Impact Lab – Page 300 – A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience

AI

Waste plastic broken down not in centuries but in days by an AI-engineered enzyme

May 10, 2022

Breaking up is hard to do.

That’s certainly true for common plastics like polyethylene terephthalate (PET). A water bottle made of a thin film of PET (perhaps half a millimeter thick) takes about 450 years to degrade. Along the way it will exist as microplastics, which are so pervasive they are even turning up in living people’s lung tissue, as we saw for the first time just a month ago. And even those kinds of numbers are guesstimates because many studies don’t last long enough to see any appreciable degradation of PET at all.

A lot of efforts to produce biodegradable and bioresorbable plastics are making good progress, and that’s great for the future, but what about the mountains of plastic that already exist and that we keep on generating? In the U.S., the landfill rate for discarded plastics is still about 75%! We have a lot of work to do.

Good thing Hal Alper’s chemical engineering lab at the University of Texas is on the job. In the April 27 issue of Nature, they report on an enzyme they developed called FAST-PETase. Designed with the help of artificial intelligence, it degrades untreated postconsumer PET not in centuries, but in days. And this can be done at temperatures of 50°C and below, where many types of bacteria can thrive. See where this is going?

Futurati Podcast, Science & Technology News

Ep. 84 Russia, cybercrime, and the future of war, with Rik Ferguson.

May 9, 2022

Watch our interview with Rik Ferguson on Youtube or on the Futurati Podcast website

Rik Ferguson is vice president of security research at Trend Micro and is actively engaged in studying online threats and the underground economy. He also researches the wider implications of new developments in the Information Technology arena and their impact on security.

Metaverse

‘Bored Ape’ Unicorn Raises $320M By Selling Virtual Land In Its Metaverse

May 9, 2022

By Marlize van Romburgh marlizevr

The startup behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs has raised as much as $320 million in cryptocurrency by selling 55,000 plots of virtual land in its metaverse. The virtual real estate buying frenzy over the weekend reportedly was so intense that it crashed the Ethereum network and sent fees on the blockchain system soaring.

The land sale offered buyers the chance to buy a plot in the Otherside metaverse for around $5,800, plus transaction fees. The virtual land sale is believed to be the largest of its kind, according to Bloomberg, which calculated the total proceeds at $320 million. Reuters pinned the number at closer to $285 million, based on the price of the ApeCoin virtual currency.

Science & Technology News, Transportation

China’s new high-speed train is so luxurious that it will make you forget the fanciest of business class cabins – The 350 km/hr train offers rotating life-flat seats, large TV screens, an onboard bar, and a restaurant.

May 9, 2022

byNeha Tandon Sharma

The space is designed to appear like a private booth done up as a leather-clad recliner flanked by a large television screen, a folding timber-look tray table, a seat-side storage compartment, and a reading lamp.

Crypto Currency

Majority of Institutional Investors Are Actively Recommending Crypto Assets to Clients, According to Bitstamp Study

May 9, 2022

A recent study by crypto exchange platform Bitstamp finds that institutional investors are actively recommending digital assets to their clients.

The Bitstamp Crypto Pulse report, which surveyed over 5,500 professional investors and 23,000 retail investors from 23 countries across the globe, reveals that the majority of institutional investment decision-makers are endorsing crypto assets as investments to their clientele.

“Institutional investors are now actively recommending crypto to their clients and retail investors are beginning to use crypto beyond a simple trade. This is a key area to watch in subsequent waves to gauge how the current financial climate drives adoption of crypto outside the original ecosystem.”

According to the research, 68% of institutional investors surveyed say they are actively recommending crypto while 15.2% say that are doing so with caution. Just 6.4% say they are not recommending virtual assets to their clients.

Healthcare

Future wearable health tech could measure gases released from skin

May 8, 2022

The study suggests future health sensors could work by detecting chemicals released from the skin.

By Tatyana Woodall

NEW RESEARCH POINTS WAY TO MONITORING METABOLIC DISEASES

Scientists have taken the first step to creating the next generation of wearable health monitors.

Most research on measuring human biomarkers, which are measures of a body’s health, rely on electrical signals to sense the chemicals excreted in sweat. But sensors that rely on perspiration often require huge amounts of it just to get a reading.

A new study suggests that a wearable sensor may be able to monitor the body’s health by detecting the gases released from a person’s skin.

“It is completely non-invasive, and completely passive on the behalf of the user,” said Anthony Annerino, lead author of the study and a graduate student in materials science and engineering at The Ohio State University.

DNA

INSIDE PLANS FOR ‘OFF-WORLD HUMAN DNA SEED BANK’ ON MOON SO ALIEN CIVILIZATION COULD ‘RECREATE’ US

May 8, 2022

The SpaceX Crew-4 mission took some DNA to space on April 27

By Charlotte Edwards

SPACEX just launched a lot of human DNA to the International Space Station.

The Crew-4 mission blasted off on April 27 and part of the cargo was a biobank containing DNA from 500 different species.

One of those species was humans and there are now over 2,000 different DNA samples from lots of different people in space.

A company called LifeShip is behind the DNA collection.

It hopes to one day create an off-world genetic human seed bank on the Moon.

The idea is similar to the Global Seed Vault we have on Earth.

Space Flight

Space station’s new robotic arm springs to life

May 8, 2022

By Trevor Mogg

Two spacewalkers at the International Space Station (ISS) activated the facility’s new robotic arm for the first time on Thursday, April 28.

Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev concluded their spacewalk at  6:40 p.m. ET after 7 hours and 42 minutes outside the ISS, with much of that time spent working on the European Robotic Arm (ERA).

The ERA arrived at the station in July last year but it remained covered with thermal blankets until Thursday.

NASA shared footage (below) of the two cosmonauts some 250 miles above Earth as they worked to release the robotic arm from its restraints ahead of its first workout.

Getting to this stage has been a long time coming. The ERA was designed more than 30 years ago, and various technical issues over the last 20 years caused it to miss three planned missions to the ISS.

But now European Space Agency (ESA) engineers can finally celebrate the arm’s first activation in space.

The new robotic arm is about 11 meters long, weighs 1,390 pounds (630 kilograms), and includes seven joints that offer a high degree of maneuverability.

2020 Predictions, Driverless cars

Indy Autonomous Challenge racecar sets new speed record for driverless vehicle

May 7, 2022

BY DAVID EDWARDS

The Indy Autonomous Challenge racecar, a Dallara AV-21 programmed by team PoliMOVE from Politecnico di Milano, Italy, and the University of Alabama, USA, has set a new land speed world record of 192.2 mph / 309.3 kph at the historic Kennedy Space Center.

Operating the Dallara AV-21, PoliMOVE set out to push the limits of a boosted engine package during test runs yesterday at Space Florida’s Launch & Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center.

The upgraded engine package, capable of delivering 30 percent more horsepower than previous models, will be on all IAC racecars moving forward. Future competitions will be announced in the coming months.

Paul Mitchell, president, Indy Autonomous Challenge, says: “The Autonomous Challenge @ CES in January pushed our racecars to their limits and maxed out what was possible at the time.

“Yet here we are just four months later, in another iconic venue, with an upgraded engine package setting yet another world record.”

Driverless cars

Self-Driving Car Companies Zoom Ahead, Leaving U.S. Regulators Behind

May 7, 2022

Cruise, Tesla, Alphabet Inc’s Waymo and Aurora Innovation Inc are among many companies aiming to deploy fully autonomous vehicle technology in the United States within the next two to three years.

Self-driving vehicle companies from Tesla Inc to General Motors Co’s Cruise are racing to start making money with their technology, outrunning efforts by regulators and Congress to write rules of the road for robot-driven vehicles. On Tuesday, Cruise said that SoftBank Group Corp will invest another $1.35 billion in anticipation of Cruise launching commercial robo-taxi operations. Cruise needs one permit, from California’s Public Utilities Commission, to start charging for rides around San Francisco in vehicles with no human driver.

Cruise, Tesla, Alphabet Inc’s Waymo and Aurora Innovation Inc are among many companies aiming to deploy fully autonomous vehicle technology in the United States within the next two to three years, whether or not federal regulators give them a clear legal framework for doing so. Autonomous vehicle (AV) startups and automakers are under pressure to start generating revenue from billions of dollars of engineering investment over the past decade.

Proposed legislation to create a national framework of rules to govern autonomous vehicles remains stalled in Congress, despite the industry’s lobbying. That has left autonomous vehicle companies free to deploy robo-taxis or self-driving trucks in some states, such as Arizona and Texas, but not in others. Waymo has provided thousands of rides in driverless robo-taxis in Phoenix, though the service remains limited.

drones

SNAPCHAT’S FLYING CAMERA

May 7, 2022

Snap takes another stab at hardware with a selfie drone called Pixy

By Alex Heath

MoreMore than five years after it released Spectacles, Snap is back with a second hardware product. And this time it flies.

Yes, Snap made a drone. Called Pixy, the small yellow puck takes off from your hand, follows you around, and captures video that can be sent back to Snapchat. It’s Snap’s attempt at making a drone that’s friendlier and more approachable than other products on the market — and it may hint at the more advanced, AR-powered future Snap is building toward.

Pixy is available online for $230 in the US and France starting Thursday. Unlike most existing drones, it’s small and light enough to fit in a pant pocket. There isn’t a controller; it takes off from and lands on an outstretched palm, and it uses six pre-programmed flight patterns that are accessible through a dial on the top of the device.

Why on earth would Snap, which primarily operates an ephemeral messaging app, make a selfie drone? It’s the first question I pose to CEO Evan Spiegel.

“Because we’re a camera company,” he tells me recently over video chat. Snap has brandished that tagline since 2016 when the company changed its name from Snapchat to Snap and released its first pair of Spectacles. “Our mission is to empower people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together. And this product does exactly that.”

Space Flight

Space Startup Aims to Build Space Hotel With Artificial Gravity by 2025

May 6, 2022

An illustration of the Pioneer-class space station, which is designed to have five modules built around a gravity ring.

By Passant Rabie

The Pioneer-class stations are designed to accommodate 28 guests for up to two weeks.

Orbital Assembly Corporation announced plans to develop a space business park, complete with artificial gravity, that’s designed to accommodate 28 guests in five modules built around a rotating gravity ring.

The startup, which is based in Huntsville, Alabama, is aiming to make its first Pioneer-class space station operational by 2025, in what is an ambitious and likely unrealistic timeline. That said, Orbital Assembly is intent on making this the first commercial, hybrid space station that can be leveraged for both research and leisure.