📡 Welcome to Technology Radar 📡 - Vol. 11
Embark on an exhilarating journey at the forefront of discovery with Technology Radar, your ultimate destination for the latest developments and innovations in technology and science. Dive deep into the ever-evolving landscape of innovation as we unravel groundbreaking discoveries, disruptive technologies, and cutting-edge advancements shaping the future.
Swiss tech firm FinalSpark has launched a program allowing scientists to rent access to "biocomputers" made from human brain cells for $500 a month. These biocomputers aim to offer a more efficient and low-energy alternative to traditional silicon-based technology for developing AI models, potentially being up to 100,000 times more efficient. The AI training process involves reinforcement learning techniques adapted for brain cells, using dopamine as positive reinforcement and electrical signals as negative reinforcement.
Neuralink rival Synchron's brain implant now lets people control Apple's Vision Pro with their minds
Neurotech startup Synchron has connected its brain implant to Apple's Vision Pro headset, allowing patients with limited physical mobility to control the device using only their thoughts. The company is building a brain-computer interface to help patients with paralysis to operate technology with their minds. It has implanted its device in six patients in the US and four in Australia. The device still needs approval from the US Food and Drug Administration before it can be commercialized more broadly.
Cerebras, a California-based company, has demonstrated that its second-generation wafer-scale engine is significantly faster than the world's faster supercomputer in molecular dynamics calculations. It can also perform sparse large language model inference at one-third of the energy cost of a full model without losing any accuracy. Both achievements are possible due to the interconnects and fast memory access enabled by Cerebras' hardware. Cerebras is looking to extend the applications of its wafer-scale engine to a larger class of problems, including molecular dynamics simulations of biological processes and simulations of airflow around vehicles.
Steel production is one of the dirtiest industries on the planet, accounting for around 7 to 9 percent of humanity's greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Boston Metal is using an electrochemical process called molten oxide electrolysis, which releases only oxygen as a byproduct, to produce steel. The company has raised more than $370 million to scale rapidly and transform steel production in every corner of the world. Its process can help recover high-value metals from mining waste without undergoing costly treatment or storage.
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Old concrete can be recycled in steel-processing furnaces to purify iron, producing 'reactivated cement' as a byproduct. The process produces completely carbon-zero cement if renewable energy is used. The resulting concrete has similar performance to the original material. The technique doesn't add major costs to either concrete or steel production and it significantly reduces CO2 emissions compared to the usual methods of making both. Industrial-scale trials of the technology are set to begin soon.
Scientists from the University of Southern California have proposed a new rule for biology called Selectively Advantageous Instability (SAI). SAI explores how instability can actually benefit a cell or organism. Instability allows for greater genetic diversity, which can make organisms more adaptable. A shorter cell component lifespan can actually help promote cell health. Understanding the process could aid in the exploration of the biological processes behind disease and aging.
Researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems (TMOS) in Australia have developed a night-vision film that weighs less than a gram and can be placed across existing lensed frames. The technology captures visible and non-visible light in one image, unlike traditional night-vision systems which capture side-by-side views from each spectrum, resulting in a better-quality view of what's in the dark. It could change the way people work and play after dark. Details about how the tech works are available in the article.
Chinese researchers have created a solar powered drone that weighs just over four grams. It uses an electrostatic motor that weighs just 1.52 grams and is powered by solar cells that produce 4.5V. Its design has a lift-to-power efficiency two to three times better than that found in traditional drones. Adding batteries to the drone would make it capable of 24-hour flying operations.
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