Impact Lab – Page 360 – A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience

How AI, smart sensors, and lettuce-picking robots are transforming agriculture on this ‘hands-free’ farm

August 23, 2021

It cost $20 million to set up, according to ABC News.Getty Images

An Australian farm is now fully automated and “hands-free.”
On the farm, artificial intelligence, robots, and smart sensors do the farming.
The 1,900-hectare farm will demonstrate how tech can make the industry more productive and efficient.

Technological innovation isn’t just spreading to smart cities, intelligent buildings, or new hybrid work models; robots are also revolutionizing agriculture with artificial intelligence, autonomous tractors, sensors that monitor crops in real time, drones, or fruit and vegetable-harvesting robots.

brain hacking, Science & Technology News

Tiny “Neurograins” Could Power Next Generation of Brain-Computer Interfaces

August 23, 2021

Tiny chips called neurograins are able to sense electrical activity in the brain and transmit that data wirelessly. Credit: Jihun Lee/ Brown University

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are emerging assistive devices that may one day help people with brain or spinal injuries to move or communicate. BCI systems depend on implantable sensors that record electrical signals in the brain and use those signals to drive external devices like computers or robotic prosthetics.

Most current BCI systems use one or two sensors to sample up to a few hundred neurons, but neuroscientists are interested in systems that are able to gather data from much larger groups of brain cells.

Now, a team of researchers has taken a key step toward a new concept for a future BCI system — one that employs a coordinated network of independent, wireless microscale neural sensors, each about the size of a grain of salt, to record and stimulate brain activity. The sensors, dubbed “neurograins,” independently record the electrical pulses made by firing neurons and send the signals wirelessly to a central hub, which coordinates and processes the signals.

Big Data, Science & Technology News

The world’s data explained: how much we’re producing and where it’s all stored

August 22, 2021

Code written out. — Everyday we generate 500 million tweets, 294 billion emails and 4 million gigabytes of Facebook data. Image:

Humankind has been storing data for millions of years, as wall paintings, in books and more recently in super-sized data centers.
Technological advancements have increased our ability to create and store data.
Each day on Earth we generate 500 million tweets, 294 billion emails and 4 million gigabytes of Facebook data.
Around 150 years from now, the number of digital bits would reach an impossible value, exceeding the number of all atoms on Earth.

Science & Technology News

Forget Flying Cars. The World’s First Flying Motorcycle Is Coming.

August 22, 2021

The Speeder’s design team said the sci-fi sky-bike recently passed flight tests. They expect it to be commercially available by 2023.

By J. GEORGE GORANT

Flying cars and flying people with jet packs are on the way, so why not flying motorcycles?

Jetpack Aviation, which already makes vertical people propellers, just announced a successful test flight of its jet-driven flying motorcycle prototype. The projected performance is Easy Rider-worthy bad-ass, and best of all, the California company plans to produce two consumer versions for everyday users.

The Speeder is an engineering feat that required Jetpack Aviation to write its own flight-control software program to monitor and adjust the thrust. The benefit of that work, which took a year and a half, is an intuitive system that functions like a typical motorcycle and automatically stabilizes the machine in flight. It can take off and land vertically from most surfaces in roughly the space taken up by a car, and it can be programmed to fly autonomously.

Science & Technology News, Weapons

The Army’s first laser weapon is almost ready for a fight

August 22, 2021

A Northrop Grumman photo illustration of the defense contractor’s Stryker-mounted laser weapon in action. (Northrop Grumman)

BY JARED KELLER

Pew pew pew!

Slowly but surely, the Army is inching towards fielding its first true combat-capable, high-powered laser weapon mounted on a Stryker infantry carrier vehicle.

The service announced on Tuesday that it had successfully completed its first-ever Directed Energy-Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense (DE M-SHORAD) “combat shoot-off” between two unique laser systems at Fort Sill in Oklahoma earlier this summer.

The shoot-off saw the two 50-kilowatt laser weapons — developed in a competition between defense contractors Northrop Grumman and Raytheon — participate in “a series of vignettes designed to emulate realistic threats and combat scenarios,” according to the service.

Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

Fecal Transplants Could Be New Tool in Fight Against Age-Related Decline

August 20, 2021

By Brandon May

Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is an innovative procedure studied in several conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease. Recent animal research reportedin Nature Aging on Monday suggests fecal transplants may actually reverse the signs of brain aging.

The study transplanted gut microbes from the feces of young mice into older mice to reverse age-related declines of the brain. Intestinal bacteria have been shown to play a role in a variety physiological processes and also influence different dimensions of overall health.

Robotics, Science & Technology News

ROBOTIC GYNECOLOGIC SURGERY: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

August 20, 2021

Robotic gynecologic surgery provides surgeons a greater range of motion and precision

Robotic surgeries in healthcare are not new, especially in the field of gynecology. In 2005, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of robotic surgery for gynecological procedures. When both medication and non-invasive procedures fail to treat gynecological disorder symptoms, doctors recommend surgery. Robotic Gynecologic Surgery stays the acknowledged and best treatment for most gynecological conditions such as cervical cancer, excessive uterine bleeding, uterine fibroids, and more.

Before robotic surgery, surgeons sometimes used to held cameras in their hands, which means they could shake or gradually move. Now, the specialist can get a 3-D perspective on the activity site and the video is steady all through the process. Control has likewise improved with robotic technology. This allows surgeons to work normally and instinctively which can prompt better outcomes and speed up the process. It also helps to reduce the risk of blood loss and quicker recovery.

Batteries, Science & Technology News

Batteries made from trees could help transform the future of electric travel

August 20, 2021

Finnish sustainable material developers have opened a mill that turns powdered tree macromolecules into energy

By Shannon McDonagh

A material found in the wood of our plants is being trialled as a way to produce sustainable battery power.

Finnish designers Stora Enso have built a new production facility costing €10 million that will create renewable bio-based carbon by turning trees into batteries. This will be achieved by the use of a wood-based material called lignin.

The plant is based beside the company’s Sunila Mill in Kotka, southern Finland, which employs over 150 people and specialises in producing softwood pulp, and biofuels like tall oil and turpentine.

The company is responsible for developing a number of wood and biomaterial-based solutions for everyday problems that require eco-friendly solutions. Their innovative product offerings range from mouldable woods to formed fiber food packaging.

Machine Learning, Science & Technology News

Machine Learning Bot Can Replace Your Gardener, It Plants and Weeds on Its Own

August 19, 2021

By Cristina Mircea

Gardening is a rewarding activity indeed, both for your mind, as well as for your body. Unfortunately though, most of us can’t find enough time to dedicate to it, as our hectic lifestyles get in the way. That’s where this smart garden robot comes in, to make sure you don’t have to sow yourself, but just reap the benefits.

Sybil is a small, but a very capable device with machine learning capabilities. It can autonomously plant, weed, and map your entire garden.

Robotics, Science & Technology News

Magnetic ‘millirobots’ climb and swim to deliver drugs to neural tissue

August 19, 2021

Researchers from Purdue University have developed magnetic ‘millirobots’ which can climb slopes, move against a current, and deliver substances to rodent neural tissue with great precision.

The study investigated how the robots – ‘Magnetically Aligned Nanorods In Alginate CapsuleS’ (aka ‘Maniacs’) – could perform as drug delivery vehicles inside the body. It found that, when controlled using a magnetic field, the robots can move against fluid flow, climb slopes and move through neural tissue, such as the spinal cord, to deposit substances at precise locations.

Disease in the central nervous system can be very difficult to treat. Lamar Mair of Weinberg Medical Physics, which partnered with the academics on the study, explained: “Delivering drugs orally or intravenously, for example, to target cancers or neurologic diseases, may affect regions of the body and nervous system that are unrelated to the disease. Targeted drug delivery may lead to improved efficacy and reduced side-effects due to lower off-target dosing.”

AI, Science & Technology News

OpenAI can translate English into code with its new machine learning software Codex

August 19, 2021

‘We see this as a tool to multiply programmers’

By James Vincent

AI research company OpenAI is releasing a new machine learning tool that translates the English language into code. The software is called Codex and is designed to speed up the work of professional programmers, as well as help amateurs get started coding.

In demos of Codex, OpenAI shows how the software can be used to build simple websites and rudimentary games using natural language, as well as translate between different programming languages and tackle data science queries. Users type English commands into the software, like “create a webpage with a menu on the side and title at the top,” and Codex translates this into code. The software is far from infallible and takes some patience to operate, but could prove invaluable in making coding faster and more accessible.

“IT TAKES PEOPLE WHO ARE ALREADY PROGRAMMERS AND REMOVES THE DRUDGE WORK.”

Green Friendly, Science & Technology News

Israeli Start-Up Creates Robotic Beehives To Support Dwindling Bee Colonies

August 19, 2021

By Bharat Sharma

An Israeli startup has done the unthinkable by creating an artificial beehive to facilitate stable bee colonies under ideal conditions.

The next-gen hive which constitutes multiple layers of honeycombs can house up to 2 million bees… and that’s not it!

The robotic set-up also scans beehives for diseases, pesticides, and other hazards that may pose a threat to the gentle creatures.

On multiple occasions, scientists have highlighted how dwindling populations of bees threaten existing ecosystems on planet Earth.

In the face of new dangers posed by climate change clubbed with receding natural habitats for organisms, beekeepers are trying out new ways to preserve existing populations of bees.