Japan Officials Hunt For Reasons Behind Fire That Killed 34

An oversight subcommittee for Colorado’s public pension fund recommended Friday that state contributions keep up with inflation following a report cautioning that its funding might not be on track to meet a state-required target decades from now. The Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association, or PERA, serves hundreds of thousands of Coloradans and is responsible for investing its $61.5 billion fund to ensure it meets promises to current and former employees.

By Alyson Krueger, The New York Times Company Kiley DeMarco recently attended Safety Night at her children’s public elementary school on Long Island in New York. As she walked around different booths learning about how to protect her children from accidentally taking a cannabis gummy, about a local violence-prevention program, about how police officers would respond to an emergency on campus, one station caught her eye: A parent was asking other parents to take a pledge not to give their children smartphones until the end of eighth grade. DeMarco has two children, one in kindergarten and one in first grade.

Engineers in Japan are trying to get robots to imitate that particularly human expression — the smile. They have created a face mask from human skin cells and attached it to robots with a novel technique that conceals the binding and is flexible enough to turn down into a grimace or up into a squishy smile. The effect is something between Hannibal Lecter’s terrifying mask and the Claymation figure Gumby. But scientists say the prototypes pave the way for more sophisticated robots, with an outward layer both elastic and durable enough to protect the machine while making it appear more human. Beyond expressiveness, the “skin equivalent,” as the researchers call it, which is made from living skin cells in a lab, can scar and burn and also self-heal, according to a study published June 25 in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science. “Human-like faces and expressions improve communication and empathy in human-robot interactions, making robots more effective in health care, service and companionship roles,” Shoji Takeuchi, a professor at the University of Tokyo and the study’s lead researcher, said in an email. The research comes as robots are becoming more ubiquitous on factory floors. There were 3.9 million industrial robots working on auto and electronics assembly lines and other work settings in 2022, according to the International Federation of Robotics. A subset of the total robot stock includes so-called humanoids, machines designed with two arms and two legs that enable them to work in environments that were built for human workers, such as factories, but also in hospitality, health care and education. Carsten Heer, a federation spokesperson, said that humanoids were “an exciting area of development” but that mass market adoption would be complex, and could be constrained by cost. Still, in October 2023, the Chinese government announced a goal of mass-producing humanoids by 2025, which it predicted would greatly increase its industrial productivity. Related Articles Technology | Saudi Arabia extends its embrace of the world of video games Technology | Sign right here: The parents pledging to keep kids phone-free Technology | Sloan’s Lake business owners decry potential loss of parking due to bike lane Technology | Colorado businesses urge Congress to even playing field for entrepreneurs of color Technology | Denver and fund manager it hired strike agreement on unpaid expenses For decades, robotic engineers have experimented with materials, hoping to find something that could both protect a robot’s complex machinery but be soft and light enough for a wide range of uses. If the surface of a robot gets dinged or scratched, it can lead to machine malfunction, making the capacity for self-repair a “critical feature” for humanoid robots, the researchers said in the paper. The novel skin attachment method advances the nascent field of “biohybrid” robotics, which integrates mechanical engineering with genetic and tissue engineering, said Kevin Lynch, director of the Center for Robotics and Biosystems at Northwestern University. “This study is an innovative contribution to the problem of anchoring artificial skin to the underlying material,” Lynch said, adding that “living skin may help us achieve the holy grail of self-healing skins in biohybrid robots.” He added that the study does not address how the robots’ skin will self-heal without external support. For such robots, the materials challenge extends to verisimilitude — finding ways to imbue the machine with characteristics that make it appear and behave more like a human, such as the ability to smile. Scientists, including Takeuchi and his colleagues at the University of Tokyo, have been working with lab-made human skin for years. In 2022, the research team developed a robotic finger covered in living skin, allowing the machine’s digit to bend like a human finger, giving it the tactility to potentially perform more precise tasks. Takeuchi’s team had tried anchoring the skin with mini-hooks, but those caused tears as the robot moved.

Chart. Highlight. Asterisk. Add. Compute. The Broncos quarterback derby demands daily attention, hanging over camp like the Goodyear Blimp. The reasons are simple: It is the most important position in the NFL, and the Broncos have employed 13 starters since Peyton Manning retired. What if the number had stopped at three because No.

Why accept a plea deal in 9/11 case? Re: “Suspected 9/11 plotter agrees to plead guilty,” Aug. 1 news story Are you kidding me? Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is the alleged mastermind behind the 9/11 tragedy. He is suspected of not only providing money but also training the terrorists. And he gets a plea deal?

Dear Eric: In 2012, my father died leaving valuable land as part of his estate. After selling the property, I paid off my two daughters’ homes, saving them more than $500,000 in future payments. My ex-wife and mother of my daughters passed away a couple of years ago. She had a son by another husband.