James Altucher:

Robots, Ditch Your Slow Brittle Eyes for Fast Squishy Ones

Cameras can be clunky. Thank nature for giving us soft, small, squishy eyes that can instantly switch from focusing on spiderwebs glittering in front of us to the sun shining gloriously on the horizon. But while that’s all well and good for us humans, would somebody please think of the robots?

Whether they were driven to improve quality of vision for WALL-E or R2D2, Corey Zheng and Shu Jia at Georgia Tech have created a solution for them nonetheless: a photo-responsive hydrogel soft lens, or PHySL, which they describe in their Science Robotics paper “Bioinspired photoresponsive soft robotic lens.”

Inspired by the ciliary muscles in the human eye, the PHySL ditches bulky, breakable lenses and gears for soft, hydrogel (water-based) polymers that can do the work of meat-muscles. It adapts itself to its required focal length the same way our eyes do – not by telescoping in and out, but by squishing and stretching.

Remarkably, the PHySL doesn’t need an electronic signal for adjustment, but responds to light itself, allowing fine control through the illumination of its different sections.

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Ray Blanco:

Germany’s HAP-Alpha Solar Aircraft Nears First Flight With 88-Foot Wingspan, 12-Mile Goal

Germany’s bid to build one of the world’s most advanced uncrewed solar aircraft has just taken a major leap forward, after the German Aerospace Center (DLR) revealed that HAP-alpha has successfully completed a full suite of ground tests.

The sleek, ultra-light, high-performance aircraft, built for long-duration flights at extreme altitudes, weighs a total of 304 lbs (138 kilograms) even with its 88-foot (27-meter) wingspan.

Its sensor systems, including a high-resolution camera system and a radar system with synthetic aperture, each weighing no more than 11 lbs (5 kilograms), can be used for a wide range of Earth-observation tasks.

Now, DLR announced that the high-altitude platform has successfully wrapped up full system tests at its National Experimental Test Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Cochstedt, clearing the way for its much-anticipated first flight in 2026.

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Chris Campbell:

Japan Plans Major Shift As Crypto Moves From Payments to Securities Law

Japan’s financial regulators are preparing to move crypto asset oversight out of the country’s payments regime and into a framework designed for investment and securities markets.

The Financial Services Agency (FSA) on Wednesday released a comprehensive report from the Financial System Council’s Working Group on the regulatory status of cryptocurrencies across multiple sectors.

The document outlines a plan to shift the legal basis for crypto regulation from the Payment Services Act (PSA) to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA), which is the primary law regulating securities markets, issuance, trading and disclosures.

“Crypto assets are increasingly being used as investment targets both domestically and internationally,” the report noted, underscoring the need to protect users by providing regulation that treats crypto as a financial product.

The news came amid the Japanese government’s consideration of plans to reduce the maximum tax rate on crypto profits by imposing a flat rate of 20% on all gains from crypto trading.

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