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Jun 20, 2020

Quickly Embed AI Into Your Projects With Nvidia’s Jetson Nano

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

When opportunity knocks, open the door: No one has taken heed of that adage like Nvidia, which has transformed itself from a company focused on catering to the needs of video gamers to one at the heart of the artificial-intelligence revolution. In 2001, no one predicted that the same processor architecture developed to draw realistic explosions in 3D would be just the thing to power a renaissance in deep learning. But when Nvidia realized that academics were gobbling up its graphics cards, it responded, supporting researchers with the launch of the CUDA parallel computing software framework in 2006.

Since then, Nvidia has been a big player in the world of high-end embedded AI applications, where teams of highly trained (and paid) engineers have used its hardware for things like autonomous vehicles. Now the company claims to be making it easy for even hobbyists to use embedded machine learning, with its US $100 Jetson Nano dev kit, which was originally launched in early 2019 and rereleased this March with several upgrades. So, I set out to see just how easy it was: Could I, for example, quickly and cheaply make a camera that could recognize and track chosen objects?

Embedded machine learning is evolving rapidly. In April 2019, Hands On looked at Google’s Coral Dev AI board which incorporates the company’s Edge tensor processing unit (TPU), and in July 2019, IEEE Spectrum featured Adafruit’s software library, which lets even a handheld game device do simple speech recognition. The Jetson Nano is closer to the Coral Dev board: With its 128 parallel processing cores, like the Coral, it’s powerful enough to handle a real-time video feed, and both have Raspberry Pi–style 40-pin GPIO connectors for driving external hardware.

Jun 20, 2020

NASA gets set to put astronauts on Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic suborbital flights

Posted by in categories: innovation, space travel

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine signaled today that astronauts would soon be cleared to take suborbital spaceflights aboard the commercial rocket ships being tested by Virgin Galactic and by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture.

“NASA is developing the process to fly astronauts on commercial suborbital spacecraft,” Bridenstine said in a tweet. “Whether it’s suborbital, orbital or deep space, NASA will utilize our nation’s innovative commercial capabilities.”

Continue reading “NASA gets set to put astronauts on Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic suborbital flights” »

Jun 20, 2020

The Case for Colonizing Mars

Posted by in categories: materials, space

This post by Dr. Robert Zubrin originally appeared at National Space Society.

Mars Is The New World

Among extraterrestrial bodies in our solar system, Mars is singular in that it possesses all the raw materials required to support not only life, but a new branch of human civilization. This uniqueness is illustrated most clearly if we contrast Mars with the Earth’s Moon, the most frequently cited alternative location for extraterrestrial human colonization.

Jun 20, 2020

FaceApp’s Gender Swap is a Scary Insight to AI and Privacy Concerns

Posted by in categories: privacy, robotics/AI

FaceApp looks pretty harmless. However, when you realise that you are uploading your photos for an AI to work on, things start to look bleak.

Jun 20, 2020

How chandelier cells light up the brain

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Summary: Chandelier cells have an unusual direct method of communication. Unlike other neurons, chandelier cells connect directly to the part of a target neuron that initiates a spike.

Source: CSHL

Within the intricate network of cells that make up the brain, chandelier cells stand out for their elaborate, branching structure. With an elegant shape similar to that of its namesake, a single chandelier cell reaches out to connect and communicate with more than 100 other neurons. Abnormalities in chandelier cells have been linked to epilepsy, autism, and schizophrenia, underscoring their critical role in keeping brain signaling in balance. However, these cells have been notoriously difficult to study as their numbers are few, so until recently, chandelier cells remained largely enigmatic.

Jun 20, 2020

Engineers Design Ion-Based Device That Operates Like an Energy-Efficient Brain Synapse

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Ion-based technology may enable energy-efficient simulations of the brain’s learning process, for neural network AI systems.

Teams around the world are building ever more sophisticated artificial intelligence systems of a type called neural networks, designed in some ways to mimic the wiring of the brain, for carrying out tasks such as computer vision and natural language processing.

Using state-of-the-art semiconductor circuits to simulate neural networks requires large amounts of memory and high power consumption. Now, an MIT team has made strides toward an alternative system, which uses physical, analog devices that can much more efficiently mimic brain processes.

Jun 20, 2020

Possible first detection of axion particle

Posted by in categories: cosmology, particle physics

Physicists at the XENON dark matter research facility report an ‘excess’ of 53 events, which may hint at the existence of hypothetical solar axion particles. Other possibilities for the anomalous detection include a surprisingly large magnetic moment for neutrinos, and tritium contamination in the detector.

Jun 20, 2020

NASA TV Coverage Set for Final Space Station Spacewalk Power Upgrades

Posted by in categories: energy, space

Chris Cassidy and Robert Behnken are scheduled to go outside the International Space Station (ISS) Friday, June 26, and Wednesday, July 1, for spacewalks to begin the replacement of batteries for one of the power channels on the orbiting laboratory.

NASA Television and the agency’s website will broadcast the spacewalks live, along with a news briefing to discuss them.

The briefing will take place at 2 p.m. EDT Wednesday, June 24, at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Coverage of the spacewalks will begin at 6 a.m. on the day of each spacewalk. The spacewalks will begin at around 7:35 a.m., and will last as long as seven hours.

Jun 20, 2020

Breakthrough in Age Reversal With Youngblood Plasma — Dr Harold Katcher — CTO Nugenics Research

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

#nugencis #nugenicsresearch #humanlongevity #agereversal #blissatomic
Dr. Harold has been a pioneer in the field of cancer research, in the development of modern aspects of gene hunting and sequencing. He carries expertise in bioinformatics, chronobiology, and biotechnology and is currently working in the capacity of Chief Technical Officer at Nugenics Research Pvt Ltd. exploring in anti-aging modalities.
They recently released a paper online on #biorxiv regarding their breakthrough research on Human Age Reversal using Young Blood #plasma, the paper’s authors include recognized Longevity academician Steve Horvath.

The paper also caught the attention of #davidsinclair the leading researcher/voice in the field of Human Longevity.
Dr Katcher spoke about how & why he moved from cancer research to Human Longevity, his research & results of 54% age reversal in Rats, his partner #akshaysanghavi, the future road map/timelines on how & when this might be commercially available.

Continue reading “Breakthrough in Age Reversal With Youngblood Plasma — Dr Harold Katcher — CTO Nugenics Research” »

Jun 20, 2020

CERN makes bold push to build €21-billion super-collider

Posted by in category: particle physics

The approval is not yet a final go-ahead. But it means CERN can now put substantial effort into designing a collider and researching its feasibility, while pushing to the backburner research and development efforts for alternative designs for LHC follow-ups, such as a linear eletron-positron collider or one that would accelerate muons. “I think it’s a historic day for CERN and particle physics, in Europe and beyond,” CERN director-general Fabiola Gianotti told the council after the vote.


European particle-physics lab will pursue a 100-kilometre machine to uncover the Higgs boson’s secrets — but it doesn’t yet have the funds.