Lifeboat Foundation

The Cray-1 supercomputer, the world’s fastest back in the 1970s, does not look like a supercomputer. It looks like a mod version of that carnival ride The Round Up, the one where you stand, strapped in, as it dizzies you up. It’s surrounded by a padded bench that conceals its power supplies, like a cake donut, if the hole was capable of providing insights about nuclear weapons.

After Seymour Cray first built this computer, he gave Los Alamos National Laboratory a six-month free trial. But during that half-year, a funny thing happened: The computer experienced 152 unattributable memory errors. Later, researchers would learn that cosmic-ray neutrons can slam into processor parts, corrupting their data. The higher you are, and the bigger your computers, the more significant a problem this is. And Los Alamos—7,300 feet up and home to some of the world’s swankiest processors—is a prime target.

The world has changed a lot since then, and so have computers. But space has not. And so Los Alamos has had to adapt—having its engineers account for space particles in its hard- and software. “This is not really a problem we’re having,” explains Nathan DeBardeleben of the High Performance Computing Design group. “It’s a problem we’re keeping at bay.”

Continue reading “Cosmic Ray Showers Crash Supercomputers. Here’s What to Do About It” »

Most of us take our vision for granted. As a result, we take the ability to read, write, drive, and complete a multitude of other tasks for granted. However, sight is not so easy for everyone. Indeed, for many people, simply seeing is a struggle.

There are more than 285 million people worldwide who have vision problems. According to the Fred Hollows Foundation, an estimated 32.4 million people around the world are blind. Ultimately, 90% of these people live in developing countries, and more than half of these cases of blindness are caused by cataracts. Indeed, cataracts are the leading cause of blindness in the world.

Continue reading “Goodbye Surgery? Scientists Just Made Eye Drops that Dissolve Cataracts” »

Fifty years after Neil Armstrong, robots from China, India, Israel, NASA and elsewhere are heading back this year.

by

• Eric Mack

#Tech Talk…Google/Facebook Reads Your Mind. You’ve probably experienced it yourself!!!

Ever wondered how platforms like Google display relevant ads even before you search or click on anything? Find out how Google/Facebook read your mind.

William Falconer-Beach has rendered some images of the SpaceX Starship with a mirror polished stainless steel body.

Elon Musk has reported that SpaceX is building the body of the Starship out of stainless steel and that it will be polished to a mirror finish.

A hopper version of the Starship should have its first test flights by April 2019. The Super Heavy should reach orbit in 2020.

Continue reading “What the SpaceX Mirror Polished Stainless Steel Starship Will Look Like” »

These homegrown, biodegradable cups are one startup’s attempt at reducing plastic waste.

Just like last year, this year’s 60 predictions reveal the state-of-mind of key participants in the cybersecurity industry (on the defense team, of course) and cover all that’s hot today. Topics include the use and misuse of data; artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning as a double-edge sword helping both attackers and defenders; whether we are going to finally “get over privacy” or see our data finally being treated as a private and protected asset; how the cloud changes everything and how connected and moving devices add numerous security risks; the emerging global cyber war conducted by terrorists, criminals, and countries; and the changing skills and landscape of cybersecurity.

Weizmann Institute of Science. (2018, December 31). The immune system’s fountain of youth: Helping the immune system clear away old cells in aging mice helped restore youthful characteristics. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 1, 2019 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181231103951.htm