Lifeboat Foundation

With a growing number of Earth-like exoplanets discovered in recent years, it is becoming increasingly frustrating that we can’t visit them. After all, our knowledge of the planets in our own solar system would be pretty limited if it weren’t for the space probes we’d sent to explore them.

The problem is that even the nearest stars are a very long way away, and enormous engineering efforts will be required to reach them on timescales that are relevant to us. But with research in areas such as nuclear fusion and nanotechnology advancing rapidly, we may not be as far away from constructing small, fast interstellar space probes as we think.

There’s a lot at stake. If we ever found evidence suggesting that life might exist on a planet orbiting a nearby star, we would most likely need to go there to get definitive proof and learn more about its underlying biochemistry and evolutionary history. This would require transporting sophisticated scientific instruments across interstellar space.

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A robot manipulated by a glove & it only cost them $150 USD.

Computer engineering students Mohammad Zyoud, Mohammad Atiyyeh and Suhaib Tawafsheh spent eight months working on the self-funded project which cost them around 150 USD.”

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Maybe an opportunity to hire some pretty talented women in the mix this time. If you think about it, women are very strong in communications & multitasking which is perfect to lead Twitter’s product innovation; and not to mention what women could do for wearables innovation. Some amazing female execs in wireless (ISPs & Devices), online communications and marketing firms, Google and Microsoft has some amazing female leaders, etc. Tons of capable women that could really make some magic happen for Twitter.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has confirmed the departures of Twitter execs, who oversaw the product, engineering, media and HR teams.

Was really hoping to talk to Twitter employees about this later this week, but want to set the record straight now: pic.twitter.com/PcpRyTzOlW

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DoD spending $12 to $15 billion of its FY17 budget on small bets that includes NextGen tech improvements — WOW. Given the DARPA new Neural Engineering System Design (NESD); guessing we may finally have a Brain Mind Interface (BMI) soldier in the future.

The Defense Department will invest the $12 billion to $15 billion from its Fiscal Year 2017 budget slotted for developing a Third Offset Strategy on several relatively small bets, hoping to produce game-changing technology, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

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The technique, which also has near-term implications for growing organ-like tissues on a chip, was developed by researchers at MIT and is unveiled in a study published today in the journal Nature Communications.

Growing organs on demand, using stem cells derived from patients themselves, could eliminate the lengthy wait that people in need of a transplant are often forced to endure before one becomes available.

It could also reduce the risk of a patient’s immune system rejecting the transplant, since the tissue would be grown from the patient’s own cells, according to Ron Weiss, professor of biological engineering at MIT, who led the research.

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BMI is an area that will only explode when the first set of successful tests are presented to the public. I suggest investors, technologists, and researchers keep an eye on this one because it’s own impact to the world is truly inmense especially when you realize BMI changes everything in who we view how we process and connect with others, business, our homes, public services, transportation, healthcare, etc.

Implantable brain-machine interfaces (BMI) that will allow their users to control computers with thoughts alone will soon going to be a reality. DARPA has announced its plans to make such wetware. The interface would not be more than two nickels placed one on the other.

These implantable chips as per the DARPA will ‘open the channel between the human brain and modern electronics’. Though DARPA researchers have earlier also made few attempts to come up with a brain-machine interface, previous versions were having limited working.

Continue reading “DARPA’s to-be built wetware to prove immensely beneficial in medicine field” »

Welcome to a new age of AI Healthcare
Although we’re in the early release/ deployment stages of the AI doctor experience and compound that with a 10 year evolution of technology and health science being intertwined together as one/ Singularity; could we see a day soon when technology and engineering graduates having their own education include medical school? Definitely could be as we move more into a singularity future and as the many of the routine patient services evolve to AI and Robotics.

Granted, companies hire today doctors and nurses, etc. to consult their engineers and techies; however, Singularity and as we evolve to it, will require engineers and techies to have their own level of a in-depth medical background/ knowledge due to it’s complexity. Now, imagine the change and transformation that will be required across our educational system as well in order for us to be prepared for this new future.

London-based digital healthcare startup, Babylon is an artificially intelligent ‘doctor’ that aims to prevent illnesses before they occur. To do this, the program tracks your daily habits, diagnosis illness based on symptoms and integrating data about heart rate, diet and medical records.

Continue reading “London startup ‘Babylon’ thinks its AI doctor could predict your future health” »

A new type of glass to reducing electric bills.

A revolutionary new type of smart window developed by the University College London (UCL) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) could cut window-cleaning costs in tall buildings while reducing heating bills and boosting worker productivity. Partially inspired by the reflective properties of moth eyes, this smart window is said to be self-cleaning, energy saving, and anti-glare.

When rain hits the outside of the smart window it forms spherical droplets that roll over the surface and pick up dirt, dust and other contaminants, then carries them away. This can either eliminate or reduce the need for manual cleaning.

Continue reading “Self-cleaning, anti-glare windows inspired by moth eyes” »

Hot damn, our Ghost in the Shell future is getting closer by the day. DARPA announced on Tuesday that it is interested in developing wetware — implantable brain-machine interfaces (BMI) that will allow their users to control computers with their thoughts. The device, developed as part of the Neural Engineering System Design (NESD) program, would essentially translate the chemical signals in our neurons into digital code. What’s more, DARPA expects this interface to be no larger than two nickels stacked atop one another.

“Today’s best brain-computer interface systems are like two supercomputers trying to talk to each other using an old 300-baud modem,” Phillip Alvelda, the NESD program manager, said in a statement. “Imagine what will become possible when we upgrade our tools to really open the channel between the human brain and modern electronics.”

The advanced research agency hopes the device to make an immediate impact — you know, once it’s actually invented — in the medical field. Since the proposed BMI would connect to as many as a million individual neurons (a few magnitudes more than the 100 or so that current devices can link with), patients suffering from vision or hearing loss would see an unprecedented gain in the fidelity of their assistive devices. Patients who have lost limbs would similarly see a massive boost in the responsiveness and capabilities of their prosthetics.

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