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☆ NASA and DARPA plan to test a nuclear-powered rocket that could take humans to Mars in record time
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

NASA aims to test a nuclear-powered rocket within five years, the agency said Tuesday. The space agency aims to put humans on Mars for the first time by the late 2030s. The agency is teaming up with the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to make a rocket that could reach Mars in record time. The agency aims to put humans on Mars, for the first time, by the late 2030s or early 2040s. Transit to Mars using a nuclear-powered rocket could take four months, a lot shorter than the usual nine months for older rocket models, Reuters reported.

☆ Marines fooled a DARPA robot by hiding in a cardboard box while giggling and pretending to be trees
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Former Pentagon policy analyst Paul Scharre discusses global power and AI in his upcoming book. He writes that Marines trained the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's robots. The robots, trained to identify humans, were fooled by Marines doing somersaults and hiding in boxes. In the passages, Scharre details how, at the end of their training course, the Marines devised a game to test the DARPA robot's intelligence. Another took branches from a fir tree and walked along, grinning from ear to ear while pretending to be a tree, according to sources from Scharre's book.

☆ Fact Check-Robot was designed to run on plant-based items, not human or animal flesh
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot (EATR) was intended to consume vegetation, not animals, one of the robot’s inventors told Reuters. A Facebook video with 11,000 shares at the time of writing (here) has been reshared by others with comments including, “Flesh eating robot !!!! It’s a crazy world,” “they couldn't create zombies so theeeey created ROBOT ZOMBIE” and “EATR ROBOT.. eats biological ( canbeflesh) as fuel? “It would not recognize bodies, human or animal, as fuel,” Finkelstein said. The EATR was never intended to consume human or animal flesh, and its design makes consuming flesh impossible, the robot’s inventor told Reuters.

The subvariant of omicron, named XBB.1.5, has raised concerns about another potential wave of Covid cases following the busy holiday travel season. The CDC projected Friday that about 40% of confirmed U.S. Covid cases are caused by the XBB.1.5 strain, up from 20% a week ago. There’s no indication it causes more severe illness than any other omicron virus, Dr. Barbara Mahon, director of CDC’s Coronavirus and Other Respiratory Viruses Division, told NBC News. The XBB.1.5 is a relative of the omicron XBB variant, which is a recombinant of the omicron BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75 subvariants. Yet, only 37.5% of that age group has received the most recent omicron booster, according to the most recent CDC data.

"The jury is still out," on which technology will dominate, said Dr. Sadik Esener, director of the Cancer Early Detection Advanced Research Center at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute in Portland, Oregon. He added it could take as long as 20 years to show that an early cancer detection test saved lives. If proven to work, early cancer detection tests could help doctors identify cancer risk in patients long before symptoms or other indicators develop. DIFFERENT APPROACHESSeveral of the leading contenders take vastly different approaches to cancer detection and it is not yet clear which methods will prove most useful or when. Some are working on blood tests to detect different markers of early cancer, including proteins.

☆ EnCharge AI, a chip startup born in Princeton lab, raises $21.7 mln
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Jane Lanhee Lee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

OAKLAND, Calif., Dec 14 (Reuters) - EnCharge AI, a chip startup born at a Princeton University lab, on Wednesday said it raised $21.7 million as it looks to commercialize its computing technology that is designed to run artificial intelligence applications more efficiently. Its first products will be cards that can be easily slotted into server racks for companies to run AI applications, said Naveen Verma, CEO and co-founder of EnCharge AI and a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Princeton. EnCharge AI chips work by computing data directly in the memory on the chip, using a special chip design and software. The chips will first be used in factories, warehouses and retail spaces to run AI applications, said Verma. EnCharge AI said the latest funding round was led by Anzu Partners with participation from AlleyCorp, Scout Ventures, Silicon Catalyst Angels, Schams Ventures, E14 Fund and Alumni Ventures.

☆ Self-driving truck startup Kodiak Robotics wins $50 million deal to help develop driverless Army vehicles
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( John Rosevear | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Self-driving truck startup Kodiak Robotics said Tuesday that it won a two-year, $49.9 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to help develop automated combat vehicles for the U.S. Army. The company said the vehicles will be tailored for reconnaissance, surveillance and other missions that would present a high risk to a human driver. The contract was awarded by the DoD's Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and is part of the Army's ongoing Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) program. DIU said it received 33 responses to its initial solicitation in October, and selected Kodiak and another vendor, development software provider Applied Intuition, after an extensive review process. The award marks the latest development in the DoD's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Grand Challenge self-driving competitions, which began in 2004.

☆ Arun Majumdar's mom cooked over a coal stove on the floor, and now he's the first leader of Stanford's new climate school — here is his story
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Building a successful climate school that both educates people and scales up technological solutions in its accelerator arm requires thinking beyond the bubble of Silicon Valley. Majumdar's understanding of the importance of a global perspective for the climate school is also personally informed. He was also a professor, did research, and worked at Google for a stint before eventually getting the opportunity to lead the launch of the Stanford climate school. The lessons he learned at ARPA-E are helping form the foundation for the accelerator arm at the Stanford climate school. Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability Photo courtesy Cat Clifford, CNBCSo far, the sustainability school at Stanford seems to be popular with students.

☆ Amidst the layoffs at Amazon, the company's ultra-secretive research lab is at risk of being shut. It's a sign things are changing 'dramatically' at the company.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Early last month, members of Amazon's secretive in-house research lab, Grand Challenge, were called into an unexpected video meeting. Weibel announced 3 of the 5 projects Grand Challenge was working on would shut down, effective immediately. When other team employees wanted to collaborate with the team, they needed additional approvals from its leadership. Amazon Glow was among the Grand Challenge projects to be discontinued at the end of this year. Getting support promoting Grand Challenge projects was a challenge too.

The U.S. Energy Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, aims to develop a dozen projects to recycle spent nuclear fuel. "I don't see many really looking seriously into reprocessing," Grossi told Reuters in an interview late on Wednesday at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter had halted reprocessing of nuclear waste in 1977, citing proliferation concerns. "Nobody will be doing reprocessing without the IAEA being involved," he said, noting that any nuclear waste recycling North Korea is undertaking is an exception. The United States has spent billions of dollars over decades on a project at Yucca Mountain in Nevada to store nuclear waste.

☆ Smart bombs were a game-changer for militaries. Smart bullets may be next.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( Travis Pike | Sandboxx News | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Smart bullets aren't new, but they're still early in development, and they have some drawbacks. If DARPA, aka the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, has its way, smart bullets will become a very real thing. Beyond offensive combative measures, guided smart bullets can be used to defeat future threats from swarming UAVs to incoming missiles. Smart bullets currently availableAs of this writing, smart bullets aren't being deployed. Regardless, smart bullets could provide a new surgical option for snipers, infantrymen, and naval personnel.

☆ U.S. funds projects to explore nuclear waste reprocessing
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Timothy Gardner | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, aims to develop a dozen projects to recycle the waste, also known as spent nuclear fuel, with $38 million in funding. France and other countries have reprocessed nuclear waste by breaking it down into uranium and plutonium and reusing it to make new reactor fuel. President Joe Biden's administration supports development of advanced nuclear plants to help reach his goal of decarbonizing the U.S. economy by 2050. Recycling nuclear waste "can significantly reduce the amount of spent fuel at nuclear sites, and increase economic stability for the communities leading this important work," Granholm said. As a result, the waste is now stored at nuclear power plants across the country in spent fuel pools and in casks made of steel and concrete.

☆ U.S. sends experimental antibody, antiviral drug to Uganda for Ebola outbreak
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Julie Steenhuysen | Nancy Lapid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

There are currently no proven vaccines or treatments for the Sudan species of Ebola, one of four known Ebola viruses to cause hemorrhagic fever in humans. The outbreak confirmed by the Ugandan health ministry on Sept. 20 is the largest of the Sudan species since 2000. "If healthcare workers start to fall ill and die, it's going to negatively impact the response," said Montgomery, who had just returned from a trip to Uganda. For instance, healthcare workers may be reluctant to assist in the response, he said in a phone interview. A large outbreak of the Zaire species of Ebola in West Africa from 2014-2016 led to effective vaccines and treatment, but there are no proven treatments or vaccines for the Sudan species.

☆ Leaked email: Impossible Foods founder Pat Brown stepping down from c-suite role to lead new research arm as executive shake-up continues at the plant-based meat maker
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Impossible Foods founder Pat Brown is stepping down as chief science officer. He'll lead Impossible Labs, a new arm of the plant-based meat company focused on research. Pat Brown is moving into a new role at Impossible Foods, the company he founded and used to helm as CEO, for the second time this year. In an email, an Impossible Foods spokesperson confirmed Brown's new role and said it was a planned leadership change. In the meantime, three other research and development executives will report directly to McGuinness: Rachel Fraser, vice president of downstream process development; Sergey Solomatin, vice president of research, materials, and texture; and Celeste Holz-Schietinger, vice president of product innovation.

☆ These startups are beating Elon Musk in the race to let you mind meld with your computer
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-17 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +21 min

That's when I started reporting on them, and like any good nerd I was compelled by what scientists could learn with these "brain computer interfaces." The race for implantable brain chips has been a long, deliberate marathon. Graham Felstead, who has severe paralysis, was the first person to have a BCI inserted via the blood vessels. Brain chips will enable them to perform simple actions on their own and reduce the need for round-the-clock care. "When we started in 2015 and I was pitching venture capitalists on brain computer interfaces, no one knew what a brain computer interface was," says Matt Angle, the CEO of Paradromics.

☆ Moderna a început să îşi testeze vaccinul anti-COVID-19 pe adolescenţi
▼ + stars: | 2020-12-10 | by ( Publika.Md - Aici Sunt Știrile | ) www.publika.md time to read: +2 min

Compania americană Moderna a anunţat joi că a inoculat primii participanţi la un studiu clinic de fază 2 şi 3 ce vizează testarea vaccinului său anti-COVID-19 pe adolescenţi cu vârste cuprinse între 12 şi 18 ani, ale cărui rezultate sunt aşteptate înainte de începerea anului şcolar 2021-2022, informează Reuters.Studiul va fi realizat pe un grup de 3.000 de participanţi sănătoşi din Statele Unite şi va analiza siguranţa şi eficienţa vaccinului Moderna, mRNA-1273, care este administrat în două doze, la un interval de 28 de zile.Alianţa Pfizer-BioNTech a depus la rândul ei cereri de aprobare în regim de urgenţă de către autorităţile cu rol de reglementare din Statele Unite şi din Uniunea Europeană, după ce vaccinul său, administrat tot în două doze, a dovedit o eficienţă de 95% în prevenirea maladiei COVID-19 şi nu a generat îngrijorări legate de siguranţă.Membrii unui comitet extern de experţi, care consiliază Administraţia pentru alimente şi medicamente (FDA) din Statele Unite, se vor reuni joi, 10 decembrie, pentru a se pronunţa dacă vor recomanda sau nu folosirea vaccinului Pfizer pe persoane cu vârste de peste 16 ani.O întrunire similară a consilierilor FDA este programată în data de 17 decembrie pentru discuţii legate de vaccinul Moderna.Studiul companiei Moderna ce vizează grupe de adolescenţi este realizat în colaborare cu Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, parte din Departamentul pentru Sănătate din Statele Unite. "Obiectivul nostru este să obţinem datele acestui studiu în primăvara anului 2021, pentru a permite utilizarea vaccinului mRNA-1273 pe adolescenţi înainte de începerea anului şcolar din 2021", a declarat CEO-ul companiei americane, Stephane Bancel.De asemenea, grupul Pfizer îşi testează vaccinul propriu în această perioadă pe adolescenţi cu vârste cuprinse între 12 şi 18 ani, scrie digi24.ro.

Persons: Reuters.Studiul, Stephane, îşi Organizations: americană Moderna, Uniunea Europeană, FDA, Moderna, Biomedical Advanced Research, Development Locations: Statele Unite, Moderna

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