Lifeboat Foundation

Engineers and chemists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Meta have developed a new kind of 3D-printed material capable of replicating characteristics of biological tissue, an advancement that could impact the future of “augmented humanity.”

In a paper recently published in the journal Matter, LLNL and Meta researchers describe a framework for creating a “one-pot” 3D-printable resin in which light is used to pattern smooth gradients in stiffness to approximate gradients found in biology, such as where bone meets muscle.

The framework addresses a key challenge in developing more lifelike wearables: “mechanical mismatch.” Whereas natural tissues are soft, electronic devices are usually made of rigid materials and it can be difficult and time-consuming to assemble such devices using traditional means.

Continue reading “LLNL and Meta engineers develop 3D-printed material with potential for more lifelike wearables” »

With the rapid growth of the smart and wearable electronic devices market, smart next-generation energy storage systems that have energy storage functions as well as additional color-changing properties are receiving a great deal of attention. However, existing electrochromic devices have low electrical conductivity, leading to low efficiency in electron and ion mobility, and low storage capacities. Such batteries have therefore been limited to use in flexible and wearable devices.

On August 21, a joint research team led by Professor Il-Doo Kim from the KAIST Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE) and Professor Tae Gwang Yun from the Myongji University Department of Materials Science and Engineering announced the development of a smart electrochromic Zn-ion battery that can visually represent its charging and discharging processes using an electrochromic polymer anode incorporated with a “π-bridge spacer,” which increases electron and ion mobility efficiency.

Their research was published as an inside cover article for Advanced Materials on August 3 under the title, “A π-Bridge Spacer Embedded Electron Donor-Acceptor Polymer for Flexible Electrochromic Zn-Ion Batteries.”

Microsoft will drop support for the Cortana app in Windows before the end of this year, but it may be working on a new digital assistant for wearables. The company has filed a patent application for an AI-powered smart backpack.

The proposed backpack would have a camera, microphone and other sensors to collect visual and audio data from the surroundings. It could then use this contextual data to complete voice commands given by the user.

According to the patent filing, the backpack could provide navigation assistance, add calendar events, compare prices while shopping, and more. It would access the user’s data to help provide relevant information.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge have unveiled a surprising discovery that holds the potential to reshape the landscape of electrochemical devices. This new insight opens the door for the creation of cutting-edge materials and paves the way for enhancements in sectors like energy storage, neuromorphic computing, and bioelectronics.

Electrochemical devices rely on the movement of charged particles, both ions, and electrons, to function properly. However, understanding how these charged particles move together has presented a significant challenge, hindering progress in creating new materials for these devices.

In the rapidly evolving field of bioelectronics, soft conductive materials known as conjugated polymers are used for developing medical devices that can be used outside of traditional clinical settings. For example, this type of material can be used to make wearable sensors that monitor patients’ health remotely or implantable devices that actively treat disease.

The team used acupuncture needles to deliver the trigger for 10 seconds a day, and the blood sugar levels in the mice returned to normal within a month. The rodents even regained the ability to manage blood sugar levels after a large meal without the need for external insulin, a normally difficult feat.

Called “electrogenetics,” these interfaces are still in their infancy. But the team is especially excited for their potential in wearables to directly guide therapeutics for metabolic and potentially other disorders. Because the setup requires very little power, three AA batteries could trigger a daily insulin shot for more than five years, they said.

The study is the latest to connect the body’s analogue controls—gene expression—with digital and programmable software such as smartphone apps. The system is “a leap forward, representing the missing link that will enable wearables to control genes in the not-so-distant future,” said the team.

Circle October 14th on your calendar for a solar eclipse and news about Humane’s AI Pin.

Humane, a startup founded by ex-Apple employees, plans to share more about its mysterious AI-powered wearable on the same day as a solar eclipse in October, co-founder Imran Chaudhri said in a video on the company’s Discord (via Inverse.

Continue reading “Humane will share more about its mysterious ‘Ai Pin’ the same day as October’s eclipse” »

Thoughts on the future of artificial intelligence, universal accelerating change, “inner space,” Google, the metaverse, the wearable web, technology evaluation and empowerment, and cybertwins, including “digital mom”. SIAI Interview, Oct 2007. Filmed by Doug Wolens, I-MagineMedia, author of the excellent new documentary The Singularity, 2012. This is one of my favorite short interviews. Hope you like it!

Scientists claim to have uncovered the “missing link” that could pave the way for wearable electronic devices to control genes.

Wearable devices utilize biosensors to gather an individual’s data, including heart rate, blood pressure, sleep patterns, activity, and temperature, among other metrics.

Wearable electronic devices are playing an increasingly significant role in personalized medicine. However, they’re not yet capable of directly programming gene-based therapies, as explained in an article by a group of researchers from ETH Zurich, a public research university in Zürich, Switzerland.

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Earl.