Lifeboat Foundation

Although blockchain is traditionally seen as secure, it is vulnerable to attack from quantum computers. Now, a team of Russian researchers say they have developed a solution to the quantum-era blockchain challenge, using quantum key distribution (QKD).

Quantum computers are different from binary digital electronic computers based on transistors. Whereas common digital computing requires that the data be encoded into binary digits (bits), each of which is always in one of two definite states (0 or 1), quantum computation uses quantum bits, which can have more by being in superpositions of states.

Writing in the journal Quantum Science and Technology, the researchers set out a quantum-safe blockchain platform that uses QKD to achieve secure authentication.

Continue reading “Quantum Computing Key Could Protect Blockchain Security” »

Integrated Roadways of Kansas City is developing “smart pavement” technology that would make roads more than just something you drive on. Roads would become a platform for future mobility and safety applications.

Neil Nakahodo

Russian researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), the Technological Institute for Superhard and Novel Carbon Materials (TISNCM), and the National University of Science and Technology MISIS have optimized the design of a nuclear battery generating power from the beta decay of nickel-63, a radioactive isotope. Their new battery prototype packs about 3,300 milliwatt-hours of energy per gram, which is more than in any other nuclear battery based on nickel-63, and 10 times more than the specific energy of commercial chemical cells. The paperwas published in the journal Diamond and Related Materials.

Conventional batteries

Ordinary batteries powering clocks, flashlights, toys, and other compact autonomous electrical devices use the energy of so-called redox chemical reactions. In them, electrons are transferred from one electrode to another via an electrolyte. This gives rise to a potential difference between the electrodes. If the two battery terminals are then connected by a conductor, electrons start flowing to remove the potential difference, generating an electric current. Chemical batteries, also known as galvanic cells, are characterized by a high power density — that is, the ratio between the power of the generated current and the volume of the battery. However, chemical cells discharge in a relatively short time, limiting their applications in autonomous devices. Some of these batteries, called accumulators, are rechargeable, but even they need to be replaced for charging. This may be dangerous, as in the case of a cardiac pacemaker, or even impossible, if the battery is powering a spacecraft.

At least it wouldn’t be so hot outside, right?

The Dutch city of Eindhoven is to host the world’s first commercial housing project based on 3D-concrete printing, with the first of five planned houses due to start construction this year. The units were developed by a collaborative team including the Eindhoven University of Technology and will be purchased and let out by a real estate company upon completion.

The first house will be a single-floor, three-room house measuring 1000 square feet (95 square meters), to be followed by four multi-story units. The irregular shape of the buildings is based on “erratic blocks in the green landscape,” made possible due to the flexibility of form permitted by 3D-printing.

Continue reading “World’s First 3D-Printed Concrete Housing Project to be Built in Eindhoven” »

The human eye is a remarkably sophisticated organ and like the lens to a camera, it’s the cornea that focuses the flood of photons into a perceptible image. But for an estimated 15 million people around the world, eye disease and trauma make surgery the only path to clear vision.

In the next few years, artificial corneas may become more accessible thanks to new research out of Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. There, researchers mixed stem cells from the cornea of a healthy donor with collagen and algae molecules to create a bio-ink, which they 3D-printed into an artificial cornea. The research is currently just a proof-of-concept but lays the groundwork for future techniques to create low-cost, easy-to-produce bionic eyes.

Continue reading “World’s first 3D-printed cornea made from algae and human stem cells” »

LEAF’s monthly roundup for May is out!

Summer is coming, and, albeit on a slightly longer timeframe, so is a world free of aging! So, grab an iced drink, sit comfortably on your beach chair, and let’s have a look together at some of the latest rejuvenation news.

The first LEAF conference in NYC is coming!

Continue reading “Rejuvenation Roundup May 2018” »

Not familiar with residential geothermal heating? No surprise. Chris Martin in Bloomberg explained that “Residential geothermal heating is uncommon, in part because the expense and effort to dig the wells make them costly to install in existing homes.”

Dandelion CEO Kathy Hannun told CNNMoney that “It’s a very niche technology that hasn’t taken off at all in this country.” Her Brooklyn-based company, Dandelion, is out there to make geothermal heating—extracting underground heat to keep homes warm— more affordable for homeowners.

On Wednesday, Dandelion launched the Dandelion Air as a home heating and air conditioning system. Dandelion’s claims: it’s 4 times more efficient than any furnace on the market and almost twice as efficient as a conventional air conditioning system. So, when you go up to Dandelion’s web site there is one sole message and it reads loud and clear. “Geothermal heating and air conditioning so efficient it pays for itself.”

Continue reading “Dandelion wants to play a role in home geothermal” »

Fuel cells and batteries provide electricity by generating and coaxing positively charged ions from a positive to a negative terminal which frees negatively charged electrons to power cellphones, cars, satellites, or whatever else they are connected to. A critical part of these devices is the barrier between these terminals, which must be separated for electricity to flow.

Improvements to that barrier, known as an electrolyte, are needed to make energy storage devices thinner, more efficient, safer, and faster to recharge. Commonly used liquid electrolytes are bulky and prone to shorts, and can present a fire or explosion risk if they’re punctured.

Research led by University of Pennsylvania engineers suggests a different way forward: a new and versatile kind of solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) that has twice the proton conductivity of the current state-of-the-art material. Such SPEs are currently found in proton-exchange membrane fuel cells, but the researchers’ new design could also be adapted to work for the lithium-ion or sodium-ion batteries found in consumer electronics.

Continue reading “Engineers design new solid polymer electrolyte, paving way for safer, smaller batteries and fuel cells” »