Impact Lab – Page 347 – A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience

Food

THE USDA JUST MADE ITS FIRST INVESTMENT IN LAB-GROWN MEAT

November 4, 2021

In its first investment into the lab-grown meat space, the USDA awarded $10 million to Tufts University to establish the National Institute for Cellular Agriculture.

by ANNA STAROSTINETSKAYA

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) just made its first investment in the lab-grown meat industry. The government agency will award $10 million over the course of five years to Tufts University to establish the National Institute for Cellular Agriculture, a flagship American cultivated protein research center. The project aims to create a more resilient food system by developing “outreach, extension, and education for the next generation of professionals” in the field of cellular agriculture—which revolves around the use of a small amount of animal cells to create real meat and other animal proteins, replacing the environmentally damaging practice of raising and slaughtering animals for food.

“USDA’s historic funding for a National Institute for Cellular Agriculture is an important advancement for cultivated meat research and science,” Appropriations Committee Chair Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) said in a statement. “I am pleased that USDA’s leadership continues to recognize the important role these technologies can play in combating climate change and adding much needed resiliency to our food system.”

Aviation

UK’s Heathrow Airport to Begin Operating 200 MPH Electric Air Taxis by 2025

November 3, 2021

by Otilia Drăgan

UK’s Heathrow airport is gearing up to operate electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles. In just a few years, zero-emissions air taxis could become day-to-day reality.

Vertical Aerospace believes it has more conditional pre-orders for its eVTOL than most companies in this industry, reaching up to 1,350 aircraft worth $5.4 billion. American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Avolon, Bristow Group, and Iberojet are some of its global customers. In addition, the company has now taken a significant step in the UK by teaming up with a hub airport.

Vertical and Heathrow will begin working on the adequate framework for future eVTOL operations, from airport infrastructure and regulatory changes that need to be made to analyzing the potential impact on the surrounding communities and job opportunities. According to Vertical, some of the airlines operating at Heathrow are interested in supporting the development of eVTOL technology and bringing it to the public.

Employment

Nearly 2 in 3 women who left the workforce during Covid plan to return—and most want to enter this field

November 3, 2021

By Jennifer Liu

Women have born the brunt of job loss and negative career impacts over the course of the pandemic, due to a host of factors such as carrying the weight of caregiving responsibilities, as well as their overrepresentation in in-person jobs vulnerable to disruption during the Covid-19 crisis.

As a result, nearly half of all women say the pandemic has negatively impacted their career path, according to a MetLife survey of 2,000 U.S. workers conducted in September. Nearly 1 in 5 women say they’ve been pushed out of the labor force altogether.

One encouraging sign is emerging, however, which could signal greater economic recovery: 2 in 3 women who’ve been forced out of work say they plan to return, according to MetLife.

At the same time, U.S. employers are facing a talent crunch as Americans quit their jobs at record rates throughout 2021, in search of roles better suited to their needs and interests. As such, employment experts say businesses must turn their attention toward what kind of work environment and solutions they can provide in order to hire and retain more working women.

Women are overwhelmingly looking for increased flexibility (78%) and career progression opportunities (73%) in their current or future employer, the MetLife report finds.

The majority of women also say that it’s important their current or future employer provides economic incentives; tailored benefits; upskilling programs; and diversity, equity and inclusion programs in order for them to feel well supported in the workplace.

Coding

Gartner: Citizen developers will soon outnumber professional coders 4 to 1

November 3, 2021

Spike in business-driven automation paves the way for citizen developer careers, Gartner says.

To meet a coming wave of hyper-automation, IT organizations need to do a better job of partnering with professionals outside of IT to automate business processes and data integration, according to research firm Gartner.

Instead of complaining about “shadow IT” efforts outside the control of the CIO, IT should engage with business unit developers to make sure they have what they need to get their work done.

This group includes “business technologists,” or trained, full-time developers who are embedded in a department like marketing. But it also includes “citizen developers” who know how to use no-code, low-code, or data management and analytics tools to automate processes for themselves and their teams. Gartner’s prediction: “By 2023, the number of active citizen developers at large enterprises will be at least four times the number of professional developers.”

IT organizations must break out of the mindset that the work done by these groups is trivial or insignificant, Wong said. “In fact, they are doing serious work. They create algorithms. They create user interfaces that make it easier for their teams to do their work,” he said. Often, they are creating new capabilities, not just making tweaks, he said. “They see the power of workflow and business logic.”

AI

Fujitsu to offer AI-based personalised cancer treatment in Japan

November 2, 2021

Aichi Cancer Center and Fujitsu jointly developed new AI solution to support physicians in efficiently choosing medical treatment

Aichi Cancer Center and Fujitsu have announced the development of an artificial intelligence (AI) based solution able to select effective medical treatment from a wide range of drugs based on patients’ individual cancer types and various genomic variants.

The effectiveness of the new solution has been verified in clinical trials by physicians at Aichi Cancer Center.

With current cancer genomic medicine in Japan, treatment plans are considered based on the patients’ unique circumstances, including the type of cancer and the actionable genomic variants detected in cancer cells.

drones

Mesa Becomes the First Scheduled Airline in the U.S. to Launch Drone Delivery Services

November 2, 2021

by Otilia Drăgan

In the last couple of years, mainly because of the ongoing global health crisis, some business sectors have suffered severe losses, while others have flourished. One of the latter is last-mile food delivery, with an expanding market that’s estimated to reach trillions of dollars, and drones will play an essential part in this rapidly-growing business.

A scheduled airline brand in the U.S. claims to be the first of its kind to launch drone delivery. We’re talking about Mesa Airlines, based in Phoenix, Arizona. This regional air carrier has teamed up with Flirtey, an aerospace technology company, to initiate a drone delivery service.

Science & Technology News, Space Flight

Rocket Lab Plans to Use a Helicopter to Catch a Rocket Mid-Air as It Returns from Space

November 2, 2021

by Florina Spînu

Rocket Lab announced plans to make its Electron rocket the first reusable orbital launch vehicle dedicated to small satellites. Towards that goal, a helicopter will monitor the rocket’s descent during the company’s next launch in preparation for future missions that seek to catch returning rocket boosters mid-air as they return to Earth. 7 photos

Rocket Lab’s next mission, dubbed ‘Love At First Insight,’ is set to take off from the company’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand during a 14-day launch window that will open on November 11th. This will be Rocket Lab’s fifth mission of this year and the third ocean recovery of an Electron stage.

But, this time, things will go down differently. The ‘Love At First Insight’mission will carry two Earth-observation satellites for global monitoring company BlackSky to Earth’s low orbit and will serve as a testbed for future aerial capture efforts.

drones

Canada hospitals use drones to deliver lungs for transplant

November 1, 2021

In the dark of night, a drone takes off from a Toronto hospital rooftop, the hum of its rotors barely audible over the bustling sounds of the cars and pedestrians below in Canada’s largest metropolis.

On its maiden flight, with a bird’s-eye view of the city’s glistening skyline as it glides over apartments, shops and office towers, the drone is carrying a precious cargo – human lungs for transplant.

The 15.5-kilogram (34-pound) carbon fibre unmanned electric drone purpose-built by Quebec-based Unither Bioelectronics flew just 1.2 kilometers (0.75 miles) from Toronto Western Hospital on the city’s west side to the roof of the downtown Toronto General Hospital.

The trip at the end of September took less than 10 minutes. It was automated but kept under the watchful eye of engineers and doctors.

The drone delivery of transplant lungs marked a global first, according to the company, but a similar flight in April 2019 delivered a kidney to a hospital in the US state of Maryland.

Energy

Former SpaceX Engineers Designing Nuclear Microreactor as ‘Clean Energy Alternative to Fossil Fuels’

November 1, 2021

Radiant says each unit of its microreactor delivers over 1MW of electricity, providing enough power to support 1,000 homes per unit.

Radiant’s microreactors are designed to supply power to remote or disaster-struck areas.

Radiant was co-founded by former SpaceX engineers
Radiant’s microreactors are aimed at military and commercial usage
Each Radiant unit can support over a thousand homes

Governments all over the world are looking at energy security as a priority to power their industries, businesses, homes, and offices. But there are finite sources of energy and the technology to harness renewable energy is still decades away from a wider adoption. US-based company Radiant is trying to address this challenge by developing a portable nuclear microreactor. It is collecting funds to design the reactor that can be used where other forms of power generation, including diesel gensets, are not practical. Radiant is founded by engineers who have worked with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

This technology is expected to enable people in remote and disaster areas with rapid supply of electricity as needed. The microreactors can be monitored remotely and centralised fueling, maintenance enable microgrids without any permanent impacts.

Bitcoin

200 BITCOIN ATMS INSTALLED AT WALMART… WITH PLANS FOR 8,000 IN TOTAL

November 1, 2021

Walmart plans to eventually install 8,000 Bitcoin ATMs in the U.S. and has installed 200 in a pilot program.

Walmart has partnered with coin-cashing machine company Coinstar and crypto-cash exchange Coinme to install 200 Bitcoin (BTC) ATMs in its stores across the United States.

Although the pilot includes only 200 kiosks, the broader launch plans to eventually see the installation of 8,000 Bitcoin ATMs across the country, according to Bloomberg. There have been no further details on timelines as of yet.

According to Coin ATM Radar, there are currently over 25,000 Bitcoin ATMs at select grocery stores and service stations in the United States. Coinstar operates 4,400 kiosks enabled for Bitcoin purchases across 33 states.

Science & Technology News, Tesla

‘Tesla In Tunnels’ Project Of Elon Musk’s Boring Company Gets Green Light To Expand In Las Vegas

October 31, 2021

By Madhukumar Warrier

What Happened: The Boring Company took to Twitter to announce that the transportation system, dubbed the “Vegas Loop,” is expanding and thanked the regulators for their approval.

The regulatory approval would enable the company to expand the Vegas Loop system to a 29-mile route with 51 stations.

Clark County said that the system would have the capacity to transport 57,000 passengers per hour and that no taxpayer money would be spent to build the project.

Electric Automobile

Daymak Has Released a New Super Fast Crypto-Mining Electric Vehicle

October 31, 2021

Watch out, Tesla.

By Loukia Papadopoulos

Back in March of 2021, we brought you news of Daymak’s world’s fastest three-wheeled vehicle in the works called the Spiritus. Then, in July we brought you the news that the car would actually mine cryptocurrencies while it charges.

Now, Daymak has released the first prototype of the Spiritus and it’s hard to believe it’s even real!

“The Spiritus car will be equipped with a customized AI-Powered IoniX Pro Lithium Ion Battery System,” said in a statement Aldo Baiocchi, President of Daymak.

“A poster from 2005 of our Spiritus concept three-wheeler still hangs in my office, so finally seeing our vision come to life 16 years later and sharing that dream with more than 25,000 people who ordered the vehicle is a very special moment for us. This prototype is a major milestone in our commitment to the Avvenire program, and having achieved this goal, the rest of the journey is finally coming together.”