News of the week selected by Impactscool – June 15th
15 June 2020 | Written by La redazione
The microscope that sees atoms
It is called cryoelectronic microscopy and in an absolute primacy has allowed to identify individual atoms in a protein. This technique will allow researchers to understand, with unprecedented detail, the functioning of proteins that cannot be easily examined by other imaging techniques, such as X-ray crystallography. Cryoelectronics has existed for decades but technical innovations have allowed to increase considerably the resolution until showing the individual atoms.
Fight fire with augmented reality
One of the biggest risks for the fireman is, paradoxically, not fire, but smoke. Dense, dark, toxic and incadescent gases that block the sight and breath of those who are unfortunate enough to find themselves wrapped in smoke. Qwake Technologies has developed a device that uses augmented reality to allow firefighters to see through smoke. It’s called C-Thru and uses a camera ends combined with an artificial intelligence system to recognize the edges of objects and people and highlight them in green on a special eyepiece mounted in the mask worn by the firefighters. The use of this technology, together with many others that are being developed to make the work of those who work in extreme situations less dangerous, will save much more lives.
IBM and Amazon take a step back on facial recognition
Through a letter from CEO Arvind Krishna addressed to the American congress, IBM declared to stop its work on facial recognition. It claiming its opposition to the use of this technology for “mass surveillance, racial profiling, violation of freedoms and rights humans “- wrote Krishna -” We believe that the time has come to start a national dialogue on whether and how technology for facial recognition should be used by law enforcement agencies “.
IBM is not alone in this stance, Amazon has also said it will ban police use of this technology for a year. Rekognition, this is the name of the software created by the e-commerce giant, as well as other similar systems, is still too unrefined and plagued by bias, or prejudices, towards people of color and belonging to ethnic minorities due to the way in which to which this type of technology is being trained.
Microsoft also said it will not sell its facial recognition software to the police.
Although the internet is often seen as a convenience, in reality its value is much deeper and, for example, allows the stock markets to stay connected constantly or allows scientists and researchers to work from remote areas where they collect data. This is the case of divers who often find themselves forced to not be able to communicate directly with the surface since the internet does not take underwater. A team of researchers from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology has created an underwater wireless system, Aqua-Fi, which supports Internet services, such as sending multimedia messages, via LEDs or lasers. LEDs offer a low power consumption option for short distance communication, while lasers can carry data further, but require more energy.
