partners as crews move the rocket stage to the Pegasus barge.

NASA will provide additional information on specific timing later, along with interview opportunities. This event is open to U.S. and international media. International media must apply by June 14. U.S. media must apply by July 3. The agency’s media credentialing policy is available online.

China has installed an 18-megawatt (MW) offshore wind turbine – the world’s largest by power rating – in Guangdong province.

State-owned power generator manufacturer Dongfang Electric Corporation completed the installation of the massive wind turbine at a coastal test base in Shantou on June 5.

China’s 18-MW offshore wind turbine has a 260-meter (853-foot) rotor diameter and a swept area of 53,000 square meters (570,487 square feet) – equivalent to 7.4 standard football fields.

A new model lets scientists run ions through thousands of supercapacitor pores instead of just one at a time.

Led by UMass Amherst, goal is to explore grid decarbonization and reduce carbon in computing.

Apple also announced a ton of other home-grown AI innovations during Monday’s show. This includes AI-generated emojis called Genmoji, a feature that prioritizes important messages, another that summarizes group chats, and Safari will also create AI summaries of webpages.

The financials of Apple’s deal with OpenAI were not disclosed on Monday, and that element remains unclear. While Google has paid Apple billions of dollars for default privileges on Apple products, OpenAI may require an investment to provide computing of this magnitude. Processing AI requests for billions of people is anything but cheap. If Apple pays OpenAI for this, Microsoft may ultimately benefit from this deal.

If trillions of tiny bits of consciousness are floating around inside you, it could change how we think about life.

Lasers have revolutionized the world since the 60s and are now indispensable in modern applications, from cutting-edge surgery and precise manufacturing to data transmission across optical fibers.