AI Chips : A Step Forward to Transforming Computing World

"Artificial intelligence is not about building minds, it’s about the improvement of tools to solve them."

We can keep all the arguments and discussions aside and we can believe that today we are surrounded by devices. From smartphones to trimmer to door locks, we are surrounded and artificial intelligence is ingested in almost every device and it is remarkable, indeed. Our workload has been reduced in many aspects and we can thank the scientists and inventors. 

Yes! The guess is close to correct and the topic for today is Artificial Intelligence chips (AI chips). AI chips are specifically designed silicon chips to accelerate artificial intelligence applications like robotics, internet of things, data-intensive or sensor-driven tasks. Computer systems are often used with coprocessors, chips with specific-designated tasks like graphics card, sound card, graphics processing unit, and digital signal processors. As deep learning and artificial intelligence are rising, the concept of coprocessors is being implemented thus giving us AI chips.

In the 1990s, parallel high throughput systems were tried to be created for neural network simulations. FPGA-based accelerators were also first explored in the 1990s for both inference and training. ANNA was a neural net CMOS accelerator developed by Yann LeCun. In the 2000s, CPUs also gained increasingly wide SIMD units, driven by video and gaming workloads; as well as support for packed low precision data types. 

Deep learning frameworks are still evolving, making it hard to design custom hardware. Reconfigurable devices such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) make it easier to evolve hardware, frameworks, and software alongside each other. While GPUs and FPGAs perform far better than CPUs for AI-related tasks, a factor of up to 10 inefficiencies may be gained with a more specific design, via an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). These accelerators employ strategies such as optimized memory use and the use of lower precision arithmetic to accelerate calculation and increase the throughput of computation.

 

In June 2017, IBM researchers announced an architecture intending to generalize the approach to heterogeneous computing and massively parallel systems. In October 2018, IBM researchers announced an architecture based on in-memory processing and modeled on the human brain's synaptic network to accelerate deep neural networks. The system is based on phase-change memory arrays. In February 2019, IBM Research launched an AI Hardware Center and claimed to have improved AI computing efficiency by 2.5 times every year intending to improve efficiency by 1000 times within a decade. 

 

IBM reported two key developments in their AI efficiency quest. First, IBM will now be collaborating with Red Hat to make IBM’s AI digital core compatible with the Red Hat OpenShift ecosystem. This collaboration will allow for IBM’s hardware to be developed in parallel with the software so that as soon as the hardware is ready, all of the software capability will already be in place. Second, IBM and the design automation firm Synopsys are open-sourcing an analog hardware acceleration kit — highlighting the capabilities analog AI hardware can provide.

 

The artificial intelligence chip market was valued at $6,638 million in 2018 and is projected to reach $91,185 million by 2025, registering a CAGR of 45.2% from 2019 to 2025. AI helps to eliminate or minimize the risk to human life in many industry verticals. The need for more efficient systems to solve mathematical and computational problems is becoming crucial owing to the increase in the volume of the data. 

Thus, the majority of the key players in the IT industry have focused on developing AI chips and applications. Furthermore, the emergence of quantum computing and the increase in the implementation of AI chips in robotics drive the growth of the global artificial intelligence chip market. In addition, the emergence of autonomous robotics—robots that develop and control themselves autonomously—is anticipated to provide potential growth opportunities for the market.

 

In terms of the benefits of AI chips, security and privacy are least compromised. AI chips which are applicable for deep neural networks have the lowest latency. This means that the chances of them getting concealed are the lowest. The networks are hinted at in their application. Another advantage of AI Chips is the fact that it has a much lower power consumption. Normal general-purpose chips were really inefficient. But AI chips enhance the speed of the AI processor to a greater extent.

 

Significant Factors impacting AI Chip Industry

 

Increase in demand for smart homes and smart cities

 

AI has the ability to provide impetus to initiate smart city programs in developing countries, such as India. Tools and technologies that are artificially intelligent possess a massive potential to transform interconnected digital homes and smart cities. Furthermore, the creation of a chip that embeds an inbuilt AI network has emerged as an opportunity for the artificial intelligence chip market.

 

Rise in investments in AI startups

 

Multiple countries, especially the U.S., witness considerable growth in tech start-ups every year, which are backed by various venture capitalists and venture capitals, thus increasing the market scope. Various key players have been innovating to build a dedicated platform.

 

Emergence of quantum computing

 

Quantum computers take seconds to complete a calculation that would otherwise take thousands of years. Quantum computers are an innovative transformation of artificial intelligence, big data, and machine learning. Thus, the emergence of quantum computing fuels the growth of the artificial intelligence chip market.

 

Apart from these, the dearth of skilled force and adoption of AI in developing regions play key roles in making the AI chip industry a boom. Furthermore, the development of smarter virtual assistants is opportunistic for the overall market. A notable illustration is Jarvis Corp, which is a start-up in the conceptual phases, to build a virtual assistant that answers questions by accessing the internet and acting as an internet server and as a control for connected devices.

 

AI and Machine Learning are developing fastly and getting adjusted to our daily life devices and AI chips are like the heart of these devices; faster, compatible, and efficient. With such a larger domain comes larger challenges and responsibilities and the brainy people are doing pretty well in maintaining them.

 

So, here is my question, easy and simple:

 

What might have been the motivation behind the first silicon chip? 

 

Answer it in the comment box and get a shoutout from the IEEE team. Do comment and share your views and suggestions.

Wireless Electricity

Imagine a world without wires, for instance, your home may be equipped with a small receiver that intercepts wireless power and then further distributes that power wirelessly to every device. What if our cars are powered by energy transmitted merely through the air? 

"Power can be, and at no distant date will be, transmitted without wires, for all commercial uses, such as the lighting of homes and the driving of airplanes. I have discovered the essential principles, and it only remains to develop them commercially. When this is done, you will be able to go anywhere in the world — to the mountain top overlooking your farm, to the arctic, or the desert — and set up a little equipment that will give you heat to cook with, and light to read by. This equipment will be carried in a satchel not as big as the ordinary suitcase. In years to come wireless lights will be as common on the farms as ordinary electric lights are nowadays in our cities.” 

(The American Magazine, April 1921).

These are the words of a great inventor of the 18th century, and a futuristic man, Nikola Tesla. This man with such a great vision of a worldwide wireless transmission of electricity was much ahead of his time, thinking of a world with free energy. 

Since those times, inventors and engineers have been seeing the same dream, to make it possible that large amounts of electricity could be sent for long distances all without wires. 

Recently, a New Zealand-based startup Emrod has developed a method of safely and wirelessly transmitting electric power across long distances without the use of copper wire, and is working on implementing it with the country's second-largest power distributor. 

But the concept of wireless power transmission (WPT) is not new to us. It was introduced to the world much before, back in the days of Heinrich Hertz and Nikola Tesla, who discovered that energy could be transported by electromagnetic waves in free space.   

"...Electricity could move for hundreds of miles uninterrupted, and anyone with a receiver could access it..." Tesla theorized.

Tesla's early experiments could only send power within a short distance. So to overcome this he thought whether the connection could be stronger if he went through the ground instead of the air. The idea was to send electricity deep into the ground and use the Earth as a giant conductor; i.e. transmission supported by natural electromagnetic resonance of the earth.

He experimented with transmitting power by inductive and capacitive coupling using high AC voltages generated with his Tesla coil. He attempted to develop a wireless lighting system based on the same principle.

In 1899 Tesla presented a wireless transmission field powered fluorescent lamps miles twenty-five miles from the power supply without the use of wires. He successfully lighted a small incandescent lamp by the current induced in the coil, using a resonant circuit grounded on one end.

Tesla also attempted to construct a large high-voltage wireless power station, the WardenClyffe Power plant, that could broadcast both information and power worldwide. But the project was abandoned in 1906. The idea remained alive in the minds of researchers which inspired them to dwell upon new theories towards achieving this.

Wireless Power Transmission (WPT)

It refers to the transmission of electrical energy without wires.  A wireless power transmission system includes a transmitter device, driven by electric power from a power source, generates a time-varying electromagnetic field, which transmits power across space to a receiver device, which extracts power from the field and supplies it to an electrical load.

So far inductive coupling or simply inductive charging has been the most widely used wireless power transmission technology and has contributed to many commercial products like wireless charging pads to recharge mobile and handheld wireless devices such as laptop and tablet computers, cellphones, etc.

Inductive coupling falls under the near-field category of WPT where the power is being transferred over short distances by magnetic fields using inductive coupling between coils.

Two conductors are said to be Inductively Coupled or Magnetically Coupled when a change in current through one wire induces a voltage across the ends of the other wire through electromagnetic induction. 

“...Wireless charging, also known as inductive charging, is based on a few simple principles. The technology requires two coils: a transmitter and a receiver. An alternating current is passed through the transmitter coil, generating a magnetic field. This, in turn, induces a voltage in the receiver coil; this can be used to power a mobile device or charge a battery…."

It comes with a major drawback that it can only achieve higher efficiency when the coils are very close together, usually adjacent.

This efficiency could be increased by using resonant circuits to achieve high efficiencies at greater distances than the conventional commonly used inductive coupling. 

In resonant inductive coupling, power is transferred by magnetic fields between two resonant circuits (one in the transmitter and one in the receiver) tuned to resonate at the same frequency. This increases coupling and power transfer. 

Recent Advancements of this century in WPT

In 2007, MIT researchers showed it was possible to wirelessly power a light bulb more than 2 meters away, raising the possibility that coils buried in a road could help charge electric vehicles on the move above them.

With this researchers of Standard University are also looking forward to bring, use of wireless power for moving electric vehicles to reality in near future.

The interest for WPT has been inflating over the last five to ten years among the specialists, especially in the mobile phone sector – where wireless phone chargers are trending in the market. In 2018, companies like Apple, Samsung, and Huawei have started hitting the market with wireless chargers compatible with the latest models of their mobile phones. 

Coming back to the New Zealand-based startup company, Emrod's idea of WPT. They are claiming to achieve, scaling up a wireless electric power transmission system on the idea which is quite similar to a radio system. 

Energy is converted into electromagnetic radiation by a transmitting antenna, picked up by a receiving antenna, and then distributed locally by conventional means..……. What's new here is how New Zealand startup Emrod has borrowed ideas from radar and optics and used metamaterials to focus the transmitted radiation even more tightly than previous microwave-based wireless power attempts.

The system consists of a transmitting antenna, a series of relays, and a receiving antenna which is a rectifying antenna that converts the microwave energy into electricity. Its beams use the non-ionizing industrial, scientific, and medical band of the radio spectrum, including frequencies commonly used in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

The power here is beamed directly between specific points, with no radiation around the beam. Also a "low power laser safety curtain" immediately shuts down the power transmission before any object, like a bird, drone, power thief, or helicopter, can touch the main beam.

Researchers, companies, and specialists are working towards new theories and models to propose an efficient idea for implementing WPT. More R&D efforts are required to implement a wireless power system with safe, secure, high efficiency, and optimal capital cost, ruling out high power loss, non-directionality, and inefficiency for longer distances. 

Now Answer this: How Wireless Electricity can lead us to a more sustainable future? 

To further explore the topic please refer to these links :

1.  https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/the-smarter-grid/emrod-chases-the-dream-of-utilityscale-wireless-power-transmission

2.   https://news.mit.edu/2007/wireless-0607

3.  https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidbressan/2019/07/10/how-nikola-tesla-planned-to-use-earth-for-wireless-power-transfer/?sh=70a6b3767490

CRISPR-Cas9

Human body has been under constant surveillance since the existence of humanity, and even now, after all this time, there are a lot of mysteries buried in it. For example, nobody knows what causes headaches.

Our bodies can safely be assumed to be the most sophisticated and complex bit of engineering. The DNA(Deoxyribonucleic acid) inside our cells, is a double-stranded helical structure that carries the genetic information for the development, functioning, growth, and reproduction of all known organisms and many viruses. All this info is encoded in little things called genes.

Genes decide almost everything about a living being. One or more genes can affect a specific trait. Genes may interact with an individual’s environment too and change what the gene makes. Genes affect hundreds of internal and external factors, such as whether a person will get a particular color of eyes or what diseases they may develop. Some diseases, such as sickle-cell anemia and Huntington’s disease, are inherited, and these are also affected by genes.

If only we could alter our genes, right? As mentioned earlier certain DNA encodings(genes) are responsible for certain functions. Diseases like diabetes, cardiac-diseases, Alzheimer's, and many more are termed as genetic. So if the genes responsible for these diseases are modified using the CRISPR technique then it would be a cure for otherwise incurable diseases.

Imagine how good it would be, you could decide practically everything about your offspring while it's in the embryonic stage. But is it possible? If yes, then, to what extent? Let’s find it out.

The answer to the former half of the question is YES, it has been made possible by the combined efforts of Nobel Laureates Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna. Compared to previous techniques for modifying DNA, this new approach is much faster and easier. This technology is referred to as “CRISPR/Cas9” and it has changed not only the way basic research is conducted but also the way we can now think about treating diseases.

What is CRISPR?

CRISPR is an acronym for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat. This name refers to the unique organization of short, partially palindromic repeated DNA sequences found in the genomes of bacteria and other microorganisms. While seemingly harmless, CRISPR sequences are a crucial component of the immune systems of these simple life forms. 

Just like us, bacterial cells can be invaded by viruses, which are small infectious agents. If a viral infection threatens a bacterial cell, the CRISPR immune system can thwart the attack by destroying the genome of the invading virus. The genome of the virus includes genetic material that is necessary for the virus to continue replicating. Thus, by destroying the viral genome, the CRISPR immune system protects bacteria from ongoing viral infection.

In short, Using CRISPR the bacteria snip out parts of the virus DNA and keep a bit of it behind to help them recognize and defend against the virus next time it attacks.

How does CRISPR-Cas9 work? Let’s find out.

The CRISPR-Cas9 system consists of two key molecules that introduce a change into the DNA. These are (a) a protein-based enzyme called cas9 and (b)a guide RNA.

Cas9 acts as a pair of ‘molecular scissors’ that can cut the two strands of DNA at a specific location in the genome so that bits of DNA can then be added or removed. While the guide RNA consists of a small piece of pre-designed RNA sequence (about 20 bases long) located within a longer RNA scaffold. The scaffold part binds to DNA and the pre-designed sequence ‘guides’ Cas9 to the right part of the genome. This makes sure that the Cas9 enzyme cuts at the right point in the genome.

The guide RNA is designed to find and bind to a specific sequence in the DNA. The guide RNA has RNA bases that are complementary to those of the target DNA sequence in the genome. This means that, at least in theory, the guide RNA will only bind to the target sequence and no other regions of the genome.

The Cas9 follows the guide RNA to the same location in the DNA sequence and cuts across both strands of the DNA.

At this stage, the cell recognizes that the DNA is damaged and tries to repair it. Scientists can use the DNA repair machinery to introduce changes to one or more genes in the genome of a cell of interest.

What are some applications of the CRISPR system?

Beyond applications encompassing bacterial immune defenses, scientists have learned how to harness CRISPR technology in the lab to make precise changes in the genes of organisms as diverse as fruit flies, fish, mice, plants, and even human cells. Genes are defined by their specific sequences, which provide instructions on how to build and maintain an organism’s cells. 

A change in the sequence of even one gene can significantly affect the biology of the cell and in turn, may affect the health of an organism. CRISPR techniques allow scientists to modify specific genes while sparing all others, thus clarifying the association between a given gene and its consequence to the organism.

Rather than relying on bacteria to generate CRISPR RNAs, scientists first design and synthesize short RNA molecules that match a specific DNA sequence—for example, in a human cell. Then, as in the targeting step of the bacterial system, this ‘guide RNA’ shuttles molecular machinery to the intended DNA target. 

Once localized to the DNA region of interest, the molecular machinery can silence a gene or even change the sequence of a gene. This type of gene editing can be likened to editing a sentence with a word processor to delete words or correct spelling mistakes. One important application of such technology is to facilitate making animal models with precise genetic changes to study the progress and treatment of human diseases.

Future?

It is likely to be many years before CRISPR-Cas9 is used routinely in humans. Much research is still focusing on its use in animal models or isolated human cells, to eventually use the technology to routinely treat diseases in humans.

Certain issues must be resolved before its application to the human genome. In most cases, the guide RNA consists of a specific sequence of 20 bases. These are complementary to the target sequence in the gene to be edited. However, not all 20 bases need to match for the guide RNA to be able to bind. The problem with this is that a sequence with, for example, 19 of the 20 complimentary bases may exist somewhere completely different in the genome. 

This means there is potential for the guide RNA to bind there instead of or as well as at the target sequence. The Cas9 enzyme will then cut at the wrong site and end up introducing a mutation in the wrong location. While this mutation may not matter at all to the individual, it could affect a crucial gene or another important part of the genome.

If all these complications are resolved, which is just a matter of time, this technique may prove to be a boon for millions of people, suffering from genetic diseases, who have lost hopes of living a perfectly normal life.

All this said, I now leave you with high hopes and a burning question.

What would be the ethical implications of genome editing? Would deciding the physiological properties of a human being as per one’s will be immoral?

Present your views in the comment section. Thank you for your time.

Qubits : Heart of a Quantum Computer

Quantum Computing has been creating a lot of buzz for the past few years. Since it was first conceived it has captivated intelligent minds all over the world. Due to its ability to solve problems in minutes, which the current supercomputers will take millennia, these computers promise to solve problems that have haunted researchers and scientists for years.

The last decade has been exceptional for Quantum Computing. Years of research started showing its results and a big breakthrough came last October when Google claimed to achieve Quantum Supremacy.    

But what makes it stand apart from classical computers? It’s the Quantum Bits or Qubits that gives them this incredible processing power. Unlike a classical bit, which can be either 0 or 1 at a time, qubits can also be any combination of 1 and 0 simultaneously. These qubits exploit quantum phenomena like Superposition and Entanglement to provide you the results as fast as possible while you anxiously stare at the computer.       

Qubits are fascinating but their implementation is an arduous task. The information in the qubits is easily destroyed by thermal heats and other disturbances from the environment. This is known as Decoherence.

The colder and more isolated the qubit is, the less likely it is to flip to a different quantum state when it’s not supposed to. But it’s really difficult to keep the qubits cold and isolated.

So with all these challenges, how scientists and researchers are making these bizarre bits possible? Let’s find out.

Superconducting Circuits

This is the most widely used method for making qubits. Companies like IBM and Google rely on this method for their quantum computers. Superconductor materials that have zero resistance when cooled below a certain temperature, like Aluminium and Niobium, are used.

When the temperature drops below a critical value, two electrons form a weak bond and become a Cooper pair that experiences no resistance when traveling through the metal. The pairing opens a gap in the energy state, which any excitation requires some minimum energy. This gap leads to superconductivity since not any random increase in energy is allowed.  

Each qubit is actually an LC circuit, an inductor, and a capacitor. We manipulate its energy state to represent a superposition of |0⟩ and|1⟩.

Now the challenge is to make the energy levels uneven such that the superposition is confined to |0⟩ and |1⟩. To overcome that, the superconducting circuit includes a Josephson Junction.

The junction behaves as a non-linear non-dissipating inductor. It contains two Aluminum superconducting electrodes that are weakly coupled and are separated by a thin insulator about a thousandth of a hair thick. It is non-linear such that the energy level is unevenly separated so we can use two lower states as the bases for our superpositions.

This inductor is combined with a linear capacitor using a Niobium superconductor to create an LC resonator. With correct tuning, the circuit behaves like an atom with two quantum energy levels, i.e. our qubit.

Quantum operations are performed by sending electromagnetic impulses at microwave frequencies (around 4–6 kHz) to the resonator coupled to the qubit. This frequency resonates with the energy separation between the energy levels for |0⟩ and |1⟩. And the duration of the pulse controls the angle of rotation of the qubit state around a particular axis of the Bloch sphere.

To make a measurement, it sends a microwave tone to the resonator and analyzes the signal it reflects back. The amplitude and phase of the reflected signal depend on the qubit state. Once it is amplified, we know the energy level and therefore we can determine the state of the qubit.

To isolate the qubits, the computer contains a dilution refrigerator to cool down the quantum processor to as near as 0 Kelvin.

Silicon Spin Qubits aka “Hot Qubits”

This is a method that many think is the future of quantum computing. Two separate teams of researchers from Australia and Netherlands published a paper in April this year stating that they had performed the 2-qubit operation at 1.5 Kelvin, which is 15 times hotter than rival technologies can withstand.

Each silicon spin qubit consists of a few electrons held within a quantum dot. These quantum dots are tiny wells or divots in silicon that lay just beneath the gate electrode of a conventional transistor. As charge flows through the transistor, electrons drop into the well, and electrostatic forces hold them in place.

To compute with them, the Australian team applied an AC electric field, while the Netherlands team used an AC magnetic field to manipulate the electron spins, causing the spins to point up (1), down (0), or in both directions at once.

With this technique, electrons can be forced to occupy the same quantum dot only if their spins are opposite. If their spins match, the electrons stay put in their respective wells.

After this successful demonstration, Intel has also shifted its focus to hot qubits as these qubits can be made using transistors and Intel ships 400 quadrillion transistors a year.

Trapped Ion Pair

 Another approach to make qubits is through trapping ions and then precisely controlling them using lasers. To trap ions, scientists start with a steel vacuum chamber, housing electrodes on a chip that is chilled to nearly 450 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. 

Ca and Sr atoms stream into the chamber. Multiple lasers knock electrons from the atoms, turning the Ca and Sr atoms into ions. The electrodes generate electric fields that catch the ions and hold them 50 micrometers above the surface of the chip. Other lasers cool the ions, maintaining them in the trap. 

Then, the ions are brought together to form a Ca+/Sr+ crystal. Each type of ion plays a unique role in this partnership. The Sr ion houses the qubit for computation. The Ca ion, which has a similar mass to the Sr ion, takes away extra energy from the Sr ion to keep it cool and help it maintain its quantum properties. Laser pulses then nudge the two ions into entanglement, forming a gate through which the Sr ion can transfer its quantum information to the Ca ion.

To read out this state, the scientists interrogate the Ca ion with a laser at a wavelength that only the Ca ion's electron will interact with, leaving the Sr ion unaffected. 

What's nice about using this helper ion for reading out is that we can use wavelengths that don't impact the computational ions around it; the quantum information stays healthy. So, the helper ion does dual-duty; it removes thermal energy from the Sr ion and has low crosstalk when we want to read out just that one qubit.

Now answer this: Can we manipulate the Nucleus of an atom as a Qubit?? If yes then how?

The race to make a commercial quantum computer continues as researchers and tech giants keep finding ideas to make qubits that can work at an optimal temperature. Until then we will keep tabs on all the quantum computing breakthroughs until one of them finally establishes the quantum age.

References-

1. https://www.qutisgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Amaia_TFG.pdf

2. https://analyticsindiamag.com/how-this-breakthrough-makes-silicon-based-qubit-chips-future-quantum-computing/

3. https://news.mit.edu/2020/trapped-ion-pair-may-help-scale-quantum-computers-0128

EUTHANASIA COASTER

 A roller coaster that would take you to the extremes of life. You'll be exuberant & ebullient at the onset of this bizarre, outrageous journey but the end is going to leave jaws dropping. So, fasten your seat belts because you are taking off to the most treacherous trip of your esprit.

Adrian is an insane scientist, distressed about the population burst across the entire world. He had made numerous efforts to either invent a machine that would be the cliff-hanger in the beginning but would prove lethal at the end. 

He had been working on this strange project for more than 10 years! Denied of Nobel Prize twice due to the insane and inhumane projects proposed by him for the betterment of the world (according to Adrian), had left him more frustrated. I mean just think about junior Hitler, who would accept his malignant ideas in this world? 

One day he got a way out of this problem too. He designed a captivating yet pernicious roller coaster. Euthanasia Coaster as a death machine is engineered to humanely take the life of a human being! 

It starts with a long, slow climb before a 500m drop, which leads into a series of loops that are designed to create intense centrifugal force, so that you won't be able to breathe, and finally die from lack of oxygen.

Pleased by his own invention, he decided to launch it in a mega exhibition of innovations. The roller coaster was grabbing the desired attention, but nobody tried it. A kid came to him and told him that he wants to ride this roller coaster. 

He agreed, and the boy was running out of oxygen after going into a few loops. This threatening view horrified everyone. The kid on the Euthanasia Coaster has died. The police came, arrested him, and now he is trying to invent yet another device to slam the walls of the prison and break free. 

What do you think, would he fulfill the insane impulses born out vengeance?

Neural Implant : Hacking The Human Brain

“It’s like a Fitbit in your skull with tiny wires.”

He stated this phrase while he announced his latest endeavor on 28th August 2020. Of course, we are talking about the founder of the company “Neuralink,” Mr. Elon Musk. According to Musk, his company has built a self-contained neural implant that can wirelessly transmit detailed brain activity without any external hardware aid. 

Syncing the human brain with AI making humans capable of controlling computers, prosthetic body parts, and other gadgets through brain activity without uttering any single word; his objective is phenomenal.

I switched on my internet, googled, and read about all these things, about the technology and its details, and here are what I found out:

A neural implant is a device that interacts with the neurons when placed inside our bodies. Neurons are the cells that communicate in the language of electricity. The implant happens to be an electrode typically while coming in contact with the tissues, tries to communicate with the neurons. 

This device helps record the neural activity of a human, which further provides patterns to research over the functioning of normal healthy neurons. Along with that, this implant can be extremely useful in overriding a particular native pattern allowing neurons to communicate differently.

In brief, the implant allows us to hack into a human’s nervous system to develop new treatments following the healthy neural activity. It can cure abnormalities overriding the pulses of neurons.

The small, wireless, battery-powered implant Neuralink has been developing intends to read and write human thoughts from millions of neurons and convert them into computer commands and vice versa, and that too unseen from outside the body.

Neuralink's implant consists of all the essentials like a battery, processing chip, Bluetooth radio, and thousands of electrode contacts all on board. Each electrode records the activity between zero to four neurons, and thus thousands of them can record enormous brain activity. This device is also capable of transmitting data safely over the long term.

While mentioning his breakthrough, Musk demonstrated the device with live pigs, and Gertrude was the one with the implant in its brain. A monitor streamed the electrical brain activity being registered with the device. But the decoding and interpretation of brainwave data are yet to come. However, the company’s data is to be vetted by the research community since the transmission of that much amount of information is not demonstrated with humans.

Talking about the technology with the Spectrum before the live demonstration, president of Neuralink, Max Hodak said,

“Neuralink achieved the advance by experimenting with different materials, upgrading the antennae and wirelessly transmitting only heavily compressed embeddings of neural data from the implant, along with other optimizations made possible through a fast feedback cycle. One of the company’s latest prototypes is made of monolithically cast forms of glass that are laser welded together and hermetically sealed. The device so far has lasted safely in pigs for two months.”

According to an article published on IEEE Spectrum, researches and experiments over this surgically implanted BCI system have been going on for over 15 years. Since 2003, fewer than 20 people in the U.S. have received a BCI implant, all for restorative, medical purposes on a research basis. Most of these systems involve hardware protruding from the head, providing power and data transmission. The Braingate consortium and other organizations have enabled people with neurological diseases and paralysis to operate tablets, type eight words per minute, and control prosthetic limbs using only their thoughts.

As a matter of fact, it is not the first time that a neural implant is being invented. Still, it is used in fewer treatments for humans. One of the most established clinical use is DBS i.e., Deep Brain Stimulation. This is a surgical procedure in which electrodes are placed in some brain areas. These electrodes, or leads, generate electrical impulses that control abnormal brain activity. The electrical impulses can also adjust for the chemical imbalances within the brain that cause various conditions. The stimulation of brain areas is controlled by a programmable generator placed under the upper chest's skin.

FDA first approved the use of DBS in 1997 for essential tremors. Since then, with other organizations, it has been approved for incurable disorders like Parkinson’s diseases, dystonia, tinnitus, epilepsy, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and neuropathic pain. It is also under research for Tourette Syndrome and Depression.

The vagus nerve inside our body connects most of our organs to the brain stem. The scientists and researchers are working as hard as they can in manipulating this nerve to treat heart failure, stroke, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, epilepsy, type 2 diabetes, obesity, depression, migraine, and other ailments.

Adding more to the lists, some science fiction elements, scientists have also successfully enhanced memory capability for specific tasks. Quadriplegic individuals with brain implants have operated computers and typed sentences using only their thoughts.

The neural implant is indeed a revolutionary technology that has prodigious competence like in medical science. Though the prototype released is not yet launched. Still, according to the latest sources, the company is not far away from performing human trials. As the world moves forward with these astounding developments, the challenges leading to negative consequences also lie. But as a rational being, it is our responsibility to drive it towards a positive direction to enhance our existence and make the world a better place.

Now answer me this,

“DARPA announced its interest in developing “cyborg insects” to transmit data from sensors implanted into the insect during the pupal stage. Which is the first cyborg insect?”

Want to take a guess? Go for it. We will be waiting for your answers in the comments section. And do not forget to like and share this blog with your friends and tech-enthusiasts.

Here are some internet sources for references:

1. https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/devices/elon-musk-neuralink-advance-brains-ai

2. https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/devices/what-is-neural-implant-neuromodulation-brain-implants-electroceuticals-neuralink-definition-examples

3.https://news.mit.edu/2018/neural-implants-modulate-brain-microstructures-with-pinpoint-accuracy-0628

4.https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/07/19/238809/nathan-copeland-man-with-brain-implant-on-elon-musk-neuralink-brain-computer-interface/

James Webb Space Telescope

"T-6,5,4,3,2,1 and lift off of the Space Shuttle Discovery with the Hubble Space Telescope, Our window on the Universe." 

On April 24th, 1990, Scientists and People (from their home) looking at the launch would have never imagined that this telescope will make a paradigm shift in astronomy. Before its launch, we didn't know how old the Universe was. We had never seen a planet outside of our Solar System. We didn't even know about Dark Matter and Energy. Hubble taught us a lot, but it can only see so far and in so much detail.

To see farther, all the way back to the formation of the very first stars and galaxies (what's known as the Universe's First Light) we're going to need a bigger telescope, and that is what started the largest, most expensive, and most challenging space engineering project humans have ever attempted: James Webb Space Telescope.

Named after James E. Webb, who made significant contributions in the Apollo Program, the Webb is a multi-purpose observatory that will observe everything from the planets in our solar system all the way to the most distant objects we can see and everything in between.

But what's so important about the Universe's First Light? Basically, scientists want to find out how galaxies were formed to understand the situation from which they arose, their evolution, the forces at work and to get a better picture of the Early Universe. It will help them to predict the future of our galaxies and stars.

So in order to do all this, Webb will be equipped with a lot of instruments and one of them is the largest primary mirror ever to be flown in space, with a diameter of 6.5 meters which is more than 6 times the size of Hubble's primary mirror. 

Resembling a Honeycomb, it consists of 18 sections made with beryllium (which retains its shape at low cryogenic temperatures) and coated with 100 nm thick layer of gold. Such a coating best reflects infrared radiation. A secondary mirror receives light from the main mirror and directs it to instruments at the rear of the telescope.

But what's the point of using infrared light to see back in time?

 
The image you saw is the deepest image of the Universe ever taken. It's called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. Now if you look closely at this picture you can see some tiny red blips. Those are the most distant galaxies because the expansion of the Universe shifted their light towards the red part of the spectrum. That's why Webb is sensitive to infrared so that it can pick up where Hubble left off.
 
But there's a problem-The sun also emits infrared. Don't Worry Webb is also equipped with a Sunshield, which is about the size of a tennis court. It's composed of five very thin layers of Kapton polyamide film that protects the mirror and instruments from Sunlight.

 
The third main part of the telescope is the central computer which controls the operations of the observatory in the orbit.

Still, more scientific instruments will be onboard the telescope.

NIRCam (Near Infrared Camera), which is actually the main set of eyes of the telescope, which will allow us to peer into distant galaxies. A Near-Infrared Spectrograph will collect both the physical and chemical properties of an object. Next in line is a Mid Infrared Instrument which will allow us to see stars being born. Then we have a Near-Infrared Imager and Sleepless Spectrograph or NIR ISS camera that is aimed at finding Exoplanets and the first light of distant objects. And last but not least the FGS or Fine Guidance Sensor, that will help accurately point the telescope for higher quality image and control the operation of the steering and main mirrors.

And unlike other telescopes, Webb will not be orbiting the Earth. It's going to a point 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth, called the second Lagrange Point or L2. When you go out to L2, you don't have the Earth and the sun filling half your sky. So, all Webb sees is the dark of space and be able to do its mission.

The James Webb Space Telescope was first scheduled to be launched in 2007 and was budgeted at 500 million dollars. But as construction progressed and testing began, that launch date and budget have changed a lot. As per the latest updates from NASA, the launch date is now shifted to 25th December 2021.
 
Now answer this: Telescopes work on a lot of frequencies like Gamma Ray, X-Ray, Visible, etc. Right now, which type of telescope (in terms of  frequency) has the highest number in our orbit?

Webb is truly an engineering marvel that will change our understanding about the Universe's formation, expansion, and evolution.

References:

• https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/webb/main/index.html

•  https://www.space.com/nasa-james-webb-space-telescope-worth-wait.html

• https://sci.esa.int/web/jwst

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/interactive/2021/webb-space-telescope-launch/

VIRTUALLY REAL

I must be fortunate enough to live in this century where the legends of science, technology, and arts have contributed so much to society and where zest to invent things never ends. A modern invention that's completely out of imagination is Virtual Reality(VR).

Virtual Reality (VR) is the use of computer technology to create a simulated environment. Unlike traditional user interfaces, VR places the user inside an experience. Instead of viewing a screen in front of them, users are immersed and able to interact with 3D worlds. 

By simulating as many senses as possible, such as vision, hearing, touch, even smell, the computer is transformed into a gatekeeper to this artificial world. The only limits to near-real VR experiences are the availability of content and cheap computing power. This invention is indeed bliss for mankind, whenever I peep through VR, I personify myself into the shoes of actors and feel alive.

But this VR  often reminds me of the "Virtually true" a chapter that I had in my 9th grade, which begins with a boy named Michael who comes across an article in the newspaper about a “Miracle Recovery.” The article is about a boy whose condition was critical but he still recovers from the coma. Michael remembers that the boy who was cited in the newspaper was, in fact, Sebastian Shultz who he had happened to meet a few weeks ago while playing.

It all got started during the Computer Fair, when Michael’s father who was nutty about computers, gifted him a new computer that was preloaded with games. When he starts playing the game ‘Wild West’, he gets challenged by “Black-eyed Jed” to a duel when becomes a Sheriff. He then meets a Second Sheriff whom he was asked to go with. Sadly, the Second Sheriff happens to get shot by the villains and the game soon ends. Later, he gets a printout that reads “I‘m Sebastian Shultz, try playing Dragon Quest”.

In the game Dragon Quest, his mission is to save Princess Aurora from the wicked dragon. He gets the help of the second knight who is none other than Sebastian. Sebastian was killed later on in the game. The game ends but his printer displays a message that asks him not to give up and try playing “Jailbreak.”

In the game Jail Break, his task was to escape along with the prisoner, and he somehow knew it was Sebastian again. They eventually broke out of jail and ran to the roof as doors shut behind them. Then the helicopter arrived as they reached the roof and they got into the helicopter. When they have taken off, Sebastian fell off the helicopter, and then the game ended. Michael played the game many times later but he never got a print after that.

Then one fine day, his printer displays a message that tells him that the helicopter was a better choice, so try your luck at playing “War Zone”. Sebastian also promised not to trouble him again if this did not work out.

Michael jumped into the game right away. He found himself in a city that is scarred by battle wounds. He knew that his job was to save Sebastian. They ran together towards an abandoned jeep that they managed to find amidst the rubble. Then, they went towards a helicopter as a tank followed them. As soon as it came to their view, Sebastian stopped the car. 

Michael jumped into the helicopter when the jeep went into a spin. Sebastian could not get into the helicopter at that point. Michael patiently waited and shouted at him to come into the helicopter but Sebastian does not budge. A few moments later, Sebastian was thrown into the helicopter when the tank collides with the jeep. They flew into clouds and the game ended, saving him. When Michael removes his visor, he realizes that he has got the Higher Score.

The narrator now wants to cross-check the details. He gets out of the train and tries to get some details on the internet. He finds out what he was looking for. It seems that during the time of the accident, Sebastian was on his laptop and was playing one of the psycho-drive games that the narrator had purchased.

The narrator later understands that Sebastian’s memory had got stored on the disk because the computer had saved Sebastian’s memory when he had banged his head during the accident. But it’s interesting to know how it ended up in the narrator’s computer. 

This puzzle also gets solved later because the narrator gets to know that when Sebastian was in the hospital, someone had stolen his games and sold them and it was the narrator who had ended up buying them. There is also a message from Sebastian that says, “DEAR MICHAEL, THANK YOU. I'm NOT SURE HOW IT HAPPENED. BUT YOU SAVED MY LIFE. LET’S MEET UP SOON, CHEERS. SEB. PL. KEEP THE GAMES. YOU’VE EARNED THEM”.
  
The only difference I found was I never received a message so far as Michael did.