Lifeboat Foundation

On May 5, 1809, Mary Kies became the first woman to receive a patent in the United States. (It was for her technique of weaving straw with silk.)

Of course, women inventors existed before this time, but the property laws in many states made it illegal for women to own property on their own. This led some women to apply for patents in their husbands’ names if they decided to apply at all.

As of last year, only 10 percent of U.S. patent holders were women, although women account for half of doctoral degrees in science and engineering. This disparity is due in part to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office being more likely to reject patents with women as sole applicants.

Continue reading “Who invented the dishwasher, windshield wiper, caller ID? Women created these 50 inventions” »

Returning from a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo, the agency chief also worried that vaccine supplies could run out.

Japan is hoping to play a lead role in crafting international rules on what has been called lethal autonomous weapons systems or LAWS.

Japan is planning to give its backing to international efforts to regulate the development of lethal weapons controlled by artificial intelligence at a UN conference in Geneva late this month, government sources said Saturday.

It would mark a departure from Japan’s current policy. The government was already opposed to the development of so-called killer robots that could kill without human involvement. But it had called for careful discussions when it comes to rules so as to make sure that commercial development of AI would not be hampered.

Continue reading “Japan to back int’l efforts to regulate AI-equipped ‘killer robots’” »

Leaving aside my opinion of Steven Pinker, a straight guy who has no clue about how he affects others, mmmm k I’ll give him this one.

Just saying.

Continue reading “Finding the right ‘dose’ for solar geoengineering” »

Using roundworms, one of Earth’s simplest animals, Rice University bioscientists have found the first direct link between a diet with too little vitamin B12 and an increased risk of infection by two potentially deadly pathogens.

Despite their simplicity, 1-millimeter-long nematodes called Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) share an important limitation with humans: They cannot make B12 and must get all they need from their diet. In a study published today in PLOS Genetics, researchers from the lab of Rice biochemist and cancer researcher Natasha Kirienko describe how a B12-deficient diet harms C. elegans’ health at a cellular level, reducing the worms’ ability to metabolize branched-chain amino acids (BCAA). The research showed that the reduced ability to break down BCAAs led to a toxic buildup of partially metabolized BCAA byproducts that damaged mitochondrial health.

Researchers studied the health of two populations of worms, one with a diet sufficient in B12 and another that got too little B12 from its diet. Like the second population of worms, at least 10 percent of U.S. adults get too little B12 in their diet, a risk that increases with age.

Continue reading “Study highlights danger of vitamin B12 deficiency” »

Beth Moses will use her flight to craft future astronaut training.

First, there came self-checkout.

Now, it’s self-driving cars to make the delivery.

Two Kroger markets in Houston are rolling out a self-driving car program, in which orders can be placed online and delivered right to your home without a driver.

Continue reading “Self-driving cars begin transporting groceries to Texas homes” »

Autophagy inhibitors could be more potent against pancreatic cancer by first applying a drug that makes the cancer cells dependent on autophagy for energy.

Signals from the electrical cacophony within groups of neurons inside the motor cortex were passed on to a computer running custom software for decoding.