Lifeboat Foundation

Join the Pan Asian Alumni Network (PAAN) and the Alumni Club of New York City for a series of virtual panels featuring diverse perspectives from the UChicago alumni community exploring career pathways, philosophical questions and trends determining the future of data science and artificial intelligence.

The first program in our series, Careers in Data Science, brings together UChicago alumni across different industries to discuss their career pathways, highlight key industry trends, and share advice for anyone looking to break into these fields.

As computer scientists tackle a greater range of problems, their work has grown increasingly interdisciplinary. This year, many of the most significant computer science results also involved other scientists and mathematicians. Perhaps the most practical involved the cryptographic questions underlying the security of the internet, which tend to be complicated mathematical problems. One such problem — the product of two elliptic curves and their relation to an abelian surface — ended up bringing down a promising new cryptography scheme that was thought to be strong enough to withstand an attack from a quantum computer. And a different set of mathematical relationships, in the form of one-way functions, will tell cryptographers if truly secure codes are even possible.

Computer science, and quantum computing in particular, also heavily overlaps with physics. In one of the biggest developments in theoretical computer science this year, researchers posted a proof of the NLTS conjecture, which (among other things) states that a ghostly connection between particles known as quantum entanglement is not as delicate as physicists once imagined. This has implications not just for our understanding of the physical world, but also for the myriad cryptographic possibilities that entanglement makes possible.

A scientist shares what he’s learned about living longer, with the help of worms. Scientists are hard at work trying to understand what causes aging and how to help people stay healthy for longer. Biologist Matt Kaeberlein breaks down the science of longevity and tells us how he’s using a robot to test 100,000 aging drugs a year on microscopic worms and a long-term study on the aging of pet dogs. And we’ll leave the lab to visit Willie Mae Avery, the oldest person in Washington D.C., to hear what it’s like to live such a long life.

Portrait of 107-year-old Willie Mae Avery, D.C.‘s oldest living resident.
Credit: Photograph by Rebecca Hale, National Geographic.

Continue reading “What Science Tells Us About Living Longer | Podcast | Overheard at National Geographic” »

The mission has concluded that the solar-powered lander has run out of energy after more than four years on the Red Planet.

Death is perhaps one of the most universally discussed topics across the board, and at least once in our lives, the vast majority of us wonder what happens during our final moments. For a long time, we haven’t had many answers, well, that is until now.

One of the most common ‘rumors’ about death is that right before our final moment, our life flashes before our eyes. And recent research may offer some interesting answers that indicate this theory isn’t far from the truth.

The research was carried out by accident, as they had intended to study the brainwaves of an 87-year-old patient with epilepsy. However, during their research, the patient ended up suffering from a fatal heart attack. During the death of the patient, their brainwaves were recorded up until the moment of death.

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Building a wind power operation that can thrive in icy conditions requires a keen understanding of the underlying physics.

Winter is supposed to be the best season for wind power — the winds are more potent, and since air density increases as the temperature drops, more force is pushing on the blades. But winter also comes with a problem: freezing weather.

Continue reading “How do wind turbines spin during winter? The science behind frozen blades” »

The Expanse is one of the seminal sci-fi shows of the past decade. Set centuries in the future when humans have colonized the solar system, it’s been called one of the most scientifically accurate sci-fi shows of all time. But just how much does this hold up to scrutiny?

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Continue reading “The Science of The Expanse” »

Leading Canada’s Bio-Safety & Security R&D — Dr. Loren Matheson PhD, Defence Research and Development Canada, Department of National Defence.

Dr. Loren Matheson, Ph.D. is a Portfolio Manager at the Center For Security Science, at Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC — https://www.canada.ca/en/defence-research-development.html), which is a special operating agency of the Department of National Defence, whose purpose is to provide the Canadian Armed Forces, other government departments, and public safety and national security communities with knowledge and technology.

Continue reading “Dr Loren Matheson, PhD — Centre for Security Science, DRDC — Leading Canada’s Safety & Security R&D” »