Lifeboat Foundation

AMD’s source code for its Navia and ‘Arden’ Xbox Series X GPUs was posted to Github.

Researchers are using AI to search satellite images for unexploded bombs dropped in Cambodia during the Vietnam War.

The system uses object recognition algorithms that detect the unique features of bomb craters, including their shapes, colors, textures, and sizes. These algorithms then scan satellite images for signals of the craters.

The Ohio State University team first used the system to find craters in a village in the province of Prey Veng, a heavily bombed area around 30 kilometers from the Vietnam border.

If you’ve never heard of a tensegrity structure, you should stop now and watch the video below. In it, [The Action Lab] shows a 3D printed table that is held up only with strings. We didn’t say suspended by strings but held up. Or so it appears. The model is from Thingiverse, but it is one of those things you have to see to believe.

The basic idea is pretty simple. Strings have a lot of tensile strength but collapse under the slightest compressive force. The arrangement of strings puts the force on the center string which is essentially hanging — the force is pulling the string down. The other three strings aren’t just for show, though, they keep the structure from tipping over in any one direction.

Continue reading “Table Held Up” »

The paleontologist Pincelli Hull has nailed down the timing and speed of the extinction that killed off the dinosaurs — details that carry ominous warnings for today.

It may sound like fiction, but on rare occasions, ordinary air bases have extraordinary mystery visitors. It happened to me, twice.

As countries work to fight the spread of the coronavirus, it has become clear that traditional methods of fighting disease have proven ineffective. Considering the threat, Russia is now pushing for more digital payments so it won’t be spread out on cash. Russia isn’t alone in worrying about people contracting coronavirus from handling cash, as widespread concerns over if you can get coronavirus from currency have caused many leaders to call for less money changing hands.

Researchers from Harvard and MIT have pioneered a device that could improve quantum communication and may be the key to developing a quantum internet, according to an article published Monday in the scientific journal Nature.

Quantum signals lose information when traveling over long distances. To solve this problem, the researchers’ new technology catches and stores quantum bits — known as qubits — thus preventing information loss. The physicists hope this breakthrough will open the door to a quantum internet that can communicate unhackable messages.

“This is the first system-level demonstration, combining major advances in nanofabrication, photonics and quantum control, that shows a clear quantum advantage to communicating information using quantum repeater nodes,” Mikhail D. Lukin — a Harvard physics professor who lead the research team — said in a press release published Monday. “We look forward to starting to explore new, unique applications using these techniques.”

What do you think? Agree or disagree?

According to Sky News host Rowan Dean “China willfully inflicted” the coronavirus upon the world a spectacular display of “communism” at its very worst”. “Let’s be absolutely crystal clear, this is an inevitable consequence of communism and totalitarianism,” Mr Dean told Sky News host Peta Credlin. “First of all they tried to shut it up and suppress those individuals who were sounding the alarm” after which they panicked “attributed the blame to the United States which is just laughable,” Mr Dean said. “China must be held to account for this…and countries around the world need to start looking at their relationship with China in light of this disaster”. “If it were a company or if it were an individual… that had caused such worldwide damage other countries would be asking for reparations,” Mr Dean said. Image: Getty.

Healthcare professionals and infectious disease experts around the world agree that extensive testing is the best way to combat coronavirus. However, the extreme shortage of COVID-19 testing kits has made that impossible. The Public Health England (PHE) just announced it was planning to begin rolling out at-home COVID-19 testing kits in the coming days. These tests could tell people if they’ve been infected with COVID-19 in as little as 15 minutes.

Current coronavirus testing is time-consuming and expensive because it requires healthcare practitioners to collect samples from the patient and have them processed in a laboratory. The test promised by the UK government would look like a pregnancy test and needs just a drop of blood to diagnose the individual.

Several companies are working on at-home COVID-19 tests, but PHE didn’t say which test it planned to deploy. According to PHE, the unnamed test takes 15 minutes to work, and it will be available at pharmacies and online via retailers like Amazon. The test will detect antibodies in the user’s blood that indicate they have been exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It works with both Immunoglobulin M and Immunoglobulin G (IgM and IGG) type antibodies. IgM peaks early in an infection and IgG remains even after the infection has subsided.