SciTech Roundup, Oct. 4
CMU Research Roundup
Dietrich College gets a new Hoskinson Center for Formal Mathematics
The establishment of the Hoskinson Center for Formal Mathematics was announced on Sept. 22. This is funded by a $20 million donation from Charles C. Hoskinson, founder and co-founder of blockchain platforms Cardano and Ethereum, respectively. The center will be led by professor of philosophy Jeremy Avigad and it will work to make interactive theorem prover Lean, developed by Microsoft, more accessible to new users.
Factoring climate change into energy systems
Climate change is causing the number of extreme weather events around the world to increase in frequency. These events have a great impact on whether people are able to receive electricity, and electricity can often determine whether a victim of the disasters produced from climate change are able to survive as a team led by Paulina Jaramillo, Carnegie Mellon professor of engineering and public policy, found. Using an electrical grid modeling framework, they found that not only peaks in demand for electricity during summers and overall demand will rise, but extreme temperatures could also be harmful to electrical equipment.
A push for data analytics to support national technology and supply chains
Lack of data on the manufacturing of medical supplies can hinder the ability of U.S. officials to effectively respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the thesis of a policy proposal from the National Strategy Technology group at Carnegie Mellon, which aims to create policy proposals on utilizing data to support "critical technology, supply chain, and infrastructure". The group gave a lab tour called "Innovations That Transform" to United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Sept. 30, and also hosted a roundtable discussion on how "the university's research and work complement the Biden-Harris Administration’s trade agenda."
National SciTech Headlines
COVID-19 forces Alaskan doctors to choose who survives
Alaska’s small and dispersed population once shielded them from the coronavirus, but not anymore. As the Delta variant sweeps through the population, the state’s isolation is now proving a liability. Hospitals with a limited number of beds cannot transport their patients to other hospitals in time and doctors must make a final decision about who gets the last ICU bed.
Amazon Astro makes its debut
Amazon has released a little robot dog onto the market, and it has drawn a variety of public opinion. This two-foot tablet-faced dog, Astro, is a home robot running with personal assistant Alexa, playing music, checking the stove, and doing other house chores. However, some are doubtful that it will succeed, given that other robot dogs in the past have been discontinued after lack of sales. There are also privacy concerns as the robot can recognize faces, memorize home layouts, act as a surveillance camera, and follow you around, though users can set "off boundaries" zones in their house if needed.
Android 12 and Windows 11 releasing soon
This week, two major OS updates will be released, with Android 12 debuting on Oct. 4 and Windows 11 on Oct. 5. Android 12's biggest change is its design. While still being more minimalistic than others, the new Material You user interface is a design overhaul of its older Material Design framework, featuring more animations, bigger and rounder buttons, and custom color palettes. According to Google, it will be "the biggest design change in Android's history."
Windows 11 is also highly anticipated, featuring a design reboot that is both visually and functionally similar to MacOS, with a more muted color palette and virtual desktops that users can toggle back and forth between. The release will also allow Android apps to run natively on Windows using Amazon's app store, though this feature will be released later than the actual OS.