Tom’s commitment to advance both technology and the common good is evident to all who are fortunate to work with him. Maxine Brown has worked with Tom DeFanti since 1977, and is now Director of the Electronic Visualization Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago, which Tom co-founded with art professor Dan Sandin in 1973.
Category: UC San Diego
FEATURE-The billionaire philanthropists intent on using satellites to save the world
Some of the world’s most influential billionaire philanthropists plan to launch a powerful digital platform to harness the avalanche of data sent from satellites each day – and make it freely available for humanitarian and environmental causes. Bill and Melinda Gates – who are also custodians of legendary investor Warren Buffet’s billions – have joined forces with Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay, to fund the ‘Radiant Earth’ project, a repository and archive of the world’s satellite, aerial and drone imagery.
Robots are poised to take over wide range of military jobs
The wave of automation that swept away tens of thousands of American manufacturing and office jobs during the past two decades is now washing over the armed forces, putting both rear-echelon and front-line positions in jeopardy. “Just as in the civilian economy, automation will likely have a big impact on military organizations in logistics and manufacturing,” said Michael Horowitz, a University of Pennsylvania professor and one of the globe’s foremost experts on weaponized robots.
San Diego Economic Outlook
San Diego County has entered 2017 with great hopes as well as concerns about what’s ahead for the economy. A panel of six experts recently peered into the future at the 33rd annual San Diego County Economic Roundtable, sponsored by the County of San Diego, San Diego Workforce Partnership, the University of San Diego School of Business and The San Diego Union-Tribune.
New Grant Boosts UC San Diego-Led Malaria Research Program
An international research team, led by principal investigator Elizabeth A. Winzeler, PhD, professor in the pediatric division of host-microbe systems and therapeutics at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, and colleagues have received a three-year, $4.7 million supplemental grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to advance their development of improved therapies for malaria eradication and elimination.
These Tiny Underwater Robots Mimic Planktons in Ocean
A graphic representation of the underwater explorers off the coast of Del Mar. Credit: Jaffe Lab for Underwater Imaging/Scripps Oceanography A swarm of waterproof miniature robots, developed by researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, were sent into the oceans of the globe to study the waves and the plankton that reside among them. These “bots” will help answer many questions regarding marine biology.
UC San Diego researchers receive CIRM grants to advance studies on Zika virus and cancer
The Independent Citizens Oversight Committee of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has approved a pair of $2 million awards to University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers to advance studies of new treatments for Zika virus infections and the use of stem cell-derived natural killer cells to target ovarian cancer and other malignancies. The Zika virus is linked to increased birth defects, most notably microcephaly – newborns with smaller than expected heads and abnormal brain development.
Teaching Computers to Recognize Sick Guts: Machine-Learning and the Microbiome
A new proof-of-concept study by researchers from the University of California San Diego succeeded in training computers to “learn” what a healthy versus an unhealthy gut microbiome looks like based on its genetic makeup. Since this can be done by genetically sequencing fecal samples, the research suggests there is great promise for new diagnostic tools that are, unlike blood draws, non-invasive.
Festive nebulae light up Milky Way Galaxy satellite
This glowing nebula, named NGC 248, is located within the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way and about 200 000 light-years from Earth. The nebula was observed with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys in Sept.