Lifeboat Foundation

Researchers at North Carolina State University have discovered a new distinct form of silicon called Q-silicon which, among other interesting properties, is ferromagnetic at room temperature. The findings could lead to advances in quantum computing, including the creation of a spin qubit quantum computer that is based on controlling the spin of an electron.

“The discovery of Q-silicon having robust room temperature ferromagnetism will open a new frontier in atomic-scale, spin-based devices and functional integration with nanoelectronics,” said Jay Narayan, the John C. Fan Family Distinguished Chair in Materials Science and corresponding author of a paper describing the work published in Materials Research Letters.

Ferromagnetism in materials outside of transition metals and rare earths has excited scientists worldwide for a long time. This is because spin-polarized electrons can be used to process and store information with atomic resolution. However, materials with even numbers of electrons, such as carbon and silicon, without unpaired spins were not considered seriously in terms of bulk ferromagnetism. The dangling bonds in bulk carbon and silicon materials usually reconstruct and eliminate sources of unpaired electrons.

A new Jell-O-like material could replace metals as electrical interfaces for pacemakers, cochlear implants, and other electronic implants.

Do an image search for “electronic implants,” and you’ll draw up a wide assortment of devices, from traditional pacemakers and cochlear implants to more futuristic brain and retinal microchips aimed at augmenting vision, treating depression, and restoring mobility.

Some implants are hard and bulky, while others are flexible and thin. But no matter their form and function, nearly all implants incorporate electrodes — small conductive elements that attach directly to target tissues to electrically stimulate muscles and nerves.

A University of Washington.

Founded in 1,861, the University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, with additional campuses in Tacoma and Bothell. Classified as an R1 Doctoral Research University classification under the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, UW is a member of the Association of American Universities.

A case of wine was put on the line.

This is according to a report by Science Alert published on Tuesday.

A 25-year-old wager on the source of consciousness between German-American computational neuroscientist Christof Koch and Australian philosopher and cognitive scientist David Chalmers has come to a close with the first one admitting defeat.

Continue reading “A brain scientist and a philosopher have resolved a 25-year-old wager on consciousness” »

Australian startup Synchron, backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, looks set to beat Elon Musk’s Neuralink to market with a safe, reliable brain-computer interface that any hospital can quickly install – without cutting a hole in your skull.

Here we address the important question of cross-talk between the mitochondria and cytosol. We show that the inner mitochondrial protein, MiNT, interacts with a protein on the outer mitochondrial membrane (mNT). This interaction occurs within the major outer membrane protein VDAC1. Inside the inner space of VDAC1, MiNT transfers its [2Fe-2S] clusters to mNT, which was shown to be a [2Fe-2S] cluster donor protein that donates its cluster(s) to apo-acceptor proteins residing in the cytosol. Hence, we suggest a pathway for transferring [2Fe-2S] clusters from inside the mitochondria to the cytosol.

Mitochondrial inner NEET (MiNT) and the outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM) mitoNEET (mNT) proteins belong to the NEET protein family. This family plays a key role in mitochondrial labile iron and reactive oxygen species (ROS) homeostasis. NEET proteins contain labile [2Fe-2S] clusters which can be transferred to apo-acceptor proteins. In eukaryotes, the biogenesis of [2Fe-2S] clusters occurs within the mitochondria by the iron–sulfur cluster (ISC) system; the clusters are then transferred to [2Fe-2S] proteins within the mitochondria or exported to cytosolic proteins and the cytosolic iron–sulfur cluster assembly (CIA) system. The last step of export of the [2Fe-2S] is not yet fully characterized. Here we show that MiNT interacts with voltage-dependent anion channel 1 (VDAC1), a major OMM protein that connects the intermembrane space with the cytosol and participates in regulating the levels of different ions including mitochondrial labile iron (mLI). We further show that VDAC1 is mediating the interaction between MiNT and mNT, in which MiNT transfers its [2Fe-2S] clusters from inside the mitochondria to mNT that is facing the cytosol. This MiNT–VDAC1–mNT interaction is shown both experimentally and by computational calculations. Additionally, we show that modifying MiNT expression in breast cancer cells affects the dynamics of mitochondrial structure and morphology, mitochondrial function, and breast cancer tumor growth. Our findings reveal a pathway for the transfer of [2Fe-2S] clusters, which are assembled inside the mitochondria, to the cytosol.

The idea that our mind could live on in another form after our physical body dies has been a recurring theme in science fiction since the 1950s. Recent television series such as Black Mirror and Upload, as well as some games, demonstrate our continued fascination with this idea. The concept is known as mind uploading.

Recent developments in science and technology are taking us closer to a time when mind uploading could graduate from science fiction to reality.

In 2016, BBC Horizon screened a programme called The Immortalist, in which a
Russian millionaire unveiled his plans to work with neuroscientists, robot builders and other experts to create technology that would allow us to upload our minds to a computer in order to live forever.

Continue reading “How uploading our minds to a computer might become possible” »

A new Microsoft internal presentation reveals the company’s long-term goal for Windows.

Microsoft has been increasingly moving Windows to the cloud on the commercial side with Windows 365, but the software giant also wants to do the same for consumers. In an internal “state of the business” Microsoft presentation from June 2022, Microsoft discuses building on “Windows 365 to enable a full Windows operating system streamed from the cloud to any device.”

The presentation has been revealed as part of the ongoing FTC v. Microsoft hearing, as it includes Microsoft’s overall gaming strategy and how that relates to other parts of the company’s businesses. Moving “Windows 11 increasingly to the cloud”… More.

Continue reading “Microsoft wants to move Windows fully to the cloud” »

Year 2022 😗😁

Foraging for fungi may not only mean mushrooms are on the menu. New research has shown that mushroom skins could provide a biodegradable alternative to some plastics used in batteries and computer chips, making them easier to recycle.

Researchers from the Johannes Kepler University in Austria were working on flexible and stretchable electronics, with a focus on sustainable materials to replace non-degradable materials, when they made their discovery, published in the journal Science Advances Friday.

Continue reading “Scientists have used mushrooms to make biodegradable computer chips” »