Impact Lab – Page 314 – A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience

Israeli study: Stem cells may help multiple sclerosis brain ‘repair itself’

March 9, 2022

Eight of 15 patients who receive NG-01 therapy as spinal injection see better disability scores; inventors say therapy may ‘dramatically improve’ patients’ lives

By NATHAN JEFFAY

A new Israeli stem cell therapy, intended to make the brain of multiple sclerosis sufferers “repair itself,” has shown promise in a small clinical trial, with several patients experiencing hopeful biological changes and reduced disability.

NeuroGenesis, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, tested its personalized NG-01 therapy on patients, administering it in two different ways. An intravenous injection had some effect, but doctors observed particularly positive changes among patients who received an injection into the spinal cord fluid.

Of the 15 patients who received spinal injections, nine subsequently experienced a drop in levels of neurofilament light chain (NfL), a protein that is heightened among MS patients as disability progresses. In a control group that received placebo injections, only one of the 15 patients experienced such a drop.

Of the nine patients who received the therapy as a spinal injection and had reduced NfL levels, all but one went on to have improved disability scores, even 12 months later when the research finished. The study has been peer-reviewed and published in the journal Stem Cells Translational Medicine.

3D Printer

CHINESE START-UP ON A MISSION TO CUT ROCKET PRODUCTION COSTS BY 80% WITH 3D PRINTING

March 9, 2022

Launcher conducts a hot fire test for its 3D-printed Engine-2 rocket engine in the E Test Complex at NASA’s Stennis Space Center.

By HAYLEY EVERETT

Chinese start-up SpaceTai has claimed its 3D printing technology is capable of slashing rocket production costs by as much as 80 percent.

Although a relatively new arrival on the space scene, SpaceTai says it can manufacture almost all its rocket parts using its self-developed 3D printers in order to cut costs.

With its first suborbital test flight slated for 2023, the firm could potentially challenge the likes of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Rocket Lab, Orbex, Relativity Space, and others leveraging 3D printing in the race to space in years to come.

Metaverse

HOW TO FIND A PARTNER IN METAVERSE? DATING TAKES A VIRTUAL TURN

March 9, 2022

Can metaverse rescue the dating apps? Know how you can find a partner in this virtual world.

In this technology-driven world, you will always find something new taking place and providing new means to humanity. At present times, we have Metaverse, an online virtual reality that has caught everyone’s attention. The internet is evolving into the metaverse, and it will be driven by commerce, social interactions, and dating. Dating apps are drastically remodeling the dating landscape, including a multitude of new possibilities with which they captivate their customers. Virtual first dates that can take place anywhere in the world, avatars, or digital coins are a few of the latest features of such apps. Dating in the metaverse can take many forms, from people’s avatars moving around, participating in different activities, to joining others in diverse virtual locations to the possibility of private connections.

Robots, Science & Technology News

Tiny robots made in Mexico to explore moon in scientific first

March 8, 2022

The mission is poised to launch on a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket and would be the first American spacecraft to land on the moon in nearly 50 years.

The bots are scheduled to launch in June on Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander, originally developed for Google’s Lunar-X-Prize. (representative Image)

Five tiny robots designed and made in Mexico will blast off for the moon later this year, part of a first-of-its-kind scientific mission that envisions the two-wheeled bots scrambling across the lunar surface while taking sophisticated measurements.

The so-called nano robots developed by researchers at Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM) will work together like a swarm of bees, the senior scientist told Reuters, once they make the nearly 240,000 mile (386,000 km) trip from earth aboard a rocket from closely held U.S. firm Astrobotic Technology.

The mission is poised to launch on a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket and would be the first American spacecraft to land on the moon in nearly 50 years.

drones

“World’s first” hydraulic hybrid multicopter can fly up to 560 miles

March 8, 2022

By Chris Stonor

A classic case of “a drone with a difference”. Scottish-based company, Edinburgh Flowcopter, which specialises in Industrial Heavy-Lift Drones, has come-up with a unique concept – an unmanned craft that “runs aviation-certified combustion engines which will drive digital-displacement pumps designed for harsh environments, providing control bandwidth to fly,” reports inceptivemind.com.

The company’s initial aim is to assist helicopter operators, in particular, to optimise freight, surveying and search & rescue. The ability to fly in harsh weather over rough and inhospitable terrain is one of its primary selling points as well as long distances compared to its more vulnerable and less distance-flown electric counterparts. This robustness has Scotland written all over it, although such a craft could be helpful in the many remote and harsh environments around the world.

Tesla

Elon Musk pushes to build 6.2-mile underground tunnel for Tesla vehicles to ferry passengers under traffic-clogged North Miami Beach

March 8, 2022

By MATT MCNULTY

Elon Musk is pushing for a massive 6.2-mile underground tunnel to ferry Tesla vehicles and their passengers in the traffic-clogged area of North Miami Beach
Musk’s Boring Company are currently considering the Hard Rock Stadium and Florida International University’s Biscayne campus as hosts for the transit tunnel
The ‘rough’ estimated cost for the project sits at between $180 million and $220 million
It is expected to be completed in a 36-month construction time frame, according to Boring
The concept is already in effect in Las Vegas, where 1.7-mile track allows for Teslas to cruise beneath the city’s convention center at top speeds of 40 mph
The next step in the process is to submit an interim agreement before city officials on March 15, according to city manager Chris Lagerbloom

Elon Musk is pushing to build a massive 6.2-mile underground tunnel to ferry Tesla vehicles and their passengers in the traffic-clogged area of North Miami Beach.

Musk’s Boring Company are currently considering the Hard Rock Stadium and Florida International University’s Biscayne campus as hosts for the proposed transit tunnel, which will run underneath Miami-Dade, according to the Miami Herald.

Aviation

The technology behind ZEVA’s plan to put an eVTOL in every garage

March 7, 2022

ZEVA plans to certify the Zero eVTOL as an experimental-class aircraft with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) within the next six months, placing it in the same company as kit planes.

Stephen Tibbitts comes across as the antithesis of a maverick Silicon Valley CEO. The mild-mannered, soft-spoken chief executive of ZEVA has the even keel of a college professor as he explains his plans for the ZEVA Zero, a disc-shaped eVTOL his tech startup is developing in Tacoma, Washington.

He is not brash or bombastic. There is no hint of Elon Musk or Steve Ballmer-style showmanship. But his ambitions for the Zero are not small.

“I think eVTOL represents the largest opportunity of our lifetimes,” said Tibbitts, speaking over Zoom. “Bill Gates [predicted] a computer on every desk. We’re saying a ZEVA in every garage. That’s our goal.”

After about four years of development, that goal appears to have taken a leap forward. In early January, a full-sized prototype of the ZEVA Zero achieved its first untethered, powered, test flight.

Its eight zero-emission, electric-motor-driven propellers lifted the disc — 8.5 feet in diameter — into a steady hover, then smoothly maneuvered forward several meters before launching high over a grassy field in Washington’s rural Pierce County.

“I feel ecstatic, super proud of the team and our accomplishment,” Tibbitts said. “And hopefully, that’ll help us really get out of the starting blocks. We need to raise a significant amount of money to get through transition flight and certification and get it into production.”

Metaverse

SOUTH KOREA TO INVEST $187M IN NATIONAL METAVERSE PROJECT

March 7, 2022

The government will provide $186.7 million to stimulate the growth of a metaverse platform that it hopes businesses and industries will thrive in.

By BRIAN NEWAR

South Korea’s Ministry of ICT, Science, and Future Planning pledged 223.7 billion Korean won ($186.7 million) to create a broad metaverse ecosystem to support the growth of digital content and corporate growth within the country.

The ministry wrote in an official statement on Sunday that funds will be spent on completing four main objectives in creating what appears to be an all-encompassing metaverse ecosystem titled the “Expanded Virtual World.”

The government agency intends on using its metaverse as a platform for expanding the virtual industrial growth of cities, education and media.

Content creators will enjoy support on multiple fronts to attract the right talent to help build the platform. The ministry said that it will host community-oriented creative activities, a metaverse developer contest and a hackathon.

Money Talk

Wall Street Is Dominating The Crypto World

March 7, 2022

Though cryptocurrency may be a central building block to the decentralized finance movement, its user base is now solidly more institutional than…

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Though cryptocurrency may be a central building block to the decentralized finance movement, its user base is now solidly more institutional than underground.

In 2021, Wall Street upped its crypto investments in a big way, trading $1.4 trillion worth of cryptocurrency on exchange Coinbase Global — a massive increase from just $120 billion in 2020.

Electric Vehicles

Why The Future Of Long-Haul Trucking Is Battery Electric

March 6, 2022

In a factsheet, T&E examines the progress to reaching zero emissions in the freight sector and shows how EU truck CO2 standards can make or break the transition.

There is increasing consensus among European truck manufacturers and industry stakeholders that battery electric trucks will play a dominant role in the decarbonisation of the road freight sector, including for long-haul. With trucks being heavily used capital goods, the advantage of battery electric vehicles in terms of lower fuel and maintenance costs grows with increasing mileage, making them particularly competitive for long-haul transport.

Ambitious CO2 standards in the upcoming revision can create the necessary market certainty to enable truckmakers to scale up their production of zero-emission trucks and for logistics companies to transition their fleets to zero emission. To find out more, download the factsheet.

Energy, Science & Technology News

America’s Power Grid Is Increasingly Unreliable

March 6, 2022

Behind a rising number of outages are new stresses on the system caused by aging power lines, a changing climate and a power-plant fleet rapidly going green

By Katherine Blunt

The U.S. electrical system is becoming less dependable. The problem is likely to get worse before it gets better.

Large, sustained outages have occurred with increasing frequency in the U.S. over the past two decades, according to a Wall Street Journal review of federal data. In 2000, there were fewer than two dozen major disruptions, the data shows. In 2020, the number surpassed 180.

Utility customers on average experienced just over eight hours of power interruptions in 2020, more than double the amount in 2013, when the government began tracking outage lengths. The data doesn’t include 2021, but those numbers are certain to follow the trend after a freak freeze in Texas, a major hurricane in New Orleans, wildfires in California and a heat wave in the Pacific Northwest left millions in the dark for days.

The U.S. power system is faltering just as millions of Americans are becoming more dependent on it—not just to light their homes, but increasingly to work remotely, charge their phones and cars, and cook their food—as more modern conveniences become electrified.

At the same time, the grid is undergoing the largest transformation in its history. In many parts of the U.S., utilities are no longer the dominant producers of electricity following the creation of a patchwork of regional wholesale markets in which suppliers compete to build power plants and sell their output at the lowest price. Within the past decade, natural gas-fired plants began displacing pricier coal-fired and nuclear generators as fracking unlocked cheap gas supplies. Since then, wind and solar technologies have become increasingly cost-competitive and now rival coal, nuclear and, in some places, gas-fired plants.

Regulators in many parts of the country are attempting to further speed the build-out of renewable energy in response to concerns about climate change. A number of states have enacted mandates to eliminate carbon emissions from the grid in the coming decades, and the Biden administration has set a goal to do so by 2035.

Electric Vehicles

Auto Service Companies Are Preparing For The Electric Vehicle Revolution

March 6, 2022

By Peter McGuthriey.

The auto industry’s burgeoning transition to electric vehicles poses new challenges to auto service centers, as higher hybrid and EV adoption rates require companies to understand and manage new hardware.

One such service company is Bridgestone Americas, which owns roughly 2,200 tire and vehicle service centers across the U.S, as detailed in a report last month from Forbes.

As electric motors and battery cell-operated motors become more common, Bridgestone’s service and tire centers require new equipment and updated training for technicians.

While current EV sales volume is still fairly low for the U.S. auto market, Bridgestone Retail Operations President Marko Ibrahim says the company is already making moves to be ready for the expected transition to electric and hybrid models in the years ahead.

“We don’t wait until demand is set, because then we’re behind,” Ibrahim said. “We try to anticipate where the puck is going, and we try to get there first.”

The U.S. auto market only had 24 different EVs available in 2020, that number is expected to increase to 153 by 2025, according to General Motors (GM) Chief Economist Elaine Buckberg in a recent web conference hosted by the Society of Automotive Analysts.