Lifeboat Foundation

Facebook is working on an artificial intelligence that it hopes could one day detect people’s emotions based on their tone of their voice, aiming to alleviate the frustrations of modern voice speaker systems such as Alexa.

Engineers at the social network’s research labs are working out how to train its voice-controlled video chat device, Portal, to understand when a user is angry, an employee said during a tech conference in San Francisco.

The system could one day be used across Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp calls, but could lead to privacy fears about the scope of the company’s data collection.

Continue reading “Facebook wants to detect when you are angry” »

New research looks at distinctive differences in brain connectivity that may underlie autism spectrum disorders (ASD) — and possibly provide much-needed biomarkers to aid in identifying the disorder.

Diagnosis for ASD is still behaviorally based. But getting a diagnosis can take longer due to several factors, including lack of resources and trained clinicians. This delays autism diagnosis, on average, until age 5 or 6.

“Within ASD, two important research questions are: How can we minimize the delay in diagnosis, and what kind of intervention can we give the child?” said Rajesh Kana, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology in the UAB College of Arts and Sciences.

Continue reading “Finding Differences in Brain Connectivity May Aid in Autism Diagnosis” »

A GIANT asteroid discovered by NASA’s trackers only last week is now barreling towards the Earth, the US space agency revealed.

An artist’s rendering of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket during its ascent into orbit. Image Credit: Blue Origin.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket has been selected by Canadian-based Telesat to send a fleet of satellites into orbit. The payload for these flights could help improve web services around the globe.

The satellites, designed to provide internet services across the globe, will be sent to low-Earth orbit by Texas-based Blue Origin’s New Glenn over the course of multiple launches.

Continue reading “Blue Origin inks deal to launch internet satellite constellation” »

It could lift off as soon as Feb. 18.

Astronomers spotted gaps in the dusty discs around stars that can only be filled by planets.

Jackson Oswalt, 14, built a nuclear reactor at his home. He may be a potent weapon for state Sen. Katrina Robinson’s push for middle school skills training.

The new design stores heat generated by excess electricity from solar or wind power in large tanks of white-hot molten silicon, and then converts the light from the glowing metal back into electricity when it’s needed. The researchers estimate that such a system would be much more affordable than lithium-ion batteries, which have been proposed as a viable, though expensive, method to store renewable energy. They also estimate that the system would cost about half as much as pumped hydroelectric storage—the cheapest form of grid-scale energy storage so far.

Delivering solar- or wind-generated power on demand, the system, which uses molten silicon, should be cheaper than other leading options.

A baby unlike any other is about to celebrate her first birthday.

The reason she’s so unique: she was born from a uterus transplanted into her mother from a deceased donor.