Lifeboat Foundation

Transistors, devices that can amplify, conduct or switch electronic signals or electric current, are key components of many electronics on the market today. These devices can be fabricated using a variety of inorganic and organic semiconducting materials.

Metals are generally considered unsuitable for fabricating transistors, as they screen electric fields and thus make it difficult to realize devices with tunable electrical conductivity. A possible way to create electronic components based on metals is to use gradients of counterions in films of metal nanoparticles functionalized with charged organic ligands.

In the past, engineers have successfully used this strategy to create a variety of devices, ranging from resistors to diodes and sensors. Nonetheless, modulating the electrical conductivity of these devices has often proved to be very challenging.

These shifting dynamics in India’s digital marketplace are yet another warning sign of what’s been dubbed the splinternet, foreshadowing a possible world where each country sticks to its own apps and abandons the open and global nature of the internet. For now, however, these homegrown apps may find it difficult to compete at the same level unless the government decides to ban Facebook and Twitter, too.

While Twitter finds itself in a prolonged standoff with the Indian government over the company’s refusal to take down certain accounts, a senior executive of a very similar Indian social network says the sudden attention on his app has been “overwhelming.”

“It feels like … you’ve just been put in the finals of the World Cup suddenly and everyone’s watching you and the team,” Mayank Bidawatka, co-founder of Koo, told CNN Business.

Continue reading “India is trying to build its own internet” »

Summary: A newly developed AI tool can identify “deepfakes” of faces by examining the light reflection in the eyes of the images. The system is 94% accurate at detecting deepfakes.

Source: University ay Buffalo.

University at Buffalo computer scientists have developed a tool that automatically identifies deepfake photos by analyzing light reflections in the eyes.

The State of the Edge report is based on analysis of the potential growth of edge infrastructure from the bottom up across multiple sectors modeled by Tolaga Research. The forecast evaluates 43 use cases spanning 11 vertical industries.

The one thing these use cases have in common is a growing need to process and analyze data at the point where it is being created and consumed. Historically, IT organizations have deployed applications that process data in batch mode overnight. As organizations embrace digital business transformation initiatives, it’s becoming more apparent that data needs to be processed and analyzed at the edge in near real time.

Of course, there are multiple classes of edge computing platforms, ranging from smartphones and internet of things (IoT) gateways to complete hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) platforms that are being employed to process data at scale at the edge of a telecommunications network.

Technology paves way for intelligent solar cells, other highly efficient devices programmed at the macro and nano scale.

Researchers at Tufts University School of Engineering have created light-activated composite devices able to execute precise, visible movements and form complex three-dimensional shapes without the need for wires or other actuating materials or energy sources. The design combines programmable photonic crystals with an elastomeric composite that can be engineered at the macro and nano scale to respond to illumination.

Continue reading “‘Photonic Sunflower’ – Controlled by Light Alone, New Smart Materials Twist, Bend and Move” »

Physicists exploring the quantum world watched the birth of a quasiparticle, shedding light on the strange behavior of these strange “fake particles.”

According to a NASA blog post, the M91 is one of over a thousand galaxies that make up the Virgo cluster — a group of galaxies that are gravitationally bound to one another.

Earth is destined for disaster. This is a good insurance policy.

In 2013, a cataclysmic meteor the size of a six-story building broke apart above Chelyabinsk, Russia, and the resulting blast was stronger than a nuclear explosion. In 2068, astronomers believe a potentially hazardous “God of Chaos” asteroid could slam into Earth. Both events suggest humans—and every other animal and plant on Earth—are much more susceptible to total annihilation than we think.

Continue reading “Scientists Are Planning to Build Noah’s Ark on the Moon” »

Fascinating new episode with NASA astrophysicist Sten Odenwald; we discuss several of his 100 objects in his book on the history of space exploration. Please listen.

Award-winning NASA astrophysicist and author Sten Odenwald discusses several of the 100 objects featured in his 2019 book: “Space Exploration: A History in 100 Objects.” I pick a few of the lesser known and underappreciated objects, which run the gamut in their differing ages. In this compelling episode, it’s amazing to hear and understand just how far humanity has come in its technological quest to understand the cosmos.

Continue reading “Episode 41 --- The History Of Space Exploration In 100 Objects” »