Lifeboat Foundation

As of this month, over 4,000 Americans are on the waiting list to receive a heart transplant. With failing hearts, these patients have no other options; heart tissue, unlike other parts of the body, is unable to heal itself once it is damaged. Fortunately, recent work by a group at Carnegie Mellon could one day lead to a world in which transplants are no longer necessary to repair damaged organs.

“We’ve been able to take MRI images of coronary arteries and 3-D images of embryonic hearts and 3-D bioprint them with unprecedented resolution and quality out of very soft materials like collagens, alginates and fibrins,” said Adam Feinberg, an associate professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. Feinberg leads the Regenerative Biomaterials and Therapeutics Group, and the group’s study was published in the October 23 issue of the journal Science Advances. A demonstration of the technology can be seen below.

“As excellently demonstrated by Professor Feinberg’s work in bioprinting, our CMU researchers continue to develop novel solutions like this for problems that can have a transformational effect on society,” said Jim Garrett, Dean of Carnegie Mellon’s College of Engineering. “We should expect to see 3-D bioprinting continue to grow as an important tool for a large number of medical applications.”

Read more

Oct. 21, 2015, was the day that Doc Brown and Marty McFly landed in the future in their DeLorean, with time travel made possible by a “flux capacitor.”

Read more

New cybersecurity arms treaty compared unfavourably with nuclear treaties:

“In the Cold War and still today, nuclear arms remain in the hands of states, meaning they can usually be counted and their movements observed. Cyberweapons, too, are often developed by countries … but they can also be found in the hands of criminal groups and teenagers, neither of which negotiate treaties.”

The countries are discussing what could be the first arms control accord for cyberspace, and an agreement could be announced as soon as Thursday, according to officials.

Read more

But we could still have one weakness.

Read more

“Technology is finally catching up with Landmark Entertainment Group’s big ideas. The global entertainment design firm announced Thursday that it is collaborating with Pavilion of Me to create a virtual reality experience called the Virtual World’s Fair that will launch in 2017.”

Read more

Official video for PostHuman — produced by Colliculi Productions.
Animated sci-fi thriller short film featuring the voice of Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica). Directed by Cole Drumb. Produced by Jennifer Wai-Yin Luk.

Production company: Colliculi Productions.
Animation studio: Humouring The Fates.
Voice of Kali: Tricia Helfer.
Voice of Terrence: Ulric Dihle.
Original Music: Neill Sanford Livingston.
Post Production Sound: Kid Dropper Sound.
Final Post Production Sound: Bad Animals.
Final Video Post Production: Lightpress.

Continue reading “PostHuman — sci-fi action animated short film directed” »

Ask just about anyone on the street to describe artificial intelligence and odds are, they’ll describe something resembling the futuristic science fiction robot they’ve seen in movies and television shows. However, according to Mathematician, Linguist and Artificial Intelligence Researcher Dr. András Kornai, artificial intelligence is a reality right now, and its impact can be seen every day.

“I’d say 35 percent of the total commerce taking place on Wall Street (right now) is driven by algorithms and it’s no longer driven by humans,” Kornai said. “This is not science fiction. (Artificial intelligence) is with us today.”

What we’ve seen so far in the application of algorithm-based artificial intelligence in the financial sector is just the tip of the iceberg, Kornai said. In fact, you don’t even have to own stock to be affected by it.

“I have designed algorithms that will (determine) your creditworthiness, meaning your creditworthiness is now determined by an algorithm,” he said. “We have substituted human-decision making capabilities in favor of better algorithms to pursue this, and we have given up a huge area of human competence, and money is just one aspect of it.”

Continue reading “Artificial Intelligence Is A Big Part Of Your Life, Just Don’t Buy The Hollywood Hype” »

Kamaz’s new driverless trucks, already undergoing extensive testing, is set to go on a tour of European Russia. Beginning next year, testing will begin on the Moscow-St. Petersburg motorway. After that, the company plans to take its creation on a real cross-continental road trip, from Helsinki to Beijing.

Read more

Some nice photos of odd-looking components.

Germany’s new stellarator was “hell on Earth” to build, but it will be worth it—if it works.

Read more