Lifeboat Foundation

Researchers at MIT have unexpectedly stumbled upon a way to 3D print active electronics – meaning transistors and components for controlling electrical signals – without the use of semiconductors or even special fabrication technology.

That goes far beyond what we can currently do with 3D printers. And if perfected, this method could eventually spell the beginning of a new wave in prototyping, experimentation, and even DIY projects for tinkerers at home.

With 3D printing, any of a range of materials including thermoplastic filaments, resin, ceramic, and metal, are laid down in successive thin layers to form a three-dimensional object. That means you can print all kinds of things, from action figures to jewelry to furniture to buildings.

For the first time, an international cadre of electrical engineers has developed a new method for photonic in-memory computing that could make optical computing a reality in the near future.

The smallest machine of its kind in the world uses a single photon as its qubit and it can perform calculations without needing the cumbersome equipment to cool it down to near absolute zero.

Pioneers of quantum computing have shared their dreams and skepticism about the fledgling industry, while Gov. JB Pritzker said he thinks it’s already attracting companies to Illinois.

A difficult-to-describe nanoscale object called the magnetic skyrmion might one day yield new microelectronic devices that can do much more—for example, massive data storage—all while consuming much less power.

HVAC systems common in data centers expel warm air outdoors, creating a consistent, untapped wind resource that can be converted into electricity. In a case study of a Colombian data center, the researchers used vertical axis Tesup V7 wind turbines to capture this man-made waste wind. The turbines, installed atop chillers, were chosen because they minimized size and weight while maximizing electricity generation.

The amount of gross electricity produced annually by six wind turbines was 513.82MWh from artificial airflow, exceeding the energy consumption of the facility’s fans, and providing a surplus of 131.2MWh. The authors suggest this recycled energy can be used for other electrical needs within the data center or be injected into the electrical grid.

The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, also highlighted the economic and environmental benefits. A positive cash flow is achieved by the third year, with an impressive internal rate of return of 50.69%. Environmentally, the system reduces CO₂ emissions by approximately 300 metric tons annually.

Since the first sighting of the first-discovered and largest asteroid in our solar system was made in 1801 by Giuseppe Piazzi, astronomers and planetary scientists have pondered the make-up of this asteroid/dwarf planet. Its heavily battered and dimpled surface is covered in impact craters. Scientists have long argued that visible craters on the surface meant that Ceres could not be very icy.

Researchers at Purdue University and the NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) now believe Ceres is a very icy object that possibly was once a muddy ocean world. This discovery that Ceres has a dirty ice crust is led by Ian Pamerleau, Ph.D. student, and Mike Sori, assistant professor in Purdue’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences who published their findings in Nature Astronomy. The duo along with Jennifer Scully, research scientist with JPL, used computer simulations of how craters on Ceres deform over billions of years.

“We think that there’s lots of water-ice near Ceres surface, and that it gets gradually less icy as you go deeper and deeper,” Sori said. “People used to think that if Ceres was very icy, the craters would deform quickly over time, like glaciers flowing on Earth, or like gooey flowing honey. However, we’ve shown through our simulations that ice can be much stronger in conditions on Ceres than previously predicted if you mix in just a little bit of solid rock.”

The latest generations of Intel processors, including Xeon chips, and AMD’s older microarchitectures on Linux are vulnerable to new speculative execution attacks that bypass existing ‘Spectre’ mitigations.

The vulnerabilities impact Intel’s 12th, 13th, and 14th chip generations for consumers and the 5th and 6th generation of Xeon processors for servers, along with AMD’s Zen 1, Zen 1+, and Zen 2 processors.

Continue reading “Intel, AMD CPUs on Linux impacted by newly disclosed Spectre bypass” »

Tech group signs deal with Kairos Power to build up to 7 small facilities to meet its energy needs.