Lifeboat Foundation

Tesla claims that it currently has two Optimus humanoid robots working autonomously in a factory, which would be a first.

If there’s one good thing about this compensation package mess going on right now is that it almost looks like Tesla has a PR department again.

Sure, its raison d’etre is almost entirely about trying to get Elon Musk his $55 billion pay package back, but at least, they are putting some more information about Tesla out there in the process.

The size and surface area of the mammalian brain are thought to be critical determinants of intellectual ability. Recent studies show that development of the gyrated human neocortex involves a lineage of neural stem and transit-amplifying cells that forms the outer subventricular zone (OSVZ), a proliferative region outside the ventricular epithelium. We discuss how proliferation of cells within the OSVZ expands the neocortex by increasing neuron number and modifying the trajectory of migrating neurons.

Accreting wormholes likely form “plasma tornadoes” in its throat while firing matter at one-fifth the speed of light.

Some breast cancer survivors are at higher risk for cardiovascular disease following certain treatments. A new study is one of the first to provide evidence that may inform long-term and age-specific monitoring for these adverse outcomes. Researchers observed that breast cancer survivors treated with anthracyclines, a type of chemotherapy, and/or trastuzumab, a targeted cancer therapy, had an increased long-term risk of cardiovascular disease, specifically cardiomyopathy/heart failure, compared to women who did not receive chemotherapy. This study was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute on May 8, 2024, and was selected for the journal’s Early Career Investigator Research Section.

It is well established that certain breast cancer treatments, such as anthracycline and trastuzumab, can lead to heart damage, which contributes to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease later in life. However, current guidelines only recommend short-term cardiovascular surveillance up to two years after anthracycline and trastuzumab treatment because of a lack of evidence regarding long-term risks. Jacqueline B. Vo, Ph.D., R.N., M.P.H., assistant clinical investigator in the Radiation Epidemiology Branch (REB), led a team of researchers from REB, the Integrative Tumor Epidemiology Branch, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and Kaiser Permanente, to explore whether patients could benefit from long-term surveillance. Their analysis included over 10,000 breast cancer survivors in the NCI-Kaiser Permanente Breast Cancer Survivors Cohort with up to 24 years of follow up.

They found that breast cancer survivors, especially those diagnosed at younger ages, had higher risks of cardiovascular disease and could benefit from long-term cardiovascular follow-up. Specifically, risk of cardiomyopathy/heart failure were highest 10+ years after breast cancer diagnosis. Women who were diagnosed prior to age 55 had the highest risks for cardiomyopathy/heart failure, which was nearly three times higher compared to women the same age who did not receive chemotherapy. One reason for the higher risk of cardiomyopathy/heart failure among women diagnosed with breast cancer at younger ages is that this group is more likely to be diagnosed with more aggressive and/or advanced tumors, which are more likely to be treated with anthracyclines and at higher doses. These results highlight the importance of extending current treatment-specific clinical guidelines for cardiovascular surveillance to include longer follow-up and focus on high-risk patients such as younger women.

What if you could code just by talking out loud? GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke shows how, thanks to AI, the barrier to entry to coding is rapidly disappearing — and creating software is becoming as simple (and joyful) as building LEGO. In a mind-blowing live demo, he introduces Copilot Workspace: an AI assistant that helps you create code when you speak to it, in any language.

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Continue reading “With AI, Anyone Can Be a Coder Now | Thomas Dohmke | TED” »

Dead satellites and other debris are constantly burning up as they fall out of Earth’s orbit.

Conventional wisdom is destroying all that space junk is good, because it keeps orbit less cluttered. But it may have harmful effects on our planet’s magnetic field, as plasma physicist and former Air Force research scientist Sierra Solter — the author of a contentious and yet-to-be-peer-reviewed paper — argues in a new essay for The Guardian.

Ventures like Elon Musk’s SpaceX are launching thousands of satellites into orbit, and tens of thousands more are soon to follow as interest in the private space industry and space tourism continues to grow.

What does “equals” mean? For mathematicians, this simple question has more than one answer, which is causing issues when it comes to using computers to check proofs. The solution might be to tear up the foundations of maths.

By Alex Wilkins

Exoskeleton for real world adoption.

A super smart or “learned” controller that leverages data-intensive artificial intelligence (AI) and computer simulations to train portable, robotic exoskeletons.

Continue reading “AI strategy may promise more widespread use of portable, robotic exoskeletons—on Earth and in space” »

Flexible piezoelectric sensors are essential to monitor the motions of both humans and humanoid robots. However, existing designs are either are costly or have limited sensitivity. In a recent study, researchers from Japan tackled these issues by developing a novel piezoelectric composite material made from electrospun polyvinylidene fluoride nanofibers combined with dopamine. Sensors made from this material showed significant performance and stability improvements at a low cost, promising advancements in medicine, healthcare, and robotics.

The world is accelerating rapidly towards the intelligent era—a stage in history marked by increased automation and interconnectivity by leveraging technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics. As a sometimes-overlooked foundational requirement in this transformation, sensors represent an essential interface between humans, machines, and their environment.

However, now that robots are becoming more agile and wearable electronics are no longer confined to science fiction, traditional silicon-based sensors won’t make the cut in many applications. Thus, flexible sensors, which provide better comfort and higher versatility, have become a very active area of study. Piezoelectric sensors are particularly important in this regard, as they can convert mechanical stress and stretching into an electrical signal. Despite numerous promising approaches, there remains a lack of environmentally sustainable methods for mass-producing flexible, high-performance piezoelectric sensors at a low cost.