Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: sustainability

Brain-inspired computing paradigms have led to substantial advances in the automation of visual and linguistic tasks by emulating the distributed information processing of biological systems. The similarity between artificial neural networks (ANNs) and biological systems has inspired ANN implementation in biomedical interfaces including prosthetics and brain-machine interfaces. While promising, these implementations rely on software to run ANN algorithms. Ultimately, it is desirable to build hardware ANNs that can both directly interface with living tissue and adapt based on biofeedback. The first essential step towards biologically integrated neuromorphic systems is to achieve synaptic conditioning based on biochemical signalling activity. Here, we directly couple an organic neuromorphic device with dopaminergic cells to constitute a biohybrid synapse with neurotransmitter-mediated synaptic plasticity. By mimicking the dopamine recycling machinery of the synaptic cleft, we demonstrate both long-term conditioning and recovery of the synaptic weight, paving the way towards combining artificial neuromorphic systems with biological neural networks.

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On Friday afternoon, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Director of Policy and Government Affairs Craig Hulse landed in Tulsa, OK, for a meeting with local officials. Musk’s trip comes amidst Tesla’s highly anticipated announcement about the site of the Cybertruck Gigafactory, the electric car maker’s upcoming manufacturing plant for its unique all-electric pickup.

Musk and Hulse were welcomed by Gov. Kevin Stitt and Secretary of Commerce Sean Kouplen, as well as the property owner of a plot of land that the city is offering to the electric car maker. Images shared by the Gov. Stitt show Musk and local officials conversing in the middle of a massive plot of land. The meetup seemed to be private and simple, though the governor highlighted that he still believes that Tulsa is the perfect place for Tesla’s next vehicle production plant.

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Sure, the Harley-Davidson LiveWire electric motorcycle may be designed for urban riders, but that doesn’t mean it can’t handle long distance trips. At least that’s what Diego Cardenas just proved after completing a ride from the US-Mexico border to the US-Canada border to celebrate his 50th birthday!

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A new technique of manufacturing graphene could revolutionize solar power by enabling the creation of ultra-lightweight, flexible solar panels.

A novel technique developed by researchers at the Michigan Institute of Technology (MIT) that allows for the creation of large sheets of graphene — a layer of single carbon atoms extracted from graphite — could have a significant impact on the development of future electronic devices.

In particular, the development could give a significant boost to the field of solar power where graphene is used as a replacement for indium tin oxide (ITO) in the creation of electrodes. The resultant transparent and light electrodes can bend up to 78 ⁰ — much more flexible than traditional ITO electrodes.

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Rimac Automobili went very quickly from a company that built subassemblies for others to one that produces some of the quickest, most desirable electric hypercars on the market. The man behind it all is Mate Rimac, a 32-year-old Croatian with a passion for electricity and innovation and, we presume, never-take-no-for-an-answer kind of attitude.

16 photos.

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Originally intended to make the record attempt this month, plans for the (hopefully) record-breaking run have now been delayed until next year. There seems to be a lot of electric vehicle world record attempts being delayed lately.

But that’s no matter to the Voxan team, including six-time motorcycle racing world champion Max Biaggi, who plans to ride into the record books on the Salar de Uyuni salt flat in Bolivia in July 2021.

The delay may have prevented the team from making their record run this month, but it hasn’t stopped them from unveiling the impressive bike today.

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Solar energy researchers at Oregon State University are shining their scientific spotlight on materials with a crystal structure discovered nearly two centuries ago.

Not all materials with the structure, known as perovskites, are semiconductors. But perovskites based on a metal and a halogen are, and they hold tremendous potential as that could be much less expensive to make than the silicon-based that have owned the market since its inception in the 1950s.

Enough potential, researchers say, to perhaps someday carve significantly into fossil fuels’ share of the energy sector.

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