Daily Archives: February 8, 2020

[The Turning Point] How a family car led to the idea of deep tech startup ION Energy – YourStory

Posted: February 8, 2020 at 3:42 am

Akhil Aryan, the Co-founder of ION Energy, was interested in the physics of energy and software since he was a young boy. He was managing product and growth at Haptik as CPO in 2015. This was the time when there was a lot of hype surrounding Tesla Model S, which had just come out.

So instead of selling the car, he suggested his father let him convert it into an electric car. He started reading books on how to convert an internal combustion engine into an electric one, and bought components online.

Co-founder ION Energy, Akhil Aryan

As he read up more on batteries, he understood that the battery is the most expensive and complicated component of an EV and if you solve that problem and make the battery accessible in a way that it lasts longer or performs better, then you can significantly reduce the total cost of ownership of the vehicle even though the upfront costs might be similar.

This is when Akhil decided to go deeper into the battery management space and realised that nobody at the time was doing it in India.

Thus, in 2016, he started ION Energy in Mumbai. ION is a deep technology platform to optimise battery performance and life-extension for the new era of electric vehicles, energy storage, and connected devices. The startup supplies its product to companies that are building EVs and energy storage systems for renewable energy.

In 2017, ION acquired Freemens SAS, an eight-year-old French company that is building battery management systems. Today, ION has offices in India and France.

Alexandre Collet, who was the founder of Freemens SAS, joined ION as the co-founder in 2017. Today ION has a total team strength of 53 people.

Akhil considers his startup journey as unusual.

The startup today has operations in 12 countries, the biggest markets being India, France, Germany, and the UK.

ION has raised over $1 million in three transactions from Tessellate Ventures and other undisclosed investors.

Talking about the future, Akhil says,

The startup is focused on continued investments in product innovation. We want to build a deep link between hardware and software so that we can continue to innovate software to improve the quality of our hardware and build partnership with period OEM that can be built over time as the market matures, he adds.

(Edited by Evelyn Ratnakumar)

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Trump travel ban extension leaves Africans angry and disappointed – The Guardian

Posted: at 3:42 am

New travel bans imposed by Donald Trump on four African countries have prompted anger, concern, disappointment and resignation on the continent.

The measures significantly restrict visas that could end with permanent residency in the US for Eritreans and Nigerians, and end so-called diversity migration visas from Tanzania and Sudan.

Chad Wolf, the acting homeland security secretary, said the countries hit by the new measures failed to meet US security and information-sharing standards. Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar were also included in the list.

Trump has made cracking down on immigration a focus of his 2020 re-election campaign, and his travel ban policy is popular with Republican supporters but experts say that it will harm US efforts to roll back the growing influence of Russia and China in Africa.

A previous ban, introduced in 2017, barred nearly all immigrants and travellers from three African countries Libya, Somalia and Chad and five elsewhere. The policy sparked outrage and was revised amid court challenges before the US supreme court ultimately upheld it in June 2018.

I think we are seeing a domestic political agenda steamrolling foreign policy concerns, said Matthew T Page, an associate fellow with the Africa programme at Chatham House, London.

Eritrea is a minor economic and diplomatic player on the continent, but is strategically situated on the Red Sea. The repressive, authoritarian regime has been courted by Moscow, which wants to build a major logistics base there to rival the vast US base in nearby Djibouti.

The Eritrean foreign minister, Osman Saleh Mohammed, said the government saw the ban as a political move that would hurt the countrys relations with the United States.

We find this move unacceptable, he told Reuters by telephone.

An official statement from Asmara said the measure was an unfriendly act.

Page said that the new measures sent an alienating and patronising message to Nigeria, Africas most populous country with 206 million inhabitants and its biggest economy.

The country sent 7,900 immigrants to the US in 2018, by far the biggest number for any African nation. Almost all visas went to relatives of US citizens.

Geoffrey Onyeama, Nigerias foreign affairs minister, said he was disappointed by the decision, and President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed a minister to examine the problems that led to Nigerias inclusion.

Nigeria has been a key ally of the US in Africa, consistently voting with Washington in international forums. Economic and cultural ties between the more than 400,000 Nigerian Americans and the country are strong.

Atiku Abubakar, an opposition leader, said he was saddened by the decision.

The ban does not take into account the pro-American sentiments of the Nigerian public and the solidarity previous Nigerian administrations have had with the United States, Abubakar said on Twitter.

The ban also seems to run counter to a new US policy for Africa unveiled in 2018 by Trumps then national security adviser, John Bolton prioritising trade and the fight against Islamic militants. At the time, Bolton accused great power competitors, namely China and Russia of predatory practices.

In recent years, Russia has sought to increase influence in Nigeria, offering military cooperation to help Abujas weak military fight a tenacious Islamic extremist insurgency in the countrys north-east. The country is also a fast-growing market for Chinese exports, and Beijings state-owned companies have built airports and railways financed by major loans from Chinese banks.

Beyond the geopolitics, the new US measures will have significant impact on individuals.

Trumps new law is very hurtful for us, said Awet, an Eritrean refugee who is now a US citizen.

Awet, who used a nickname to avoid reprisals against his family, was resettled to the United States in 2009. When a 2018 peace deal between Ethiopia and Eritrea made it possible for his four children to leave Eritrea safely, Awet began trying to bring them over on family visas.

At least let the children in those who want to come to be with their mother or father, he said.

According to official figures quoted by Fox News, 1,674 such visas were awarded in Sudan last year.

A fierce battle for influence in Khartoum is under way, pitting western powers against Middle Eastern states as well as Russia and China. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who took power following the fall of the dictator Omar al-Bashir last year, recently received an invitation to visit Washington as part of a new push by the US to improve relations.

But the decision to restrict visas has disappointed many Sudanese young people.

It was disappointing. I was thinking that could be an opportunity to upgrade oneself in terms of work and study in America, said Muzamil Abdulmola, 31, who has a degree in agricultural engineering.

Trump is viewed coolly across much of the continent though he has significant popularity in some places, including Nigeria. The president prompted fury after it was credibly reported he had described African nations, as well as Haiti and El Salvador as shitholes and questioned why so many of their citizens had ever been permitted to enter America.

Ahmed Abdulkarim, a Sudanese who works with an NGO helping refugees and has applied three times for the diversity visa, said the ruling had dismayed many family members and friends.

Trump is racist and hates Sudan I hope opportunities open up and we get treated equally like other nations, Abulkarim, 41, said. It could have been an opportunity to let my daughter have a decent life in the States.

Additional reporting by Zeinab Mohammed Salih, Khartoum

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Los Angeles Lakers: Not trading for Andre Iguodala was the right move – Lake Show Life

Posted: at 3:42 am

With the trade deadline nearly here, the Los Angeles Lakers have had some rumors surrounding them about some of the marquee names available.

One player who the Lakers have been linked to since the summer is Andre Iguodala. The hope for the Lakers was that Iguodala was going to be bought out by the Memphis Grizzlies after the Golden State Warriors traded him there.

However, the Grizzlies were insistent on trading him, and it looks like they were able to get a decent asset in return for him with Justise Winslow.

Considering Iguodala never showed up to play for the Grizzlies, this is certainly a good deal for Memphis. In addition to being traded to the Miami Heat, Iguodala also is reportedly getting a contract extension.

Considering Iguodala is 36-years-old, this is quite the extension for him. While the Heat are looking to make a run for it in the Eastern Conference and compete with the Milwaukee Bucks, handing an extension to Iguodala is a bit surprising.

For the Lakers, even though Iguodala would have helped them, trading for him was never going to be a good option. If the Lakers were to trade for Iguodala, they would have not only had to find a way to match his salary, but the Grizzlies would have also wanted some sort of young asset or a pick.

In order to fill those needs, a potential Danny Green and Kyle Kuzmapackage for Iguodala would have been an awful move for the Lakers. While Iguodala was part of the Warriors dynasty, he is essentially a very good role player at this point.

Last season, Iguodala averaged 5.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 23.2 minutes per game in the regular season. In the playoffs, those numbers did go up, as he averaged 9.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists in 30 minutes per game. Iguodala certainly plays strong defense, but it would have been a lateral move if the Lakers had to send Green to Memphis for him.

Iguodala is certainly a player that could have helped the Lakers come playoff time, but trading anything of value for him wouldnt have really upgraded the team all that much. If he was a free agent and bought out, the Lakers absolutely would have pursued him. However, not trading for Iguodala was the right move for the Lakers at this point.

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‘Freezing’ our bodies is the key to long-distance space travel but can we do it? – The Next Web

Posted: at 3:41 am

But it gets more interesting. Alcor has two options. The first is a whole-body process that preserves the entire body in a cryo-protectant. The second is the brain and brain stem only.

Why would someone only want their brain and brain stem preserved? Presumably, if we have the technology to bring someone back by repairing the damage from whatever killed them, by that time we might also have the technology to clone a new body using the deceased persons DNA.

Again, weve already made tremendous advances in cloning. While therapeutic cloning is still in its infancy, there is no theoretical reason why we couldnt create a new body without a brain and simply implant the new brain into the cloned body. And with advances with CRISPR, its conceivable the body could come with some sophisticated upgrades.

Those upgrades would come in handy if we plan on going to a new planet like the one in Avatar 2. Imagine having the ability to create a fully customizable body using yourDNAto meet the requirements of any planet you visit. Its the ultimate in life extension.

While there are still technological hurdles to overcome like repairing the aging brain, imagine being able to grow your customizable avatar in transit while your current body is in suspended animation headed towards a different planet a hundred light years away.

I must say, the futures looking bright.

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Will It Be Possible to Sleep People in Space Travel? – Somag News

Posted: at 3:41 am

Will mankind, who is attempting to travel between systems in the universe, find a precaution to prevent the passengers from traveling on the ship from getting old? Lets discuss a little bit about this issue.

One of humanitys biggest dreams is to travel between star systems in the depths of space. But, as you know, star systems are very far apart, and when compared to the life span of a person, the duration of this journey can make a huge difference.

Thanks to the time dilation when high speeds are reached, someone who goes fast is getting slower than others. Still, even if a spaceship with humans reaches 90% of the speed of light, human life still looks like a grain of sand compared to the duration of that journey.

Is the solution to this situation to put people to sleep?Today, it is not possible to reach the speed of light with its technologies. So scientists have to find a solution to prevent the aging of those who travel on the spaceship. This solution is none other than the sleep solution that we often see in science fiction movies.

There is enough technology available today to create a solution that passivates the human body and prevents aging. A technique called bio-vitrification has been used in organ transplantation for some time. This technology, which has been used for decades, has the opportunity to facilitate space travel in the future.

Biovirtification reduces the aging of human tissue to a minimum by using a liquid that protects it from freezing effect, to almost 0. The liquid used serves to prevent the formation of ice crystals that cause cells to break down.

Although this technique is used in organ transplantation, it has not been tested in humans yet. But some companies, such as the Alcor Life Extension Foundation, offer services that protect the human body so that one day it can bring back dead people. Although these companies have not yet brought back any people, they have returned several simple organisms from death.

Protecting the brain or protecting the body?Some hospitals can also take patients to cool down to extend the time required in emergencies. Although this process is not the same as bioventilation, it is almost similar. As a result, if all known are combined one day, healthy and long-lived individuals may emerge.

So would you like to sail to even more interesting points? The company Alcor, which we just mentioned, offers people two options: First, to cover the whole body with a liquid that protects it from freezing and to protect the whole body; secondly, only protect the brain and brain stem.

So why does a person only want to protect his brain and brain stem? Because if one day manages to fix a harm that ends their life, a new clone body can be created with the use of DNA of a person who died until then. Of course, there is a very long way to go until humanity reaches this point. Although the cloning technology we are talking about is being developed today, humanity may not yet be ready for cloning a human body. By the way, we strongly recommend the 1997 movie Abre Los Ojos

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Elon Musks Roadster is probably still cruising through space, two years on – The South African

Posted: at 3:41 am

I know that Elon Musk does many questionable and sometimes outrageous things, but remember that one time when he launched a Tesla Roadster into space using SpaceXs Falcon Heavy rocket?

Yep, that outrageous thing. The launch was a year ago, on 6 February 2019. That Roadster with his its lone occupant a spacesuit-wearing mannequin named Starman is probably still out there.

According to the experts, the sporty red car is still cruising through our solar system. And theres a simple way for you to keep track of the Roadster and Starman too.

Simply head over to Where is Roadster, a website created by programmer Ben Pearson to keep track of the vehicles location. According to the site, the vehicle is currently near Mars.

That means its roughly 298m kilometres from Earth, travelling at a speed of approximately 2985 kilometres per hour.

Starman is on a trajectory to pass through the Red Planets orbit, but it will never actually reach the Red Planet or enter its atmosphere, as intended.

The Tesla and its driver is expected to continue orbiting the sun as part experiment and part art project. There may even be a Musk Museum of Crazy Things by then.

Two years in space wouldnt have been kind to the Tesla Roadster, because well, the car was designed for Earths atmosphere, and the vast expanse of space.

The vehicle was initially launched by SpaceX to demonstrate the Falcon Heavy rockets capabilities. The Tesla Roadster launch was its maiden voyage.

Musk wanted to prove that the rocket could propel something in space which would be capable of reaching Mars. Well done, Super Heavy, mission accomplished.

If all is going according to plan if space hasnt destroyed it yet, or Starman wasnt abducted by aliens that sporty red car is still out there and will continue orbiting the Sun.

Probably. Researchers calculated that the Roadster will have a fairly close encounter with Earth in 2091. If Starman is ever to set foot on Earth again, that would be the perfect time to send out a recovery craft.

According to Pearsons data, the Roadster has clocked more than 1.6 billion kilometres of space travel and is well into its second orbit around our Sun.

Back in 2019, anorbit modelling study predicted a 6% chance of the Roadster crashing into Earth in the next 1m years. The same study found that theres a 2.5% chance the car will crash into Venus.

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Two Edmonton-based startups selected by NASA to showcase their space-ready innovations – Edmonton Journal

Posted: at 3:41 am

Dr. Jayan Nagendran, co-founder and chief medical officer of Tevosol, at the Mazankowski Heart Institute with an organ perfusion machine prototype on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020.Shaughn Butts / Postmedia

Two Edmonton-based tech companies are hoping to prove their inventions are out of this world and ready for lift-off into space with NASA.

Local startups Tevosol and ez enRoute were shortlisted by the space technology giant in an international search to find the next great innovation to make life easier in space. They will pitch their ideas at NASA iTechs Ignite the Night event on Feb. 11, the only two Canadian companies selected, for a shot at advancing to a final round of competition in May.

Neither Edmonton-made company started with a quest to travel outside Earth. Rather, both were founded off issues and needs that kept appearing in day-to-day life.

For Dr. Jayan Nagendran, the surgical director of lung transplantation at the University of Alberta Hospital, Tevosol was formed in an effort to increase the number of successful organ donations by providing a lifelike machine to store the organs in an environment as if they were still inside a human, as they are being transported for transplantation.

More than three-quarters of organs that get offered arent being utilized for transplantation despite having large waitlists, said Nagendran, co-founder and chief medical officer of Tevosol. The goal was to develop medical devices to replicate a normal environment for the organ, like a robot chest for the organ.

The company was formed in 2015 out of a garage before finding a home with TEC Edmonton.

Starting with lungs and then finding solutions for hearts, livers, kidneys and limbs, Tevosol has created a portable warm perfusion machine about the size of an ice cooler that has completed a successful clinical trial with plans to pilot commercially in Canada toward the end of 2020.

But its not an organ shortage in outer space prompting Tevosol to pitch its device to NASA. Areas of their research, such as on hibernation and radiation, can be of use in space, Nagendran said.

Space scientists are studying the idea of hibernation for astronauts during deep space travel and Tevosols research for long-term hibernation of organs could be a way forward. Astronauts are also exposed to high levels of radiation and the technology can be used to store limbs or live tissue.

This opportunity for a company like us being based out of Edmonton is significant, said Nagendran, with Tevosol also now having opened an office in Houston, Texas. The exposure itself is really the victory at this point.

Similar to Tevosol, ez enRoute was created by Edmontonian Amit Anand trying to solve an issue he noticed around safety. Using his technology background, he began developing an autonomous security platform that can track movement or incidents such as falling without GPS or Internet.

The International Space Station is growing massively with tons of equipment. This can help access equipment faster and all asset monitoring in outer space, he said.

Anand said they were supported by Edmonton company Aris MD in pitching their idea to NASA and hope to experience the same success Aris MD won the top overall prize last year.

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You Should Know About This Chernobyl Fungus That Eats Radiation – Popular Mechanics

Posted: at 3:41 am

SERGEI SUPINSKYGetty Images

Scientists have discovered that a longtime fungal resident of the Chernobyl complex could actually eat radiation. In an upcoming paper, scientists will share the results of growing the fungus on the International Space Station.

Scientists have known about this fungus, and similar extremophile organisms that can thrive on radiation, since at least 2007. The variety found in Chernobyl can decompose radioactive material such as the hot graphite in the remains of the Chernobyl reactor, Nature said in 2007. The fungus grows toward the hottest and most radioactive places, like phototropism but for deadly toxins.

How can this fungus process radiation in this way? Because it has tons of very dark melanin pigment that absorbs radiation and processes it in a harmless way to produce energy. Scientists believe this mechanism could be used to make biomimicking substances that both block radiation from penetrating and turn it into a renewable energy source.

Chernobyl is a special case where extreme ambient radiation is a huge danger to anyone who enters, and having a radiation blocker to treat protective suits or even the entire inside of the plant to reduce ambient radiation could be a huge boon. Besides reducing danger, though, the world is filled with machinery and devices that safely use radiation, from medicine to manufacturing. Even low levels of contained radiation could be used to make energy that could reduce the energy burden of those devices.

Kasthuri Venkateswaran, a NASA biotechnologists with over 40 years of research experience, has helmed NASAs research on the radiation extremophile fungus. His publications from over the years include dozens of papers about organisms aboard the International Space Station (ISS), and thats where he plans to take the radiation-eating fungus next.

The ambient radiation aboard the space station is low compared to other parts of space, but its high compared to the Earths surface. Growing the fungus there could reveal new sides of its nature, and may confirm that the fungus can still absorb and process radiation in the much more immersed environment of space. This has great potential for future space travel, where deadly amounts of cosmic radiation are one of the big obstacles scientists must navigate in order to safely send people into outer space.

Its not just fungus that eats radiation in this way. The overall family of extremophiles that live on or despite radiation includes both fungi and bacteria, and different species have different mechanisms for absorbing or tolerating radiation. The NIH explains, [S]ome populations of microorganisms thrive under different types of radiation due to defensive mechanisms provided by primary and secondary metabolic products, i.e., extremolytes and extremozymes.

Each different metabolic product has potential uses in medicine, safety, and manufacturing. Indeed, the general ability of these organisms to thrive in conditions where most organisms break down, mutate, or develop cancers warrants further study across a variety of disciplines.

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Remote Working’s Impact On The Travel Industry – Allwork.Space

Posted: at 3:41 am

As the remote workforce becomes the norm, workers are now able to travel and work from virtually wherever they want as long as there is internet access. Now, much of the workforce is choosing to take business trips, without a client visit or meeting.

Remote workers are able to continue working while traveling, meaning they can stay at their destination longer than expected. Extended stays have led travel agents like AirBnB and Expedia to take notice of remote workers and cater to their demands.

This also means that retirement age is extending because workers are able to enjoy traveling to new destinations and continue working.

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Furthermore, some nomadic travel programs will pay for workers to go on trips in order to prevent burnout and provide access to virtual skill training. Its a win-win situation for both employers and employees because offerings like this boost workers retention rates as well as productivity.

Additionally, traveling as a group can not only combat isolation, it can provide professionals the opportunity to build culture and collaborate in new ways. For example, lifestyle brand Unsettled recently acquired digital nomad platform Wanderbrief in order to combine corporate offsite experiences with remote working.

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