Lifeboat Foundation

By Warren Duffie, Office of Naval Research

An exciting new scientific frontier-synthetic biology-took center stage as a celebrated scientist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently spoke at the headquarters of the Office of Naval Research (ONR).

As part of a Distinguished Lecture Series celebrating ONR’s 70th anniversary, world-class scientists, researchers and experts from diverse fields will be speaking at ONR in 2016. Dr. Christopher Voigt, an MIT professor of biological engineering, inaugurated the lecture series with a look at the revolutionary potential of synthetic biology.

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A radical discovery by researchers at Harvard and Raytheon BBN Technology about graphene’s hidden properties could lead to a model system to explore exotic phenomena like black holes and high-energy plasmas, as well as novel thermoelectric devices.

Continue reading “A black hole on a chip made of a metal that behaves like water” »

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is holding a conference on the future of artificial intelligence that includes some of the field’s biggest names.

Among the keynote speakers at Saturday’s conference at the MIT Media Lab are author and futurist Ray Kurzweil and IBM Watson Vice President and CTO Rob High.

Panels will focus on the influence of AI in the workplace of the future and how to ensure a higher probability of positive outcomes in the field.

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Jungsang Kim is trying to create a quantum computer by controlling the frequency of a laser to within a millionth of a percent.

According to David DiVincenzo, a prominent computer scientist at IBM, researchers must meet five criteria to create a true quantum computing device.

First, Kim needs a well-defined system that can represent different states. For example, classical computers use small electrical switches made out of semiconductors to indicate a 1 or a 0. But because an atom’s quantum spin can point in an infinite number of directions, controlling its state with a high degree of reliability is very difficult. Kim’s group has demonstrated this feat with an accuracy on par with anyone in the world.

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https://youtube.com/watch?v=TAYHs-iZHWU

A bioprinter – a three dimensional printer that uses living cells in suspension as its ink, and injection nozzles that can follow a CT scan blueprint – brings the dream of transplant surgery a step nearer: a bespoke body part grown in a laboratory and installed by a robot surgeon.

Scientists and clinicians began exploring tissue culture for transplant surgery more than 20 years ago. But researchers in the US report in Nature Biotechnology that they have harnessed a sophisticated, custom-designed 3D printer to print living muscle, cartilage and bone to repair battlefield injury.

Continue reading “‘Bioprinter’ creates bespoke lab-grown body parts for transplant” »

Scary

A prototype of a new missile-firing multicopter drone was presented at a robot conference near Moscow.

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https://youtube.com/watch?v=KE8yq51GVxw

A remotely-operated robot reproducing the minutest particulars of a human doing complicated work will be taken into space to do dangerous jobs in orbit. An operational prototype has been demonstrated to the Russian government’s military sci-tech curator.

Military robots under development in Russia won’t be limited to the battlefield only: space applications will have priority, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin told reporters last weekend.

Continue reading “Astro droid? Russians build human-like super-robot for remote-controlled spacewalks” »

A report published by the Internet Crime Complaint Centre, which is a partnership between the United States of America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Centre, in 2010, revealed that Nigeria ranks third among the list of top 10 sources of cybercrime in the world.

This translates to 8 per cent, behind the United States’ 65 per cent and United Kingdom’s 9.9 per cent.

The publication also ranks Nigeria as the first in the African region as the target and origin of malicious cyber activities.

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The new Einstein and female to boot.

A 22-year-old Ph.D. candidate wants to understand the way quantum gravity works. And Jeff Bezos wants to hire her.

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