Lifeboat Foundation

The algorithm is saving about $10 million as part of an effort to replace the city’s water infrastructure.

To catch you up: In 2014, Flint began getting water from Flint River rather than the Detroit water system. Mistreatment of the new water supply, combined with old lead pipes, created contaminated water for residents.

Solving the problem: Records that could be used to figure out which houses might be affected by corroded old pipes were missing or incomplete. So the city turned to AI. Using 71 different pieces of information—like the age or value of the home—Georgia Tech researchers developed an algorithm that predicted whether or not a home was connected to lead pipes.

Continue reading “AI is helping find lead pipes in Flint, Michigan” »

When it comes to the individual citizen, whose responsibility is it to guard against cybercrime? Research we’ve conducted suggests that governments have a crucial role to play. They need to support individual citizens, as well as businesses, in a more practical and proactive way, to manage this particular society risk.

For instance, they could provide individuals with free face-to-face assistance and cybersecurity support. They could give clear guidelines and provide government sanctioned security software for people to install, and make sure it’s easy to get hold of. New York has recently started providing this kind of support to its residents. Based on our research, we believe there’s scope for all governments, including those in Southern Africa, to do the same.

“The big problem is that hospitals don’t buy new devices, and they keep using really dangerous ones ad infinitum — until they just stop working,” Corman said.

Corman wants these old, unsecured devices gone from hospitals. The fear is that, beyond freezing systems or hijacking medical records as they did during WannaCry, hackers could also actively manipulate medical equipment to harm patients by, say, administering a lethal dose of medication via an infusion pump. While newer devices aren’t ironclad, they are typically built with more robust security features. So Corman and others are urging health-care providers to scrap old, or “legacy,” equipment and replace it with newer models.

To nudge health-care providers to trade up, he’s put forth an idea for an incentive program akin to “Cash for Clunkers,” the 2009 federal auto-rebate plan that aimed to run gas-guzzling cars off the road. Under that program, which was formally called the Car Allowance Rebate System, people received cash in exchange for turning in fuel-inefficient vehicles, which they could then put toward new, more efficient ones. (The program fizzled after a few months, when it depleted its allotted budget.) Similarly, in this version, health-care providers would be compensated for junking old equipment, and could use the rebates toward the purchase of new devices. Corman said he hasn’t fully worked out the economics, but he believes device makers might be willing to subsidize the program in part, since it would help them move inventory.

Continue reading “Insecure Medical Devices Are Low-Hanging Fruit for Hackers” »

Trash into treasure indeed. A European Union-funded research project is working on turning thrown-away food into graphene, the Guardian reports.

Opinion: Surprise! Some of the fastest, most affordable internet in the country can be found in tiny communities.

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Our ultimate mission is to make 100 years old the new 60.”

A new exploration of stem cells from placentas could drastically advance regenerative medicine. Peter Diamandis, X-Prize and Singularity University founder, recently teamed up with Robert Hariri, the founder of Celgene Cellular Therapeutics, to study these specific stem cells in the hopes of discovering new regenerative therapies.

Continue reading “Startup Proposes Using Stem Cells From Placentas for Regenerative Medicine” »

Scientists have developed artificial blood!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=hiwBXXUPWE0

Russian engineers this week unveiled the first undersea drone armed with a rifle. The robot is the latest in a line of Russian-made machines conquering battlefields, surgeries, and even the entertainment industry.

With robots set to play an increasingly significant role in our world, engineers from across the globe are developing new types of machines to automate everything from warfare to healthcare. Russia is no exception and is leading the development of robotic systems in some fields.