Impact Lab – Page 368 – A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience

SpaceX and a Canadian Startup Will Turn Space Into a Billboard

August 16, 2021

Space is going to be a billboard. If you like to run your own ad, the collaboration accepts cryptocurrencies only.

Just as paid human spaceflights are about to begin, advertising is making a mark in space too. A Canadian startup called Geometric Energy Corporation (GEC) has tied up with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, taking advertising to space on a small satellite aboard the Falcon 9 rocket, Business Insider reported. However, the collaboration won’t feature a classic advertising billboard that we are used to see around, the ads will run on a pixelated display screen on a satellite called a CubeSat.

Calgary-based GEC is an intellectual property, manufacturing, and logistics company, all rolled into one. Through its subsidiaries, Geometric Space, GeometricLabs, Geometric Medical, and Geometric Gaming, the company is inventing and manufacturing products and services for its customers in the private as well as the public sectors. As the company claims, during the pandemic, it supplied “ethically sourced” nitrile gloves to institutions in Canada and the U.S. while also developing a solid-state Sodium-Ion battery product.

Bitcoin, Science & Technology News

SEC Chairman Says Satoshi Nakamoto’s Innovation Is Real, Crypto Rules Are Clear

August 16, 2021

The chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, says that Satoshi Nakamoto’s innovation is real. “It has been and could continue to be a catalyst for change in the fields of finance and money,” he said.

by Kevin Helms

Satoshi Nakamoto’s Innovation Is Real.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler talked about bitcoin and cryptocurrency regulation last week at the Aspen Security Forum where he outlined his plans to regulate the crypto space. He began by referencing the Bitcoin whitepaper and its creator, the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto.

“His innovation spurred the development of crypto assets and the underlying blockchain technology,” Gensler said about Satoshi, adding that “the crypto asset class has ballooned” and is now worth about $1.83 trillion.

Bitcoin, Science & Technology News

Bitcoin mining is suddenly one of the most profitable businesses on the planet

August 15, 2021

The sweeping shutdown delivered a huge prize to the rest of the world’s miners.

BY SHAWN TULLY

Would you believe that Bitcoin mining generates just as much revenue as the age-old pursuit of unearthing gold and silver ore? Right now, minting this most unorthodox asset may also rank as the most profitable major industry on the planet. The entrepreneurs running their towering racks of rigs 24/7 were garnering stupendous margins when prices surged to over $60,000 in mid-April. Now they’re pocketing even fatter returns at prices that are one-third lower. And we’re talking numbers that for now surpass such famously lucrative enclaves as Big Pharma, luxury goods, and software.

Robots, Science & Technology News

Science’s next great leap: using squirrels to teach robots how to ‘parkour’

August 15, 2021

Researchers studying rodents’ leaping abilities suggest findings could help them create nimble artificial intelligence systems

ByJoe Pinkstone

Squirrels use techniques similar to those of parkour athletes when leaping from one branch to another, a study has found.

Parkour, a form of freerunning, is a popular sport where people jump over and under obstacles at speed and often involves leaping long distances.

A team of US-based researchers at University of California, Berkeley studied the biomechanics of bounding squirrels in eucalyptus trees and observed how and when they flung themselves from one branch to another.

Augmented Reality, Science & Technology News

Facebook can project your eyes onto a VR headset, and it’s exactly as uncanny as it sounds

August 15, 2021

It’s got a TV eye on you

By Adi Robertson

Facebook Reality Labs wants to help people see your eyes while you’re in virtual reality — even if the results sit somewhere between mildly unsettling and nightmarish. Earlier this week, FRL released a paper on “reverse passthrough VR,” a recipe for making VR headsets less physically isolating. Researchers devised a method for translating your face onto the front of a headset, although they emphasize it’s still firmly experimental.

“Passthrough VR” refers to a feature that displays a live video feed from a headset’s cameras, letting users see the real world while they’re still wearing the device. Facebook’s Oculus Quest platform, for instance, shows users a passthrough feed when they step outside their VR space’s boundaries. It’s useful for quickly dropping out of VR, and it can also enable a form of augmented reality by adding virtual objects to the camera feed. But as FRL notes, the people around a headset user can’t make eye contact, even if the wearer can see them perfectly. That’s awkward if bystanders are used to seeing their friend or co-worker’s uncovered face.

Science & Technology News, Trending

The economic consequences of a smaller nation are more dire, and more wide-ranging, than commonly believed

August 14, 2021

America’s population may be shrinking. That’s mostly because of Covid, but it’s also part of longer-term trends in fertility that show no signs of abating. These trends, which are worldwide, have already caused major economic dislocation and are likely to continue to do so.

First, some data. From 1936 to 1956, the U.S. fertility rate rose from 1.8 to 3.2. At the peak of the baby boom, the average woman in the U.S. was having at least three children who survived until adulthood. (A rate of 2.1 is considered replacement level, holding the population steady over time.)

The result was a huge generation that not only transformed American culture, but also created a market and labor pool for would-be entrepreneurs and growing corporations. From the 1960s through the mid-1980s, net domestic investment by private businessesaveraged 5.4% of GDP each year. One dollar of every $20 spent in the U.S. economy was directed toward expanding the size and scope of private enterprise.

New Discoveries, Science & Technology News

‘Bogolons’ make graphene superconducting

August 14, 2021

Graphene can be made to superconduct by placing it next to a Bose-Einstein condensate – a form of matter in which all the atoms are in the same quantum state. According to the theorists who discovered it, this new type of superconductivity stems from interactions between the electrons in graphene and quasiparticles called “bogolons” in the condensate. If demonstrated experimentally, the work could make it possible to develop new types of hybrid superconducting devices for applications in quantum sensing and quantum computing.

Conventional superconductivity occurs when phonons – quasiparticles that arise from vibrations in a material’s crystal lattice – cause electrons in the material to pair up despite their mutual electromagnetic repulsion. If the material is cooled to sufficiently low temperatures, these paired electrons (known as Cooper pairs) can travel through it without any resistance.

DNA, Science & Technology News

Cracking one more layer of genetic code will finally enable personalized medicine, researcher says

August 14, 2021

The New Scientist

By McMaster University

When the Human Genome Project reached its ambitious goal of mapping the entire human genome, it seemed the world was entering an era of personalized medicine, where evidence from our own specific genetic material would guide our care.

That was 2003, and nearly a generation after that spectacular collaborative achievement, we are still waiting for that promise to materialize. We may know that a person carries a gene associated with breast cancer, for example, but not whether that person will go on to develop the disease.

New research by McMaster University evolutionary biologist Rama Singh suggests the reason is that there is another, hidden layer that controls how genes interact, and how the many billions of possible combinations produce certain results. That layer is composed of largely uncharted biochemical pathways that control gene expression in cells through chemical reactions.

AI, Science & Technology News

Artificial Intelligence Can Now Create Canvas Artworks

August 13, 2021

Thanks to the new art-meets-tech service, Artifly.

In 2018, Christie’s shocked the world by selling the world’s first fully AI-produced artwork. The work was entitled Portrait of Edmond de Belamy 2018 and sold for $432,500 USD, as opposed to the $10,000 USD it was expected to go for. The breakthrough was led by Hugo Caselles-Dupré, Pierre Fautrel, and Gauthier Vernier — who make up the collective Obvious Art.

Ben Kovalis, Eyal Fisher and Guy Haimovitz are three of the many people who took inspiration from the work Obvious had created. Upon creating Art AI Gallery in 2019, the group have just launched a new tech-meets-art venture, called Artifly. The name derives from “Art on the Fly” and allows users to choose a selection of artwork that fit their style, then an advanced algorithm will muster up a personal artwork within minutes that is available for purchase. Unlike some of the exorbitant prices fetched for NFTs, Artifly’s custom artwork is fairly inexpensive, with rates as low as $29 USD for an unframed canvas.

NASA, Science & Technology News

NASA’s X-59 prototype gets closer to flight

August 13, 2021

By Shane McGlaun

There are currently no supersonic commercial passenger aircraft, and aircraft capable of breaking the sound barrier are banned from doing so over most of the United States. The biggest reason why aircraft aren’t allowed to break the sound barrier is noise created. NASA is working on an experimental aircraft called the X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology aircraft and has announced that it is entering a stage of its construction where it more closely resembles an actual aircraft.

The aircraft is known as QueSST for short, and major sections of the aircraft were recently merged, making it look like an actual flying machine for the first time. The first metal for the experimental aircraft was cut in 2018. NASA chief engineer for the Low Boom Flight Demonstrator, Jay Brandon, says the aircraft’s transition from numerous separate parts located on different parts of the production floor to an airplane is a milestone.

The experimental aircraft is currently under construction at the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in California. The aircraft is designed to reach supersonic speeds of approximately 660 mph at sea level without producing a sonic boom audible to those on the ground. NASA intends to work with communities around the country to understand the response to the sound produced by the aircraft and will provide that data to regulators.

Hopefully, the data can be used to change rules that currently ban supersonic flight over land. If the rules against supersonic flight were lifted, time in the air could be cut in half for air travelers in the future. NASA says the team used features on the aircraft’s structure to self-locate its wing, tail assembly, and fuselage. The team also used laser projections to verify precise fitment.

Bitcoin, Science & Technology News

Miami Launches Its Own Cryptocurrency To Fund City Services

August 13, 2021

The new MiamiCoin, a cryptocurrency offered through the CityCoins initiative, is available for mining starting Tuesday.

By Tiffany Razzano,

The new MiamiCoin, a cryptocurrency offered through the CityCoins initiative, is available for mining starting Tuesday.

MIAMI, FL — Miami has become the first city with its own cryptocurrency, a digital currency.

The new Miami Coin became available for mining Tuesday through the CityCoins initiative, which generates funds for municipalities through city-specific cryptocurrencies.

“MiamiCoin ($MIA) is a way for people to support the Magic City and grow its crypto treasury while earning BTC and STX yield for themselves,” according to the CityCoins website. “MiamiCoin can be mined or bought by individuals who want to support the Magic City and earn crypto yield from the Stacks protocol.”

Space Flight

As Commercial Space Travel Becomes Reality, Debris and Space Traffic Management Becomes More Important

August 12, 2021

By Adrian Moore and Rebecca van Burken

If the government works with private industry through strategic public-private partnerships, the U.S. can best address the threats posed by orbital debris and create sustainable policies for safe space exploration.

With Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos soaring into suborbital space, three U.S. flights to the International Space Station (ISS) in July, and SpaceX delivering 88 satellites to orbit in the last six weeks, space traffic is surging. And this is just the beginning of increased commercial and governmental activity in space.

August will see several more trips to the ISS and more launches of satellites. Additionally, the Biden administration signed an agreement with the European Space Agency to use more satellites to address climate change through earth science research. This increased space traffic serves a wide array of purposes and represents vast investments by the private space industry and government. But these investments are going to increasingly be jeopardized by the massive amount of space junk already circling Earth.

There’s plenty of room to fly up there, but, believe it or not, NASA estimates there are already 23,000 pieces of debris larger than 10 centimeters and over 500,000 pieces of smaller junk in orbit. This space junk, or orbital debris, travels at high speeds and even a small piece can cause serious damage or destruction if it hits a spacecraft or satellite.