2022 – Page 49 – Impact Lab

SpaceX

Elon Musk’s SpaceX pulls another $1.7 billion in funding

June 21, 2022

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule docks at the International Space Station in April. ASSOCIATED PRESS

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., better known as SpaceX, has pulled in another $1.7 billion in equity funding, according to a filing Monday.

Privately held SpaceX, led by Tesla Inc. TSLA, 12.25% Chief Executive Elon Musk, sold about $1.68 billion in new equity in a $1.72 billion offering, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The first sales occurred late last month, it said.

The round brings the company’s valuation to about $125 billion, from about $100 billion late last year.

AI

Logy.ai Introduces India’s First AI-based Cataract Screening Solution with Sharp Sight Eye Hospitals

June 21, 2022

Sharp Sight Eye Hospitals introduces an AI-based cataract screening solution available on Whatsapp with Logy.ai technology, which yields an accuracy of 92%.

By Disha Chopra

Logy.ai, in collaboration with Sharp Sight Eye Hospitals, New Delhi, has introduced AI as a screening solution to identify cataracts with an accuracy of 92%. The innovation presents a simple chatbot on WhatsApp and would not require any additional application. The screening can be done in rural areas.

Logy.ai is an intelligent care service provider aiming to bring AI with a user-friendly interface. In recent developments, the company has helped Sharp Sight Eye Hospitals to solidify its position as a leading eye care provider that uses AI for health screening. The latter is an established eye care provider with over 10 lakh successful procedures and surgeries in its 14 facilities in North and East India centers.

Priyanjit Ghosh, Co-founder, and CEO, of Logy.ai, expressed that Sharp Sight Eye Hospitals is a proactive partner with the firm. Their partnership synergizes with Logy.ai’s vision of new-era technologies like AI to promote health screening. The collaboration aims to build top-of-the-line AI products in the healthcare domain and bridge the gap between technology and medicine.

3D Printer

Airbus is sending Metal 3D Printer to International Space Station; Plans to set up an Orbital Satellite Factory

June 21, 2022

Above: International Space Station/Image Source: European Space Agency

Airbus, a European multinational aerospace corporation, is preparing to send a metal 3D printer to the International Space Station as early as next year, as the first step in its plans to establish an orbital satellite factory.

Metal3D printers can work with metals that melt at temperatures of up to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit (1,200 degrees Celsius). The company was overjoyed to announce that its printer will be the first metal 3D printer on the space station, allowing astronauts to print parts like radiation shields and various tools.

Future versions of the 3D printer, according to the company, will be able to create objects out of lunar soil and recycle parts from decommissioned satellites onboard an orbital satellite factory.

SpaceX

Elon Musk’s dream Mars rocket gets green light to launch, with conditions

June 20, 2022

SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket standing at its Texas launch pad. Elon Musk’s company is looking to attempt the first orbital test flight of the nearly 400-foot-tall Starship sometime this year.

While the US government has found “No Significant Impact”, it is placing some limitations on launches and conditions that need to be met to operate the futuristic base.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX cleared a major hurdle as the US government concluded an environmental review of its gigantic, futuristic Starship base in Texas. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) saw no environmental concerns but laid down 75 conditions to reduce the impact on the region.

The environmental review was for the proposed SpaceX Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket program in Boca Chica located at the southernmost tip of Texas, about 1,000 miles west of Cape Canaveral where SpaceX launches astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station for Nasa.

Following the decision, SpaceX tweeted, “One step closer to the first orbital flight test of Starship.”

However, there’s no guarantee a launch license will be issued, since other factors such as safety and financial responsibility requirements still must be met at the Boca Chica site, according to the FAA. The agency said as a result of the requirements there will be more advanced notice of launches to reduce a highway closure during launch operations.

Energy

SCIENTISTS CLAIM TO HAVE DESIGNED A FULLY DECENTRALIZED STABLECOIN PEGGED TO ELECTRICITY

June 20, 2022

By DEREK ANDERSEN

The E-Stablecoin would require several scientific advancements that are already in the works, and would allegedly make it possible to transmit electricity almost for free.

Researchers at the federally funded Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California have combined statistical mechanics and information theory to design a class of stablecoin dubbed the Electricity Stablecoin (E-Stablecoin) that would transmit energy as a form of information. Livermore’s Maxwell Murialdo and Jonathan L. Belof say their innovation would make it possible to transmit electricity without physical wires or a grid and create a fully collateralized stablecoin pegged to a physical asset – electricity – that is dependent on its utility for is value.

According to the scientists, the E-Stablecoin would be minted through the input of one kilowatt-hour of electricity, plus a fee. The stablecoin could then be used for transactions the same way as any stablecoin, or the energy could be extracted by burning it, also for a fee. The entire process would be controlled by smart contracts with a decentralized data storage cloud. No trusted centralized authority would be needed to maintain or disburse the asset.

Medical Breakthrough

New study could help fight bacterial infections without antibiotics

June 20, 2022

When the bacteria were exposed to an alternating magnetic field, there was a rapid rise in temperature, high enough to destroy them

Researchers at Mohali’s Institute of Nanoscience and Technology have found a novel way to treat drug-resistant bacterial infections — by inducing self-destruction in the bacteria.

Although many potent antibiotics are available in the market, our indiscriminate use has rendered them useless in treating several common bacterial infections. The bacteria have mutated and developed smart techniques to beat the effect of the drugs. Scientists are now actively researching alternative methods to combat drug-resistant bacterial strains, one among them being the nanotechnology-based approach.

Researchers at the Institute of Nanoscience and Technology (INST), Mohali, have found a novel way to treat drug-resistant bacterial infections: By inducing self-destruction in the bacteria.

quantum computing, Science & Technology News

World First Room Temperature Quantum Computer Installed in Australia

June 19, 2022

A quantum-HPC integration serving more than 4,000 researchers.

By Francisco Pires

The world’s first on-premises, room-temperature quantum computer has just been installed in Pawsey’s Supercomputing Research Centre, in Australia. Developed by Australian start-up Quantum Brilliance, the quantum accelerator doesn’t require any exotic cooling methods to maintain quantum coherence, and has even been developed for installation in a typical rack system. The new quantum accelerator will thus be taken for a spin in tandem with Pawsey’s new, state-of-the-art Setonix, its HPE Cray Ex supercomputer.

The room-temperature achievement was unlocked due to Quantum Brilliance’s approach to quantum computing; instead of the more common ion chains, silicon quantum dots, or superconducting transmon qubits, Quantum Brilliance took advantage of specifically implanted nitrogen-vacancy centers in synthetic diamonds (where a carbon atom is replaced by a nitrogen one).

These vacancy centers amount to defects in the diamond’s structure, which feature a photoluminescence capability that allows for the qubits’ spin states to be read based on the emitted light’s characteristics, without directly interacting with the qubits. A number of techniques, such as magnetic or electric fields, microwave radiation, or light (Quantum Brilliance uses a green laser technology for this purpose) can be used to directly manipulate the nitrogen-vacancy center’s qubits. Quantum Brilliance’s qubits are described by the company as being in the “middle of the pack” for coherence times and performance, being slower than superconducting qubits, but faster than the trapped-ion approach of some other providers.

new technology

The World’s Largest Liquid-Mirror Telescope Comes Online

June 19, 2022

Ask any astronomer, astrophysicist, or cosmologist, and they’ll probably tell you that a new age of astronomy is upon us! Between breakthroughs in gravitational-wave astronomy, the explosion in exoplanet studies, and the next-generation ground-based and space-based telescopes coming online, it’s pretty evident that we are on the verge of an era of near-continuous discovery! As always, major discoveries, innovations, and the things they enable inspire scientists and researchers to look ahead and take the next big step.

Take, for example, the research into liquid mirrors and advanced interferometers, which would rely on entirely new types of telescopes and light-gathering to advance the science of astronomy. A pioneering example is the newly-commissioned International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) telescope that just came online at Devasthal Peak, a 2,450 m (8,040 ft) tall mountain located in the central Himalayan range. Unlike conventional telescopes, the ILMT relies on a rapidly-rotating 4-meter (13 ft) mirror coated with a layer of mercury to capture cosmic light.

Crazy Stuff

Real Life-Jedi? Chinese Scientists Invent ‘Real Telekinesis’ Using Programmable Metamaterials and Bluetooth

June 19, 2022

By Thea Felicity

Chinese scientists are making strides in moving objects with our minds by experimenting with real-time, remote, and wireless mind control of metamaterials.

Inventing Real Life Telekinesis.

Telekinesis, or using your mind to move items at a distance, conjures up images of pure fantasy. However, behind the curtain of fiction, scientists are actually working on it already. But one way to make Telekinesis possible is to combine brain signal collection technologies with developing programmable metasurfaces (PM), the functionalities or operating modes of which may be switched or changed by on-site programming or pre-defined software.

Nonetheless, the majority of extant PMs are wired to users, manually operated, and not real-time.

This new experiment suggests a solid framework for accomplishing ‘real-life telekinesis.’

Driverless cars

United Nations proposal could open up Tesla’s Full Self-Driving to Australia

June 18, 2022

The UN is advocating for higher speed limits, but only for robocars.

By Ben Zachariah

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) has put forward a draft amendment which would allow autonomous cars to drive up to 130km/h – more than double the current limit.

The proposal would mean passenger vehicles with Level 3 autonomous driving technology would be able to perform actions like automatic lane changing on freeways.

With Australia being one of the signatories to the regulatory framework set by the UNECE, the move could allow Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) system to become available within six months.

Despite the full suite of functions not being approved locally, Tesla allows its Australian customers to purchase FSD for $10,100 as an optional extra.

In recent days, Automotive News reported the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was extending its investigation of Tesla’s Autopilot system – a lower level of semi-autonomous driving tech – to include a total of 830,000 built between 2014 and 2022.

The investigation opened following a spate of accidents and one fatality which have been allegedly attributed to the technology.

Crypto Currency

Abra Launches Crypto Credit card, NFT Service with American Express

June 18, 2022

Abra also announced the expansion of its Prime services and the launch of Abra web.

BY STUTI MANSATA

A digital asset financial services company, Abra has announced the launch of Abra Crypto Card and a new NFT service. Abra crypto card is a crypto rewards credit card that will function on the American Express network.

The card will allow transactions in U.S. dollars and offer crypto rewards on purchases of any amount and category.

The crypto rewards will be tradable across over a 100 different cryptocurrencies which are supported by Abra, without any annual or foreign transaction fees.

“We’ve made it super easy for anyone to trade crypto, earn interest, and borrow against crypto holdings in one, integrated app,” said Bill Barhydt, founder and CEO of Abra. “Our partnership with American Express will now make it even easier to access and earn crypto.”

Card owners will also be eligible for American Express network benefits, such as Amex Offers, presale ticket access, global dining benefits, and purchase protections.

AI

We Asked an AI to Draw a Self-Portrait

June 18, 2022

Pay no attention to the machine learning algorithm behind the curtain.

By Janus Rose

DALL-E, the AI system that generates images from text prompts, has captured the internet’s imagination over the past few months. Literally.

Created by OpenAI, DALL-E is the latest in a series of tools that seem to tap into the internet’s subconscious, using massive datasets of text and images to parse and reproduce human language with uncanny accuracy. The system uses a machine learning model with billions of individual parameters to illustrate whatever phrases you feed into it, resulting in bizarre and often shockingly realistic renderings—though oftentimes with predictably racist and sexist tropes.

But while access to DALL-E is currently only being offered to a select list of artists and researchers, open source AI systems that attempt to replicate OpenAI’s model have recently sprouted up, allowing anyone to try their hand at human-machine artistic collaboration.

One model in particular, called DALL-E Mini, has practically achieved meme status over the past week. Hosted on the AI repository HuggingFace, the demo’s massive volume of users has caused long delays to complete requests, as social feeds fill with images generated from all kinds of absurd prompts. (“Gender reveal 9/11” and “Aileen Wuornos on Drag Race” are among the many deranged highlights)

Given how so many humans are now collaborating with AI models to make art, I felt it was only fair to ask the AI to reveal itself as a self-portrait.