Lifeboat Foundation

New research from North Carolina State University shows that unique materials with distinct properties akin to those of gecko feet—the ability to stick to just about any surface—can be created by harnessing liquid-driven chaos to produce soft polymer microparticles with hierarchical branching on the micro- and nanoscale.

The findings, described in the journal Nature Materials, hold the potential for advances in gels, pastes, foods, nonwovens and coatings, among other formulations.

The soft dendritic particle materials with unique adhesive and structure-building properties can be created from a variety of polymers precipitated from solutions under special conditions, says Orlin Velev, S. Frank and Doris Culberson Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at NC State and corresponding author of the paper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSd5pp60-BM&feature=share

Esta gran cancion clasica e inolvidable de los 80’s con excelente letra subtitulada, traducida en español, con esta magnifica presentacion en vivo, incansable de escuchar de principio a fin, de esta fantastica Banda, Saludos… Music Video (Tren Rojo) (TrenRojoCruzandoo) (Tren Rojo Cruzando)

The 17” x 14” X-ray film, gels, and blots are widely used in DNA research. However, DNA laser scanners are costly and unaffordable for the majority of surveyed biotech scientists who need it. The high-tech breakthrough analytical personal scanner (PS) presented in this report is an inexpensive 1 lb hand-held scanner priced at 2–4% of the bulky and costly 30–95 lb conventional laser scanners. This PS scanner is affordable from an operation budget and biotechnologists, who originate most science breakthroughs, can acquire it to enhance their speed, accuracy, and productivity. Compared to conventional laser scanners that are currently available only through hard-to-get capital-equipment budgets, the new PS scanner offers improved spatial resolution of 20 microns, higher speed (scan up to 17” x 14” molecular X-ray film in 48 s), 1–32,768 gray levels (16-bits), student routines, versatility, and, most important, affordability.

The KATRIN experiment is closing in on the mass of the neutrino, which could point to new laws of particle physics and shape theories of cosmology.

The smallest pieces of nature—individual particles like electrons, for instance—are pretty much interchangeable. An electron is an electron is an electron, regardless of whether it’s stuck in a lab on Earth, bound to an atom in some chalky moon dust or shot out of an extragalactic black hole in a superheated jet. In practice, though, differences in energy, motion or location can make it easy to tell two electrons apart.

One way to test for the similarity of particles like electrons is to bring them together at the same time and place and look for interference—a quantum effect that arises when particles (which can also behave like waves) meet. This interference is important for everything from fundamental tests of quantum physics to the speedy calculations of quantum computers, but creating it requires exquisite control over particles that are indistinguishable.

With an eye toward easing these requirements, researchers at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) and the Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science (QuICS) have stretched out multiple photons—the quantum particles of light—and turned three distinct pulses into overlapping quantum waves. The work, which was published recently in the journal Physical Review Letters, restores the interference between photons and may eventually enable a demonstration of a particular kind of quantum supremacy—a clear speed advantage for computers that run on the rules of quantum physics.

Researchers at OpenAI have developed a new method for transferring complex manipulation skills from simulated to physical environments.

In work that combines a deep understanding of the biology of soft-bodied animals such as earthworms with advances in materials and electronic technologies, researchers from the United States and China have developed a robotic device containing a stretchable transistor that allows neurological function.

Cunjiang Yu, Bill D. Cook Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Houston, said the work represents a significant step toward the development of prosthetics that could directly connect with the peripheral nerves in biological tissues, offering neurological function to artificial limbs, as well as toward advances in soft neurorobots capable of thinking and making judgments. Yu is corresponding author for a paper describing the work, published in Science Advances.

He is also a principal investigator with the Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston.

Artificial intelligence research organization OpenAI has achieved a new milestone in its quest to build general purpose, self-learning robots. The group’s robotics division says Dactyl, its humanoid robotic hand first developed last year, has learned to solve a Rubik’s cube one-handed. OpenAI sees the feat as a leap forward both for the dexterity of robotic appendages and its own AI software, which allows Dactyl to learn new tasks using virtual simulations before it is presented with a real, physical challenge to overcome.

Continue reading “OpenAI’s AI-powered robot learned how to solve a Rubik’s cube one-handed” »

As noted by Dan Ariely, who is a professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University, this “worry that tugs at the corners of our minds is set off by the fear of regret…that we’ve made the wrong decision about how to spend our time.”

Why do such fears rule our day? Perhaps due to the fact that our lives are severely limited, and thus our experiences are confined by an hourglass. Would we reminisce of our past decisions so often if life weren’t so short?

FOMO — the Fear of Missing Out — has been an anxiety of ours since birth. Will our future endeavors provide us a cure or will we continue living and expiring with this constant psychological state?

Continue reading “The Transhuman Condition of ‘FOMO’ — The Fear of Missing Out” »