Memristors as synaptic emulators for neuromorphic computing

The accumulation and extrusion of Ca2+ in the pre- and postsynaptic compartments play a critical role in initiating plastic changes in biological synapses. To emulate this fundamental process in electronic devices, we developed diffusive Ag-in-oxide memristors with a temporal response during and after stimulation similar to that of the synaptic Ca2+ dynamics. In situ high-resolution …

Read more

Will the US be willing to make the political or military costs needed to counter China’s island bases

Thomas Shugart at War on the Rocks makes the case that China’s artificial islands in the South China Sea are not trivial. Thomas Shugart is a Senior Military Fellow at the Center for a New American Security and a submarine warfare officer in the U.S. Navy. China has three major islands Fiery Cross, Subi, and …

Read more

Halo Sport Brain Stimulator boosts and accelerates strength and skill gains by up to half the time needed for gains

The US Military accelerated pilot and sniper training by 50% with neurotechnology similar to Halo Sport. We’re bringing these gains to athletics. Neuropriming uses pulses of energy to increase the excitability of motor neurons, benefiting athletes in two ways: accelerated strength and skill acquisition. Halo Sport is a training device that accelerates gains in skill, …

Read more

China on track to 12 operational J-20 stealth fighters in 2017 for airpower edge over other countries in Asia

In July 2016, the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation rolled out two more low rate initial production (LRIP) J-20 stealth fighters. This brings to a total of four J-20 fighters built for service into the Chinese air force, as opposed to the original eight J-20 prototypes, which are still undergoing a rigorous flight testing regimen. At this …

Read more

China completes 500 meter radio telescope which is 2.5 time the area of the Arecibo scope

Covering an area the size of 30 football pitches, China’s Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) was officially completed this week, making it the largest radio telescope in the world. The telescope is larger than the Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory, which is 300 meters in diameter. It will also be 10 times more sensitive than the …

Read more

Food Crisis simulation game suggests eventual cooperation as food prices quadruple but actual food crisis in Venezuela and doubled global food prices triggered almost no actual response

Food Chain Reaction: A Global Food Security Game is an international simulation based in the near future during a global food crisis. In November 2015, 65 thought leaders and policy makers from several countries came together in Washington, D.C. to participate in the exercise. Teams of participants represented governments, institutions, and businesses and responded to …

Read more

Combo therapy may slow down Alzheimer’s disease

Researchers propose a novel combination therapy consisting of an agent for chelating redox-active metals (Fe2+) and an antioxidant to reduce damage caused by residual oxygen free radicals, in addition to resveratrol, a modulator of AMPK and sirtuin pathways (nuclear transcription). The addition of resveratrol may have the capacity to increase activity of the NAD+- dependant …

Read more

Engine upgrades in the 2020s could make the F-35 engine longer lasting to reduce eventual operating costs by 30% for the project $1.5 trillion program

Pratt and Whitney are working on a block one improvement to the F135 engine (used on the F-35 stealth fighter) which will offer between a 7% and 10% improvement in thrust, as well as between 5% and 7% better mission fuel burn, and is undergoing testing now. Although higher thrust and better fuel burn have …

Read more

Tesla autonomous driving gathering twice as many miles every day as Google’s entire multi-year self driving project

The combined fleet of Tesla Model S and X are driving more than 3 million miles a day. So in just one day, Tesla cars do about twice the distance that Google’s done in the entire history of their self-driving car project. This gives Tesla an advantage in the race for sustainable transport an accident-free …

Read more

China plans to layoff, relocate and retrain 1.3 million coal workers and 500,000 steel workers this year

China is making progress in curing its coal energy addiction but it there are big challenges. The government said on Monday that 1.8 million workers in the coal and steel industries will be laid off this year, representing more than 10 percent of the total steel workforce and fully one-fifth of the workers in the …

Read more