Lifeboat Foundation

Following in my recent series on subjects that are all the rage in anti-aging and longevity circles, to help you get a good grasp of the essentials so you can know what all the talk is about, and can make informed judgements rather than just following the herd blindly. This time it is on Metformin. This is a drug widely known as a diabetes drug and it has been in use for a very long time, indeed it is one of the most prescribed drugs there is. Recently it has also been a buzz word in the anti aging/longevity communities following the review of data and with it s mechanism of action, being touted and recommended by a variety of voices in the public domain. But how does it work, and how could it improve longevity? Is it safe? Well, if you want to go into a bit more depth and know all the details, I have put together a video which helps you understand what all the fuss is about. And whatever you are doing, have a great day.

Metformin is very popular in the anti aging paradigm currently so let’s have a look at what it is, what it offers, and what the trade offs are… because, well, it is always wise to have all the data.

Continue reading “Metformin Mechanism Of Action” »

Researchers at the quantum computing firm D-Wave Systems have shown that their quantum processor can simulate the behaviour of an “untwisting” quantum magnet much faster than a classical machine. Led by D-Wave’s director of performance research Andrew King, the team used the new low-noise quantum processor to show that the quantum speed-up increases for harder simulations. The result shows that even near-term quantum simulators could have a significant advantage over classical methods for practical problems such as designing new materials.

The D-Wave simulators are specialized quantum computers known as quantum annealers. To perform a simulation, the quantum bits, or qubits, in the annealer are initialized in a classical ground state and allowed to interact and evolve under conditions programmed to mimic a particular system. The final state of the qubits is then measured to reveal the desired information.

King explains that the quantum magnet they simulated experiences both quantum fluctuations (which lead to entanglement and tunnelling) and thermal fluctuations. These competing effects create exotic topological phase transitions in materials, which were the subject of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics.

The debate holds a special interest for neuroscientists; since computer programming has only been around for a few decades, the brain has not evolved any special region to handle it. It must be repurposing a region of the brain normally used for something else.

So late last year, neuroscientists in MIT tried to see what parts of the brain people use when dealing with computer programming. “The ability to interpret computer code is a remarkable cognitive skill that bears parallels to diverse cognitive domains, including general executive functions, math, logic, and language,” they wrote.

Since coding can be learned as an adult, they figured it must rely on some pre-existing cognitive system in our brains. Two brain systems seemed like likely candidates: either the brain’s language system, or the system that tackles complex cognitive tasks such as solving math problems or a crossword. The latter is known as the “multiple demand network.”

With powerful engines, near-photorealistic graphics, and the ability to build incredible, immersive worlds, it’s hard to imagine what the next big technological advance in gaming might be.

Based on a recent tweet by Neuralink co-founder and President Max Hodak, the word might not even apply. In it, he hinted — vaguely, to be fair — that whatever forms of entertainment get programmed into neural implants and brain-computer interfaces will represent a paradigm shift that moves beyond the current terminology.

“We’re gonna need a better term than ‘video game’ once we start programming for more of the sensorium,” Hodak tweeted.

A team of researchers has created software to detect illegal mining of cryptocurrency on computers.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Wm0enwmGYe4

Catastrophic collapse of materials and structures is the inevitable consequence of a chain reaction of locally confined damage—from solid ceramics that snap after the development of a small crack to metal space trusses that give way after the warping of a single strut.

In a study published this week in Advanced Materials, engineers at the University of California, Irvine and the Georgia Institute of Technology describe the creation of a new class of mechanical metamaterials that delocalize deformations to prevent failure. They did so by turning to tensegrity, a century-old design principle in which isolated rigid bars are integrated into a flexible mesh of tethers to produce very lightweight, self-tensioning truss structures.

Continue reading “Team creates new ultralightweight, crush-resistant tensegrity metamaterials” »

By the middle of the decade, the team from PsiQuantum will have a commercial quantum computer, according to the Financial Times. The founders are also indicating they are ready to emerge from stealth.

PsiQuantum has been mostly silent about its quantum computer development but with its scientific bench composed of leading UK physicists and nearly $300 million in venture capital funding, according to The Quantum Insider, that silence has been deafening.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Engineers from HyperLight, a leader in the commercialization of thin-film lithium niobate (LN) photonic integrated circuits (PICs), have achieved breakthrough voltage-bandwidth performances in integrated electro-optic modulators. The broadband electro-optic PIC could lead to orders of magnitude energy consumption reduction for next generation optical networking.

“We believe the significantly improved electro-optic modulation performance in our integrated LN platform will lead to a paradigm shift for both analog and digital ultra-high speed RF links” Tweet this

Energy consumption in optical networking for ethernet, data centers and 5G is soaring as a result of the rapidly growing data traffic. This is because of the limited performance of existing electro-optic modulators, the key element in converting data from the electrical to optical domain at high speed for optical networks. Current electro-optic modulators require extremely high radio-frequency (RF) driving voltages (5 V) as the analog bandwidth in ethernet ports approaches 100 GHz for future terabits per sec capacity transceivers. In comparison, a typical CMOS RF modulator driver delivers less than 0.5 V at such frequencies. Compound semiconductor modulator drivers can deliver voltage 1 V at significantly increased cost and energy consumption but still fall short to meet the optimum driving voltage. The limited voltage-bandwidth performance in electro-optic modulators poses a serious challenge for meeting tight power consumption requirements from network builders.

The 2000-year-old mechanism has baffled experts since it was discovered on a shipwreck in 1901.