Lifeboat Foundation

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reveals the technology behind codec avatars, which create ultra-realistic VR faces.

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has been struggling to convince the world that its vision of the metaverse is worth pursuing. The social media giant rebranded itself in October 2022, hoping to create a more immersive and interactive online experience for its users. However, the initial response was far from positive. Many people mocked the cartoonish and unrealistic avatars that Meta showcased in its demonstration video, which lasted for over an hour. Others questioned the need and feasibility of creating a virtual world that mimics real life.

Meta’s ambitious project also faced… More.

Continue reading “Codec avatars: The next frontier of Meta’s VR technology” »

Meet AV1, the mini robot that goes to the zoo or school for sick children who can’t.

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Professor Nita Farahany reveals to Azeem Azhar the startling advancements of brain-scanning technology and the extraordinary implications this tech has for privacy and humanity.

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Quantum technology holds immense promise, yet it is riddled with complexity. Anticipated to usher in a slew of technological advancements in the upcoming decades, it is set to offer us more compact and accurate sensors, robustly secure communication networks, and high-capacity computers. These advancements will outpace the capabilities of present computing technologies, aiding in the swift development of new drugs and materials, controlling financial markets, and enhancing weather forecasting.

To realize these benefits, we require what are termed as quantum materials, which display significant quantum physical effects. One such material is graphene.

Graphene is an allotrope of carbon in the form of a single layer of atoms in a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice in which one atom forms each vertex. It is the basic structural element of other allotropes of carbon, including graphite, charcoal, carbon nanotubes, and fullerenes. In proportion to its thickness, it is about 100 times stronger than the strongest steel.

Tesla has been given a vote of confidence by one of the world’s wealthiest men who believes the company’s valuation could grow four to five times between now and 2030.

Investor Ron Baron was speaking to CNBC about Walter Issacson’s new biography of Elon Musk, as Business Insider summarized, and Baron discussed the stock market potential of Musk’s electric vehicle company, Tesla, among other things.

“I think Tesla in the next seven years will be about four or five times as big as it is right now in the stock market,” Baron said. “In the funds that I manage, I’ve been maxed out.”

In an interview this year, Tosca Musk, entrepreneur and sister of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk, shed light on the unexpected burdens that come with her famous last name. While speaking to the Daily Mail, Tosca discussed the misconceptions and financial pressures she faces because of her sibling’s astronomical wealth. She is the younger sister of the richest man in the world who has a net worth of around $230 billion, according to Forbes.

Tosca, renowned for her role as founder of the streaming service and production company Passionflix, shared a particular incident that highlighted these issues. She revealed that when she sought to secure a location for her ventures, she was initially quoted $5,000 per day. As soon as her identity was recognized, the rate mysteriously skyrocketed to $25,000. Musk expressed her frustration, stating that such assumptions were hardly equitable.

As we age, our muscles and other tissues break down in much the same way as degenerative diseases progress. What we learn from studying degenerative diseases such as muscular dystrophy could help researchers develop new interventions to fight common age-related ailments and chronic illnesses.

With help from NIA, biotechnology company Juvena Therapeutics has begun unlocking the secrets of proteins for regenerative medicine. Juvena scientists are using a form of muscular dystrophy — myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM-1) — as a model to sift through proteins that are produced by the body’s stem cells. These cells have the potential to become any type of cell in the body, from liver tissue to skin cells. The goal is to find proteins that encourage tissue growth and repair, ultimately designing new drugs to prevent and treat degenerative diseases like DM-1. As part of this process, Juvena hopes to learn more about how to reduce the effects of aging on muscles and other tissues, too.

A new biotech trying to establish itself can feel isolated from the larger scientific community. For example, Juvena is unable to submit findings for publication before taking care of intellectual property protections. But NIH’s peer-review process offered confidential, scientifically rigorous feedback to fill that critical gap, and the NIA Small Business Programs staff offered helpful advice.

Continue reading “Funded Small Business Spotlight: Juvena Therapeutics Unlocking the Secrets of Tissue Regeneration” »

Channeling light from one location to another is the backbone of our modern world. Across deep oceans and vast continents, fiber optic cables transport light containing data ranging from YouTube clips to banking transmissions—all within fibers as thin as a strand of hair.

University of Chicago Prof. Jiwoong Park, however, wondered what would happen if you made even thinner and flatter strands—in effect, so thin that they’re actually 2D instead of 3D. What would happen to the light?

Through a series of innovative experiments, he and his team found that a sheet of glass crystal just a few atoms thick could trap and carry light. Not only that, but it was surprisingly efficient and could travel relatively long distances—up to a centimeter, which is very far in the world of light-based computing.

The economic downturn is already a devastating blow to job seekers everywhere. Now scammers are taking advantage of the situation by ramping up their methods of swindling people.

Job scamming is a threat to job seekers all over the world. For example, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) reported an increase in job scam complaints in the United States and Canada in the past several years. Singapore job seekers lost $660 million SGD ($495 million USD) in 2022 alone. And in the UK, 10,000 people were approached on LinkedIn and Facebook by “foreign spies and malicious actors” to steal information.

Phishing attacks and malware are the primary methods of scamming job seekers, according to a February Trellix report. Scammers create fake websites, often employing typosquatting. A fake site uses a real name like Indeed that’s slightly misspelled (such as “Indeeed”) or extends the URL in hopes the job seeker will not notice the base domain name. These sites appear legitimate but are used to steal passwords and financial information.