Canada-based agritech startup Precision AI has raised seed funding of $20 million to help the agriculture industry reduce its chemical footprint. Its solution? Deploying swarms of artificially intelligent drones to bring down the use of herbicides in agriculture dramatically.
Continue reading… “Precision farming company raises $20M to deploy herbicide-spraying AI drone swarms”The digital divide has left millions of school kids behind
US schools are going back to in-person learning as COVID ebbs, but the so-called homework gap will persist.
The coronavirus shined a light on the homework gap, or the disparity between the haves and have-nots when it comes to those students with laptops, tablets and high-speed internet and those without even basic online access. But the waning of the pandemic’s threat is a stark reminder that this aspect of the larger digital divide was a problem long before, and will remain one even as things return to normal.
But the seismic shift sparked by the coronavirus has some optimistic that more change is on the way.
Continue reading… “The digital divide has left millions of school kids behind”Researchers use 3-D bioprinting to create custom-shaped cartilage for use in surgical procedures
A team of University of Alberta researchers has discovered a way to use 3-D bioprinting technology to create custom-shaped cartilage for use in surgical procedures. The work aims to make it easier for surgeons to safely restore the features of skin cancer patients living with nasal cartilage defects after surgery.
The researchers used a specially designed hydrogel–a material similar to Jell-O–that could be mixed with cells harvested from a patient and then printed in a specific shape captured through 3-D imaging. Over a matter of weeks, the material is cultured in a lab to become functional cartilage.
Continue reading… “Researchers use 3-D bioprinting to create custom-shaped cartilage for use in surgical procedures”You can bid for a seat on Blue Origin’s first human spaceflight on July 20
Aria Alamalhodaei
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is offering up one seat on the inaugural flight of its suborbital rocket New Shepard, set to take place July 20 — but instead of a fixed-price ticket sale, the seat will go to the highest bidder.
It’ll work like this: From May 5-19, bidders will be able to bid any amount on an auction website. From May 19, the bids will be made “unsealed,” or made visible, and bidders must continually exceed the highest bid to remain in the running for the seat. Bidding will conclude June 12 with a live online auction.
From Blue Origin’s website, it looks like the overall flight will be relatively quick, with the craft reaching apogee, or its highest point, four minutes after takeoff. The capsule containing the astronauts (and the lucky bidder) will land 10 minutes after takeoff near its launch site in West Texas.
Blue Origin said the winning bid will be donated to its charitable foundation, Club for the Future.
Continue reading… “You can bid for a seat on Blue Origin’s first human spaceflight on July 20”World’s Largest Airplane Successfully Conducts Second Flight; Edges Closer to Space Vehicle Usage
Stratolaunch, the world’s largest airplane.
By IANS
In 1941, the US government hired billionaire entrepreneur Howard Hughes to build a massive airplane to take some 700 American soldiers into combat. Hughes’ legendary “Spruce Goose” had a wingspan of 97.5 metres.
Last week, 80 years later, an even bigger aircraft, the “Stratolaunch,” took to the skies over southern California’s Mojave Desert, in a second successful test flight that awed onlookers marvelling at its wingspan of 117.3 metres and six Boeing engines that roared in synchronicity, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.
The second successful test flight lasted 2.5 hours and the vehicle reached an altitude of 14,000-feet.
This massive aircraft, resembling two giant Boeing jets flying side-by-side, will not be transporting troops. Its use will be to launch rockets and space vehicles from high atmospheric locations, into the stars.
“Stratolaunch is advancing our nation’s ability to be a worldwide leader in the hypersonic market,” Stratolaunch Systems Chief Technology Officer Daniel R. Millman said in a statement.
“Our flight today gets us another step closer to our promise of delivering the world’s premier hypersonic flight test service.”
Continue reading… “World’s Largest Airplane Successfully Conducts Second Flight; Edges Closer to Space Vehicle Usage”U of T researchers develop microrobots to conduct minimally invasive brain surgery
Eric Diller of U of T’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering is collaborating with medical researchers to develop dexterous, magnetically controlled microrobots that could perform minimally invasive brain surgery on children
Researchers at the University of Toronto are developing microrobots, precisely controlled by magnetic fields, that could one day be used to perform minimally invasive brain surgery on children.
The research team – co-led by Eric Diller, an associate professor of mechanical engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, and James Drake, a professor in the department of surgery in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and a pediatric neurosurgeon at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) – says the technology represents a departure from the rigid, wired designs of most micro-surgical tools.
“Advancing surgery through an endoscope in the pediatric brain requires miniaturized versatile tools which can be precisely controlled,” says Drake. “This novel concept of using tiny, magnetized tools, controlled by robotic external magnets, shows great promise in addressing this need for both pediatric and adult patients.”
Each year 24,000 malignant brain tumours are detected in the United States. These tumours are the most common form of solid cancer in children, and surgery to remove the tumour is often the first recommended course of treatment. The surgeries can be highly invasive with a long recovery process. In some cases, when surgery via endoscope is possible, the tools may not be small or dexterous enough to perform the treatment.
Continue reading… “U of T researchers develop microrobots to conduct minimally invasive brain surgery”New 3D scan finds heart disease in 20 minutes
The scans will allow doctors to diagnose heart problems without invasive procedures
Revolutionary 3D scans that can diagnose coronary heart disease in 20 minutes are being introduced by the NHS.
Tens of thousands of patients every year will be assessed and treated five times faster thanks to the technology.
Continue reading… “New 3D scan finds heart disease in 20 minutes”What if you could condense all your pills into one? With 3D printing, you can
Researchers debut a new technique that proves pills can be designed for individual patients.
The objects are almost beautiful. The surfaces appear faceted and woven, catching the light like ornate jewelry. But they are not jewelry. They are pills, and possibly the most high-tech pills ever designed, in fact. These tablets are artisanal, tuned for just one person, to release a small medicine cabinet of different drugs at the right time.
Developed by researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA), these pills are produced by a breakthrough in 3D printing. Today, that printing is done in a lab. Tomorrow, scientists suggest, the work might be done by a pharmacist, hospital, or almost any entity other than separate pharmaceutical companies, each of which currently churns out millions of doses of the same drugs in one-size-fits-all pill formats.
Continue reading… “What if you could condense all your pills into one? With 3D printing, you can”Will quantum computing deliver a big leap forward for battery cells?
The Cologne-headquartered German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Cambridge Quantum Computing(CQC) in the UK is the latest pair to explore how quantum computing could help create better simulation models for battery development. The DLR is Germany’s research center for aeronautics and space.
As IBM defines it, “Quantum computing harnesses the phenomena of quantum mechanics to deliver a huge leap forward in computation to solve certain problems.”
DLR will use CQC’s quantum algorithms for solving partial differential equation systems to render a one-dimensional simulation of a lithium-ion battery cell.
This will lay the groundwork for exploring multi-scale simulations of complete battery cells with quantum computers, which are considered a viable alternative for rendering full 3D models. A multi-scale approach incorporates information from different system levels (e.g., atomistic, molecular, and macroscopic) to make a simulation more manageable and realistic. That, in turn, will potentially accelerate battery research and development for a variety of sustainable energy solutions.
DLR has previously used classical computer modeling to research a range of different battery types, including lithium-ion and other technologies.
Continue reading… “Will quantum computing deliver a big leap forward for battery cells?”3D Printed ‘Artificial Leaves’ Could Provide Sustainable Energy on Mars
Microalgae 3D printed onto bacterial cellulose allows for a new oxygen-producing material.
By Chris Young
A group of international researchers led by the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in Netherlands used 3D printing to create a living material made of algae that could lead to sustainable energy production on Mars as well as a number of other applications, a TU Delft press release explains.
The researchers used a novel bioprinting technique to print microalgae into a living, resilient material that is capable of photosynthesis. Their research is published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.
“We created a material that can produce energy simply by placing it into the light,” Kui Yu, a Ph.D. student involved in the work, explained in the release. “The biodegradable nature of the material itself and the recyclable nature of microalgal cells make it a sustainable living material.”
Continue reading… “3D Printed ‘Artificial Leaves’ Could Provide Sustainable Energy on Mars”Surgeons Use Self-Navigating Robot to Find Leaky Valve in Pig Hearts
The robotic catheter used for heart surgery on pigs.
During a recent experiment at Boston Children’s Hospital, bioengineers used a robotic catheter to reach a leaky valve insidepig hearts. But get this—the device was completely autonomous, navigating through the heart all by itself and without the benefit of a surgeon’s guiding hand. Welcome to the future of heart surgery.
New research published today in Science Robotics describes a robotic catheter that’s capable of moving autonomously inside a living body. In tests, the device navigated through beating, blood-filled pig hearts in search of its target—a leaky prosthetic valve. Once at the scene, a surgeon took over to finish the repair. The senior investigator of this project, bioengineer Pierre Dupont from Boston Children’s Hospital, said this proof-of-concept experiment suggests autonomous surgical robots could be used for complex procedures, freeing up surgeons to focus on the most difficult tasks.
Continue reading… “Surgeons Use Self-Navigating Robot to Find Leaky Valve in Pig Hearts”Staggering approval for Alphabet drone among early customers
By Greg Nichols
Since October 2019, Alphabet’s Wing has operated a drone delivery service five days per week in the tiny hamlet of Christiansburg, Virginia; a community of just over 20,000. The early testbed has been one to watch for a delivery drone sector that’s just emerging from in a slowly evolving regulatory regime.
Key to the future of drone delivery is positive consumer sentiment. So how do the people of Christiansburg feel about the delivery drone service that’s made their community one of a small number of canaries in the coal mine for the consumer drone sector?
In short, they love it.
Continue reading… “Staggering approval for Alphabet drone among early customers”