Adapted from The Grand Biocentric Design, by Robert Lanza and Matej Pavsic, published by BenBella Books (2020).
You keep staring at the repair man. His words are starting to sink in. The fabulous and expensive generator you bought a few years ago to keep the lights burning during storms and power failures needs a major repair.
“A head gasket?”
You echo the phrase he just used, fearing that it has a pricey ring to it. “What exactly is a head gasket?”
Granted, it’s a little different for a robot, since they don’t have lungs or a heart. But they do have a “brain” (software), “muscles” (hardware), and “fuel” (a battery), and these all had to work together for Cassie to be able to run.
The brunt of the work fell to the brain—in this case, a machine learning algorithm developed by students at Oregon State University’s Dynamic Robotics Laboratory. Specifically, they used deep reinforcement learning, a method that mimics the way humans learn from experience by using a trial-and-error process guided by feedback and rewards. Over many repetitions, the algorithm uses this process to learn how to accomplish a set task. In this case, since it was trying to learn to run, it may have tried moving the robot’s legs varying distances or at distinct angles while keeping it upright.
Once Cassie got a good gait down, completing the 5K was as much a matter of battery life as running prowess. The robot covered the whole distance (a course circling around the university campus) on a single battery charge in just over 53 minutes, but that did include six and a half minutes of troubleshooting; the computer had to be reset after it overheated, as well as after Cassie fell during a high-speed turn. But hey, an overheated computer getting reset isn’t so different from a human runner pausing to douse their head and face with a cup of water to cool off, or chug some water to rehydrate.
“There’s been a lot of speculation about what charge might do to cloud droplets, but there’s been very little practical and detailed investigation,” says Keri Nicoll, one of the core investigators on the project. The aim is to determine if the technology can increase rainfall rates in water-stressed regions.
Nicoll’s team started by modelling the behavior of clouds. They found that when cloud droplets have a positive or negative electrical charge, the smaller droplets are more likely to merge and grow to become big raindrops.
The size of the raindrops is important, says Nicoll, because in places like the UAE which has high clouds and high temperatures, droplets often evaporate as they fall.
Summary: Researchers have compiled a new, highly detailed 3D brain map that captures the shapes and activity of neurons in the visual neocortex of mice. The map is freely available for neuroscience researchers and artificial intelligence specialists to utilize.
Source: Allen Institute
Researchers from the University of Reading, in the UK, are using drones to give clouds an electrical charge, which could help increase rainfall in water-stressed regions.
The findings suggest that isoalloLCA may contribute to a healthy gut by preventing the growth of bad bacteria.
They also suggest that these bacteria or their bile acids could treat or prevent C. difficile infection in people, Honda said, although more research would be needed to show this.
These bacteria could contribute to a healthy gut and, in turn, healthy aging.
TOKYO — Centenarians have unique gut bacteria that enables them to live to a ripe old age, according to new research. Scientists in Japan say this unique gut makeup fuels bile acids that protect against disease.
The discovery could lead to yogurts and other probiotic foods that increase longevity.
“In people over the age of 100, an enrichment in a distinct set of gut microbes generate unique bile acids,” says lead author Professor Kenya Honda of Keio University in a statement per South West News Service. “They might inhibit the growth of pathogens.”
It’s no secret that SpaceX’s Starship Super Heavy Booster will be an absolute beast. The rocket stage, meant to launch the also-huge Starship spacecraft into orbit, will be sporting an outrageous number of individual rocket engines — 29 to be exact — making it one of the biggest rocket boosters in history.
A photo shared by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk today on Twitter shows the sheer scale of the operation — and how far the space company has come in building the first flight-and orbit-worthy prototype.
New research has examined the factors that could lead to the collapse of global civilisation, with New Zealand identified as the country most resilient to future threats.
Making Power Wheelchair Technologies “Smarter” — Barry Dean, CEO, LUCI
Barry Dean is an award-winning songwriter turned smart wheelchair technology company founder.
As CEO of LUCI (https://luci.com/), a company re-imagining mobility for power wheelchairs, Barry sets the strategic vision and leads the company towards its goal of providing security, stability and connectivity for power wheelchairs. He founded the company with his brother, Jered, in 2017 with hopes of building a smarter solution for his daughter Katherine and all power wheelchair riders.
