Lifeboat Foundation

‘Like conductive Play-Doh’: breakthrough could point way to a new class of materials for electronic devices.

University of Chicago.

Founded in 1,890, the University of Chicago (UChicago, U of C, or Chicago) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Located on a 217-acre campus in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, near Lake Michigan, the school holds top-ten positions in various national and international rankings. UChicago is also well known for its professional schools: Pritzker School of Medicine, Booth School of Business, Law School, School of Social Service Administration, Harris School of Public Policy Studies, Divinity School and the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies, and Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering.

Managing data with AI-powered automation and data product managers.

Researchers at Tokyo Metropolitan University have created a robotic system that could automate the cleaning of restrooms in convenience stores and other public spaces. This system, introduced in a paper published in Advanced Robotics, will be competing in the Future Convenience Store Challenge (FCSC) at the World Robot Summit (WRS), a competition for state-of-the-art technologies to automate convenience stores.

“Many convenience stores provide restrooms for customers, and restroom cleaning is an essential part of the business,” Kazuyoshi Wada, one of the researchers who developed the system, told TechXplore. “While restroom cleaning is necessary for sanitary purposes, it involves mental and physical hard work. Clerks are often inappropriate for cleaning toilets in convenience stores; and maintaining consistent cleanliness levels is difficult because of the different perceptions of cleanliness among clerks.”

Continue reading “An automated system to clean restrooms in convenience stores” »

We live in very interesting times, especially if you happen to be a tinkerer, hobbyist, or what is commonly called a “maker” these days. From affordable palm-sized computer boards like the Raspberry Pi to the almost magical 3D printers, it has never been easier to bring ideas to life or, at the very least, prototype designs quickly before they hit final production. Not everyone might have access to these parts and tools, though, but those same things have also made it easier to create and sell products that bigger companies would never dare make. Those include niche yet popular designs, like this quirky pocket computer kit that you can assemble on your own to become not just a portable game emulator but a real computer you could use for more serious business, like even developing your own retro-style game on the go.

Designer: Clockwork.

Meanwhile, in Kenya, Facebook to start sharing advertising data with Kenya’a tax agency, and the police.

In the terms, the company said businesses placing adverts across its different platforms would have given it consent to share information with government agencies looking for such information to assist in lawful investigations.

“Our licence to deliver your ad will end when we have completed your order. You understand, however, that…you consent that Meta may disclose your advertising content, and all information associated with your advertising, to a governmental entity or body if Meta believes that disclosure would assist in a lawful investigation,” says the company in the terms that will be effective January 3, 2023.

Continue reading “Facebook to share traders’ data with State agencies” »

The company that will work with US Space Force has also won some NASA contracts.

It’s official: robots are here to stay in space. Robotics software and engineering company PickNik Robotics announced on Tuesday that it has won a SpaceWERX contract to work on robotics for the US Space Force, according to a press release acquired by IE

Continue reading “NASA-funded space robots will grab objects in orbit using arms controlled from Earth” »

Insider obtained documents that reveal the topics, goals and challenges discussed. Together, they show Amazon’s ambition to take on Google’s DeepMind, a pioneer in AI-powered scientific discovery. This could take Amazon from dabbling in healthcare services, and turn it into a potentially serious player in the future of medicine.

“The demarcation line between core Amazon/AWS business and life science and healthcare is shifting,” said Amazon scientist and senior solutions architect Sergey Menis, according to a transcript of his comments seen by Insider. “We are increasingly more specialized in healthcare and life sciences.” An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment.

Menis developed a nanoparticle that underpins a promising HIV vaccine candidate. He was joined at last week’s Amazon Machine Learning Conference by Amazon’s chief medical officer Taha Kass-Hout.

Children’s hospitals in parts of the U.S. are seeing a surge in a common respiratory illness that can cause severe breathing problems for babies.

RSV cases fell dramatically two years ago as the pandemic shut down schools, day cares and businesses. With restrictions easing in the summer of 2021, doctors saw an alarming increase in what is normally a fall and winter virus.

Now, it’s back again. And doctors are bracing for the possibility that RSV, flu and COVID-19 could combine to stress hospitals.

Bill Gates founded Breakthrough Energy and has recently announced that its first Catalyst project funding will come in the form of a $50 million grant to LanzaJet’s Freedom Pines Fuels sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plant in Soperton, Georgia.

Breakthrough Energy Catalyst is a unique program that brings together businesses and nonprofits to fund key first-of-its-kind commercial-scale projects that speed up the deployment of essential technologies.