Lifeboat Foundation

The historic first detection of gravitational waves from colliding black holes far outside our galaxy opened a new window to understanding the universe. A string of detections—four more binary black holes and a pair of neutron stars—soon followed the Sept. 14, 2015, observation.

Now, another detector is being built to crack this window wider open. This next-generation observatory, called LISA, is expected to be in space in 2034, and it will be sensitive to gravitational waves of a lower frequency than those detected by the Earth-bound Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).

A new Northwestern University study predicts dozens of binaries (pairs of orbiting compact objects) in the globular clusters of the Milky Way will be detectable by LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna). These binary sources would contain all combinations of black hole, neutron star and white dwarf components. Binaries formed from these star-dense clusters will have many different features from those binaries that formed in isolation, far from other stars.

Continue reading “Dozens of binaries from Milky Way’s globular clusters could be detectable” »

At the same time, the data that feeds AI decisions needs to be carefully vetted and reviewed. For example, “a robotic process automation solution that automates a loan process so the bank can deliver the loan faster to a client would be great,” according to Aditya Bhasin, head of consumer and wealth management technology at Bank of America, also quoted in American Banker. “But using AI or robotic process automation as a shortcut to data integration might not make sense. For example, when BofA launched a digital mortgage, ‘we could have done a whole bunch of robotics to go and pull data from different places and prepopulate the mortgage application, [but] it probably would have been fraught with error,” he said.

Too many organizations are rushing into AI without considering the full implications of the people element, according to Bessant. “It is time that we re-balance the discussion from being driven by the creators and the sellers of artificial intelligence to being balanced with the user perspective,” she says. “The discussion has been dominated by the sellers. Flip on any one of the morning financial shows and what you see is advertisement after advertisement for large and small-scale technology firms that are pushing the notion of data and modeling and that AI will help. Generally, society seems sold that artificial intelligence is better than we are as humans. However, because we build it, it is a subset of who we are and our thinking and bias.”

There’s a lot of buzz, and a lot of money now pouring into AIt’s important that some of that attention and money goes into education and building awareness of the processes behind the processes.

Continue reading “Time to break open AI’s black box, and keep it open” »

During Google’s tenth annual Google I/O developers conference CEO Sundar Pichai unveiled a feature for the Google Assistant that will allow it to make phone calls on users’ behalf with realistic sounding voices. This feature is still under development but is a major accomplishment in artificial intelligence.

A HUGE space storm is long overdue which could wreak havoc on technology on Earth, researchers have warned.

https://www.mindpodnetwork.com/future-fossils-72-ira-pastor-…animation/

Using data from the Chandra X-ray observatory, a team of scientists have found evidence that indicates that thousands of black holes may reside near the center of our galaxy.

The US space agency said Friday it plans to launch the first-ever helicopter to Mars in 2020, a miniature, unmanned drone-like chopper that could boost our understanding of the Red Planet.

Known simply as “The Mars Helicopter,” the device weighs less than four pounds (1.8 kilograms), and its main body section, or fuselage, is about the size of a softball.

It will be attached to the belly pan of the Mars 2020 rover, a wheeled robot that aims to determine the habitability of the Martian environment, search for signs of ancient life, and assess natural resources and hazards for future human explorers.

Continue reading “NASA plans to send mini-helicopter to Mars” »

BGN Technologies, the technology-transfer company of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), announced that a research group led by Prof. Varda Shoshan-Barmatz of the BGU Department of Life Sciences and the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, is developing a new molecule to treat cancer that inhibits cancer cell growth and changes these cells back to normal ones.

“Although this is in the early stages, we are excited with results that demonstrate this novel molecule’s potential for cancer treatment,” says Prof. Shoshan-Barmatz. “Basically, we’ve discovered a code for reprograming cancer cells that causes them to lose their oncogenic features.”

The novel treatment is based on siRNA (small interfering ribonucleic acid), which silences expression of the mitochondrial gatekeeper protein, VDAC1. This protein is highly overexpressed in many solid and non-solid tumors and is crucial for supplying the high energy demands of malignant cells.

This week RT en Español aired a half hour show on life extension and #transhumanism on TV to millions of its #Spanish viewers. My #ImmortalityBus and work was covered. Various Lifeboat Foundation members in this video: Give it a watch:

La longevidad, la inmortalidad… Temas que nunca han dejado a nadie indiferente. Ahora algunos científicos aseguran que la inmortalidad es técnicamente alcanzable en un futuro cercano. Pero al mismo tiempo surgen preguntas de carácter moral e incluso filosófico: ¿qué significa alcanzar la inmortalidad para cada uno de nosotros? Además, en una sociedad consumista y de empresas transnacionales como la nuestra, suena poco convincente que la inmortalidad pueda llegar a ser accesible para todos.

Continue reading “La conquista de la muerte” »