Lifeboat Foundation

From eyeglasses to space telescopes, lenses play crucial roles in technologies ranging from the mundane to the cutting edge. While traditional refractive lenses are a fundamental building block of optics, they are bulky and this can restrict how they are used. Metalenses are much thinner than conventional lenses and in the last two decades plenty of light has been shone on the potential of these devices, which sparkle as a promising alternative.

Metalenses are thin structures made of arrays of “meta-atoms”, which are motifs with dimensions that are smaller than the wavelength of light. It is these meta-atoms that interact with light and change its direction of propagation.

Unlike conventional refractive lenses, metalenses can be less than one micron thick, reducing the overall volume of optical systems. They can also provide ideal diffraction-limited focusing performance, while avoiding some problems associated with refractive lenses such as aberrations.

Lightyear’s sleek O sedan has solar panels that can provide up to 44 miles of range per day.

Step into a new era of reading with ‘living books,’ where artificial intelligence breathes life into traditional literature, allowing you to engage, explore, and personalize your reading experience like never before.

“Alexa, play back that dream I had about Kirsten last week.” That’s a command that may not be too far off in the future, as researchers close in on technology that can tap into our minds and retrieve the imagery of our thoughts.

Researchers at the National University of Singapore and the Chinese University of Hong Kong reported last week that they have developed a process capable of generating video from brain scans. The research is published on the arXiv preprint server.

Continue reading “AI tool generates video from brain activity” »

Oh hey, AI enthusiasts and futurism fans! I’d love to share with you an article I recently wrote on my Substack. It takes you on a journey from the ancient Greek device known as the Antikythera mechanism, all the way to the generative AI explosion of 2023, tracing the history of computation and AI.

For more than a decade, I’ve been writing about technology, society, and the future, aiming to provide thoughtful analysis and critical thinking on the latest trends and their implications. I’ve been following these topics for over 15 years, and I am enthusiastic about initiating a meaningful conversation with you about the changing world and its intersection with technology.

Well, not that shocked.

With its intuitive cockpit, Doroni says you only need 20 hours of flight training and a license to fly its H1.

After three years of upgrading and waiting, due in part to the coronavirus pandemic, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory has officially resumed its hunt for the signatures of crashing black holes and neutron stars.

“Our LIGO teams have worked through hardship during the past two-plus years to be ready for this moment, and we are indeed ready,” Caltech physicist Albert Lazzarini, the deputy director of the LIGO Laboratory, said in a news release.

Continue reading “LIGO starts its fourth round of searching for gravitational waves and black holes” »

BlackSky Technology and Spire Global have teamed up to create a real-time, commercially available Maritime Custody Service that can automatically detect, identify and track more than 270 thousand vessels worldwide in open water, along rivers and canals, and while docked at port.

The system uses data from Spire’s radio frequency-monitoring satellite constellation to detect emissions from maritime targets, including the ability to detect and locate dark vessels that manipulate their reported position in order to conceal nefarious activities. Then, BlackSky’s satellites automatically tip-and-cue to collect imagery and analyze the images using artificial intelligence to detect vessels, classify each vessel by type, estimate cargo and monitor change over time.

“BlackSky and Spire have developed a very cost-effective and flexible vessel tracking service capable of delivering on-demand maritime intelligence at scale,” said Patrick O’Neil, chief innovation officer at BlackSky. “The unique AI-driven system reduces end-to-end latency across the entire tasking, collection, processing, exploitation, and dissemination process. With interoperability in mind, the MCS provides an easy-to-use autonomous, continuous and predictive maritime tracking capability directly into customer hands.”

With the new method, scientists can explore many cancer mutations whose roles are unknown, helping them develop new drugs that target those mutations.

MIT

MIT is an acronym for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is a prestigious private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts that was founded in 1861. It is organized into five Schools: architecture and planning; engineering; humanities, arts, and social sciences; management; and science. MIT’s impact includes many scientific breakthroughs and technological advances. Their stated goal is to make a better world through education, research, and innovation.