Lifeboat Foundation

Neuromorphic systems carry out robust and efficient neural computation using hardware implementations that operate in physical time. Typically they are event- or data-driven, they employ low-power, massively parallel hybrid analog/digital VLSI circuits, and they operate using the same physics of computation used by the nervous system. Although there are several forums for presenting research achievements in neuromorphic engineering, none are exclusively dedicated to this increasingly large research community. Either because they are dedicated to single disciplines, such as electrical engineering or computer science, or because they serve research communities which focus on analogous areas (such as biomedical engineering or computational neuroscience), but with fundamentally different goals and objectives. The mission of Neuromorphic Engineering is to provide a publication medium dedicated exclusively and specifically to this field. Topics covered by this publication include:  Analog and hybrid analog/digital electronic circuits for implementing neural processes, such as conductances, neurons, synapses, plasticity mechanisms, photoreceptors, cochleae, etc.  Neuromorphic circuits and systems for implementing real-time event-based neural processing architectures.  Hardware models of neural and sensorimotor processing systems, such as selective attention systems, coordinate transformation systems, auditory and/or visual processing systems, sensory fusion systems, etc.  Implementations of neural computational systems found in insects, birds, mammals, etc.  Embedded neuromorphic systems, including actuated or robotic platforms which process sensory signals and interact with the environment using event-based sensors and circuits. To ensure high quality and state-of-the-art material, publications should demonstrate experimental results, using physical implementations of neuromorphic systems, and possibly show the links between the artificial system and the neural/biological one they model.

Is a new phone on your holiday shopping list? A “radical” technology being developed at Purdue University that’s making smartphones and other electronic devices more bendable could help save lives one day soon through better health monitoring.

Discover how and why neuromorphic and probabilistic computing solutions represent the next wave of AI capabilities.

Maybe we can’t keep packing transistors onto substrates the way Gordon Moore showed us how to do. So how about if we replaced those millions of transistors with components “inspired by the true story” of the brain?

Time travel is complicated, which means it’s time for some charts.

I’m particularly fond of this one, created by fan Oren Bell. In an elaborate, detailed interactive timeline, Bell explores the various realities created by the actions of the Avengers in Avengers: Endgame, tracing the actions of each protagonist and their impact on the timeline(s). Simply click a character, and you can follow their journey, from the present to the past to the present again.

A mathematical equation has proven that controlling one of the two major changes in a cell—decay or cancerous growth—enhances the other, causing inevitable death.

In this video I show you an awesome laser lightsaber and then I talk about lightsabers and the possibility of using photonic molecules to build a real lightsaber. This thing is awesome! If the force is with us (and some quantum mechanics) we will some day have a true lightsaber…These are very dangerous lasers. NOT A TOY. Will cause instant blindness:

Blue Laser Pointer Lightsaber kit: https://goo.gl/9JUWdp

Continue reading “Making a Real Lightsaber Using Rydberg Atoms and Photonic Molecules” »

As even casual Star Wars fans will know, lightsabers are probably the coolest weapon ever to make an appearance on the big screen. Lightsaber fights are so elegant that they are almost hypnotic and, even though not all of us might have a strong enough flow of Force running through our veins, a lightsaber in the right hand is by far the deadliest weapon to be found in the universe.

The idea behind a lightsaber is simple genius: a light-weight and immensely powerful tool that uses a blade of energy to not only slice up disciples of the Dark Side in a single blow but also act as an effective shield against laser blasts. So why don’t we have working lightsabers in real life? Surely physicists must be smart enough (and big enough Star Wars fans) to be able to produce one of these incredible objects.

Continue reading “How To Build A Real Lightsaber” »

De Grey on aging… Respect AEWR.

Aubrey de grey, chief science officer, SENS research foundation.