Lifeboat Foundation

Tesla is looking into moving “current and future vehicle programs” to steer-by-wire with a new motor, geartrain, and chassis team in Austin, Texas.

Over the last few months, we have been reporting on how Tesla plans to establish new teams in Austin that are not directly related to the new Gigafactory under construction.

For example, we previously reported on Tesla building a new video game and user interface team in Austin.

Mankind has mastered the art of flight for well over a century, and the concept has become so normalized that we tend to take for granted this amazing accomplishment, but as advanced as modern airplanes are, we are still not much closer to developing a vehicle that can travel as well on land as it can in the air. The concept of a flying car has haunted engineers for decades, and companies such as Hyundai have dedicated some serious research and development to make this dream come true. But now an Italian upstart named Firenze has come up with a new and exciting concept that will be powered by the same electric motors that power the Tesla Model S.

In the world of extreme auto, there are no machines that are more intimidating than monster trucks. With their massive engines and giant tires, monster trucks are associated with pure automotive mayhem and insanity. And if there is anything that’s still largely missing from the monster truck scene, it is the presence of all-electric vehicles. A Tesla Cybertruck could probably change this status quo.

Automotive 3D concept specialist shubbak.3D recently shared his take on what a “Monster Edition” of the Tesla Cybertruck could look like. The artist did pretty well in his concept, adding classic monster truck flourishes to the already domineering Cybertruck. The beast of the machine is pictured with numerous modifications such as a body kit, high suspension, and giant wheels.

Tesla’s Battery Day was not just full of surprises. When you read between the slides, Tesla made a lot of product announcements, many of which are still awaiting their discovery. The one this article is about is Tesla’s new battery pack.

What most people didn’t realize is that Tesla is abandoning its famous battery skateboard design. For those who didn’t know, until now, Tesla’s vehicles were composed of the body and a flat battery “skateboard” on the bottom that, as Tesla would say, are married together in the factory. We even witnessed the ceremony in person. Originally, the skateboard design was developed because it provided a low center of gravity and strong safety benefits, as well as the ability to quickly swap battery packs instead of just Supercharging if Tesla went down that road.

As renewable energy generation grows, so does the need for new storage methods that can be used at times when the Sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing. A Scottish company called Gravitricity has now broken ground on a demonstrator facility for a creative new system that stores energy in the form of “gravity” by lifting and dropping huge weights.

If you coil a spring, you’re loading it with potential energy, which is released when you let it go. Gravitricity works on the same basic principle, except in this case the springs are 500- to 5,000-tonne weights. When held aloft by powerful cables and winches, these weights store large amounts of potential energy. When that energy is needed, they can be lowered down a mineshaft to spin the winch and feed electricity into the grid.

Gravitricity says that these units could have peak power outputs of between 1 and 20 MW, and function for up to 50 years with no loss of performance. Able to go from zero to full power in under a second, the system can quickly release its power payload in as little as 15 minutes or slow it down to last up to eight hours.

A future man-made, self sufficient floating city to be called green floats or botanical cities is dreamt by Shimizu Corp., a Japanese firm working with State University of New York (SUNY) Polytechnic Institute.

Asia Green Buildings.

In this talk, professor Bell breaks down the very foundations of AI –viewed as an inescapable and univocal technology- and opens up a space for other truths and possibilities by visiting AI’s alternative stories in the past, present and future. By doing so, she claims, we might make room for a more sustainable, safe and responsible AI, and ultimately a more human-centric one.

Genevieve Bell is a cultural anthropologist and technologist who has spent her career at the intersection between places, people and things. From growing up in indigenous communities in Australia’s outback to Silicon Valley, from Stanford University and Intel Corporation back to Australia’s only national university, she has always questioned what it means to be human in an increasingly digital world. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.

NASA will broadcast key events, including an Artemis program update, of the 71st International Astronautical Congress (IAC), which takes place virtually Monday, Oct. 12, through Wednesday, Oct. 14. Coverage will air on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

During the conference, NASA will discuss international cooperation for the agency’s lunar exploration plans throughout the Artemis program, which includes sending American astronauts to the surface of the Moon in 2024 and establishing a sustainable lunar presence by the end of the decade.

In addition to participation in events outlined below, NASA will have a virtual exhibit featuring information on Artemis, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, and the International Space Station. Visitors also will have an opportunity to contribute to a digital mosaic of the space station on social media using #NASAVirtualExhibit.

But people need to be kept at the centre of it.

There is more than one reason that we need to reforest Planet Earth. Less than a fifth of Earth’s original forests have survived the rise of humans since the last glaciation, and over half of them are in just five countries (see figure below).

The biggest effect from loss of forests is loss of habitat and the resultant loss of biodiversity, even if you don’t care about climate change. We’re burning billions of acres of pristine Indonesian rain forests to plant palm oil trees (Scientific American) just to get a cooking oil with a better shelf life.

Continue reading “Drones Can Reforest The Planet Faster Than Humans Can” »