A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience
Every four minutes, approximately 1,000 babies are born across the globe. But in which countries are these babies the most statistically likely to come from?
Using data from the CIA World Factbook, this graphic by Pratap Vardhan (Stats of India) paints a picture of the world’s demographics, showing which countries are most likely to welcome the next 1,000 babies based on population and birth rates as of 2022 estimates.
Continue reading… “Where Will the World’s Next 1,000 Babies Be Born?”General Motors is working on a radical plan to use portable hydrogen-powered generators to charge electric vehicles in remote areas.
US car giant General Motors is considering a radical plan to develop portable hydrogen generators to charge electric cars in remote areas.
It’s another technology option being considered as the world’s auto makers grapple with how low-emissions and zero-emissions cars could be used in remote areas.
Most electric cars on sale today have a driving range of between 200km and 400km, which is less than most petrol or diesel vehicles.
While hydrogen-powered vehicles are also in development – experimental fleets of Toyota Mirai (pictured below) and Hyundai Nexo hydrogen cars are already on Australian roads – they are reliant on limited refuelling points.
Continue reading… “Portable hydrogen generators to charge electric cars in remote areas”An illustration of an oxygen depot on the moon by Israeli startup Helios. (Helios)
COMPANIES WILL LEVERAGE EACH OTHER’S EXPERTISE TO DEVELOP LUNAR OXYGEN PRODUCTION AND LIQUEFACTION PLANT
Israeli space tech startup Helios announced a partnership this month with Florida’s Eta Space to create and store oxygen on the Moon in a bid to make space missions more cost-effective and offer a better solution for refueling while in orbit.
Helios was set up in 2018 in an innovation workshop held by the Israeli Space Agency during Israel’s Space Week that year. The company developed an electrochemical reactor that can extract oxygen from lunar regolith (a mixture of soil, powdery dust and broken rock on the surface of the moon), which it says will make multiple and long-term missions to the moon economically viable, as it will allow moon colonies to “live off the land” instead of having to carry all of their fuel and other resources from Earth.
Continue reading… “Israeli space tech startup Helios partners with Eta Space to make oxygen on Moon”Life-sized interactive 3d holograms that you fully control using holographic technology, motion tracking, and augmented reality are changing the face of live events and corporate meetings.
Interactive, life-sized holograms are changing the face of augmented reality–and, just maybe, your next corporate event or convention. Chicagoland-based hologram company 3D Hologram Rentals is thrilled to unveil an entirely new and innovative hologram-based technology. These life size, augmented reality holograms provide users with the power to step into the shoes of and avatar, superhero, celebrity, iconic personality, corporate mascot, robot, cartoon character, custom designed holographic character, corporate CEO, and more! Imagine a corporate event, keynote speaker, live event, virtual event, brand launch, marketing activation where the user can take turns controlling a real life-size hologram, or a corporate event where CEOs can give in-person holographic presentations from anywhere in the world!
Here’s how this new holographic technology works. A hologram installation projects a life-size, three-dimensional image of your choice. Maybe it’s an image of your favorite superhero. Or maybe it’s the new product branding avatar for your company’s convention exhibit launch party. Anyone who stands in the designated control area can then turn this image into their own personal avatar. When you lift your right hand, the cartoon character or superhero raises their right hand. The technology is fully set up and installed by the experts at 3D Hologram Rentals. Some companies will want a short term installation for a show or weekend event, while others may have a long term project in mind. The full size holograms are built using real time augmented reality and a full body control system. And they bring the wow factor to any event.
Continue reading… “3D Hologram Company Creates Life Size Fully Interactive Augmented Reality Holographic Displays With Real Time Motion Tracking”A screenshot of the robot, from China’s Central Television.
By Can Emir
China’s state media, the Global Times, claims the country has developed the world’s largest electric-powered quadruped bionic robot. And to be honest, that thing looks just like a yak.
Bizarre appearances aside, this comes as the latest in China’s push to become a global leader in robotics by 2025. And also, of course, in military tech.
But, is it working?
Despite being very large and bulky, the robot can move forward and backward, and it can turn and even walk diagonally. It even sprints and dashes, and jumps high without losing its footing, thanks to an unconscionable 12 sets of joint modules. The mechanical yak is equipped with sensors to keep it in touch with the surrounding terrain and environment. It can also adapt to various types of terrains, including steps, trenches and cliffs, and even muddy roads, grasslands, deserts, and snowfields. And there’s more. Beyond its adaptive abilities, the robot could also be equipped with weapons.
Continue reading… “China’s New Electric Quadruped Robot Could Be the Largest in the World”Elon Musk shared new details about Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot – including information about the cost and likely uses for it – in an essay published online.
The robot, which is intended for industrial and domestic uses, will debut at AI Day September 30 after first being announced at AI Day in August 2021.
‘Tesla Bots are initially positioned to replace people in repetitive, boring, and dangerous tasks. But the vision is for them to serve millions of households, such as cooking, mowing lawns, and caring for the elderly,’ Musk wrote in the essay published in China Cyberspace magazine.
Continue reading… “Elon Musk says Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot will eventually cost ‘less than a car’ and people will buy them as birthday presents for their parents within a decade”Uber Freight (UBER) thinks it has a solution to the ongoing truck driver shortage here in the U.S.
The unit, which is Uber’s trucking logistics and supply chain management offering, said in a report released earlier this month that autonomous trucking is the key to solving the driver shortage crisis — but not because the industry won’t need drivers. They’ll just be doing a different type of driving.
“We’re getting ready for that future with drivers that will be available on both sides of the autonomous freight, available to pick up and drop off the freight that is being hauled by the autonomous truck by providing a network of drop trails on both ends that will allow for that move to happen,” said Lior Ron, the head of Uber Freight in an interview with Yahoo Finance Live.
What Uber is envisioning is a hub-to-hub system — a hybrid of human drivers working with autonomous trucks.
“Hub-to-hub essentially means that you only do the autonomous freight between a hub off the highway, close to the origin of the load, and a hub close to the destination of the load,” Ron said. “In between, the autonomous freight can run on the highway in a very predictable, very repeatable way.”
At each hub, human drivers will transport goods from essentially the first mile to the hub and the last mile from the destination hub to the final destination.
“We believe that model is much more scalable. We believe that model can actually have the density of freight you need,” Ron said. “This is going to be like the airline — you need to have as much freight going on that truck back and forth.”
Continue reading… “Autonomous trucking future ‘is almost upon us,’ Uber Freight head says”A pilot study saw bioengineered implants restore the vision of 14 volunteers who were completely blind before the experimental procedure
By Rich Haridy
A cornea implant made out of collagen gathered from pig skin has restored the vision of 20 volunteers in a landmark pilot study. Pending further testing, the novel bioengineered implant is hoped to improve the vision of millions around the world awaiting difficult and costly cornea transplant surgeries.
More than one million people worldwide are diagnosed blind every year due to damaged or diseased corneas. A person’s vision can be easily disrupted when this thin outer layer of tissue surrounding the eye degenerates.
A person suffering corneal blindness can have their vision restored by receiving a corneal transplant from a human donor. However, a lack of cornea donors means barely one in 70 people with corneal blindness will ever be able to access a transplant. Plus, the surgical procedure can be complex, amplifying the lack of access to this vision-restoring procedure for people in low- and middle-income countries.
This new research first looked to develop cornea implants that didn’t rely on human donor tissue. Over a decade ago the researchers first demonstrated biosynthetic corneas were effective replacements for donor corneas. But those earlier studies still relied on complex lab-grown human collagen, molded into the shape of corneas.
This new study demonstrates the same biosynthetic cornea can be effectively produced using medical-grade collagen sourced from pig skin. Not only is this a cheap and sustainable source of collagen, but improved engineering techniques mean these bioengineered corneas can be safely stored for almost two years, unlike donated human corneas which must be used within two weeks of harvesting.
Continue reading… “Cornea implant made from pig skin restores vision in landmark pilot trial”Franky Zapata is back with another epic jet-powered flying machine
By Loz Blain
When we last saw Franky Zapata back in May, he was spinning uncontrollably down into the water from a serious height in a terrifying jetboard crash. But the flying Frenchman is back to launch a new, high-speed personal aircraft called the JetRacer.
Zapata has already built a resume most would be proud of. A former jet ski world champion, he went on to invent the Flyboard, a jet ski attachment that re-routes its water jets to let users rise out of the water like the love-child of Aquaman and Iron Man. Before long, he’d ditched the jet ski altogether, and moved to jet turbines to create the Flyboard Air, which allowed him to zoom around like the Green Goblin and set all sorts of records, on nothing more than a backpack full of kerosene fuel. He also built an “Ezfly” version with handles, a Segway of the skies for the rest of us, for whom no quantity of brown undies would ever suffice.
The latest vehicle in the Zapata stable builds on this small-turbine technology base but takes things in a new direction. The JetRacer is effectively a carbon-fiber bucket seat that flies on the thrust from 10 of the same small jets that power the Flyboards.
Continue reading… “Zapata launches 250-km/h, flip-capable, jet-powered flying deck chair”Katrin Zimmermann explores how automotive companies can prepare for long-term success in a web3 world
Last month, Mercedes-Benz sold a very rare 1955 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe for US$142m, making it the most expensive car in history. Someday, that record too will fall, and it’s reasonable to ask whether it will be broken by a physical or digital mobility design object.
It’s no secret that the metaverse and web3 are on their way, taking early shape now and on course to influence all industries—including the automotive sector. According to a whitepaper by JP Morgan, which recently opened a bank in the metaverse known as Onyx Lounge, “the metaverse will likely infiltrate every sector in some way in the coming years, with the market opportunity estimated at over US$1tr in yearly revenues.” NFT sales alone eclipsed US$17.7bn in 2021.
The influence of the metaverse, and web3 more broadly, stand to impact all facets of the auto industry, including manufacturing, product customisation, community, and brand loyalty. Additionally, these technologies will enable a myriad of new opportunities for the digital and physical worlds to converge. Even grander still, such shifts will bring to the fore existential questions on where responsibilities lie between individuals, the auto sector, and web3 developers when it comes to sustainability and ethical operations.
Continue reading… “How will the metaverse shape the future of the automotive industry?”LunaH-Map with its solar panels unfolded
by: Kaitlin Kanable
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (WHNT) – Throughout the Apollo missions to the moon, all of the landings focused on areas near the equator. Now, on the first Artemis mission, a tiny satellite called LunaH-Map will be focusing on what things look like at the moon’s south pole.
The Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper was one of 10 CubeSats chosen to fly aboard the Space Launch System’s (SLS) first fully integrated flight. These small satellites are helping with large science goals.
News 19 sat down with LunaH-Map Principal Investigator Craig Hardgrove to learn more about the CubeSat and its mission to the moon. The University of Tennessee graduate has been with the project from the very beginning.
“We’ve known for a while now that there is ice at the poles on the moon,” Hardgrove said.
He explained previous missions have used scientific tools to take readings of hydrogen deposits, showing where water probably is, but LunaH-Map will help visually show what those areas look like. It will provide details on those areas such as how deep the water deposits are and how wide.
LunaH-Map has a neutron spectrometer onboard which the rest of the spacecraft has been built around. The spectrometer is about the size of a tissue box while all of LunaH is about the size of a large cereal box.
Hardgrove explained the project was first thought of about seven years ago when scientists wanted to know more about the ice at the lunar south pole.
Continue reading… “Hitchhiking to the moon: LunaH-Map”If you enjoy this interview please help us grow by subscribing to the podcast and sharing it with your friends!
Continue reading… “is This is what every country in the world will compete to produce?”
