Impact Lab – Page 362 – A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience

All New Audis Will Be Electric Starting in 2026

September 7, 2021

2026 will see a radical change to Audi’s lineup of cars and SUVs, while 2033 will be the last year it produces combustion engines.

BY HAZEL SOUTHWELL

Audi confirmed in March of this year that it was stopping all development of combustion engines to focus completely on electric vehicles. Then, a few months later, its board chairman Markus Duesmann told German news that all new Audis would be electric from 2026. And, today, it’s confirmed that timeline for phasing out internal combustion engines, by saying that “new Audi models from 2026 will be all-electric, and combustion engine production to end in 2033.”

Audi announced the plan as part of its new Vorsprung 2030 manifesto, which highlights how Audi is planning to become more sustainable in the ways it develops vehicles. The detail goes from the combustion phase-out to looking for that unbelievably sexy automotive buzzword currently—”synergies”—that will help the brand transfer its main area of profits from combustion vehicle sales to electric.

Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

FIRST SUCCESSFUL TRANSPLANT OF A ROBOTIC HEART

September 7, 2021

Every 10 minutes someone is added to the organ transplant waiting list in the US.

As of May 2021, there were over 100,000 people waiting for replacement organs across the country.

And countless more people in need of “spare parts” never even make it onto the waiting list. On average, 17 people die each day while waiting for an organ transplant.

As a result, hundreds of thousands of US deaths could be prevented or postponed with access to organ replacements.

That’s why the recent announcement of the first successful human transplant of an artificial heart in a US patient is such a big development.

The artificial heart used in the transplant was created by medical technology company Carmat, which won FDA approval for human trials just last year. Discussing the latest developments in biotech—using biology as technology—is a key focus of my year-round coaching program Abundance360.

In today’s blog, we’ll discuss how Carmat’s artificial heart works and how it fits into the broader objective of regenerative medicine.

Let’s dive in…

Driverless vehicles

World’s first autonomous, 7MWh electric cargo ship to make voyage with zero crew onboard

September 6, 2021

By Scooter Doll

A Norwegian company called Yara International claims to have created the world’s first zero-emission shipthat can also transport cargo autonomously. The Yara Birkeland electric cargo ship was first conceptualized in 2017 but now looks to make its first voyage with no crew members onboard later this year in Norway.

Yara International is a Norwegian company that was founded in 1905 to combat the rising famine in Europe at the time. The company created the world’s first nitrogen fertilizer, which remains its largest business focus today.

In addition to its perpetual battle against hunger, Yara focuses on emissions abatement and sustainable agricultural practices. While the company wants to continue finding success in feeding the planet, it believes it can also do so sustainably.

To combat toxic Sulfur Oxides (SOx) and Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) emissions from diesel engines on ships, the Norwegian company created Yara Marine Technologies. In 2017, the company began conceptualizing the possibility of an autonomous, fully electric ship to rid of toxic emissions altogether.

Today, the Yara Birkeland is afloat in Norway, named after the Norwegian researcher who discovered the ability to add nitrogen to fertilizer. Now, the electric cargo ship looks to complete its first journey without a single crew member onboard.

AI

New Biocompatible AI May Aid Medicine and Healthcare

September 6, 2021

European scientists apply optoelectronics to create an implantable AI platform.

By Kaja Perina

A new study published in Science Advances by European scientists working in optoelectronics have created a biocompatible artificial intelligence (AI) platform that may enable a novel way for the early detection, monitoring, and treatment of diseases and medical conditions.

“We prove the usefulness of the organic networks on a diverse set of computational tasks such as a flower classification using the Iris dataset (accuracy of 96%), time-series prediction (97%), and biofluids monitoring,” wrote the study authors led by the Technische Universität Dresden in collaboration with the Dresden Integrated Center for Applied Physics and Photonic Materials (IAPP) in Germany, the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in the Ukraine, and Alysophil SAS in France.

Optoelectronics is the field of study and application of the quantum mechanical effects of light used in electronic devices such as pharmaceutics, batteries, cosmetics, lasers, optical fiber, solar cells (photovoltaics), photodiodes, LED traffic lights, consumer electronics, and nanoscale devices.

“Early detection of malign patterns in patients’ biological signals can save millions of lives,” wrote the researchers.

Healthcare

Next-gen wheelchairs are modular and shapeshifting

September 6, 2021

Next-generation wheelchairs are pushing the boundaries of mobility

Wheelchairs provide valuable independence to their owners. Designs vary according to the terrain and user needs. Both of these can change over time. However, their price makes it difficult to afford more than one chair. In response, designers are taking cues from bikes and robotics to make wheelchairs that adapt to the varied user needs.

The UNAwheel Maxi device is a wheelchair add-on. It hooks onto the front of an existing chair and is compatible with basic and active wheelchairs without adding extra weight. It comes with button steering to accelerate, decelerate, and turn.

The steering section is made of a combination of metal (hydroforming/cutting technology) and plastic (injection molding), the handles are made of rubber, and the main body of plastic (RIM). It is easy to operate and can be easily and quickly attached to and detached from the wheelchair.

Space Flight

Silicon Valley’s most successful incubator is doubling down on space tugs

September 5, 2021

TransAstra CEO Joel Sercel with a prototype of a solar thermal engine.

By Tim Fernholz

TransAstra was founded in 2015 with the goal of mining asteroids. Yet harvesting resources out in the solar system, for all its appeal, is still far from feasible. Moving orbiting spacecraft around Earth? That is a service companies are willing to pay for, right now.

The trick of space business might be developing a lucrative path to a far-off vision. Elon Musk may want to retire on Mars and SpaceX may enable him to do so, but what’s significant about the firm is that it earns money providing space services in demand right now.

TransAstra founder and CEO Joel Sercel will, in theory, perform a similar sleight of hand: When its first spacecraft, dubbed Worker Bee, reaches orbit in 2023, it will show off a novel thruster technology called solar thermal propulsion, and earn money by precisely positioning satellites launched on larger rockets. And if that succeeds, it will launch a fleet of solar-powered spacecraft into orbit—and perhaps realize a larger vision of harvesting commodities from asteroids.

Science & Technology News, Space

Astroscale successfully demos in-space capture-and-release system to clear orbital debris

September 5, 2021

By Aria Alamalhodaei

Astroscale hit a major milestone Wednesday, when its space junk removal demo satellite that’s currently in orbit successfully captured and released a client spacecraft using a magnetic system.

The End-of-Life Services by Astroscale-demonstration (ELSA-d) mission was launched in March, with the goal of validating the company’s orbital debris removal tech. The demonstrator package, which was sent up on a Soyuz rocket that launched from Kazakhstan, included two separate spacecraft: a “servicer” designed to remove space junk, and a “client” that poses as said space junk.

“A major challenge of debris removal, and on-orbit servicing in general, is docking with or capturing a client object; this test demonstration served as a successful validation of ELSA-d’s ability to dock with a client, such as a defunct satellite,” the company explained.

The demonstration today showed that the servicer — a model of Astroscale’s future product — can successfully magnetically capture and release other spacecraft.

Batteries

3D-printed solid-state batteries near production

September 5, 2021

Batteries that are lighter, cheaper and easier to produce could result from a convergence of modern approaches

By Freddie Holmes

A company that plans to produce 3D-printed solid-state batteries is readying to launch its first pilot line. California-based Sakuu is targeting not only electric vehicles (EVs) but also other sectors such as aerospace, consumer electronics and medical devices. The new battery line is expected to be operational by the end of 2021 and will have a capacity of up to 2.5 megawatt hours (MWh) per year.

Once up and running, the plan is to begin issuing batteries to strategic customers and ‘early access partners’ who can perform their own development and testing. One other solid-state battery start-up QuantumScape recently ran a similar initiative, where its pouch cells were issued to third parties. The results were presented in Decemberalongside its joint venture partner, Volkswagen Group.

Energy

Dust-sized supercapacitor packs the same voltage as a AAA battery

September 4, 2021

An array of 90 tubular biosupercapacitors

By Nick Lavars

By combining miniaturized electronics with some origami-inspired fabrication, scientists in Germany have developed what they say is the smallest microsupercapacitor in existence. Smaller than a speck of a dust but with a similar voltage to a AAA battery, the groundbreaking energy storage device is not only safe for use in the human body, but actually makes use of key ingredients in the blood to supercharge its performance.

The scientists behind the new device were working within the realm of nano-supercapacitors (nBSC), which are conventional capacitors but scaled down to the sub-millimeter scale. Developing these types of devices is tricky enough, but the researchers sought to make one that could work safely in the human body to power tiny sensors and implants, which requires swapping out problematic materials and corrosive electrolytes for ones that are biocompatible.

These devices are known as biosupercapacitors and the smallest ones developed to date is larger than 3 mm³, but the scientists have made a huge leap forward in terms of how tiny biosupercapacitors can be. The construction starts with a stack of polymeric layers that are sandwiched together with a light-sensitive photo-resist material that acts as the current collector, a separator membrane, and electrodes made from an electrically conductive biocompatible polymer called PEDOT:PSS.

brain hacking

New Brain Implant Restores Sense of Touch on Fingertips

September 4, 2021

A chiropractor performing a nerve conduction velocity (NCV) test on a patient.

By Fabienne Lang

The little electrode brain implant has the potential to help millions of people living with paralysis and neuropathy.

Imagine not being able to feel the warmth of a hand holding yours, or the buttons of your shirt as you try and do it up.

Millions of people live with paralysis and peripheral neuropathy — when nerves in the body’s extremities, such as hands and feet, are damaged — and aren’t able to feel sensations through their fingertips and toes.

But that might all be about to change.

Researchers at The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research managed to evoke the sense of touch in fingers using a minimally invasive electrode brain implant. The study, a first-in-human one, offers the potential to change the lives of millions of people around the world.

The details were published in the journal Brain Stimulation.

AI

Fetch.ai brings AI and machine learning to NFT creators

September 4, 2021

Fetch.ai, an artificial intelligence lab based in the British city of Cambridge, today announced the launch of its new non-fungible token(NFT) platform, Colearn Paint, that will allow creators to automatically generate NFTs using a machine learning algorithm.