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May 19, 2020

Accion raises $11 million to refine its dime-size spacecraft thrusters

Posted by in category: space travel

Ion propulsion company Accion Systems has raised $11 million in its latest funding round and has launches and contracts planned this year with NASA, the DoD and academic institutions.

May 19, 2020

These insects are annoying, but they might just save your life

Posted by in category: virtual reality

Researchers designed a 3D virtual environment just for insects to determine how controlled stimuli, like air and scent, would change their flying behavior.

May 19, 2020

Secure smart-home entry via earprint

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, internet, mobile phones, privacy, security

Fingerprints and DNA are widely known forms of biometrics, thanks to crime dramas on television. But as technology advances the Internet of Things, the interconnection of computer devices in common objects, other forms of biometrics are sought for security. For example, distinctive physical characteristics of users are increasingly used in computer science as forms of identification and access restriction. Smartphones use fingerprints, iris scans and face recognition in this way. Other biometrics that are likely to come into use include retinas, veins and palm prints.

The ear is another potential biometric. According to research published recently in the Journal of Electronic Imaging, ear recognition technology, or “earprints,” could one day be used as personal identification to secure via smartphones.

May 19, 2020

E.T. Is Likely To Be More Rare Than Common In Cosmos

Posted by in category: alien life

Microbial life is likely fairly ubiquitous in the cosmos, new statistical models indicate. But extraterrestrial intelligence? Not so much.

May 19, 2020

A potentially major breakthrough in anti-aging medicine

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

A pre-print study reveals that young blood plasma given to older mice reduced aging by an average of 54% across multiple tissues; and had an impact on other signs of aging, such as cellular senescence, fat accumulation, and behavioural measures.

May 19, 2020

Neurobiologist Finds Potent Pain-Suppression Center in the Brain

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

A Duke University research team has found a small area of the brain in mice that can profoundly control the animals’ sense of pain.

Somewhat unexpectedly, this brain center turns pain off, not on. It’s also located in an area where few people would have thought to look for an anti-pain center, the amygdala, which is often considered the home of negative emotions and responses, like the fight or flight response and general anxiety.

“People do believe there is a central place to relieve pain, that’s why placebos work,” said senior author Fan Wang, the Morris N. Broad Distinguished Professor of neurobiology in the School of Medicine. “The question is where in the brain is the center that can turn off pain.”

May 19, 2020

Sony, Microsoft Strike Deal on Tiny AI Chip With Huge Potential

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

The new module’s big advantage is that it has its own processor and memory built in, which allows it to analyze video using AI tech like Microsoft’s Azure, but in a self-contained system that’s faster, simpler and more secure to operate than existing methods.


Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. have partnered to embed artificial intelligence capabilities into the Japanese company’s latest imaging chip, a big boost for a camera product the electronics giant describes as a world-first for commercial customers.

May 19, 2020

7 New Insights about the Frontrunner U.S. Vaccine Candidate

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, government

U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci called the vaccine’s preclinical data “impressive” and told National Geographic this week that a vaccine could be ready for general use as early as January.

The Phase I trial has dosed 45 healthy adults. Phase II trials are about to start, enrolling around 600 adults. Pivotal efficacy trials would follow soon thereafter, bankrolled in collaboration with the government office BARDA (Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority).

Today, the chief medical officer of Moderna, Tal Zaks, answered burning questions from the public in a webinar hosted by STAT. Here’s an edited and condensed summary of his answers.

May 18, 2020

Booz Allen Hamilton wins massive Pentagon artificial intelligence contract

Posted by in categories: military, robotics/AI, surveillance

The contracting giant will provide the JAIC with “data labeling, data management, data conditioning, AI product development, and the transition of AI products into new and existing fielded programs,” according to the GSA news release.

“The delivered AI products will leverage the power of DoD data to enable a transformational shift across the Department that will give the U.S. a definitive information advantage to prepare for future warfare operations,” the release said.

The contract will support the JAIC’s new joint warfighting mission initiative, launched earlier this year. The initiative includes “Joint All-Domain Command and Control; autonomous ground reconnaissance and surveillance; accelerated sensor-to-shooter timelines; operations center workflows; and deliberate and dynamic targeting solutions,” said JAIC spokesperson Arlo Abrahamson told C4ISRNET in January.

May 18, 2020

US Air Force launches Skyborg competition, artificial intelligence for loyal wingman UAV

Posted by in categories: military, robotics/AI

The US Air Force (USAF) has launched a competition to design the artificially intelligent software, called Skyborg, that would control its planned fleet of loyal wingman unmanned air vehicles (UAV).

The service intends to grant indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts worth $400 million per awardee to develop the software and related hardware, it says in a request for proposals released on 15 May. The USAF is looking for technical and cost proposals from companies by 15 June 2020 and intends to award multiple companies contracts, though it may award just one contract or no contracts, based on proposals.

US Air Force Research Laboratory XQ-58A Valkyrie demonstrator