Lifeboat Foundation

“Now we have a situation that is unique in modern history when they are trying to catch up to us,” he said. “Not a single country has hypersonic weapons, let alone hypersonic weapons of intercontinental range.”

The Pentagon and the U.S. military services have been working on the development of hypersonic weapons in recent years, and Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in August that he believes “it’s probably a matter of a couple of years” before the U.S. has one. He has called it a priority as the military works to develop new long-range fire capabilities.

The U.S. also has repeatedly warned Congress about hypersonic missiles being developed by Russia and China that will be harder to track and defeat. U.S. officials have talked about putting a layer of sensors in space to more quickly detect enemy missiles, particularly the more advanced hypersonic threats. The administration also plans to study the idea of basing interceptors in space, so the U.S. can strike incoming enemy missiles during the first minutes of flight when the booster engines are still burning.

Drone War

Civilian casualties are mounting as opposing sides deploy cheap Turkish and Chinese-made aircraft by Dan Sabbagh, Jason Burke and Bethan McKernan.

Continue reading “‘Libya is ground zero’: drones on frontline in bloody civil war” »

In the story of Goldilocks, a little girl tastes three different bowls of porridge to find which is not too hot, not too cold, but just the right temperature. In a study published in Advanced Therapeutics, University of Minnesota Medical School researchers report on a “Goldilocks” balance which holds the key to awakening the body’s immune response to fight off brain cancer.

The most common form of adult brain cancer is glioblastoma. Doctors diagnose about 14,000 glioblastoma cases in the U.S. each year. This aggressive cancer has claimed the lives of Senators John McCain and Edward Kennedy.

“Our body has armies of white blood cells that help us fight off bacteria, viruses and cancer cells. This constellation of cells constitute our immune system,” said senior author Clark C. Chen, MD, Ph.D., Lyle French Chair in Neurosurgery and Head of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Minnesota Medical School. “One of the key reasons why glioblastoma is so aggressive is that it shuts off this immune system.”

What are new practice areas that solo, small, and medium firms should prepare for in their 5 to 10-year plans for the future?

In the search for the next wave of growth, future-focused law firms are learning to embrace the futurist perspective as they evaluate the opportunities arising from cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). These technologies will enable new organizational structures, services, and business models in the business horizon. Here are three new practice areas that firms might want to prepare for in the coming few years.

1. Evidence and liability issues from autonomous machine “testimony”

A growing array of “smart” objects are enveloping our homes, workplaces, and communities and the volume of legally admissible data from these devices is likely grow at an exponential rate over the next decade. Firms need to start building expertise around the admissibility and verifiability of the data collected. For example, the design trend for voice-activated technology is driving a rash of seemingly sentient technology in the form of digital assistants, smart appliances, and personal medical and wearable devices. Law firms may be asked to represent clients in cases dealing with evidence, witnesses, accidents, or contracts hinging on theoretically immutable digital proof such as time-stamped video and audio recordings. Attorneys may seek to specialize in addressing the data issues related to domains such as digital twins and personas, surveillance capitalism (companies exploiting customer data for commercial gain with and without full approval), and digital privacy rights.

Continue reading “Digital Gold – New Legal Opportunities Emerging from Technology Innovation” »

Scientists believe that mysterious dark matter is key to forming galaxies in the cosmos. Now, a recent series of bizarre findings threatens to undermine everything we think we know.

A team of researchers at Osaka University has investigated a new method for generating nuclear fusion power, showing that the relativistic effect of ultra-intense laser light improves upon current “fast ignition” methods in laser-fusion research to heat the fuel long enough to generate electrical power. These findings could provide a spark for laser fusion, ushering in a new era of carbonless energy production.

Current nuclear power uses the fission of heavy isotopes, such as uranium, into lighter elements to produce power. Yet, this fission power has major concerns, such as spent fuel disposal and the risk of meltdowns. A promising alternative to fission is nuclear fusion. Like all stars, our sun is powered by the fusion of light isotopes, notably hydrogen, into heavier elements. Fusion has many advantages over fission, including the lack of hazardous waste or risk of uncontrolled nuclear reactions.

However, getting more energy out of a fusion reaction than was put into it has remained an elusive goal. This is because hydrogen nuclei strongly repel each other, and fusion requires extreme heat and pressure conditions—like those found in the interior of the sun, for instance—to squeeze them together. One method, called “inertial confinement” uses extremely high-energy laser pulses to heat and compress a fuel pellet before it gets the chance to be blown apart. Unfortunately, this technique requires extremely precise control of the laser’s energy so that the compression shock waves all arrive at the center simultaneously.

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 60 Star broadband internet satellites into orbit and landed back on Earth, making SpaceX the operator of a record-breaking 180 satellites in orbit today.

SpaceX Launches 60 Star Satellites, Nails Rocket Landing in Record-Breaking Flight : Read more

There are other views of launching so many satellites too. Astronomers say SpaceX’s satellites are too bright in the sky. Friday’s launch will try to fix that.

The US government has placed software designed to train neural networks to analyse satellite images under new export controls in a bid to prevent foreign adversaries using said code.

The decision, made by Uncle Sam’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), is effective today. Vendors shipping software subject to the controls – in that the applications help machine learning systems annotate satellite images in a particular way – will have to apply for a license to sell their products to customers outside of the US and Canada.

“Items warrant control for export because the items may provide a significant military or intelligence advantage to the United States or because foreign policy reasons justify control,” the BIS said.