June 2020 show notes
For more about me, see: https://ralphbond.wixsite.com/aboutme
Story 1: Harvard and MIT researchers are developing a face mask that lights up when it detects the coronavirus
Source: Business Insider
Link: https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-face-mask-light-up-screening-tool-test-2020-5
For the past six years, bioengineers at MIT and Harvard have been developing sensors that can detect viruses including the ones that cause Zika and Ebola.
They’re adapting their technology to screen for the new coronavirus.
This MIT and Harvard dream team hopes to embed the sensors inside face masks so that when an infected person breathes, coughs, or sneezes, the sensors light up to signal the presence of the virus.
If the technology proves successful, it could address flaws associated with other screening methods like temperature checks.
How these masks could be used:
You or I could use it on the way to and from work.
Hospitals could use it for patients as they come in or wait in the waiting room as a pre-screen of who’s infected.
Or at airports to monitor passengers.
Doctors might even use them to diagnose patients on the spot, without having to send samples to a laboratory.
At a time when testing snafus and delays have hampered many countries’ ability to control outbreaks, tools that quickly identify patients are critical.
The team is also experimenting with design: Right now, the lab is debating whether to embed sensors on the inside of a mask or develop a module that can be attached to any over-the-counter mask.
Story 2: What If Your Face Mask Could Kill Coronavirus with Electricity?
Source: Popular Mechanics Story by Courtney Linder
And Textile Magazine
Recently we talked about Harvard and MIT researchers developing a face mask that lights up when it detects the coronavirus.
Now two Japanese companies, Murata Manufacturing and Teijin Frontier, are working on a fabric for masks that could kill the coronavirus upon contact.
The new antimicrobial textile is called PIECLEX. That’s P I E C L E X
The real excitement is that as the fabric expands or contracts due to human movement or other motions it generates a low level of electricity.
The electricity generated by the fabric can help kill the coronavirus upon contact AND can zap microorganisms without the use of chemical agents.
The plan is to create and test masks using this innovative fabric.
Technical side note:
The fabric’s ability to generate electricity is due to piezoelectricity
Piezoelectricity is the name for the phenomenon whereby certain materials develop an electric charge in response to an applied mechanical
force
Reality Check: it may be quite a long time before it can be fully tested and deployed.
One of the key barriers to validating the new fabric is getting samples of the coronavirus to expose the electricity generating fabric to.
The bottom line: Great example of the wide range of innovative research going on around the world to help protect us from the coronavirus.
Story 3: “Pandemic drone” could help detect infections in crowds
Source: New Atlas Story by David Szondy
Link: https://newatlas.com/drones/pandemic-drone-detect-infections-crowds-coronavirus/
If you see a drone fly by in the future, it could be looking for evidence of COVID-19.
The University of South Australia (UniSA) and Canada-based drone technology specialist Draganfly Inc have teamed up to develop a “pandemic drone” platform that uses special sensors and computer vision to find people with infectious respiratory diseases.
According to the team, the new drone is capable of monitoring someone’s temperature, heart rate, and respiratory rate.
It can also detect sneezing and coughing.
This works even in crowds, including those at offices, airports, cruise ships, and aged care homes.
The technology behind the COVID-19 drone was originally unveiled in 2017 by a team of researchers at the University of South Australia when they demonstrated the ability to measure heart and breathing rates, analyze human movements to detect coughing and sneezing at a distance of up to 33 feet using drone videos and within 165 feet from fixed cameras.
The University team admits the detection rate isn’t perfect, but it is a practical tool for seeing if a disease is present in a crowd.
Story 4: Startup Uses Fever Detection Camera Technology to Stop Spread of Coronavirus
Source: Forbes Story by Samantha Walravens
When Athena Security started in 2018, their mission was to use thermal imaging and computer vision camera system to detect guns concealed under clothing – for use at airports, or any entrance areas managing large crowds.
Now, they are using that same technology to detect fevers in the hopes of mitigating the spread of the coronavirus.
Athena Security uses infrared cameras and an algorithm that analyzes body temperature to detect people who have a temperature higher than 100 degrees.
In specific, the camera system focuses on the inner eye which is the closest point to your base body temperature and can detect within .+- 0.3°C Accuracy.
If a temperature is detected, the camera sends an immediate alert to the business owner or individual monitoring the space.
The company claims that with their technology, they can analyze 1000 people per hour.
This technology is not new. During the 2003 SARS and 2009 swine flu epidemics, airports across the U.S. used thermal imaging cameras to spot travelers who had fevers.
What’s different about Athena’s system is its ability to send out immediate alerts to the appropriate parties, who can then make an informed decision on how to act.
What about privacy? According to the company’s website, Athena’s system does not display a person’s race or ethnicity, nor does it track, collect or distribute any personal identifiable information from subjects.
Story 5: “Germ-Zapping Robots”: How Hollywood Might Kill Coronavirus Fears on Set
Source: Hollywood Reporter Story by Bryn Elise Sandberg
The world’s film and TV industry production managers are now exploring how to resume production safely.
The challenge is to find creative ways to make sure indoor sets are sanitary in the age of COVID-19.
One option includes using “germ and virus-zapping robots” usually found in major hospitals.
For example, San Antonio, Texas-based Xenex Disinfection Services [that’s X E N E X] has a lab-certified robot that uses pulses of ultraviolet light to zap the virus that causes COVID-19.
The three-foot tall, roll around robot [that kind of looks like a big shop vac] is able to knock out 99.99 percent of the coronavirus in just two minutes.
And according to Xenex, the robot offers the first and only UV disinfection technology proven to destroy the actual virus which causes COVID-19.
Here’s how the robot works:
A trained technician places the robot in a designated area, turns it on and then exits the room.
Then, for five minutes the robot generates bursts of high-intensity, full germicidal spectrum ultraviolet C [or UVC] light (which is far more intense than sunlight)
Its full germicidal spectrum UVC light means it can take out a host of pathogens susceptible to different wavelengths of light.
And here’s a key benefit: a Xenex robot can quickly kill viruses, bacteria and spores without damaging materials or equipment.
Xenex robots are already in use in more than 450 hospitals in the US
But in recent weeks, the Xenex team has approached major studios and streaming services, including Netflix, Amazon and Sony.
Now for a reality check, the price tag: Xenex’s robots can be rented on a per-month basis or purchased for roughly $125,000 each.
Story 6: Update: Supercomputers Continue to Delve into COVID-19’s Spike Protein
Source: HPC Wire Story by Oliver Peckham
Link: https://www.hpcwire.com/2020/05/22/tacc-supercomputers-delve-into-covid-19s-spike-protein/
First, let’s set the stage:
We’ve all seen images of the coronavirus ball with those weird spike-like projections
Those projections are the “spike protein”
The spike protein helps the coronavirus to attach to human cells and work its way into them, where the virus then reproduces itself.
Much of the supercomputer-powered research surrounding COVID-19 [such as the IBM supercomputer story we talked about weeks ago] has focused on finding simple molecules that could bind to the spike protein – and disable it.
But, there is another front in the war against coronavirus
Instead of looking for molecules that can bind to the spike protein and disable it, a team of researchers from the University of Texas at El Paso is now using supercomputers to figure out how the spike protein binds to human cells.
In specific, the University team is using supercomputers to look at the interaction between the coronavirus spike protein and the human ACE2 [or “ace” 2] protein.
Okay, what is ACE2? ACE2 is a protein on the surface of many cell types [including cells in critical human organs]
ACE2, as it turns out, is the target of the coronavirus spike protein – Making ACE2 the entry point into the human body for COVID-19.
I want to emphasize this point — For coronavirus to invade our bodies it must be able to interact with the ACE2 protein.
So, the University team in El Paso is using the power of supercomputers to run simulations needed to explore [and understand] this interaction between the coronavirus spike protein and the ACE2 protein.
Before we get to the results of their research, I can’t resist giving you a geeky side note about the two amazingly powerful supercomputers involved:
First, is a TACC Stampede2 system delivering 10.7 petaflops of performance.
Wait, what’s a petaflop?
Each petaflop represents computing speed equal to one thousand million million floating-point operations per second!
And the second supercomputer is a Lonestar 5 delivering 1 petaflop per second performance.
Okay, now for the results the University of Texas at El Paso team has achieved so far:
Using all that horsepower the team has identified some of COVID-19’s specific amino acids that might play crucial roles in the process that binds AEC2 to the coronavirus spike protein.
In specific, the team has discovered that on COVID-19 there are about 20
important amino acid residues interacting with ACE2, and what they are doing now is trying to identify the roles of those key amino acids.
The bottom line: on two fronts today supercomputers are key weapons in the war against coronavirus!
Story 7: Stanford University seeks information from Fitbit and Apple Watches to help predict COVID-19
Source: Stanford University website
Link: https://innovations.stanford.edu/wearables
First, what’s the goal:
The Stanford team is trying to see if data collected from wearable devices can be used to help predict the onset of COVID-19 before the actual symptoms start.
Right now they are looking for volunteers who own a wearable device [such as a Fitbit Watch, Apple watch, and other similar products], and who also meet this criteria:
Have a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19
Or, have been exposed to somebody who has COVID-19
Or, are at higher risk of exposure (such as healthcare workers or grocery store workers).
How the Stanford program works:
Participants install an app on their smartphone and smart watch
The smartphone app will be used to collect physiological data from your smart watch and correlate this with any symptoms you report.
Within the smartphone app, there is a daily symptom/check-in survey, which should take no more than 1-2 minutes to fill out.
Here is the range of data they plan to track:
step count,
body movement,
electrical changes in the skin due to stress,
skin temperature,
your location via GPS,
the amount of oxygen in your blood,
your blood pressure,
and the quality of your sleep.
The team reports that they have previously shown that data from smart watches [such as heart rate] can be used for early detection of infectious disease, even before the appearance of symptoms.
Based on past success, they are hoping to apply this approach for early detection of COVID-19.
Story 8: University of California San Diego Doctors enlist artificial intelligence to help look for evidence of coronavirus in your lungs
Source: Yahoo news posting of a story from LA Times, by Ashley Gold
Link: https://news.yahoo.com/doctors-enlist-artificial-intelligence-help-170257098.html
This is a great example of repurposing technology to help evaluate potential coronavirus victims
Before the coronavirus hit, a team of doctors at UC San Diego had been working for 18 months on an artificial intelligence program designed to help doctors identify evidence of pneumonia on chest X-rays.
When the coronavirus hit, they decided to see if their artificial intelligence-based pneumonia identification program could help ID patients with coronavirus lung symptoms.
Here’s how their AI program works:
Chest X-rays are examined by their AI program, which can quickly scroll through millions of pieces of data to detect patterns that may be hard for clinicians to discern.
The program then places color dots on a copy of the X-ray image to indicate where there may be lung damage or other signs of issues that may indicate coronavirus.
The project has received research funding from:
Amazon Web Services,
the University of California
and the National Science Foundation.
Right now the University of San Diego research team is running every chest X-ray taken at its University hospital through their AI-based system to see if it can help ID coronavirus victims.
The current status of this effort: doctors on the research team report that, to date, the tool influences their coronavirus clinical decision-making about a third of the time.
Story 9: Alphabet’s balloon-powered Loon internet comes to Mozambique
Source: Engadget.com Story by Steve Dent
Link: https://a.msn.com/r/2/BB141KSd?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare
First, a couple of stage setting points:
Alphabet is Google’s technology group
The Loon project [that’s L O O N] refers to their effort to deploy a network of Internet connectivity balloons to be positioned on the edge of space.
The goal is to quickly deliver Internet connectivity to people in underserved communities around the world – without having to install costly ground-based cell towers.
In a nutshell, a Loon balloon is a solar-powered, super 4G cell tower flying approximately 12.5 miles above the earth’s surface
Using artificial intelligence, the balloon is guided in a constant figure 8 pattern to stay in position over the area of the earth to be served.
Alphabet recently announced they will soon provide service in Mozambique.
The Loon team is collaborating with communications carrier Vodacom to
provide 4G service to two vast provinces in Mozambique that currently have spotty or no internet coverage.
And the Loon team is also working to help the nation of Kenya improve communications during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Story 10: Fun Fact: SpaceX astronauts wore custom 3D-printed helmets
Source: 3DPrint.com Story by Vanesa Listek
Link: https://3dprint.com/267919/ahead-of-historic-demo-2-astronaut-launch-all-spacex-has-3d-printed/
And video on Mashable.com https://mashable.com/video/spacex-helmet-3d-printed/
One thing about the SpaceX Dragon astronauts is they traveled in style.
In addition to the super cool Dragon capsule, the crew’s lightweight and sleek spacesuits are unlike anything we’ve seen before
The spacesuits look great, but what’s really remarkable is they were custom-made for each astronaut’s body
For example, the helmets were custom manufactured for each astronaut’s head shape using 3D printing technology.
Advanced features of the helmet include:
Built-in air cooling
mechanisms for visor retraction and locking
as well as microphones within the helmet’s structure.
Story 11: How Bioprinting Human Skin Could End Animal Testing and Improve Skin Transplants
Source: Autodesk’s Redshift online magazine Story by Diane Caballar
Link: https://tinyurl.com/y8q5ned7
See video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM7J-KcMJuY&feature=emb_logo
India-based start-up Next Big Innovation Labs (NBIL) is using 3D printing technology for bioprinting human skin.
Bioprinting uses biological materials such as cells to create a bioink that’s loaded into a bioprinter.
Skin is comprised of multiple layers, making it well suited for a layered 3D-printing process.
Local side note of interest: Autodesk Fusion 360 software was used to help design their “bio” 3D printer parts. Autodesk has a big team right here in Portland.
How the 3D printing of skin works:
NBIL established a three-stage process to create its version of human skin—what the company calls Innoskin.
Step 1: skin cells from skin tissue samples are extracted and stored in a cell bank.
Step 2: The skin cells are mixed with the company’s bioink formulation, which they load into their unique bioprinter.
Step 3: After a period of 14 days, the cells grow into skin tissue, forming the epidermis and its four sublayers.
NBIL is currently comparing the biology of its bio-printed skin to see how well it matches actual human.
If successful, they believe it could be a viable replacement for animal testing, and potentially for skin grafts.
The company hopes to launch their Innoskin this year.
Story 12: Boeing Delivers First ‘Loyal Wingman’ Drone Prototype for Testing – New drone will use artificial intelligence to conduct team missions with manned jet fighters
Source: Military.com Story by Oriana Pawlyk
And Defense News Story by Valerie Insinna
Last month the Royal Australian Air Force took delivery of its first Boeing-built drone-jet hybrid prototype, nicknamed “loyal wingman”.
The new drone was jointly developed by Boeing and the Australian Air Force
The loyal wingman drone uses artificial intelligence to conduct intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions to supply fighter pilots with more information during a conflict.
Here’s what makes the loyal wingman drone so innovative: With its advanced AI the drone can fly independently or in support of manned aircraft while maintaining safe distance between other aircraft.
The loyal wingman drone is 38 feet long, with a removable nose that can be packed with mission-specific sensors and other payloads.
To reduce cost, the body of the drone incorporates resin-infused composite structures.
In fact, one of the body components is the largest piece of resin-infused composite Boeing has made to date.
The US Air Force is also working on its own “loyal wingman” drone.
Our version will be able to “think” autonomously and would fly alongside F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.
Working together the Jets and drones could, for example, scout enemy territory ahead of a strike.
Story 13: Samsung backs a startup that makes fake windows that generate artificial sunlight
Source: The Verge Story by James Vincent
One of the latest startups supported by Samsun is SunnyFive.
The SunnyFive team claims they have developed an artificial window that supposedly delivers all the benefits of natural sunlight.
The SunnyFive window looks similar in function to light therapy lamps marketed to sufferers of seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
It outputs the full spectrum of natural light, and can be programmed to mimic the lighting effects of a real window.
Some cool features that make it more interesting than a typical light therapy lamp include:
The angle of the light changes throughout the day and incorporates various “sunlight scenarios” — Such as sunrise, dawn, dusk, and sunset.
And a companion app lets users tweak color temperature and brightness.
According to Samsung, the product “helps users synthesize vitamin D while they are indoors or in low-lit places without having to worry about skin aging or sunburn”
An early version of the product was demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this past January.
No pricing or availability announced yet.