Lifeboat Foundation

The countdown is on.

You don’t need 0s and 1s to perform computations, and in some cases it’s better to avoid them.

A new ultra-thin material created by scientists at Oxford University could revolutionize solar collection technology.

Microwaves in homes, offices and laboratories have been found to host diverse microbiomes, highlighting the importance of regular cleaning.

By James Woodford

In the search for less energy-hungry artificial intelligence, some scientists are exploring living computers.

By Jordan Kinard

Artificial intelligence systems, even those as sophisticated as ChatGPT, depend on the same silicon-based hardware that has been the bedrock of computing since the 1950s. But what if computers could be molded from living biological matter? Some researchers in academia and the commercial sector, wary of AI’s ballooning demands for data storage and energy, are focusing on a growing field known as biocomputing. This approach uses synthetic biology, such as miniature clusters of lab-grown cells called organoids, to create computer architecture. Biocomputing pioneers include Swiss company FinalSpark, which earlier this year debuted its “Neuroplatform”—a computer platform powered by human-brain organoids—that scientists can rent over the Internet for $500 a month.

More than one singularity.

The singularity could soon be upon us. The PESTLE framework, developed by this episode’s guest Daniel Hulme, expresses not one but six types of singularity that could occur: political, environmental, social, technological, legal and economic. ‪@JonKrohnLearns‬ and Daniel Hulme discuss how each of these singularities could bring good to the world, aligning with human interests and pushing forward progress. They also talk about neuromorphic computing, machine consciousness, and applying AI at work.

Continue reading “The Six Singularities (There’s Not Just One)” »

To address challenges of training spiking neural networks (SNNs) at scale, the authors propose a scalable, approximation-free training method for deep SNNs using time-to-first-spike coding. They demonstrate enhanced performance and energy efficiency for neuromorphic hardware.

High-precision 3D micro-/nanofabrication technologies such as two-photon polymerization are limited to photocurable polymers. Here, the authors report a “capillary-trapping” strategy to fabricate various 3D micro-scaffolds composed of different nanomaterials.

Tesla is trying something new. The automaker is offering a bundle of 3 years of subscription to Full Self-Driving (FSD) Supervised, Supercharging, and premium connectivity.

Tesla has been having issues selling its FSD package.

For years, CEO Elon Musk claimed that Tesla would keep increasing prices as the system got better, which he claims would then make Tesla vehicles “appreciation assets”