Lifeboat Foundation

We are incredibly excited to announce that Firmamentum, a division of Tethers Unlimited, Inc. (TUI), has signed a contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a system that will use in-space manufacturing and robotic assembly technologies to construct on orbit a small satellite able to provide high-bandwidth satellite communications (SATCOM) services to mobile receivers on the ground.

Under the OrbWeaver Direct-to-Phase-II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) effort, Firmamentum aims to combine its technologies for in-space recycling, in-space manufacturing, and robotic assembly to create a system that could launch as a secondary payload on an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV). This system would recycle a structural element of that rocket, known as an EELV Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA) ring, by converting the ring’s aluminum material into a very large, high-precision antenna reflector. The OrbWeaver™ payload would then attach this large antenna to an array of TUI’s SWIFT® software defined radios launched with the OrbWeaver payload to create a small satellite capable of delivering up to 12 gigabits per second of data to K-band very small aperture terminals (VSAT) on the ground.

The concept of repairing age-related damage to prevent diseases is now mainstream and openly talked about by most acadmics.

Earlier this year the second Scripps Florida Symposium was held and now this open access paper reports on the event. The title of of the event was ‘Advances in Therapeutic Approaches to Extend Healthspan’ and was held on January 22nd–25th, 2017 at The Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Florida.

It is once again very refreshing to see that the focus of the researchers here is now firmly on intervening on the various aging processes in order to prevent or treat age-related diseases. Less than a decade ago suggesting addressing the aging processes to treat disease as a preventative form of medicine would have jepordised the chances of funding, or even damaged a researcher’s career prospects. Now the majority of researchers are engaged in exploring the potential of increasing healthspan (the period of life spent free of age-related disease) with the aim of delaying or preventing age-related diseases.

Continue reading “Rejuvenation Biotechnology is now Mainstream Science” »

We teamed up the MMTP last week and did a special longevity live panel on Facebook with Dr. Aubrey de Grey, Dr. Alexandra Stolzing, Dr. Oliver Medvedik and guests. Check it out.

We teamed up with the MMTP for their “How to Promote Longevity?” Live Panel. Dr. Aubrey de Grey, Dr. Alexandra Stolzing and Dr. Oliver Medvedik and guests discuss the latest research and progess in rejuvenation biotechnology.

“For example, Hasan says, “we can test theoretical ideas in the early universe,” simulating how particles may have behaved just after the Big Bang, when Lorentz symmetry may not have been obeyed.”

It’s interesting how often I hear condensed matter physicists justify their work by saying “might be important for something with quantum gravity” while condensed matter physics by itself is much more likely than quantum gravity to be good for something.

The Evening Standard reviews the new book Radicals whose opening chapter is about transhumanism and my 2016 presidential campaign:

With the apparent collapse of Ukip and the defeat of Marine Le Pen, perhaps those of us fretting about the decline of liberal democracy may breathe easier. Still, many established Western parties remain in decline. And we have yet to deal with the consequences of the “populist” spasms that gave us Brexit and the absurd President Trump. This is the climate that impels Jamie Bartlett, of think tank Demos, to examine some of the new “radicals”.

Radicalism is important, he believes, because it is a source of new ideas: even if liberal democracy is forced to argue with racists or anti-democratic radicals, that should help make it stronger.

Continue reading “Outsiders Changing the World” »

Startups are leading the way to a future in which more food is grown closer to where people live.

Developers of driverless systems can apply now for permits to test cars.

Nice jibe at Boston Dynamics, they are only uhh the best legged robot lab in the world. Google didnt have a clue what they were doing when they bought Boston Dynamics, and thankfully getting sold now before they did anymore damage to it.

I Have a brilliant idea, lets force them to work on wheeled robots LOL 😛.

Alphabet’s sale of a robotics business to Japan’s Softbank shows that CFO Ruth Porat is taking aim even at the company’s most advanced technologies.

Continue reading “In the Ruth Porat era at Alphabet, even robot video stars have to find some paying customers” »

Scientists at HRL labs claim to have built a device that could upload knowledge directly into the brain just like the matrix films.