Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog – Page 924

Passwords, Touch ID, and Face ID could all be a thing of the past, as Apple is working on a future where unlocking your devices is as easy as just holding a future iPhone or letting your Apple Watch sense your unique heart rhythm.

Everyone’s heart has a unique rhythm, which the Apple Watch monitors through the ECG app. In a recently granted patent, Apple describes a technique for identifying users based on their unique cardiovascular measurements.

With this technology, you can unlock all your devices if you keep wearing your Apple Watch. Verifying your heart patterns instead of a password or a fingerprint scan increases security and speeds up your identification.

Read more | >

A team led by researchers from the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA has designed a unique material based on a conventional superconductor—that is, a substance that enables electrons to travel through it with zero resistance under certain conditions, such as extremely low temperature. The experimental material showed properties signaling its potential for use in quantum computing, a developing technology with capabilities beyond those of classical digital computers.

Read more | >

Paper page — Visual Riddles: a Commonsense and World Knowledge Challenge for Large Vision and Language Models

Posted by Cecile G. Tamura in futurism

Visual riddles a commonsense and world knowledge challenge for large vision and language models.

Visual Riddles.

A commonsense and world knowledge challenge for large vision and language models.

Imagine observing someone scratching their arm; to understand why, additional context would be necessary.

Continue reading “Paper page — Visual Riddles: a Commonsense and World Knowledge Challenge for Large Vision and Language Models” | >

Navigating The Looming AI Energy Crunch

Posted by Shubham Ghosh Roy in robotics/AI, sustainability

Brandon Wang is vice president of Synopsys.

The rapid development of AI has led to significant growth across the computing industry. But it is also causing a huge increase in energy consumption, which is leading us into an energy crisis. Current AI models, especially large language models (LLMs), need huge amounts of power to train and run. AI queries require much more energy than traditional searches; for example, asking ChatGPT a question consumes up to 25 times as much energy as a Google search. At current rates of growth, AI is expected to account for up to 3.5% of global electricity demand by 2030, twice as much as the country of France.

We need to address this issue urgently before it becomes unsustainable. If we don’t, the impact could threaten sustainable growth and the widespread adoption of AI technologies themselves. Fortunately, there are a number of pathways toward more energy-efficient AI systems and computing architectures.

Read more | >

Adding thin layer of tin prevents short-circuiting in lithium-ion batteries

Posted by Shailesh Prasad in energy

Lithium-ion batteries have a lot of advantages. They charge quickly, have a high energy density, and can be repeatedly charged and discharged.

They do have one significant shortcoming, however: they’re prone to short-circuiting. This occurs when a connection forms between the two electrodes inside the cell. A short circuit can result in a sudden loss of voltage or the rapid discharge of high current, both causing the battery to fail. In extreme cases, a short circuit can cause a cell to overheat, start on fire, or even explode.

A leading cause of short circuits are rough, tree-like crystal structures called that can form on the surface of one of the electrodes. When dendrites grow all the way across the cell and make contact with the other electrode, a can occur.

Read more | >

Researchers pioneer new approach to enhance all-solid-state lithium batteries

Posted by Shailesh Prasad in chemistry, energy

Researchers at the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with collaborators from leading international institutions, have introduced an innovative cathode homogenization strategy for all-solid-state lithium batteries (ASLBs).

This new approach, detailed in their recent publication in Nature Energy on July 31, significantly improves the life cycle and energy density of ASLBs, representing an important advancement in energy storage technology.

Current ASLBs face challenges due to heterogeneous composite cathodes, which require electrochemically inactive additives to enhance conduction. These additives, while necessary, reduce the batteries’ energy density and cycle life due to their incompatibility with the layered oxide cathodes, which undergo substantial volume changes during operation.

Read more | >