July 2020 show notes
For more about me, see: https://ralphbond.wixsite.com/aboutme
Story 1: Supercomputer Identifies 125 Natural Compounds with Potential to Beat COVID-19
Source: Medical Xpress Story by Jim Steele, University of Alabama
Link: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-06-lab-naturally-compounds-potential-covid-.html
- Back in March, we talked about IBM’s supercomputer identifying 77 promising drug compounds to battle COVID-19.
- Since then supercomputers around the world have been hard at work helping to research ways to battle the coronavirus.
- The latest exciting news comes from scientists at the University of Alabama
- It’s the first time a supercomputer has been used to evaluate the ability of naturally occurring compounds to disable the proteins made by COVID-19
- Remember, the coronavirus’ proteins help the virus replicate in infected cells.
- So, disabling these proteins would stop COVID-19 in its tracks.
- The University of Alabama supercomputer was used to rapidly evaluate 50,000 natural compounds to source chemicals from nature.
- So far, they have discovered 125 naturally occurring compounds to combat coronavirus proteins.
- This experiment only tested one batch of natural compounds, but there are more than 400,000 compounds they could potentially test.
Story 2: The New York Times website has a real-time Coronavirus Vaccine Development Tracker following the status of more than 140 vaccines in the works
Source: New York Times By Jonathan Corum, Denise Grady and Carl Zimmer
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html
- It’s a frequently updated and really cool online reporting tool I’ve become addicted to.
- As of today:
- There are 125 vaccines not yet in human trials
- 10 vaccines testing safety and dosage
- 8 vaccines in expanded safety trials
- 2 vaccines in large-scale effectiveness tests
- 0 vaccines approved for general use
Story 3: Sixth grader redesigns classic Space Impact game to combat COVID-19 anxiety
Source: Fast Company Story by Lilly Smith
- Israel Smith, a 12-year-old sixth grader at Brookhaven Innovation Academy Charter School in Norcross, Georgia, wanted to help other kids deal with their anxiety about the coronavirus.
- So, for an assignment in his computer software coding class, Smith built a video game where you zap cartoon-like COVID-19 virus “bugs”
- What Smith did is redesign Nokia’s old-school cellphone game Space Impact.
- In the game you control an avatar on the left of the screen, which shoots at bug-like coronaviruses that move across the screen from the right.
- Users determine which bugs are the coronavirus and shoot at them to earn points.
- Periodically screen pop ups appear with educational messages such as “Symptoms range from mild to severe”
- I tried it, and it’s fun!
Story 4: Facebook envisions using holographics for super-slim Virtual Reality glasses
Source: Engadget.com Story by Jon Fingas
Link: https://www.engadget.com/facebook-holographic-vr-displays-230133045.html
Source 2: The Verge Story by Jay Peters
Link: https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/30/21308813/facebook-vr-sunglasses-research-proof-of-concept
- We’ve all seen the current crop of bulky Virtual Reality headsets that work – but are not comfortable for long term wearing.
- What if you could create a pair of slim, lightweight Virtual Reality glasses instead that look like large sunglasses?
- That’s what the Facebook Reality Labs has developed using holographics
- Okay, a quick refresh on holographic technology:
- Think of holographic images you see in a science museum, or on your credit card.
- The image appears to be 3D thanks to holographic optics, which involves the recording of the interaction of laser light with objects.
- Using holographic technology with flat films for the optics, the Facebook researches have created Virtual Reality glasses with displays that are less than 0.35 inches thick
- This could lead to Virtual Reality glasses you can wear for hours, which would be crucial for everything from sophisticated games through to professional uses.
Story 5: Scientists confirm the basis of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity
Source: Engadget.com Story by Marc DeAngelis
Link: https://www.engadget.com/equivalence-principle-confirmation-174018796.html
- First, here’s Einstein’s Theory of Relativity in a nutshell:
- If you simultaneously drop a feather and a bowling ball in a vacuum, they will hit the ground at the same time.
- In other words, despite their mass, they are affected by a gravitational field in exactly the same way.
- The same goes for massive objects like stars, according to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity
- Here’s the big news — an international team of astrophysicists, led by the University of Manchester in the UK, recently confirmed Einstein’s theory.
- The scientists used radio telescopes to measure how a neutron star orbits two white dwarf stars in a relationship similar to how the Earth and moon orbit the sun.
- By comparing the speed, motion and masses of the bodies, the results show that all three stars are affected in the same way by their gravity fields. Which confirms the basis of Einstein’s theory.
Story 6: If you have $74,500 to spare, you can now buy one of Boston Dynamics’ world famous Spot robot dogs!
Source: The Verge Story by James Vincent
Link: https://www.theverge.com/21292684/boston-dynamics-spot-robot-on-sale-price
- You have to see this four-legged, dog-like robot to believe it!
- It’s downright freaky to see this very agile robot run, climb over rock piles, dance, open doors and scamper into rooms!
- After years of development, the company began leasing Spot to a few businesses last year
- But now, as of June 16, Boston Dynamics is letting any US firm buy their very own Spot for $74,500.
- Okay, to date, what have people been using Spot robots for:
- Surveying and data collection
- To hunt for machine faults in offshore oil rigs
- To work with police bomb squads
- And, most recently – as we reported last month — to help hospitals triage COVID-19 patients – by mounting tablets on the robot’s face so that doctors and nurses can interview patients from a safe distance.
Story 7: Seattle startup Proprio raises $23M to build ultra high-tech surgical navigation system
Source: GeekWire Story by Taylor Soper
See video here: https://vimeo.com/289549130?from=outro-embed
- Some investors believe Proprio’s system will be just as transformative to the medical world as the invention of X-ray.
- Proprio has a bold vision [which has been in development for several years] to change the way surgeons work by using [and combining] advanced technologies such as:
- computer vision,
- robotics,
- artificial intelligence,
- augmented and virtual reality,
- and medical imaging.
- They are developing a complete hardware-software solution with overhead cameras, head-mounted displays, and more.
- Proprio’s live immersive virtual reality platform combines preoperative data with breakthrough real-time imaging technology to help surgeons plan an entire surgical procedure.
- The system produces a live, real-time fused image allowing surgeons to essentially look inside a body without having to glance at another screen.
- The idea is to rely less on traditional surgical tools such as:
- microscopes,
- glasses with magnifying lenses,
- monitors,
- and radiological imagery.
Story 8: Wearable-tech glove translates sign language into speech in real time
Source: TechXplore.com Story by Christine Wei-Li Lee, UCLA
Link: https://techxplore.com/news/2020-06-wearable-tech-glove-language-speech-real.html
- UCLA bioengineers have designed a glove-like device that can translate American Sign Language into English speech in real time through a smartphone app.
- The system includes a pair of gloves with thin, stretchable sensors that run the length of each of the five fingers.
- These sensors, made from electrically conducting yarns, pick up hand motions and finger placements that stand for individual letters, numbers, words and phrases.
- The device then turns the finger movements into electrical signals, which are sent to a small circuit board worn on the wrist.
- The board transmits those signals wirelessly to a smartphone that translates them into spoken words at the rate of about one word per second.
- The researchers also added adhesive sensors to testers’ faces—to capture facial expressions that are a part of American Sign Language.
- UCLA has filed for a patent on the technology. Commercial availability is TBD.
Story 9: $1M grant to Washington State University will help researchers explore the use of “robotic bees” for crop pollination
Source: GeekWire Story by Lisa Stiffler
- First, let’s refresh on the problem farmers are facing these days, especially here in the Northwest:
- In order to pollinate their crops farmers currently bring honeybee hives to their fields.
- But U.S. bee populations have been struggling since the mid-2000s with the rise of colony collapse disorder
- And now our native bees are facing the threat of the deadly Asian giant hornet which has been spotted in Washington state and British Columbia.
- One possible solution: use robotic pollinators
- That’s what a team at Washington State University is exploring.
- And their project just received a three-year grant totaling nearly $1 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
- The team is adapting existing machine learning and robotics technology, including tools originally developed to mechanically thin plants or pick fruit.
- The research goal is to build robots that can locate flower blossoms and use a robotic hand to perform the delicate task of pollinating the flowers.
Story 10: ‘DeepFaceDrawing’ AI can turn simple sketches into detailed photo portraits
Source: Engadget.com Story by Rachel England
Link: https://www.engadget.com/ai-can-produce-detailed-photos-of-faces-from-simple-sketches-122924655.html
- Researchers have found a way to turn simple line drawings into photo-realistic facial images.
- Developed by a team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, DeepFaceDrawing uses artificial intelligence to help “users with little training in drawing to produce high-quality images from rough or even incomplete freehand sketches.”
- It works largely through probability — instead of requiring detailed eyelid or lip shapes, for example, the software refers to a database of faces and facial components, and considers how each facial element works with each other.
- Eyes, nose, mouth, face shape and hair type are all considered separately, and then assembled into a single image.
- Other than fun, what’s it good for?
- Potentially in law enforcement, helping to rapidly generate images of suspects.
- The technology will be demonstrated at this month’s SIGGRAPH conference.
Story 11: Harvard researchers have created a new fabric for “soft robots” that does not require air compressors – a breakthrough that could enable a new range of mechanotherapeutic and industrial applications
Source: Harvard Story by Benjamin Boettner
Link: https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/robotic-textiles-are-fueled-up-and-take-action/
See video here: https://vimeo.com/428634095
- This is a breakthrough that could enable a new range of therapeutic and industrial applications for “soft” fabric robots
- To date, the majority of textile-based soft robots are connected to air compressors via bulky tubes.
- The air pressure is used to change the shape or movement of the soft fabric robot.
- To eliminate the need for pumps and connecting tubes, researchers at Harvard have developed what they call “Smart Thermally Actuating Textiles”
- Instead of pumping air into soft robot structures, they are inducing pressure changes in fabric chambers by electrically controlling liquid-vapor phase changes to expand and contract.
- Their groundbreaking approach eliminates the need for air pumps and tethers – which opens up a whole new range of soft, textile robotic applications.
- For example, this new technology could be used for therapeutic wearables.
- Imagine a large, portable fabric “patch” with the ability to expand and contract to apply defined pressure patterns to accelerate tissue repair.
- Or to create responsive cushions that could help prevent pressure sores in wheelchair or hospital bed-bound individuals.