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The multi-billion-dollar potential of synthetic data

Did you miss a session from MetaBeat 2022? Head over to the on-demand library for all of our featured sessions here.

Synthetic data will be a huge industry in five to 10 years. For instance, Gartner estimates that by 2024, 60% of data for AI applications will be synthetic. This type of data and the tools used to create it have significant untapped investment potential. Here’s why.

We are effectively on the cusp of a revolution in how machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) can grow and have even more applications across sectors and industries.

Graphene improves circuits in flexible and wearable electronics

At 200 times stronger than steel, graphene has been hailed as a super material of the future since its discovery in 2004. The ultrathin carbon material is an incredibly strong electrical and thermal conductor, making it a perfect ingredient to enhance semiconductor chips found in many electrical devices.

But while graphene-based research has been fast-tracked, the nanomaterial has hit roadblocks: in particular, manufacturers have not been able to create large, industrially relevant amounts of the material. New research from the laboratory of Nai-Chang Yeh, the Thomas W. Hogan Professor of Physics, is reinvigorating the graphene craze.

In two new studies, the researchers demonstrate that graphene can greatly improve required for wearable and flexible electronics such as smart health patches, bendable smartphones, helmets, large folding display screens, and more.

Huge, unusually powerful explosion in space just detected by scientists

An artist’s conception of a supernova explosion. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / ESA / Hubble / L. Calcada In space, things frequently go boom. And recently, on Oct. 9, astronomers observed an extraordinarily colossal boom. NASA’s Swift Observatory, which is specifically designed to spot the most powerful known explosions in the universe today — called gamma-ray bursts — detected an extremely strong such burst.

2022 Will See 5.3 Billion Phones Discarded, Experts Warn

We have a serious e-waste problem, according to the international waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) forum. This year alone, 5.3 billion mobile phones will go to landfills, the organization told the BBC on Friday.

Precious minerals left to waste

This means that a lot of the precious minerals that cannot be extracted from waste electronics, such as the copper in wire or the cobalt in rechargeable batteries, will have to be mined, a notoriously polluting activity.

What does space smell like? Expert recreates 4 aromas from astronaut accounts

From raspberry notes to rum and nail polish ones. Some call it a ‘space party,’ while others say ‘it stinks.’

Doctoral researcher in Astrobiology and professional perfumer, Marina Barcenilla, creates the scents of space based on astrochemistry and reports by astronauts.

Interesting Engineering (IE) report on the range of smells available including which represent the entire journey around Earth’s orbit to the center of the Milky Way. By tapping into the intimate relationship between olfaction (the sense of smell) and memory, the project aims to break communication barriers between science and the public.

Angel_nt/ iStock.

Researchers can also make assumptions about how things might smell in space using various chemicals and elements found on Earth as well as elsewhere in the galaxy.

What happens if you grow plants on the Moon? New study shows how they react

If (or when) human exploration of our planetary neighbours goes ahead, this is a question that future colonists would have to tackle.

What do you need to make your garden grow? As well as plenty of sunshine alternating with gentle showers of rain — and busy bees and butterflies to pollinate the plants — you need good, rich soil to provide essential minerals. But imagine you had no rich soil, or showers of rain, or bees and butterflies. And the sunshine was either too harsh and direct or absent — causing freezing temperatures.

4FR / iStock.

The researchers behind the study cultivated the fast-growing plant Arabidopsis thaliana in samples of lunar regolith (soil) brought back from three different places on the Moon by the Apollo astronauts.

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