Weekly Piece of Future #61
From Lab-Grown Mini-Brain to Infinite Context Length for LLMs and Restoring Fertility
Hey there, fellow future-addicts!
Welcome to this week's edition of Rushing Robotics, your ultimate source for cutting-edge developments in the world of artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and beyond!
🤯 Mind-Blowing
In this edition, discover how scientists are achieving connectivity milestones with lab-grown mini-brains, engineers are optimizing muscle-powered robots with innovative spring-like devices, and researchers are levitating objects without external energy sources. These breakthroughs are not just pushing boundaries but redefining what's possible in our quest for a smarter, more sustainable future.
🔊 Industry Insights & Updates
And that's just the beginning. Dive into our Industry Insights & Updates to learn about Meta's challenge to Nvidia's dominance in the AI chip market and Google's groundbreaking approach to scaling Transformer-based Large Language Models. Plus, get a sneak peek into the future of clean solar power from space and the latest endeavors of tech visionaries Sam Altman and Jony Ive.
🧬 BioTech
But the excitement doesn't stop there. Explore our BioTech section for insights into restoring fertility with artificial ovaries, pioneering gene-edited organ transplants, and groundbreaking Alzheimer's research.
💡 Products/Tools of the Week
And don't miss our Products/Tools of the Week, featuring Autotab, Aqua, Create, and Eggnog—cutting-edge tools harnessing the power of AI to revolutionize productivity and creativity.
🎥 Video Section
Finally, immerse yourself in our video section, where you'll witness the future in action with innovations from Baidu, NAVER LABS, and CBC Vancouver.
Join us as we journey through the realms of AI, biotech, and beyond, because the future is happening now—and it's more mind-blowing than ever before. Stay hungry, stay futurish!
🤯 Mind-Blowing
Lab-grown mini-brains achieve connectivity milestone—Japanese and French scientists have developed a method for linking brain-like tissues cultivated in the lab. This breakthrough enhances connectivity in experimental model tissues, where human stem cells are nurtured into three-dimensional brain-mimicking structures. Researchers at The University of Tokyo have introduced a method to facilitate more physiological connections among lab-grown "neural organoids."
Engineers at MIT have developed a spring-like device named a flexure to optimize the performance of natural muscle tissues. Serving as a fundamental skeleton-like module for muscle-powered robots, the flexure was designed for enhanced efficiency and adaptability in biohybrid robots, leveraging the capabilities of natural muscles.
Japanese scientists have achieved levitation without relying on any external energy source. By developing a new material, the team has paved the way for future gravity-free technology. Their breakthrough involved focusing on creating a new material derived from graphite, known as one of the most stable forms of carbon and a proficient conductor of electricity.
Tohoku University researchers have developed rare-metal-free high-performance water-activated paper batteries. This innovative magnesium-air battery, constructed from paper and powered by water, marks a significant advancement. Paper-based devices not only minimize the use of metals and plastics but also offer environmental benefits, making this battery an eco-friendly choice.
A novel quantum material elevates solar cell efficiency to 190%. Lehigh University researchers unveiled a prototype employing this quantum material as the active layer in a solar cell. With a photovoltaic absorption rate of 80% and an external quantum efficiency (EQE) reaching up to 190%, this achievement is remarkable, surpassing the theoretical limit set by the Shockley-Queisser efficiency for traditional silicon-based solar cells. In contrast, conventional solar cells typically max out at an EQE of 100%.
🔊 Industry Insights & Updates
Google scientists have released a research paper detailing an innovative method for scaling Transformer-based Large Language Models (LLMs) to infinitely long inputs while maintaining bounded memory and computation. Central to their approach is a novel attention mechanism called Infini-attention, which introduces minimal bounded memory parameters and facilitates rapid streaming inference for LLMs.
Meta is set to shake up the AI chip market by challenging Nvidia's supremacy with their new offerings. The company has announced the production of their MTIA v1 and v2 chips, slated for in-house deployment later this year. Leveraging a cutting-edge 5nm architecture and featuring an expanded 8x8 grid of processing elements (PEs), the next-generation MTIA chips mark a significant advancement, delivering a 3.5x improvement over their predecessors.
Advancements in clean solar power from space are on the horizon, thanks to a UK-based startup's groundbreaking efforts. Space Solar envisions a large-scale satellite equipped with solar panels and an innovative mirror system to intensify sunlight. Their cutting-edge technology, HARRIER, enables energy transmission in every direction without the need for moving components, thereby enhancing performance and reliability.
Altman and Ive are in advanced talks with multiple venture capital firms to secure approximately $1 billion. The duo convened brainstorming sessions at the designer's San Francisco studio, focusing on a new consumer product leveraging OpenAI's technology. Sam Altman is considering a screenless device, aligning with the approach of another recent investment of his, the Humane AI pin.
🧬 BioTech
University of Michigan engineers announce the creation of a new "atlas" of the human ovary, offering insights that could pave the way for treatments aimed at restoring ovarian hormone production and fertility. This enhanced understanding of the ovary opens doors to the possibility of developing artificial ovaries in the laboratory, utilizing tissues preserved and frozen prior to exposure to harmful medical treatments like chemotherapy and radiation.
A team of Chinese scientists has successfully transplanted a gene-edited pig's organ into a brain-dead patient, mirroring a recent liver transplant procedure. Employing CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology, the scientists integrated two human genes into the pig donor while excising three pig genes implicated in hyperacute rejection.
A breakthrough in Alzheimer's treatment emerges as scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine unveil an innovative human neuron model. This model effectively replicates the spread of tau protein aggregates in the brain, a pivotal mechanism underlying cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia, offering hope for potential treatments.
💡Products/tools of the week
Introducing Autotab, your digital robot companion that learns tasks just like a human—simply show it how to perform a task once, and it handles the rest. Today, Autotab effortlessly manages intricate tasks with thousands of steps, freeing up users' time and saving hours each day. Say goodbye to repetitive work and hello to increased productivity by hiring Autotab for your tasks, starting at just $1 per hour. Gain early access now and experience the power of automation firsthand.
Meet Aqua, the voice-native text editor. Visualize dictating to a professional writer who refines your wording, supplements text, and grasps your meaning. Aqua responds intuitively to feedback and can rectify errors upon your request.
Experience Create, the cutting-edge AI-powered app builder reshaping application development. By leveraging plain text and images, Create simplifies coding for users, offering a seamless experience. Specifically designed for businesses, Create empowers users to create internal tools, optimizing workflows and productivity effortlessly.
Eggnog: the digital tool for AI-generated videos with consistent characters. Design your own characters, from their faces to outfits, and storyboard scenes by placing them in diverse settings. Eggnog then animates the scenes, creating complete videos effortlessly.
