Lifeboat Foundation

Foot soldiers for years have watched as wars in the air have been transformed by the introduction of drones. Now ground troops are starting to enjoy some of the same benefits.

Dr. Aubrey De Grey is a biomedical gerontologist and the Chief Science Officer at SENS Research Foundation, a biomedical charity that funds research dedicated to combating aging. His research interests encompass the characterization of all the accumulating and eventually pathogenic molecular and cellular side-effects of metabolism (“damage”) that constitute mammalian aging, and the design of interventions to repair and/or obviate that damage. In line with his research, De Grey gave a talk at The Aspen Abu Dhabi Ideas Festival focusing on “Rejuvenating Biotechnology: Why age may soon cease to mean aging”.

In March 2017, the Aspen Abu Dhabi Ideas Forum welcomed some of the brightest and most interesting minds from the UAE and around the world to discuss four of the most important moonshot challenges facing our planet. The event was inspired by the world-famous Aspen Ideas Festival that has been taking place in Colorado since 2005, as a place for scientists, artists, politicians, business leaders, historians and educators to discuss some of the most fascinating ideas of our time. The 2017 Aspen Abu Dhabi Ideas Forum topics included: “System Shock: Calming the ‘politics of anger’”, “Beyond GDP: Targeting ‘all-in’ human welfare”, “Health: Extending the healthy human lifespan” and “Space: Living Sustainably beyond Earth”.

Continue reading “Dr Aubrey de Grey — Rejuvenating biotech: Why age may soon cease to mean aging” »

How far should we integrate human physiology with technology? What do we do with self-aware androids—like Blade Runner’s replicants—and self-aware supercomputers? Or the merging of our brains with them? If Ray Kurzweil’s famous singularity—a future in which the exponential growth of technology turns into a runaway train—becomes a reality, does religion have something to offer in response?

Yes, not only is A.I. potentially taking all of our jobs, but it’s also changing religion.

Brandon Withrow

DARPA’s OFFensive Swarm-Enabled Tactics (OFFSET) program envisions future small-unit infantry forces using small unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) and/or small unmanned ground systems (UGSs) in swarms of 250 robots or more to accomplish diverse missions in complex urban environments. By leveraging and combining emerging technologies in swarm autonomy and human-swarm teaming, the program seeks to enable rapid development and deployment of breakthrough capabilities to the field.

To augment enhance OFFSET’s potential contributions to the warfighter, DARPA aims to engage with a wider developer and user audience through rapid technology-development and integration efforts called swarm sprints. Participants in these experiments—“sprinters”—can work with one or both integration teams and each other to create and test their own novel swarm tactics and enabling technologies.

Continue reading “OFFSET Program Calls for Participants in Swarm Sprints” »

This is my shortest article ever. I am speechless. “These Images are Generated by a Deep Learning GAN” is published by Carlos E. Perez in Intuition Machine.

What if you could continue to visit with a loved one after their death? It could be possible someday with ever-evolving technology.

Bacteria may not have a central or sensory nervous system as we know it, but they can still physically “feel” the world around them, according to a new study.

It turns out the tiny microorganisms don’t just respond to chemical signals — they also have a sense of touch, and can recognise surfaces and respond to them. Wow.

Our sense of touch is a very important tool for living in the world. It helps avoid hazards and dangerous surfaces, and keeps you from crushing delicate objects.

The “Off Grid Box” can provide clean drinking water and electricity just about anywhere. It can be used in developing countries or for people who simply prefer living off the grid.

Off Grid Box also says the device can be deployed in the event of a natural disaster.

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Japanese automaker Toyota is looking to reduce their vehicles’ carbon emissions by phasing out gas engines from their lineup by 2040.