Bloomberg reports on a five-year, $77 million project by America’s Department of Defense to create an implantable brain device that restores memory-generation capacity for people with traumatic brain injuries. A device has now been developed by Michael Kahana, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, and the medical technology company Medtronic Plc, and successfully tested with funding from America’s…
Tag: prototype
Puncture-Proof Tires Revealed By GM and Michelin
At an event in Montreal earlier this week, Michelin and General Motors unveiled a new airless wheel prototype called the Uptis Prototype, which stands for “Unique Puncture-proof Tire System.” The prototype looks like an old-fashioned tire, but has treads in the middle and no sidewalls. Interesting Engineering reports: “Uptis” as it is more simply called, was first unveiled at the Movin’On…
Researchers Propose Solar Methanol Island Using Ocean CO2
A PNAS paper published this week outlines a plan to establish 70 islands of solar panels, each 328 feet in diameter, that sends electricity to a hard-hulled ship that acts as an oceanic factory. “This factory uses desalinization and electrolysis equipment to extract hydrogen gas (H2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) from the surrounding ocean water,” reports Ars Technica. “It then uses…
Alan Turing Receives a (Late) Obituary From the NYT
“In recent years, The New York Times has been publishing obituaries of people long dead but who nevertheless would have been deserving of one when they died,” writes Slashdot reader necro81. “They call it their ‘Overlooked’ series. Today, their overlooked figure is British mathematician and prototype computer scientist Alan Turing.” Here’s an excerpt from the obituary: His genius embraced the first…
Why Are Some Wealthy Kids Getting Extra Time To Finish Their SAT Tests?
Students from wealthy high schools are more than twice as likely to qualify for extra time to finish their SAT or ACT college entrance tests than students from poor schools — and in some cases, they’re getting 50% more time. An anonymous reader quotes CBS News: About 4.2 percent of students at wealthy high schools qualified for a 504 designation, a…
China Unveils 373 MPH Maglev Train Prototype
China has unveiled a new floating bullet train capable of hitting speeds of about 372 mph (600 km/h). CNN reports: On Thursday, the body prototype for the country’s latest high-speed magnetic-levitation (maglev) train project rolled off the assembly line in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao. Developed by the state-owned China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) — the world’s largest supplier…
Q&A with Shwetabh Mittal, Head of Product and Corporate Strategy for Coursera for Business
We recently sat down with Shwetabh Mittal, the head of product and corporate strategy for Coursera for Business. Shwetabh was excited to provide a peak into how our product roadmap is developed and share some of the most exciting upcoming new features. In particular, he shares how he’s thinking about skills-based features in the wake […]
The post Q&A with Shwetabh Mittal,…
German Startup Unveils Electric ‘Flying Taxi’ Prototype
German startup Lilium has unveiled a new “flying taxi” that can vertically take off and be the basis for an on-demand air service within six years. The Guardian reports: The electric jet-powered five-seater aircraft is designed to travel up to 300km, a journey that would take it an hour at top speed. While a smaller version of its novel plane flew…