The Zen of Technology & Scientific Discovery! (& Robots)

[Jundo]

(continued)

A little fern, A LOT of genes ...

Unlocking the Genetic Giant: Tiny Fern Has the Largest Genome of Any Organism on Earth

Researchers have identified Tmesipteris oblanceolata, a fern from New Caledonia, as having the largest genome recorded, surpassing the previous record-holder Paris japonica. This discovery, detailed in the iScience journal, reveals that this fern contains over 50 times more DNA than humans and highlights the significant implications larger genomes have on plant biology and adaptation. ...

• Stretched out, the Tmesipteris oblanceolata genome is taller than Big Ben’s tower in London
• Discovery poses new questions about just how much DNA can be stored in cells

Surprisingly, having a larger genome is usually not an advantage. In the case of plants, species possessing large amounts of DNA are restricted to being slow growing perennials, are less efficient at photosynthesis (the process by which plants convert the sun’s energy into sugars) and require more nutrients (especially nitrogen and phosphates) to grow and compete successfully with their smaller-genomed neighbors. In turn, such effects may influence the ability of a plant to adapt to climate change and their risk of extinction. ... LINK

The Horsemen ...

BEWARE THE THREE HORSEMEN OF THE OCEAN APOCALYPSE.

Extreme heat, acidification, and deoxygenation are all fearsome forces on their own. Combine two or more of them, and they can be catastrophic: they cause what's known as column-compound extreme events (CCX), which turn affected areas of the ocean virtually uninhabitable.

The research, which focused on the effects in the upper one thousand feet of the ocean, found that these compound events are growing, and now threaten up to 20 percent of global ocean volume. The waters of the North Pacific and the tropics are the most hard hit, as the only areas faced with full-blown triple CCX — at least so far.

To make matters worse, the events are only getting more extreme, lasting three times longer — up to 30 days — and are six times more intense compared to the 1960s, per the Guardian. And wherever they occur, they can cut down the amount of habitable space by up to 75 percent.

"The impacts of this have already been seen and felt," study lead author Joel Wong, a researcher at ETH Zurich, told the newspaper. "Intense extreme events like these are likely to happen again in the future and will disrupt marine ecosystems and fisheries around the world."
LINK

Oh my, the things we spread ... good and not ...

REMOTE AMAZON TRIBE FINALLY GETS INTERNET, GETS HOOKED ON PORN AND SOCIAL MEDIA

The New York Times reports on what may sound a bit familiar: young people poring over social media feeds, streaming soccer games, and of course, gossiping over WhatsApp. Evenings are spent lounging around on their phones and playing first-person shooters and other video games.

"When it arrived, everyone was happy," said Tsainama Marubo, 73. "But now, things have gotten worse."

Some of the young men are especially getting a kick out of it. Alfredo Marubo, a leader of an association of the tribe's villages, lamented that the boys, now with their own group chats, were sharing porn and other explicit videos — which is unprecedented in their culture that considers kissing in public taboo.... "Everyone is so connected that sometimes they don't even talk to their own family," he told the NYT.

Tsainama echoed those fears, but was more conflicted. "Young people have gotten lazy because of the internet," she said. "They're learning the ways of the white people. But please don't take our internet away." ... New job opportunities have opened up. Villages can now easily coordinate over group chats, and also reach out to local authorities.

"It's already saved lives," Enoque Marubo, who was one of the first in the tribe to push for an internet connection, told the NYT, such as in the case of venomous snakebites, which need immediate medical treatment.

"The leaders have been clear," he added. "We can't live without the internet."

LINK

AI vs Plastic ...

Scientists used machine learning to discover what they say could be a new way to speed up the process of breaking down plastic significantly

As detailed in a new paper published in the journal Nature, a research team from the University of Texas at Austin modified an enzyme to break down the individual components of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a commonly used plastic that makes up a staggering 12 percent of global waste.

Impressively, the modified enzyme also reduced the amount of time it takes for the plastic to degrade from months to a just single week.

The process, called depolymerization, has the added benefit of allowing the broken down monomers to be reconstituted back into virgin PET plastic, a potentially revolutionary way of recycling the astronomical amounts of plastic waste we've accumulated.

That all depends, though, on figuring out a reliable and affordable way to scale up and industrialize the process.
LIKE

Si, si AI ...

Bilingual AI brain implant helps stroke survivor communicate in Spanish and English

The implant uses a form of AI to turn the man's brain activity into sentences, allowing him to participate in a bilingual conversation and "switch between languages."

... Nearly a dozen scientists from the university’s Center for Neural Engineering and Prostheses have worked for several years to design a decoding system that could turn the man's brain activity into sentences in both languages and display them on a screen.

An article published May 20 in Nature Biomedical Engineering outlining their research identifies the man as Pancho. At age 20, he became severely paralyzed as a result of a stroke he had in the early 2000s. Pancho can moan and grunt but can't articulate clear words. He is a native Spanish speaker who learned English as an adult.
...

LINK

Part man, part Tardigrade ...

SCIENTISTS SPLICE MATERIAL FROM CREATURE THAT CAN SURVIVE OUTER SPACE INTO HUMAN CELLS

In a new study led by the University of Wyoming, an international team of researchers found that when looking into the incredible durability of the itty bitty tardigrade — known affectionately as the "water bear" or "moss piglet" — proteins from the creature might help slow aging in humans, too. ... "Amazingly, when we introduce these proteins into human cells, they gel and slow down metabolism, just like in tardigrades," Silvia Sanchez-Martinez, a senior research scientist at UW's molecular biology department and the lead author of the study, said in the school's statement. "Just like tardigrades, when you put human cells that have these proteins into biostasis, they become more resistant to stresses, conferring some of the tardigrades' abilities to the human cells." ...

LINK

That's using your brains! ...

SCIENTISTS CONNECT 16 MINI BRAINS MADE OF HUMAN TISSUE TO CREATE A "LIVING COMPUTER"

Switzerland-based startup FinalSpark claims to have built a unique computer processor made from 16 mini brains made from human brain tissue, Tom's Hardware reports — and they are positioning this "living computer" as an alternative to silicon-based computing.

And now, other researchers can remotely access the startup's biocomputer, the Neuroplatform, to conduct studies on, say, artificial intelligence, which typically requires enormous resources.

"One of the biggest advantages of biological computing is that neurons compute information with much less energy than digital computers," FinalSpark scientist and strategic advisor Ewelina Kurtys wrote in a company blog post earlier this month. "It is estimated that living neurons can use over 1 million times less energy than the current digital processors we use."

The startup takes brain organoids, small samples of human brain tissue derived from neural stem cells, and places them in a special environment that keeps these organoids alive. They then hook up these mini brains to specialized electrodes to perform computer processing and digital analog conversions to transform neural activity into digital information.

The concept of living computers has been around for quite some time now. Last year, for instance, scientists hooked up neurons to electrical circuits, resulting in a device that could perform voice recognition.

These unusual machines have some noteworthy advantages over their silicon-based counterparts, including a significantly smaller carbon footprint.
LINK

It seems that they break this record every few weeks now ...

Webb Uncovers Most Distant Known Galaxy – “Most Significant Extragalactic Discovery to Date”

This infrared image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (also called Webb or JWST) was taken by the NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) for the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey, or JADES, program. The NIRCam data was used to determine which galaxies to study further with spectroscopic observations. One such galaxy, JADES-GS-z14-0 (shown in the pullout), was determined to be at a redshift of 14.32 (+0.08/-0.20), making it the current record-holder for the most distant known galaxy. This corresponds to a time less than 300 million years after the Big Bang.

LINK

A topic dear to my heart ... to make it more likely that we will see the future of the universe ...

How Brain Damage Illuminates the Pathways of Generosity

A study reveals that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) plays a crucial role in our willingness to help others, impacting global challenges and treatments for social disorders. The research showed that damage to this brain region significantly reduces motivation to engage in prosocial behaviors. ... Patients with vmPFC damage were less willing to choose to help others, exerted less force on even after they did decide to help, and earned less money to help others compared to the control groups. ...

LINK

Gassho, J

stlah

[Antonio]

About the Amazonian tribes:

Recently, some media vehicles spread fake news about amazonian tribes being addicted in Porn because of the internet and this is not accurate . They are people like us and they like the same things as us. For this reason, when they started to use the internet, also they started to deal with the same problems as our modern society. Nothing in the original source refer anything about amerindians being addicted to adult content.

The only reference about porn was one cacique/morubixaba (chief) that said that some young boys are watching porn. In our society the kids also do this and this do not make all of us addicted, right?

There are many fake news spread everywhere by the media and the brazilian one is really good doing that. They spread any convenient information, sometimes distorted using their influence to affect the society opinion. In this case, the attack focused Elon Musk (owner of Starlink that provide internet to the tribes) after he criticize the Brazilian government.

I am just providing information here. I am not here to judge who is right or wrong and I will not extend this as a political thread. As a student of the way of Buddha I refuse to enter in political discussions or anything that could divide people or the Sangha.

Gassho!
SatLah

[Jundo]

About the Amazonian tribes:

Recently, some media vehicles spread fake news about amazonian tribes being addicted in Porn because of the internet and this is not accurate . They are people like us and they like the same things as us. For this reason, when they started to use the internet, also they started to deal with the same problems as our modern society. Nothing in the original source refer anything about amerindians being addicted to adult content.

The only reference about porn was one cacique/morubixaba (chief) that said that some young boys are watching porn. In our society the kids also do this and this do not make all of us addicted, right?

There are many fake news spread everywhere by the media and the brazilian one is really good doing that. They spread any convenient information, sometimes distorted using their influence to affect the society opinion. In this case, the attack focused Elon Musk (owner of Starlink that provide internet to the tribes) after he criticize the Brazilian government.

I am just providing information here. I am not here to judge who is right or wrong and I will not extend this as a political thread. As a student of the way of Buddha I refuse to enter in political discussions or anything that could divide people or the Sangha.

Gassho!
SatLah

[Jundo]

The merger begins ... let humans be very, very careful ...

SCIENTISTS CREATE ROBOT CONTROLLED BY BLOB OF HUMAN BRAIN CELLS

Chinese scientists create robot with brain made from human stem cells

• Researchers have developed brain-on-chip technology to train the robot to perform tasks such as gripping objects

... Researchers from Tianjin University and the Southern University of Science and Technology hooked the brain tissue to a neural interface, allowing it to pass on instructions to the humanoid robot body. The goal is to study brain-computer interfaces that can act as a mediator between electrical signals in the brain and computing power. According to a statement by the researchers, the brainy robot is the "world’s first open-source brain-on-chip intelligent complex information interaction system." The researchers' organoids were formed from human pluripotent stem cells, which have the capacity to divide and develop into different kinds of cells, such as brain tissues. ... LINK

A leg up ...

NEW BIONIC LEG CAN BE CONTROLLED BY THE WEARER'S BRAIN

Researchers at MIT have developed a new prosthetic leg that can be controlled via brain signals, an achievement that could greatly enhance the experience of walking with a bionic limb for amputees. As detailed in a new paper published in the journal Nature Medicine, the researchers found that their "neuroprosthetic" increased walking speed by a whopping 41 percent compared to a control group who received conventional prostheses, "enabling equivalent peak speeds to persons without leg amputation." Better yet, such a device could adapt in real-time to a variety of environments such as "slopes, stairs and obstructed pathways," the researchers argue. A video released by the team shows off just how natural it is for the user to climb a set of stairs.

It is no game ...

FIRST NEURALINK PATIENT SAYS IMPLANT HAS GIVEN HIM INCREDIBLE GAMING SKILLS

Earlier this year, Noland Arbaugh became the first patient to receive a brain-computer chip implanted by Elon Musk's startup Neuralink. The 29-year-old lost control over his limbs after a diving accident eight years ago, but has since gained the ability to move a cursor with his mind alone thanks to the coin battery-sized device implanted in his skull and brain. ... — the upgrade is giving Arbaugh sick new gaming skills. "I basically have an aimbot in my head," ... referring to bots that automatically lock onto their opponents in video games, giving cheating players seemingly superhuman reflexes. "They’ll probably have different leagues for people like me because it’s just not fair." LINK

Tongue power ...

Revolutionizing Accessibility: Tongue-Controlled MouthPad Enables Computer Interaction for Paralyzed Users

Tomás Vega developed the MouthPad through his startup, Augmental, to help people with disabilities interact with technology using just their tongues and head movements.
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Can the students be proven intelligent?

AI Outperforms Students in Real-World “Turing Test”

A study at the University of Reading revealed that AI-generated exam answers often go undetected by experienced exam markers, with 94% of such answers going unnoticed and achieving higher grades than student submissions. The researchers call for the global education sector to develop new policies and guidance to address this issue. The study emphasizes the need for a sector-wide agreement on the use of AI in education and highlights the responsibility of educators to maintain academic integrity. The University of Reading is already taking steps to incorporate AI in teaching and assessment to better prepare students for the future. LINK

Let's stop all those fake Jundos running around ...

YOUTUBE NOW LETS YOU REQUEST THE REMOVAL OF AI CONTENT THAT IMPERSONATES YOU

Submitting a request is not a guarantee of removal, however, and YouTube's stated criteria leaves room for considerable ambiguity. Some of the listed factors YouTube says it will consider include whether the content is disclosed as "altered or synthetic," whether the person "can be uniquely identified," and whether the content is "realistic."

But here comes a huge and familiar loophole: whether the content can be considered parody or satire, or even more vaguely, to contain some value to "public interest" will also be considered — nebulous qualifications that show that YouTube is taking a fairly soft stance here that is by no means anti-AI. LINK

The Dark Side for sure ... GPT Hijack ...

Sneaky Virus Uses ChatGPT to Send Human-Like Emails to Your Contacts to Spread Itself: It can even evade antivirus scans by rewriting its own code.

Researchers have developed a computer virus that can leverage the power of ChatGPT to first disguise itself by changing its own code — and then, in a particularly devious twist, spread by attaching itself to AI-generated emails that sound like they were written by a human. ... As a result, the "synthetic cancer," as the researchers call the virus, isn't even detectable by antivirus scans, making it the perfect camouflaged intruder. Once established on the victim's system, the virus then opens up Outlook and starts writing contextually relevant email replies — while including itself as a seemingly harmless attachment. It's a terrifying example of how AI chatbots can be exploited to efficiently spread malware. Worse yet, experts warn the tools themselves could even aid bad actors in making them even harder to detect. LINK

More AI abuse ...

MICROSOFT ACKNOWLEDGES "SKELETON KEY" EXPLOIT THAT ENABLES STRIKINGLY EVIL OUTPUTS ON ALMOST ANY AI: "EXPLOSIVES, BIOWEAPONS, POLITICAL CONTENT, SELF-HARM, RACISM, DRUGS, GRAPHIC SEX, AND VIOLENCE."

... It's a problem that likely isn't going to go away anytime soon. In a blog post last week, Microsoft Azure CTO Mark Russinovich acknowledged the existence of a new jailbreaking technique that causes "the system to violate its operators’ policies, make decisions unduly influenced by a user, or execute malicious instructions." ... LINK

AI now throwing parties ...

RESEARCHERS LET 25 AI BOTS LOOSE INSIDE A VIRTUAL TOWN. THE RESULTS WERE FASCINATING.

A team of researchers from Stanford University and Google let 25 AI-powered bots loose inside a virtual town — and they acted a lot more like humans than you might expect. ... the researchers trained 25 different "generative agents," using OpenAI's GPT-3.5 large language model, to "simulate believable human behavior" such as cooking up breakfast, going to work, or practicing a specific profession like painting or writing. A virtual town called "Smallville" allowed these agents to hop from school to a cafe, or head to a bar after work. In other words, it's a bit like a game of "The Sims," but without any human intervention. ... The researchers found that their agents could "produce believable individual and emergent social behaviors." For instance, one agent attempted to throw a Valentine's Day party by sending out invites and setting a time and place for the party. A Smallville mayoral race also included the kind of drama you'd expect to occur in a small town. "To be honest, I don't like Sam Moore," an agent called Tom said after being asked what he thought of the mayoral candidate. "I think he's out of touch with the community and doesn't have our best interests at heart." LINK

A logical leap?

Programmatic Breakthrough: AI’s Leap From Language to Logic To Solve Complex Problems

Researchers have developed a technique called natural language embedded programs (NLEPs) that improves the performance of large language models by generating Python programs to solve complex tasks. This method not only enhances accuracy and efficiency but also increases transparency, as users can directly see and modify the generated code. NLEPs allow large models like GPT-4 to solve a broader range of tasks with higher precision and could potentially improve data privacy and the performance of smaller models without extensive retraining. ... “We want AI to perform complex reasoning in a way that is transparent and trustworthy. There is still a long way to go, but we have shown that combining the capabilities of programming and natural language in large language models is a very good potential first step toward a future where people can fully understand and trust what is going on inside their AI model,” says Hongyin Luo PhD ’22, an MIT postdoc and co-lead author of a paper on NLEPs. ... LINK

A smile only skin deep ...

See robot smile with 'living' skin

A team of researchers at the Institute of Industrial Science at the University of Tokyo released a study showing how they made a robot with 'living' skin be able to smile.
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Kinda looks the same?

It may look like pink Jello but scientists hope this new invention could revolutionize meat

Researchers in South Korea say they’ve developed a new way to make lab-grown meat taste like the real deal. It may look like a transparent, bubble gum pink-colored disc, but scientists hope it could revolutionize the meat on people’s plates. Lab-grown meat — also called cultured meat or cell-based meat — is emerging as an alternative to conventional meat, offering the same nutritional benefits and sensory experience without the carbon footprint It’s made by cultivating animal cells directly in a lab grown on 3D structures called “scaffolds,” which allow the cells to multiply, eliminating the need to raise and farm animals. LINK
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f_webp.webp

Is this the new "house call" ??

Hologram in this hospital allows doctors to 'teleport' to meet patients

A newly installed holographic display in Crescent Regional Hospital in Lancaster, Texas, is allowing doctors to meet with patients in real-time and helping them reduce travel time.
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Drone attack ... and it had to be in Florida ...

ELDERLY FLORIDA MAN ARRESTED FOR SHOOTING WALMART DELIVERY DRONE

... Winn, who reportedly believed he was being surveilled by the drone, is facing a number of charges including shooting at an aircraft, criminal mischief, and discharging a firearm on public or residential property, according to the sheriff's office. ... Armed Americans could pose a headache for air deliveries. ...
LINK

Finding generosity within us ...

The Neuroscience of Generosity: Why Some Give More Than Others

Researchers at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience investigated the neural basis of altruism by studying individuals who physically feel others’ pain, known as mirror-pain synaesthetes. Their study found that these individuals are more inclined to make sacrifices to help others, driven by heightened activity in brain areas involved in sensory experiences. LINK

The roots of addiction within is ...

Neuroscience Breakthrough: A Non-Invasive New Therapy for Addiction, Depression, and OCD

EPFL researchers are advancing non-invasive brain stimulation methods to target and modify deep brain regions involved in neurological disorders. Their innovative approach offers potential for less invasive, personalized treatments with wide applicability and minimal side effects. ... Their research, leveraging transcranial Temporal Interference Electric Stimulation (tTIS), specifically targets deep brain regions that are the control centers of several important cognitive functions and involved in different neurological and psychiatric pathologies. ... LINK

Can't get my fill ...

Controlling Appetite Before It Starts: Scientists Identify Group of Neurons Linked to Feeling Full



Recent research demonstrates that GLP-1 receptor agonists, which are medications that mimic the gut hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 to stimulate insulin release, help increase feelings of fullness before eating by influencing neural pathways in the hypothalamus, potentially aiding in obesity management by modifying responses to food cues and perceptions.
LINK

Big (yet tiny) discovery at the big collider ...

Large Hadron Collider Achieves Groundbreaking Measurement in Particle Physics

The CMS collaboration’s measurement of the electroweak mixing angle showcased unprecedented precision, affirming the Standard Model and setting the stage for future collider physics. LINK

More Large Hadron happenings ... spooky happenings ...

Faster Than the Speed of Light: Information Transfer Through “Spooky Action at a Distance” at the Large Hadron Collider

Physicists have demonstrated quantum entanglement in top quarks and their antimatter partners, a discovery made at CERN. This finding extends the behavior of entangled particles to distances beyond the reach of light-speed communication and opens new avenues for exploring quantum mechanics at high energies. LINK

Please avoid typos ...

A “Word Processor” for Genes – Scientists Unveil Fundamentally New Mechanism for Biological Programming

Arc Institute scientists have discovered the bridge recombinase mechanism, a revolutionary tool that enables fully programmable DNA rearrangements. Their finding, detailed in a recent Nature publication, is the first DNA recombinase that uses a non-coding RNA for sequence-specific selection of target and donor DNA molecules. This bridge RNA is programmable, allowing the user to specify any desired genomic target sequence and any donor DNA molecule to be inserted. LINK
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and ...

The University of Sydney introduces SeekRNA, a gene-editing tool superior to CRISPR

... , offering direct DNA insertion with high precision. This innovation promises significant advancements in genetic engineering by enabling cleaner and more accurate edits, with potential applications across various fields including health and agriculture. ... LINK

Have some backbone ...

The extinct sea creature was one of the first animals to have a precursor of a backbone.

An extinct ribbonlike sea creature about the size of a human thumb was one of the earliest animals to evolve a precursor of a backbone. Scientists recently identified the animal’s nerve cord by using a topsy-turvy twist. They turned its fossils upside down. ... Paleontologist Charles Doolittle Wolcott first encountered fossils of Pikaia in the Burgess Shale deposits of British Columbia, dating to 508 million years ago, and described them in a 1911 treatise. The animal measured roughly 1.6 inches (4 centimeters) long on average and had a flattened, sinuous body and a tiny head, tipped with two tentacles and fringed with external gills. These were originally thought to be rudimentary legs, so the animal was positioned with these structures facing downward. ... According to the researchers, earlier anatomical interpretations positioned the animal wrong side up. ... LINK

Ant doctors ...

Carpenter ants amputate the legs of their nestmates to save their lives, study says

Humans aren’t the only ones capable of performing amputations to save lives.

Florida carpenter ants have been observed biting off the injured limbs of nestmates, depending on the location of the wounds, to help their counterparts survive, according to a new study.

About 90% to 95% of the ants receiving amputations make it through the process and continue with their duties within the nest just fine despite losing a leg, researchers found.
LINK
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Old ants ...

Scientists stunned to discover oldest inhabited termite mounds have been active for 34,000 years

Scientists in South Africa have been stunned to discover that termite mounds that are still inhabited in an arid region of the country are more than 30,000 years old, meaning they are the oldest known active termite hills. ... Francis said the mounds existed while saber-toothed cats and woolly mammoths roamed other parts of the Earth and large swathes of Europe and Asia were covered in ice. They predate some of the earliest cave paintings in Europe. ... LINK

Water-oide ...

Surprising asteroid sample reveals Bennu may have originated from an ocean world

An early analysis of a sample collected from the asteroid Bennu suggests that the space rock had an unexpectedly water-rich past — and it may have even splintered off from an ancient ocean world. The NASA OSIRIS-REx mission scooped up the 4.3-ounce (121.6-gram) pristine sample from the near-Earth asteroid in 2020 and returned it to Earth last September. ... During a new analysis of the sample, the team discovered that Bennu’s dust is rich in carbon, nitrogen and organic compounds, all of which helped form the solar system. These ingredients are also essential to life as we understand it and could help scientists better understand how Earth-like planets evolve. ... “The presence and state of phosphates, along with other elements and compounds on Bennu, suggest a watery past for the asteroid,” said co-lead study author Dante Lauretta, principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx and regents professor at the University of Arizona, Tucson, in a statement. “Bennu potentially could have once been part of a wetter world. Although, this hypothesis requires further investigation.” LINK

Hanging on by a thread ...

SCIENTIST WARNS THAT NASA’S VOYAGER PROBES ARE “DODGING BULLETS OUT THERE” - COSMIC RAYS ARE BEATING UP OUR SPACECRAFTS, THE SCIENTIST EXPLAINS

In an interview with Mashable, Alan Cummings, a cosmic ray physicist at NASA and Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory who's been on the probes' missions from the very start, explained that Voyagers 1 and 2 are in greater danger than ever now that they've left the Sun's protective bubble.

Spinning backwards ... the whole world is kinda backwards ...

Earth’s core has slowed so much it’s moving backward, scientists confirm.

... A growing body of evidence suggests the core’s spin has changed dramatically in recent years, but scientists have remained divided over what exactly is happening — and what it means ... LINK

Webb finds a mysterious web of galaxies ...

Scientists Baffled: Webb Uncovers Ancient Galaxies That Defy Explanation

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has revealed mysterious objects in the early universe that challenge current theories of galaxy and supermassive black hole evolution. ... These objects contain old stars and massive black holes, much larger than expected, suggesting a rapid and unconventional form of early galaxy formation. The findings highlight significant discrepancies with existing models, and the objects’ unique properties indicate a complex early cosmic history. LINK
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Three-Mysterious-Objects-Early-Universe-777x389.jpg

No place to stand ... and the specialness of our little planet ...

Geoscientists Unlock the Mystery: Why We Haven’t Met Aliens Yet

Geoscientists propose that the lack of certain geological features on exoplanets, such as oceans and continents along with sustained plate tectonics, could be why advanced extraterrestrial civilizations are so rare, revising the expectations of the Drake equation. ... LINK

In the fun house ...

THE UNIVERSE MAY BE SHAPED LIKE A HALL OF MIRRORS, SCIENTISTS SAY

For decades now, scientists have argued about how the universe is shaped, in the sense of complex parameters that govern the rules of space and time. Is it a simple open expanse, like a bigger version of the spaces we're used to? Does it wrap around on itself like a donut? Or something even stranger?

Now, new research published in the journal Physical Review Letters, in the inaugural paper from a new consortium of cosmologists known as the COMPACT Collaboration, found that the "topology" of the universe — the shape of its geometry, basically — is likely anything but simple.
... The researchers looked at the universe's cosmic microwave background, which is basically the inherent "glow" of space, dating back to ancient radiation at the dawn of time.

While they didn't nail down any one definite topology for the universe, they did find that data on the universe's background radiation doesn't rule out some seriously exotic shapes — and in fact, we might just live in something akin to an infinite hall of mirrors. ... Take the main focus of the paper, a shape known as a "3-torus." As the American Physical Society explained in a summary of the paper, that would be like if there was a cube on which each set of opposing sides were connected — meaning that no matter how large the universe appears, if you peer deep enough into its depths, you'll see the back of your head. ...
LINK

Gassho, J
stlah

[BikeZen]

I'm going to cancel my LiveScience newsletter subscription; this is wonderful (and scary to some/most). On a very basic level these are all part of Reality, just the way things are, when I think about it (or not think about it) but people who do separate themselves into this/that or then/now etc. have a visceral dread of changes and feel their selves threatened. I do understand that feeling but my hope is that technology and innovation is used more for good than bad (yes I'd like to see a tipping of the scales toward good/peace/harmony). Anyway, that's just some random thoughts after I read this. Thank you Master Jundo!

Bill
ST

[Matt Johnson]

I'm going to cancel my LiveScience newsletter subscription; this is wonderful (and scary to some/most). On a very basic level these are all part of Reality, just the way things are, when I think about it (or not think about it) but people who do separate themselves into this/that or then/now etc. have a visceral dread of changes and feel their selves threatened. I do understand that feeling but my hope is that technology and innovation is used more for good than bad (yes I'd like to see a tipping of the scales toward good/peace/harmony). Anyway, that's just some random thoughts after I read this. Thank you Master Jundo!

Bill
ST

Thanks for replying to this thread so I was reminded to read it. This was some of lead up to Jundo's book I think. It's helpful for a bit of context to some current discussions.

_/\_

Matt

[Jundo]

The Black Hole at the HEART of the universe ...

Black Holes: Not Destroyers but Protectors

A study has revealed that galaxies possess a regulatory mechanism similar to a heart and lungs, which controls their growth by limiting gas absorption. ...This mechanism, involving a supermassive black hole and its jet emissions, prevents galaxies from expanding too rapidly, ensuring their longevity and preventing premature aging into “zombie” galaxies.... In their analogy, the researchers compared the supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy to its heart and the two bipolar supersonic jets of gas and radiation they emit to airways feeding a pair of lungs. Pulses from the black hole — or “heart” — can lead to jet shock fronts oscillating back and forth along both jet axes, much like the thoracic diaphragm in the human body moves up and down inside a chest cavity to inflate and deflate both lungs. This can result in jet energy being transmitted widely into the surrounding medium, just as we breathe out warm air, resulting in slowing galaxy gas accretion and growth. LINK

BELOW: This clip shows a supersonic jet generating a “bellows-like action,” by receiving pulses from its black hole “heart,” causing it to expand and contract “like an air-filled lung,” “breathing out warm air” (pressure ripples) into its surroundings.
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Lookin' at LUCA ...

Unlocking the Secrets of LUCA, Earth’s Earliest Life Form

A University of Bristol-led study found that life on Earth, stemming from a common ancestor called LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor), flourished soon after the planet’s formation. Through genetic analysis and evolutionary modeling, researchers pinpointed LUCA’s existence to about 4.2 billion years ago, revealing it as a complex organism with an early immune system integral to Earth’s earliest ecosystems. LUCA is the hypothesized common ancestor from which all modern cellular life, from single-celled organisms like bacteria to the gigantic redwood trees (as well as us humans) descend. LUCA represents the root of the tree of life before it splits into the groups, recognized today, Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya. Modern life evolved from LUCA from various different sources: the same amino acids used to build proteins in all cellular organisms, the shared energy currency (ATP), the presence of cellular machinery like the ribosome and others associated with making proteins from the information stored in DNA, and even the fact that all cellular life uses DNA itself as a way of storing information. ... Co-author Professor Davide Pisani said: “Our study showed that LUCA was a complex organism, not too different from modern prokaryotes, but what is really interesting is that it’s clear it possessed an early immune system, showing that even by 4.2 billion years ago, our ancestor was engaging in an arms race with viruses.”

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Racking my brain ...

Are Lab-Grown Brains Ethical? According to Scientists, There Is No No-Brainer Answer

A study from Hiroshima University highlights the need for stringent ethical and legal frameworks in brain organoid research, especially concerning fetal tissues, advocating for responsible scientific advancement. ... Brain organoids are three-dimensional human brain tissues derived from stem cells, which are capable of developing into many different cell types. They replicate the complexity of the human brain in a laboratory setting, allowing researchers to study brain development and diseases in the hopes of acquiring vital insights and making innovative medical advancements. ... The study highlights the urgent need for a sophisticated and globally harmonized regulatory framework tailored to navigate the complex ethical and legal landscape of fetal brain organoid (FeBO) research. The paper emphasizes the importance of informed consent protocols, ethical considerations surrounding organoid consciousness, transplantation of organoids into animals, integration with computational systems, and broader debates related to embryo research and the ethics of abortion. ... LINK

Size is not everything ...

Brain Size Myth Debunked With New Evolutionary Insights

A new study involving 1,500 species shows that larger animals do not have proportionally bigger brains, challenging old views and introducing a curve model for brain-body size relationships, with significant findings in primates, rodents, and carnivores. ... “For more than a century, scientists have assumed that this relationship was linear – meaning that brain size gets proportionally bigger, the larger an animal is. We now know this is not true. The relationship between brain and body size is a curve, essentially meaning very large animals have smaller brains than expected.” ... LINK

Mushroom brain ...

This is your brain on psilocybin

As he began the brain scan, neurologist Dr. Nico Dosenbach wasn’t sure if he’d been given a psychedelic or a placebo as part of a new clinical trial that would capture how the brain works on psilocybin, the main psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms. Suddenly he felt a faster heartbeat, a flush of energy and a change in vision. It wasn’t until his brain morphed into a computer, however, that he knew for sure he was on a psychedelic trip. ... Dosenbach is the co-senior author of a very small, pilot study that conducted up to 30 functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans of healthy participants’ brains before, during and three weeks after a psychedelic trip on psilocybin. “We found that psilocybin desynchronizes the brain,” said co-senior author Ginger Nicol of the study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

“When psilocybin is on board, the brain is disconnecting from its typical pathways and reconnecting to different parts of the brain,” said Nicol, an associate professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

... Each of the participants had different experiences, with only one not entering a state of mysticism, Dosenbach said.

“My sense of self stretched like I was the universe,” he said. “Other people reported they saw God, and if I was very religious, I could see that, but for me it was more like ‘Oh, I’m the universe.’

“And then it disappeared in what I think psychiatrists call ego death,” he said. “Simultaneously with that I lost my sense of place, and time stopped. It felt like I was literally there for days and then weeks figuring things out.”

One man was able to pinpoint the specific time during the fMRI scan that he had his most vivid mystical experience, Nicol said.

“He felt the light of God was shining on him,” she said. “We were able to actually go to that spot on the scan and pinpoint when he felt that — it happened at the peak of desynchronization(from the brain’s typical pathways).
BELOW: This brain on psilocybin is at the peak of activity, showing how much of the brain reconnects to different pathways than prior to the experience. The most active areas of reconnection are seen in red and orange. f_webp.webp

AI has little EmpathAI ...

Cambridge Study: AI Chatbots Have an “Empathy Gap,” and It Could Be Dangerous

New research at the University of Cambridge identifies a significant “empathy gap” in AI chatbots, posing risks to young users who often see these systems as lifelike confidants. Highlighting incidents where AI interactions led to unsafe suggestions, the study advocates for a proactive approach to make AI child-safe. It proposes a comprehensive 28-item framework to help stakeholders, including companies and educators, ensure AI technologies cater responsibly to children’s unique needs and vulnerabilities. ... The study links that gap in understanding to recent cases in which interactions with AI led to potentially dangerous situations for young users. They include an incident in 2021, when Amazon’s AI voice assistant, Alexa, instructed a 10-year-old to touch a live electrical plug with a coin. Last year, Snapchat’s My AI gave adult researchers posing as a 13-year-old girl tips on how to lose her virginity to a 31-year-old. ... LINK

I can't decide what I think about this ...

AI Learns To Think Like Humans: A Game-Changer in Machine Learning

Researchers at Georgia Tech are advancing neural networks to mimic human decision-making by training them to exhibit variability and confidence in their choices, similar to how humans operate, as demonstrated in their study published in Nature Human Behaviour. Their model, RTNet, not only matches human performance in recognizing noisy digits but also applies human-like traits such as confidence and evidence accumulation, enhancing both accuracy and reliability. ... Humans make nearly 35,000 decisions each day, ranging from determining if it’s safe to cross the road to choosing what to have for lunch. Each decision involves evaluating options, recalling similar past situations, and feeling reasonably confident about the right choice. What might appear to be a snap decision actually results from gathering evidence from the environment. Additionally, the same person might make different decisions in identical scenarios at different times.

Neural networks do the opposite, making the same decisions each time. Now, Georgia Tech researchers in Associate Professor Dobromir Rahnev’s lab are training them to make decisions more like humans. This science of human decision-making is only just being applied to machine learning, but developing a neural network even closer to the actual human brain may make it more reliable, according to the researchers.
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A real looker ...

The first Miss AI has been crowned — and she’s a Moroccan lifestyle influencer

Meet Kenza Layli, a Moroccan lifestyle influencer who hopes to bring “diversity and inclusivity” to the AI creator landscape. With nearly 200,000 Instagram followers, and a further 45,000 on TikTok, Layli is entirely AI-generated, from her images to her captions and buzzword-filled acceptance speech.

“Winning Miss AI motivates me even more to continue my work in advancing AI technology,” Layli said in a video of the speech. “AI isn’t just a tool; it’s a transformative force that can disrupt industries, challenge norms and create opportunities where none existed before… As we move forward, I am committed to promoting diversity and inclusivity within the field, ensuring that everyone has a seat at the table of technological progress.” ... Judges included the AI influencer Aitana Lopez and the (human) pageantry historian Sally-Ann Fawcett, who told CNN last month that she was looking for contestants “with a powerful, positive message.”

But experts have also expressed concern about the implications of an AI beauty pageant, as stylized AI-generated images may further homogenize beauty standards.

“I think we’re starting to increasingly lose touch with what an unedited face looks like,” Dr. Kerry McInerney, a research associate at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge, told CNN in a video interview after the shortlist had been selected. (Among the competition’s 10 finalists, Layli, a hijab-wearing North African avatar, was an outlier.)

“These tools are made to replicate and scale up existing patterns in the world,” McInerney added. “They’re not made necessarily to challenge them, even if they’re sold as tools that enhance creativity so when it comes to beauty norms… They’re capturing the existing beauty norms we have which are actively sexist, actively fatphobic, actively colorist, then they’re compiling and reiterating them.” LINK

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Here's to youthful grannies ...

SCIENTISTS INTRIGUED BY DRUG THAT EXTENDED LIFESPANS OF MICE WHILE KEEPING THEM YOUNG-LOOKING

In a new study, lab mice given an experimental drug were jokingly referred to as "supermodel grannies" because they looked so youthful even while aging beyond their expected lifespan.

As the BBC reports, the trials for a drug believed to flush out a protein known as interleukin-11 — which in early development helps build our bones but later in life causes the kinds of inflammation that triggers much of the illness of aging — have already had intriguing success in mice. ... The drug also, per a press release from the UK government's research arm, extended the median lifespan of male mice by 22.4 percent and female mice by 25 percent.... LINK

SimulSashimi ... but nobody says how it tastes ...

Major Japanese food processing firm launches plant-based 'tuna sashimi' for restaurants

A major Japanese food processing company began selling "tuna sashimi" made from plant-based ingredients to domestic restaurants. The aroma and texture of the red meat of tuna are reproduced, and it can be eaten as sashimi.

As the decline of marine resources becomes a global problem, the development of "alternative seafood" using soybeans and other ingredients is growing. LINK

Osaka-based NH Foods Ltd. has focused on tuna, which is one of the top domestic purchases among seafood products. Using powdered konjac, dietary fiber and other ingredients, the company has reproduced the unique texture of tuna after a year of development that started in the summer of 2023.

Gassho J
stlah

[Jundo]

Did we find the Martians?

NASA’s Perseverance rover may have just found what it was looking for on Mars

The NASA Perseverance rover may have found a pivotal clue that’s central to its mission on Mars: geological evidence that could suggest life existed on the red planet billions of years ago.

The robotic explorer came across a vein-filled red rock on July 18 that appears to be scattered with leopard spots. The mottling could indicate that ancient chemical reactions occurring within the rock once supported microbial organisms. LINK
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Lets make Mars like Michigan ...

Scientists Propose Low Cost Plan for Terraforming Mars

Until now, most proposals to terraform Mars involve transporting enormous amounts of material from Earth. But new research suggests that we could quickly warm up the Red Planet using specially engineered dust particles made with minerals abundant on its surface.

The study, published in the journal Science Advances, found that injecting these particles into the atmosphere could create a greenhouse effect that would warm Mars by 50 degrees Celsius in a matter of months, allowing the planet's permafrost to finally begin to thaw.

"This suggests that the barrier to warming Mars to allow liquid water is not as high as previously thought," said study coauthor Edwin Kite, an associate professor of geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago, in a statement about the work. LINK

I want a holodeck

Researchers Recreate Star Trek’s Holodeck Using AI

In the quest to train robots for real-world tasks, researchers have created “Holodeck,” an AI system capable of generating detailed, customizable 3D environments on demand, inspired by Star Trek’s holodeck technology. This system uses large language models to interpret user requests and generate a vast array of indoor scenarios, helping robots learn to navigate new spaces more effectively.

.... Just like Captain Picard might ask Star Trek’s Holodeck to simulate a speakeasy, researchers can ask Penn’s Holodeck to create “a 1b1b apartment of a researcher who has a cat.” The system executes this query by dividing it into multiple steps: first, the floor and walls are created, then the doorway and windows. Next, Holodeck searches Objaverse, a vast library of premade digital objects, for the sort of furnishings you might expect in such a space: a coffee table, a cat tower, and so on. Finally, Holodeck queries a layout module, which the researchers designed to constrain the placement of objects, so that you don’t wind up with a toilet extending horizontally from the wall. ...
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This too ...

Brain Implant Hooked Up to Control VR Headset: "It can transport you to places you never thought you’d see or experience again."

Neuralink competitor Synchron has announced that its brain-computer interface (BCI) can now be hooked up to Apple's expensive Vision Pro virtual reality headset, allowing those with limited mobility to control the device with their thoughts alone.

While the company has yet to receive approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for a broader commercial rollout, .... Unlike Elon Musk's Neuralink, Synchron's brain-computer is inserted via the jugular vein and doesn't require open brain surgery. An antenna collects the data the device collects and passes it on to external devices.

Neuralink has similarly allowed its first human patient to control a laptop, allowing him to even play complex video games.
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On the other hand ...

As Neuralink Implants Second Subject's Brain, First Patient Says His Doesn't Work as Well Anymore

As previous reports indicated, his BCI began glitching soon after it was inserted. Although Neuralink's brightest figured out a workaround, it seems that some of that function loss is permanent.

As the 30-year-old admitted on "The Lex Fridman Podcast," only about 10 to 15 percent of the nodes in his silver dollar-sized brain chip are working — a precipitous loss of function given that the implant has been in Arbaugh's noggin for such a relatively short amount of time.

Arbough's enthusiasm surrounding the implant — and the circumstances that led to its need in the first place — make its decline in functionality all the sadder.
... "It sucked. It was really, really hard," he told the podcaster. "I thought it would've been a cruel twist of fate if I had gotten to see the view from the top of this mountain and then have it all come crashing down after a month."

Despite all that, Arbaugh told the podcaster that he's still glad that he can still move a mouse cursor with his mind and have some level of independence left to him that he didn't have before.
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Energy from the air ...

Scientists Develop Extraordinary Material That Can Transform Sunlight and Water Into Clean Energy

Researchers at Oregon State University have created a highly efficient photocatalyst that can rapidly produce hydrogen from sunlight and water. This catalyst, developed through a combination of metal-organic frameworks and metal oxides, represents a significant advancement in the production of clean energy. It holds promise for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing a sustainable alternative to traditional hydrogen production methods, which rely on fossil fuels. LINK

The scientists are very creative to do this ... and it is tied to meditation too ...

Neuroscientists Have Pinpointed the Origins of Creativity in the Brain

A collaborative study by researchers from the University of Utah Health and Baylor College of Medicine has uncovered the crucial function of the default mode network in creativity using sophisticated brain imaging, highlighting possibilities for future therapeutic interventions. ... “There’s not a creativity cortex.” ... But there’s evidence that creativity is a distinct brain function. Localized brain injury caused by stroke can lead to changes in creative ability—both positive and negative. That discovery suggests that narrowing down the neurological basis of creativity is possible.

Shofty suspected that creative thought might rely strongly on parts of the brain that are also activated during meditation, daydreaming, and other internally focused types of thinking. This network of brain cells is the default mode network (DMN), so called because it’s associated with the “default” patterns of thought that happen in the absence of specific mental tasks. “Unlike most of the functions that we have in the brain, it’s not goal-directed,” Shofty says. “It’s a network that basically operates all the time and maintains our spontaneous stream of consciousness.”

The DMN is spread out across many dispersed brain regions, making it more difficult to track its activity in real-time. The researchers had to use an advanced method of brain activity imaging to understand what the network was doing moment-to-moment during creative thought. ... The researchers saw that during a creative thinking task in which participants were asked to list novel uses for an everyday item, like a chair or a cup, the DMN lit up with activity first. Then, its activity synchronized with other regions in the brain, including ones involved in complex problem-solving and decision-making. Shofty believes this means that creative ideas originate in the DMN before being evaluated by other regions.

What’s more, the researchers were able to show that parts of the network are required specifically for creative thought. When the researchers used the electrodes to temporarily dampen the activity of particular regions of the DMN, people brainstormed uses for the items they saw that were less creative. Their other brain functions, like mind wandering, remained perfectly normal. LINK

Remote control mice ...

Scientists Use Nanoparticles to Remote Control Brains of Mice

Scientists at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) in South Korea have developed a new way to control the minds of mice by manipulating nanoparticle-activated "switches" inside their brains with an external magnetic field.

The system, dubbed Nano-MIND (Magnetogenetic Interface for NeuroDynamics), works by controlling targeted regions of the brain by activating neural circuits.

While it's not the first "mind control" experiment involving animals, previous approaches have conventionally relied on invasive surgery and bulky external systems that limit the movement of test subjects, as Science Alert points out.

"This is the world's first technology to freely control specific brain regions using magnetic fields," said Jinwoo Cheon, director of the IBS Center for Nanomedicine, and senior author of a new paper published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, in a statement about the research.
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The code ...

Cracking the Code of Life: New AI Model Learns DNA’s Hidden Language

GROVER, a new large language model trained on human DNA by researchers at Dresden University of Technology’s Biotechnology Center, can decode complex genomic information by treating DNA as a language. This innovative tool holds the potential to revolutionize genomics and accelerate personalized medicine. ... “GROVER learned the rules of DNA. In terms of language, we are talking about grammar, syntax, and semantics. For DNA this means learning the rules governing the sequences, the order of the nucleotides and sequences, and the meaning of the sequences. Like GPT models learning human languages, GROVER has basically learned how to ‘speak’ DNA,” explains Dr. Melissa Sanabria, the researcher behind the project. The team showed that GROVER can not only accurately predict the following DNA sequences but can also be used to extract contextual information that has biological meaning, e.g., identify gene promoters or protein binding sites on DNA. GROVER also learns processes that are generally considered to be “epigenetic”, i.e., regulatory processes that happen on top of the DNA rather than being encoded. LINK

Artificial rocket power neurons ...

MIT Claims New Artificial Neuron 1 Million Times Faster Than the Real Thing

Think and you’ll miss it: researchers at MIT claim to have successfully created analog synapses that are one million times faster than those in our human brains.

Just as digital processors need transistors, analog ones need programmable resistors. Once put into the right configuration, these resistors can be used to create a network of analog synapses and neurons, according to a press release.

These analog synapses aren’t just ultra-fast, they're remarkably efficient, too. And that's pretty important, because as digital neural networks grow more advanced and powerful, they require more and more energy, increasing their carbon footprint considerably.

As detailed in a new paper, the researchers hope their findings will advance the field of analog deep learning, a burgeoning field of artificial intelligence. LINK

Allowing the voiceless to speak ...

Wexton makes history as first member to use AI voice on House floor

Democratic Rep. Jennifer Wexton of Virginia made history Thursday as the first lawmaker to use an artificial intelligence-generated model of her voice to speak for her on the House floor.

“My battle with progressive Supranuclear palsy, or PSP, has robbed me of my ability to use my full voice and move around in the ways that I used to, rather than striding confidently onto the House floor to vote,” Wexton said on the floor through the AI model. LINK

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But AI trained on Ai leads to a mess ...

When AI Is Trained With AI-Generated Data, It Starts Spouting Gibberish

A fascinating new study published in the journal Nature shows that AI models trained on AI-generated material will experience rapid "model collapse." Basically, as an AI model cannibalizes AI-generated data, its outputs become increasingly bizarre, garbled, and nonsensical, as if synthetic data — as opposed to high-quality, human-made material — breaks its brain.

On the one hand, the study's results serve as another reminder that AI models are incredibly responsive to their training data, and that allowing AI-generated material to seep into those datasets can have serious consequences for AI systems and the billion-dollar companies building them. At the same time, it underscores AI companies' ever-growing need for high-quality human material with which to train its models — an increasingly scarce, and thus increasingly valuable, resource that could stand to put generative AI advancement at a plateau.

"The message is we have to be very careful about what ends up in our training data," study co-author Zakhar Shumaylov, an AI researcher at the University of Cambridge, told Nature, warning that otherwise "things will always, provably, go wrong." LINK

AI too much ...

MIT Economist Blasts AI Hype, Says It's Too Dumb to Really Impact Jobs: Companies are "over-investing in generative AI and then regretting it.

In an interview with NPR, MIT economist and leading AI skeptic Daron Acemoglu made a case that the tech is simply far too dumb to have a major impact.

When asked if generative AI would usher in revolutionary economic changes, Acemoglu had a straightforward answer.

"No. No. Definitely not," Acemoglu told NPR. "I mean, unless you count a lot of companies over-investing in generative AI and then regretting it, a revolutionary change."
... Generative AI is still struggling with many of the same challenges as when ChatGPT was first made available to the public in late 2022. For one, AI chatbots still have a strong tendency to "hallucinate," meaning that their connection to reality is tenuous at best. As NPR points out, experts have also argued that claims of generative AI intelligence are likely exaggerated, and aren't much more than "autocorrect on steroids": a statistical model that does little more than recognize patterns in data. ... Acemoglu argued that AI isn't capable of most tasks in a modern office. According to the economist, generative AI will only ultimately impact less than five percent of human tasks. He also predicted that the tech will only boost the gross domestic impact by roughly 1.5 percent over the next decade. While that's "nothing to be sneered at," he told NPR, "it's not revolutionary in any shape or form."
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Bringing AI costs down ...

Advanced Hardware Device Slashes AI Energy Consumption by 1000x

The University of Minnesota researchers have introduced a hardware innovation called CRAM, reducing AI energy use by up to 2,500 times by processing data within memory, promising significant advancements in AI efficiency. ... “This work is the first experimental demonstration of CRAM, where the data can be processed entirely within the memory array without the need to leave the grid where a computer stores information,” ... LINK

It would explain a lot ... maybe we are in the holodeck? ...

Former NASA Scientist Doing Experiment to Prove We Live in a Simulation

It's a tantalizing theory, long theorized by philosophers and popularized by the 1999 blockbuster "The Matrix." What if there was a way to find out once and for all if we're living inside a computer?

A former NASA physicist named Thomas Campbell has taken it upon himself to do just that. He devised several experiments, as detailed in a 2017 paper published in the journal The International Journal of Quantum Foundations, designed to detect if something is rendering the world around us like a video game.

Now, scientists at the California State Polytechnic University (CalPoly) have gotten started on the first experiment, putting Campbell's far-fetched hypothesis to the test. ... Campbell's experiments include a new spin on the double-slit experiment, a physics demonstration designed to show how light and matter can act like both waves and particles.

Campbell believes that by removing the observer from these experiments, the actual recorded information never existed in the first place. LINK

Gassho, J
stlah

[Jundo]

This matters ...

Shattering Big Bang Myths: Surprising Insights Into the Origins of Matter in the Early Universe

New calculations show that up to 70% of certain particles may originate from later reactions rather than the initial quark-gluon soup formed just after the Big Bang. This discovery challenges previous assumptions about the timeline of matter formation and suggests that much of the matter around us formed later than expected. By understanding these processes, scientists can better interpret the results of collider experiments and refine their knowledge of the universe’s origins. LINK

Makes me thirsty ...

Underground reservoir on Mars could fill oceans on the planet’s surface, study finds

A team of scientists estimates that there may be enough water, trapped in tiny cracks and pores of rock in the middle of the Martian crust, to fill oceans on the planet’s surface. The groundwater would likely cover the entirety of Mars to a depth of 1 mile (1.6 kilometers), the study found. The data came from NASA’s InSight lander, which used a seismometer to study the interior of Mars from 2018 to 2022.

Future astronauts exploring Mars would encounter a whole host of challenges if they tried to access the water, because it’s located between 7 and 12 miles (11.5 and 20 kilometers) beneath the surface, according to the study published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. But the finding uncovers new details about the geological history of Mars — and suggests a new place to search for life on the red planet if the water could ever be accessed. LINK

We are dust and water ...

Extraterrestrial Chemistry: Are We Really Made of Stardust?

Research into how cosmic radiation interacts with ice particles suggests that prebiotic molecules, potential seeds of life on Earth and elsewhere, may form through these processes.“Our calculations suggest that the number of cosmic-ray-induced electrons within cosmic ice could be much greater than the number of photons striking the ice,” Barnes explains. “Therefore, electrons likely play a more significant role than photons in the extraterrestrial synthesis of prebiotic molecules.” LINK

Galactic belly button lint?

Scientists Puzzled by Weird "Strands" at the Center of Our Galaxy

There are almost 1,000 of them — and we have no idea what they are made of and where they came from ... They are also spaced apart from each other at exactly the same distances. "We still don't know why they come in clusters or understand how they separate, and we don't know how these regular spacings happen," Yusef-Zadeh said. But getting a full understanding will require "more observations and theoretical analyses," he said, a process that "takes time."
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Cosmic tension relax ...

James Webb Telescope May Have Finally Solved the Crisis in Cosmology

A University of Chicago-led analysis measuring the universe expansion rate, finds there may not be a ‘Hubble tension’.
The “crisis in cosmology,” sparked by differing measurements of the universe’s expansion, may be nearing a resolution thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope. New data analyzed by scientists suggests that the Hubble tension might not be as severe as previously thought. This could mean our current model of the universe remains accurate. LINK

Talking brains ... and an AMAZING video ...

New Brain-Computer Interface Converts Brain Signals Into Speech With up to 97% Accuracy

This innovative system translates brain signals into speech with up to 97% accuracy, representing a significant breakthrough in neuroprosthetics. A clinical trial participant, Casey Harrell, who has ALS, successfully used the device to regain his ability to communicate. The technology, which uses microelectrode arrays implanted in the brain, has shown remarkable results in real-time speech decoding, offering hope and empowerment to those who have lost the ability to speak. LINK
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Captured brains ...

Scientists Capture Thought in Stunning New Detail

Recordings from thousands of neurons reveal how a person’s brain abstractly represents acts of reasoning.

Researchers have identified how the brain forms cognitive maps during inferential reasoning by analyzing neurons in epilepsy patients. The hippocampus, traditionally linked to physical space mapping, also structures cognitive processes. This study highlights how experiential and verbal learning impact neural representations, offering insights for potential neurological treatments. Using mathematical tools that Dr. Fusi honed to integrate recordings from thousands of neurons, the researchers recast the volunteers’ brain activity into geometric representations – into shapes, this is – albeit ones occupying thousands of dimensions instead of the familiar three dimensions that we routinely visualize.

“These are high-dimensional geometrical shapes that we cannot imagine or visualize on a computer monitor,” said Dr. Fusi. “But we can use mathematical techniques to visualize much-simplified renditions of them in 3D.” When the researchers compared shapes of brain activity between instances when the subjects made successful inferences with those when their inferences were unsuccessful, stark differences emerged.
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Same brains ...

Groundbreaking Study Identifies Universal Blueprint for Mammalian Brains

Researchers have developed a new method to describe the cerebral cortex, revealing a universal fractal pattern across mammalian species that could enhance our understanding of brain development and disease. ... The cerebral cortex is the outermost layer of the brain, and is responsible for complex functions such as thought, perception, and decision-making. Cerebral cortex folding, known as gyrification, is the process by which the brain’s surface develops grooves (sulci) and ridges (gyri). This folding increases the surface area of the brain, allowing for a greater number of neurons and more complex information processing. The cortex displays a wide diversity of shapes and sizes across and within species. ... This revealed that, despite the clear visual differences between the species’ cortices, all of them follow a universal scaling law, and resemble the same fractal shape. So, if you take the most complex cortex studied, that of a human, and use the team’s process of ‘melting’ to eliminate the smallest folds, it begins to resemble that of a chimpanzee. If you ‘melt’ the cortex of a chimpanzee, it resembles that of a rhesus monkey, and so on. ... LINK

Addicted brains ...

Scientists Uncover Hidden Mechanism Behind Opioid Addiction – Discovery Could Revolutionize Addiction Treatment

In a study published in the journal Science, Smith and his team found that an understudied brain region responsible for aversion, the dorsal peduncular nucleus, is highly responsive to opioids. Surprisingly, the opioid receptors in this brain region respond uniquely to opioids, contradicting the prevailing belief that opioids act primarily through dopamine in the brain. This discovery offers an exciting new area of research. LINK

More addicted brains ...

Scientists Uncover How Cocaine Tricks the Brain Into Feeling Good – Breakthrough Could Lead to New Substance Abuse Treatments

Cocaine blocks the dopamine transporter, leading to unregulated dopamine levels, which causes the brain to perceive all experiences as pleasurable. Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have used the world’s most powerful microscope to understand how cocaine binds to the transporter, which could pave the way for treatments for cocaine addiction. LINK

Seeing clearly seeing ...

Decoding Visual Deceptions: How the Brain Predicts and Rewrites Reality

A groundbreaking study reveals how the brain’s complex visual system not only perceives but also predicts and alters our view of the world. This in-depth look shows that our brain integrates past experiences with present visual information to construct reality, which can lead to deceptions or illusions. ... How do we learn to make sense of our environment? Over time, our brain builds a hierarchy of knowledge, with higher-order concepts linked to the lower-order features that comprise them. For instance, we learn that cabinets contain drawers and that Dalmatian dogs have black-and-white patches, and not vice versa. This interconnected framework shapes our expectations and perception of the world, allowing us to identify what we see based on context and experience.

“Take an elephant,” says Leopoldo Petreanu, senior author of the la Caixa-funded study. “Elephants are associated with lower-order attributes such as color, size, and weight, as well as higher-order contexts like jungles or safaris. Connecting concepts helps us understand the world and interpret ambiguous stimuli. If you’re on a safari, you may be more likely to spot an elephant behind the bushes than you would otherwise. Similarly, knowing it’s an elephant makes you more likely to perceive it as grey even in the dim light of dusk. But where in the fabric of the brain is this prior knowledge stored, and how is it learned?” LINK

Memory reset ...

New Research Reveals That Your Brain’s Memory “Resets” Every Night


A new study from Cornell University reveals that sleep not only consolidates memories but also resets the brain’s memory storage mechanism. This process, governed by specific regions in the hippocampus, allows neurons to prepare for new learning without being overwhelmed. This insight opens potential pathways for enhancing memory and treating neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s and PTSD. LINK

Animal dawn ...

Unlocking the Deep Past: New Study Maps the Dawn of Animal Life

Researchers have linked changes in sea levels and marine oxygen to the evolution of early animals in a study that combines fossil analysis with geological data from 580–510 million years ago, enhancing our understanding of early biodiversity. ... This period witnessed an explosion of biodiversity according to fossil records, the causes of which have baffled scientists since Charles Darwin. The early animals found from this era were all sea-dwellers, at a time when oxygen levels in the air and ocean were much lower than today.

While the very first lifeforms before this time were mostly single-cell, and simple multi-celled organisms, creatures in the Ediacaran Period started to become more complex, with multiple cells organized into body plans that allowed them to feed, reproduce, and move across the ocean floor. This era also marked the emergence of so-called bilaterian animals – which display symmetrical body plans, in common with most present-day species including humans. LINK

BELOW: Fossils of early animals of the Avalon assemblage c.565 million years old at Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve, Newfoundland, Canada.
. Fossils-of-Early-Animals-of-the-Avalon-Assemblage-777x583.jpg

Another measure of life's start ... well depends how one measures, but early ...

When Does Human Life Truly Begin? Harvard Scientists Explore a New Perspective

While science has not come closer to setting a zero point for human life, there has been significant progress in our understanding of early mammalian embryogenesis. It has become clear that the 14-day stage does in fact possess features, which make it a foundational time point for a developing human. Importantly, this stage defines the separation of soma from the germline and marks the boundary between rejuvenation and aging. LINK
,

Timeline-of-Human-Embryogenesis-777x549.jpg

And when do we age...

New Stanford Research Reveals Humans Age in Two Rapid Bursts: At 44 and 60

They found that thousands of molecules and microbes undergo shifts in their abundance, either increasing or decreasing — around 81% of all the molecules they studied showed non-linear fluctuations in number, meaning that they changed more at certain ages than other times. When they looked for clusters of molecules with the largest changes in amount, they found these transformations occurred the most in two time periods: when people were in their mid-40s, and when they were in their early 60s.

Although much research has focused on how different molecules increase or decrease as we age and how biological age may differ from chronological age, very few have looked at the rate of biological aging. That so many dramatic changes happen in the early 60s is perhaps not surprising, Snyder said, as many age-related disease risks and other age-related phenomena are known to increase at that point in life.

The large cluster of changes in the mid-40s was somewhat surprising to the scientists. At first, they assumed that menopause or perimenopause was driving large changes in the women in their study, skewing the whole group. But when they broke out the study group by sex, they found the shift was happening in men in their mid-40s, too. LINK

98% ... even 2% is too much ...

98% Efficiency: Scientists Unveil Game-Changing Nanoplastic Removal Technology

A team at the University of Missouri has devised a method to eliminate most nanoplastics from water using eco-friendly solvents, suitable for both fresh and saltwater applications. ... “Our strategy uses a small amount of designer solvent to absorb plastic particles from a large volume of water,” said Gary Baker, an associate professor in Mizzou’s Department of Chemistry and the study’s corresponding author. “Currently, the capacity of these solvents is not well understood. In future work, we aim to determine the maximum capacity of the solvent. Additionally, we will explore methods to recycle the solvents, enabling their reuse multiple times if necessary.” LINK

A.I. Good ...

Artificial Intelligence Predicts Earthquakes With Unprecedented Accuracy

An AI algorithm developed by the University of Texas successfully predicted 70% of earthquakes in a trial, showcasing potential improvements in earthquake preparedness and risk management. Its performance in an international competition highlights its accuracy and adaptability. LINK

A.I. Bad ...

OpenAI blocks Iranian group's ChatGPT accounts for targeting US election

LINK

A.I. Detective ...

New Startup Analyzing AI Outputs to Find Out Where They're Stolen From - So everyone can get paid.

Are generative AI models mass plagiarism machines? Many would argue that they are. For creating products that regurgitate other people's content, AI companies lock down billions of dollars in investment, while the creators whose works were purloined by the machines get nada.

That's the way tech entrepreneur Bill Gross sees it, and he says he has an answer. His new startup, called ProRata, claims it will launch its own chatbot-slash-search engine that will use a patented algorithm to identify and attribute the work used by AI models, and through revenue-sharing deals, make sure that everyone involved gets compensated. LINK

Supercomputer Sentience ... (Ben Goertzel's "Sophia" is the aunt of Emi Jido ... )

New Supercomputer Network Going Live in September Could Usher In AGI

One of artificial intelligence's most colorful figures is set to take online a supercomputing network that (he hopes) will usher in the age of human-level artificial general intelligence (AGI).

In a statement to LiveScience, SingularityNET CEO Ben Goertzel — the guy behind Sofia the Robot — said that his company's "multi-level cognitive computing network" will be an integral step in the evolution from AI (as we know it today) to AGI.

Using some of the most advanced hardware in the world, including multiple types of NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs), the firm hopes to build out a new network capable of harnessing the powering of existing systems, to move from data-heavy computing to lean machines that can essentially think and reason for themselves.

This global network of supercomputers will furthermore provide the computing power necessary to host such a huge transitional shift. LINK

A.I. Safe ...

New Research Debunks AI Doomsday Myths: LLMs Are Controllable and Safe

A recent study found that large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT do not pose an existential threat to humanity. These models, while proficient in following instructions and generating sophisticated language, cannot independently learn new skills or develop complex reasoning. The research emphasizes that LLMs remain controllable and predictable, though they could still be misused. The study also dispels fears that AI might develop hazardous abilities, suggesting instead that future research should focus on other risks, such as the generation of fake news. ... According to recent research from the University of Bath and the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany, ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) are unable to learn autonomously or develop new skills, and therefore do not present an existential threat to humanity. ... This means they remain inherently controllable, predictable, and safe. LINK

In a hurry to leave ...

NASA Spots Mysterious Object Moving at 1 Million Miles per Hour

Citizen scientists collaborating with NASA’s Backyard Worlds project have discovered a unique hypervelocity object, CWISE J1249, that is rapidly exiting the Milky Way. ... moving so fast that it will escape the Milky Way’s gravity and shoot into intergalactic space. This hypervelocity object is the first such object found with the mass similar to or less than that of a small star. ... It could be a low-mass star, or if it doesn’t steadily fuse hydrogen in its core, it would be considered a brown dwarf, putting it somewhere between a gas giant planet and a star.

... Why does this object move at such high speed? One hypothesis is that CWISE J1249 originally came from a binary system with a white dwarf, which exploded as a supernova when it pulled off too much material from its companion. Another possibility is that it came from a tightly bound cluster of stars called a globular cluster, and a chance meeting with a pair of black holes sent it soaring away. “When a star encounters a black hole binary, the complex dynamics of this three-body interaction can toss that star right out of the globular cluster,” says Kyle Kremer, incoming assistant professor in UC San Diego’s Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics. LINK

Gassho, J
stlah

[Jundo]

Keep in touch ...

Our Galaxy Appears to Be Touching Another Galaxy, Scientists Say: The "Milky Way and Andromeda are already overlapping and interacting."

Researchers are suggesting that the outer boundary of our home Milky Way galaxy may stretch much farther into the vastness of space than initially thought — and is in fact already touching its closest neighbor, the galaxy Andromeda.

As detailed in a paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy, the international team of scientists posits a new definition for the boundary between interstellar space and the "circumgalactic medium," (CGM) the cloud of gas that surrounds galaxies. LINK

Replacement parts ...

Government Scientist Investigating Whether Aging Parts of Your Brain Can Be Replaced With Cloned Tissue: "We're... a couple steps away from reversing brain aging."

A biologist with the US government's research and development arm is working on a radical new approach to anti-aging treatments: replacing parts of the human brain with cloned tissues. As the MIT Technology Review reports, researcher Jean Hébert was recently hired by the US Advanced Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) for his revolutionary plan to bring for "functional brain tissue replacement." ...

While there are already transplants for things like hips and kidneys, the concept of replacing one brain for another is terrifying on an existential level because on a fundamental level, our brains make us who we are. Hébert's research, however, is more focused on "progressively" replacing parts of the brain using young, lab-grown tissues. If done slowly enough, the Tech Review explains, the idea is that the brain could adapt by moving around memories and other key identity facets to accommodate its new biological material. LINK

ChemistrAI

AI Discovers the Quantum Code: Revolutionizing Chemistry

A new study by Imperial College and Google DeepMind introduces a neural network-based method to model molecular excited states. This method could significantly enhance the accuracy of computational chemistry, aiding the development of new materials and technologies through simulations before actual laboratory experimentation.

The research shows how the technique can help solve fundamental equations in complex molecular systems.

This could lead to practical uses in the future, helping researchers to prototype new materials and chemical syntheses using computer simulation before trying to make them in the lab.
LINK

Chinese robots ...

China's robot makers chase Tesla to deliver humanoid workers

China dominates the market for electric vehicles. Now it's chasing Tesla (TSLA.O) in the race to build battery-powered humanoids expected to replace human workers building EVs on assembly lines. At the World Robot Conference this week in Beijing, over two dozen Chinese companies showed off humanoid robots designed to work in factories and warehouses, with even more displaying the made-in-China precision parts needed to build them. LINK
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A problem for human space travel ... another reason to send the machines ...

Scientists Found Genetic Mutations in Every Astronaut Blood Sample They Studied

When they examined decades-old blood samples from 14 NASA astronauts who flew Space Shuttle missions between 1998 and 2001, researchers found that samples from all 14 astronauts showed mutations in their DNA.

While these mutations are likely low enough not to represent a serious threat to the astronauts' long term health, the research underlines the importance of regular health screenings for astronauts, especially as they embark on longer missions to the Moon and beyond in coming years.

The specific mutations, as identified in a new study published in the journal Nature Communications Biology, were marked by a high proportion of blood cells that came from a single clone, a phenomenon called clonal hematopoiesis.

Mutations like this can be caused by exposure to excess ultraviolet radiation, and other forms of radiation including chemotherapy.

In this case, researchers are suspicious that the mutations may have been the result of space radiation. LINK

How did it spread its legs that far ????

Matching sets of dinosaur footprints found on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean

Matching sets of footprints discovered in Africa and South America reveal that dinosaurs once traveled along a type of highway 120 million years ago before the two continents split apart, according to new research.

Paleontologists have found more than 260 dinosaur footprints from the Early Cretaceous Period in Brazil and Cameroon, now more than 3,700 miles (6,000 kilometers) apart on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

The footprints are similar in age, shape and geologic context, said Louis L. Jacobs, a paleontologist at the Southern Methodist University in Texas and lead author of a study describing the tracks published Monday by the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science.
LINK

55771A749CFB43A28B7CBC41CE705CFD.jpg

That's fast!

New Microscope So Absurdly Fast It Can See Electrons In Motion

Developed by researchers at the University of Arizona, who have published their work in the journal Science, the microscope uses electron pulses at the speed of a single attosecond — or one quintillionth of a second — to snap "freeze frames" of the subatomic particles, which travel fast enough to circle the Earth in a matter of seconds.

LINK

Hold your breath ...

Scientists Create Creature That Doesn't Need to Breathe

The Ludwig Maximilians University researchers injected photosynthetic algae into the tadpoles, creating a symbiotic relationship between amphibian and microbe that keeps the amphibians alive without any environmental oxygen, The Scientist reports. It's an odd experiment that could have important medical value — keeping someone alive when a stroke cuts off their brain's oxygen supply, for example — but it's also a fascinating step forward in biological experimentation in its own right. ...

LINK

Another kind of hybrid ...

Scientists Build Computer From DNA That Can Solve Chess Problems

... scientists say they've created a computer made out of DNA that can play the board game — along with sudoku puzzles, for good measure.

The device can only solve chess and sudoku problems at a basic level, but these capabilities, detailed in a study published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, mark a substantial leap toward powerful — and practical — DNA computing systems.

Part of the secret, the researchers say, was using a synthetic cellulose material to boost the amount of stored DNA strands, which also makes the files they encode more stable. And these strands can store a lot: about 1,000 terabytes per cubic centimeter, according to New Scientist. LINK

DNA Grammar ...

Scientists Discover “Spatial Grammar” in DNA: Breakthrough Could Rewrite Genetics Textbooks

A breakthrough in genetic research has uncovered a “spatial grammar” in DNA, showing that the positioning of transcription factors critically influences gene activity, potentially reshaping how we understand gene regulation and disease. ... Transcription factors, the proteins that control which genes in one’s genome are turned on or off, play a crucial role in this code. Long thought of as either activators or repressors of gene activity, this research shows the function of transcription factors is far more complex.

“Contrary to what you will find in textbooks, transcription factors that act as true activators or repressors are surprisingly rare,” said WSU assistant professor Sascha Duttke, who led much of the research at WSU’s School of Molecular Biosciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Rather, the scientists found that most activators can also function as repressors.

“If you remove an activator, your hypothesis is you lose activation,” said Bayley McDonald, a WSU graduate student who was part of the research team. “But that was true in only 50% to 60% of the cases, so we knew something was off.”

Looking closer, researchers found the function of many transcription factors was highly position-dependent.

They discovered that the spacing between transcription factors and their position relative to where a gene’s transcription began determined the level of gene activity. For example, transcription factors might activate gene expression when positioned upstream or ahead of where a gene’s transcription begins but inhibit its activity when located downstream, or after a gene’s transcription start site. “It is the spacing, or ‘ambience,’ that determines if a given transcription factor acts as an activator or repressor,” Duttke said. “It just goes to show that similar to learning a new language, to learn how gene expression patterns are encoded in our genome, we need to understand both its words and the grammar.” LINK

The invisible ... mouse ...

Scientific discovery that turns mouse skin transparent echoes plot of H.G. Wells’ ‘The Invisible Man’

commonly used food coloring can make the skin of a mouse temporarily transparent, allowing scientists to see its organs function, according to a new study published Thursday in the journal Science.

The breakthrough could revolutionize biomedical research and, should it be successfully tested in humans, have wide-ranging applications in medicine and health care, such as making veins more visible to draw blood.

f_webp.webp



LINK

Let's hope its true ...

Scientists Say New System Can Recycle Plastic Indefinitely Without Degrading Its Quality

In a new paper for the journal Nature Chemical Engineering, researchers at ETH Zurich detailed a process in which they break apart the chemical bonds in long polymer chains that make up plastic into smaller molecules.

These resulting molecules can serve as base ingredients for more products, such as jet fuel or more plastics, without losing quality.

"It’s every chemical engineer’s dream to have a formula like this at hand for their process," ETH Zurich professor of catalysis engineering and the study's principal investigator Javier Pérez-Ramírez said in a statement about the research. LINK

Hope it is true too ...

The Future of Fighting Disease: AI Detects Cancer and Viral Infections With Nanoscale Precision

AINU, an innovative AI, uses high-resolution imaging to identify changes in cells, potentially transforming how diseases like cancer and viral infections are diagnosed and monitored. LINK

Hope it is not true ...

Earth’s Temperature Could Increase by 25 Degrees: Startling New Research Reveals That CO2 Has More Impact Than Previously Thought

Analysis of Pacific Ocean sediments shows doubling atmospheric CO2 might raise Earth’s temperature by up to 14 degrees, exceeding IPCC predictions, with historical data indicating significant future climate impacts.

Doubling the atmospheric CO2 levels could raise Earth’s average temperature by 7 to 14 degrees Celsius (13 to 25.2 degrees Fahrenheit), according to sediment analysis from the Pacific Ocean near California conducted by researchers from NIOZ and the Universities of Utrecht and Bristol.

The results were recently published in the journal Nature Communications.

“The temperature rise we found is much larger than the 2.3 to 4.5 degrees Celsius (4.1 to 8.1 degrees Fahrenheit) that the UN climate panel, IPCC, has been estimating so far,” said the first author, Caitlyn Witkowski. LINK

Elon makes a lot of claims ...

Elon Musk Claims He Just Activated the World's Most Powerful AI Supercomputer

Behold Colossus: Elon Musk's new supercomputer, allegedly powered by a staggering 100,000 Nvidia AI chips, which would be more than any single AI system on the planet.

Built in Tennessee for his artificial intelligence startup xAI, Musk announced Monday that the formidable data center was finally brought online over the Labor Day weekend, after spending just 122 days assembling it — a record, according to Nvidia.

"Colossus is the most powerful AI training system in the world," Musk said in a tweet. ... Musk claimed that, in a few months, Colossus will "double" in size to 200,000 AI chips, which will include 50,000 H200 GPUs, a newer version that Nvidia says will have nearly twice the memory capacity as its predecessor, and 40 percent more bandwidth.

... The monstrous supercomputer's launch, however, was preceded by controversy. Last week, Memphis locals who live near the Tennessee data center complained about "untenable levels of smog" created by the supercomputer, which could augur further disputes down the line at the xAI facility.

And that'll just be the beginning of Colossus' troubles. Its title as the most powerful AI training system will surely come under threat, too. It's not likely that other AI leaders, like OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, and Meta, will rest on their laurels, some of whom already possess hundreds of thousands of GPUs of their own.

Microsoft, for example, reportedly aims to amass 1.8 million AI chips by the end of the year (though this number sounds highly optimistic, if not infeasible). LINK

Elon makes more claims ...

Musk says SpaceX to launch first uncrewed Starships to Mars in two years

SpaceX will launch its first uncrewed Starships to Mars in two years when the next Earth-Mars transfer window opens, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said, opens new tab in a post on social media platform X on Saturday.
"These will be uncrewed to test the reliability of landing intact on Mars," Musk said, adding if those landings go well, his space company will launch its first crewed flights to Mars in four years. LINK

Fung-droid ...

Robot controlled by a king oyster mushroom blends living organisms and machines

A wheeled bot rolls across the floor. A soft-bodied robotic star bends its five legs, moving with an awkward shuffle.

Powered by conventional electricity via plug or battery, these simple robotic creations would be unremarkable, but what sets these two robots apart is that they are controlled by a living entity: a king oyster mushroom.

By growing the mushroom’s mycelium, or rootlike threads, into the robot’s hardware, a team led by Cornell University researchers has engineered two types of robots that sense and respond to the environment by harnessing electrical signals made by the fungus and its sensitivity to light.

The robots are the latest accomplishment of scientists in a field known as biohybrid robotics who seek to combine biological, living materials such as plant and animal cells or insects with synthetic components to make partly living and partly engineered entities.

Biohybrid robots have yet to venture beyond the lab, but researchers hope one day robot jellyfish may explore oceans, sperm-powered bots may be able to deliver fertility treatments and cyborg cockroaches could search for survivors in the wake of an earthquake.
.

Well, to a point ...

Professor of Medicine Says Death Appears to Be Reversible

In an interview with The Telegraph, associate professor of medicine at New York University's Langone Medical Center Sam Parnia insisted that by and large, the medical industry is still very behind on the concepts of death and dying.

According to Parnia, studies from the last five years — including some undertaken by his own eponymous lab at NYU — have suggested that our brains remain "salvageable for not only hours, but possibly days" after death.

In one such Parnia Lab study from last year, for instance, researchers found that some cardiac arrest patients had memories of their death experiences up to an hour after their hearts had stopped, and brain activity from those same patients suggests a similar phenomenon. For 40 percent of those subjects, brain activity also returned to normal or near-normal an hour into cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Combined with other studies, including a particularly gruesome one out of Yale that involved decapitated pig brains being revived up to 14 hours after their beheadings, the seemingly death-defying doctor said that the idea that death is a definitive state is "simply a social convention that does not conform with scientific realities." ... By his reasoning, that process can be reversed not only by using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machines, which acts as a body's heart and lungs when those functions have failed, but also specific cocktails of drugs that have been demonstrated to aid in the process of resurrection in animal studies. ... LINK

Love on the brain ...

Neuroscience Surprise: Different Types of Love Light Up Different Parts of the Brain

A recent study has mapped the brain’s response to different forms of love, showing that areas like the basal ganglia and the striatum light up depending on whether the love is parental, romantic, or for pets. Findings suggest that each type of love activates unique brain circuits, with parental love causing the most significant activity, and even the love for pets reflecting pet ownership. LINK

Brain-in-Love-777x466.jpg

Gassho, J
stlah

[Ryumon]

The space radiation mutations are a real problem for any space exploration. They would need to line spaceships with lead, which is far too heavy, to prevent mutations. Also, over time, that would lead to mutations in babies born in space or on other planets. This said, maybe that is the future of humanity: mutated humans that may be able to better adapt to other planets.

I don't think I've ever read any science fiction that takes this into account.

Gassho,

Ryūmon (Kirk)

Sat Lah

[Matt Johnson]

The space radiation mutations are a real problem for any space exploration. They would need to line spaceships with lead, which is far too heavy, to prevent mutations. Also, over time, that would lead to mutations in babies born in space or on other planets. This said, maybe that is the future of humanity: mutated humans that may be able to better adapt to other planets.

I don't think I've ever read any science fiction that takes this into account.

Gassho,

Ryūmon (Kirk)

Sat Lah

See Seven Eves by Neal Stevenson

_/\_
sat/ah
matt

[Jundo]

Star Bubbles ...

Giant bubbles on the surface of a nearby star preview the fate of our sun

Astronomers have observed the detailed motions of giant gas bubbles on the surface of a nearby star for the first time, which rise and fall like the inside of a lava lamp.

The massive hot gas bubbles are 75 times the size of the sun, and they appear to be sinking down into the star’s interior more rapidly than expected, according to a team of astronomers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. The images show the surface of the star R. Doradus, a red giant star 180 light-years away in the Dorado constellation. The star has a diameter about 350 times that of the sun, and it serves as a preview for our sun’s future. In about 5 billion years, our sun will become a red giant, puffing up and expanding as it releases layers of material and likely evaporating the solar system’s inner planets, although Earth’s fate remains unclear, according to NASA.

... we have now been able to not only directly see convective granules — with a size 75 times the size of our Sun! — but also measure how fast they move for the first time.” ... ... The sun’s outermost layer, called the photosphere, is made of gas so hot that it bubbles. The sun’s photosphere is full of millions of bubbles formed through convection. The gas bubbles, also known as convective granules, are about 621 miles (1,000 kilometers) across and move at speeds of a few kilometers per second, so they only survive for about 10 minutes.

But the convective cells on R. Doradus’ surface are more than 100 million kilometers (about 62 million miles) in size, with velocities of a few tens of kilometers per second, and persist for about a month.

“We don’t yet know what is the reason for the difference. It seems that convection changes as a star gets older in ways that we don’t yet understand,” Vlemmings said. ...
.

(LINK)

Catch a comet ...

Astronomers are eagerly tracking Comet C/2023 A3, which could shine as brightly as the North Star this fall.

Discovered in early 2023 by observatories in South Africa and China, Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-Atlas) originates from the distant Oort Cloud. ... he comet could become as bright as the North Star this fall, offering a spectacular sight to the naked eye. (LINK)

The cosmos is basically slime mold ...

Slime Mold Algorithms Unlock Secrets of Vast Cosmic Structures

“We were looking for a way to visualize the cosmic web, the large-scale structure of the universe, and in particular the gas that sort of permeates the cosmic web,” Burchett said. “Working with an expert on graphics rendering, Oskar Elek, we came across this algorithm that was designed to mimic slime mold and its ability to find food sources by reforming itself to kind of look a lot like the cosmic web. ... “These filaments are the highways of the universe and just as highways affect cities in real life, these filaments affect galaxies in the universe in many different ways,” Hasan said. ... (LINK)

CERN Certain ...

Something Wild Just Happened at the CERN Particle Accelerator

Scientists at CERN, the home of the Large Hadron Collider, have just observed an astoundingly rare phenomenon at the subatomic level that could lead to a new understanding of the standard model of particle physics. ... As part of an experiment called NA62, researchers detected and measured an ultra-rare form of decay for a subatomic particle called a kaon. This is one of the rarest interactions in particle physics ever observed: according to the scientists, fewer than one in ten billion kaons decay in this manner. ... Kaons, also known as K mesons, are made of two quarks. Charged kaons — the subject of the experiment — contain an up quark and an anti-strange quark. ... And with luck on their side, the researchers caught the kaons in the elusive act: in numbers, the charged kaons underwent the ultra-rare decay about 13 in 100 billion times.

That's extraordinarily rare. But according to the researchers, this is about 50 percent more frequent than what's predicted by the standard model — a discrepancy that will need to be reconciled, one way or another. (LINK)

More CERN Certain ...

Large Hadron Collider Breakthrough: Quantum Entanglement Like Never Before

Quantum entanglement, an intriguing aspect of quantum physics, allows particles to remain interconnected regardless of distance. This phenomenon was explored at new heights in 2023 when the ATLAS collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider observed entanglement between top quarks, marking a major advancement in understanding the universe’s fundamental forces. (LINK)

Even More Cern Certain ...

CERN’s Latest Triumph: W Boson Mass Mystery Finally Solved by Large Hadron Collider

In a significant scientific achievement, the CMS experiment has verified the mass of the W boson with remarkable accuracy, aligning perfectly with Standard Model predictions. LINK

Small is beautiful ...

Too small for the eye to see, microscopic images captured on camera

The Nikon Small World in Motion competition spotlighted stunning microscopic imagery, from zebrafish spinal cords to butterfly wing cells, highlighting the intersection of art and science. This annual event celebrates the beauty of organisms invisible to the naked eye.
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Far out!

Astronomers Stunned by Unexpected Discovery of New Celestial Bodies in the Outer Solar System

Observations of the outer Solar System with the Subaru Telescope have discovered new bodies where none were expected. The new objects are likely members of a much larger population waiting to be discovered. This discovery has profound implications for our understanding of the structure and history of the Solar System.

First and foremost, it suggests that the Solar System has more in common with other planetary systems, which in turn has implications for our search for life outside of the Solar System. ... “If this is confirmed, it would be a major discovery. The primordial solar nebula was much larger than previously thought, and this may have implications for studying the planet formation process in our Solar System.” ...
(LINK)

Hello Mercury ...

Unprecedented Proximity: BepiColombo’s Fourth Mercury Flyby Breaks Records

On September 4, 2024, the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft executed its closest flyby of Mercury, capturing the planet’s south pole and several geological features over 128 images

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HOLE-Y JETS!

Massive jets of material shooting from a black hole dwarf even the largest galaxies, scientists say

Astronomers have observed a massive pair of jets releasing from a supermassive black hole 7.5 billion light-years from Earth. The megastructure spans 23 million light-years in length, making these black hole jets the largest ever seen, according to new research.

Black holes are viewed as the garbage disposals of the universe, gobbling up nearly everything that comes close to them. But a fraction of material is ejected before an object falls in, forming a jet on either side of the black hole, said Martijn Oei, a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology and the lead author of a new study describing the discovery.

The findings were published September 18 in the journal Nature. ,,, The newly described jets have a power output equivalent to that of trillions of suns and are so massive that researchers have nicknamed the megastructure Porphyrion after a giant from Greek mythology.

The discovery is causing astronomers to rethink their understanding of how massive black hole jets can be as well as how these giant features can affect their surroundings and the structure of the universe.

“This pair is not just the size of a solar system, or a Milky Way; we are talking about 140 Milky Way diameters in total,” Oei said. “The Milky Way would be a little dot in these two giant eruptions.” ,,, The Milky Way galaxy is estimated to be 100,000 light-years in diameter. One light-year is the distance light travels in one year, which is 5.88 trillion miles (9.46 trillion kilometers).

But the study authors took a broader approach and considered that the Milky Way is 163,078 light-years across to account for all the stars and invisible matter within the galaxy, Oei said.

Thus, they decided that Porphyrion is equivalent to 140 Milky Way diameters. ...

LINK

A snowball's chance ...

How Snowball Earth Triggered the Rise of Complex Life Forms

A new study highlights how extreme conditions during Snowball Earth may have driven the evolution of multicellular organisms, offering new insights into Earth’s evolutionary history and tools for future research.

For a billion years, single-celled eukaryotes ruled the planet. Then around 700 million years ago during Snowball Earth — a geologic era when glaciers may have stretched as far as the Equator — a new creature burst into existence: the multicellular organism. Why did multicellularity arise? Solving that mystery may help pinpoint life on other planets and explain the vast diversity and complexity seen on Earth today, from sea sponges to redwoods to human society. Common wisdom holds that oxygen levels had to hit a certain threshold for single cells to form multicellular colonies. But the oxygen story doesn’t fully explain why multicellular ancestors of animals, plants, and fungi appeared simultaneously, and why the transition to multicellularity took more than 1 billion years.

... A new paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society B shows how specific physical conditions of Snowball Earth — especially ocean viscosity and resource deprivation — could have driven eukaryotes to turn multicellular. “It seems almost counterintuitive that these really harsh conditions, this frozen planet, could actually select for larger, more complex organisms, rather than causing species to go extinct or reduce in size,” says former SFI Undergraduate Complexity Researcher William Crockett, corresponding author on the paper and Ph.D. student at MIT. Using scaling theories, the authors found that a hypothetical early animal ancestor (reminiscent of swimming algae that eat prey instead of photosynthesizing) would swell in size and complexity under Snowball Earth pressures. By contrast, a single-celled organism that moves and feeds via diffusion, like a bacterium, would grow smaller. ... The study shows how the iced-over oceans during Snowball Earth would have blocked sunlight, reducing photosynthesis and thus draining the sea of nutrients. Bigger organisms that processed more water had a better chance of eating enough to survive. Once the glaciers melted, these larger organisms could expand further. (LINK)

World changing Cheetos ... an impact wherever we go ...

National Park calls out ‘world changing’ impact of dropped Cheetos bag

Plain water is the only thing visitors are allowed to consume inside the huge cavern at Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico. Cheetos are a no-go, and the recent park visitor who dropped a bag full of them created a “huge impact” on the cave’s ecosystem, the park said Friday in a Facebook post.

“At the scale of human perspective, a spilled snack bag may seem trivial, but to the life of the cave it can be world changing,” the park said in its post about the garbage found off-trail in the Big Room. “The processed corn, softened by the humidity of the cave, formed the perfect environment to host microbial life and fungi. Cave crickets, mites, spiders and flies soon organize into a temporary food web, dispersing the nutrients to the surrounding cave and formations. Molds spread higher up the nearby surfaces, fruit, die and stink. And the cycle continues.” The park said rangers spent 20 minutes carefully removing molds and foreign debris from surfaces inside the cave, noting that while some members of the ecosystem that rose from the snacks were cave-dwellers “many of the microbial life and molds are not.” ... The post called that particular impact on the cave “completely avoidable,” contrasting it with the hard-to-prevent fine trails of lint left by each visitor.

“Great or small we all leave an impact wherever we go. Let us all leave the world a better place than we found it,” the post urged park goers. ... (LINK)

Oh my.

A Shocking Percentage of Our Brains Are Made of Microplastics, Scientists Find: "It is now imperative to declare a global emergency."

As detailed in a yet-to-be-peer-reviewed paper, scientists found that all 91 brain samples they examined, taken from autopsied bodies earlier this year, contained microplastics.

Worse yet, the samples contained ten to 20 times more microplastics than liver and kidney samples collected from the same bodies, suggesting human grey matter is a major dumping ground for the tiny particulates, making it "one of the most plastic-polluted tissues yet sampled," according to the paper.

The numbers don't bode well: 24 of the brain samples measured an average of 0.5 percent plastic by weight. ... Scientists have already found microplastics in human testicles, penises, semen, arteries, hearts, and lungs. Just last month, a study found microplastics inside bone marrow.

While how exactly these tiny shards affect our overall health remains mysterious, researchers have plenty of concerns. Previous studies have linked the presence of microplastics with fertility issues, disrupted immune systems, impaired memory, and even a wave of cancer in young people.

Some samples examined by Campen and his colleagues from people who had died of dementia, including Alzheimer's contained up to ten times more plastic by weight suggesting a worrying link as well.

And the situation is bound to get worse. The researchers also found that the rise in microplastics in samples taken between now and 2016 was in line with the increasing concentration of plastics found in the environment.
(LINK)

Maybe it will work in our brains??

Cleanup Group Says It's on Track to Eliminate the Great Pacific Garbage Patch: It claims it can get rid of the patch within just five years.

In a press release, the organization claimed that eliminating the patch once and for all would cost a whopping $7.5 billion — the "first time both a cost and a timeline has been placed on ridding the Pacific Ocean of the environmental hazard."

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a name given to an estimated 79,000 metric tons of plastic waste floating in the ocean in an area roughly twice the size of Texas. The Ocean Cleanup has made it its mission to fish it out of the water piece by piece.

"Today’s announcement is clear: clean oceans can be achieved in a manageable time and for a clear cost," said founder and CEO Boyan Slat in a statement. "Through the hard work of the past ten years, humanity has the tools needed to clean up the ocean." ... So far, the nonprofit claims it has fished out a million pounds of trash from the patch, a mere 0.5 percent of its total. But within a decade, it says, it could ramp up its operations to get rid of it in its entirety.

Next year, the company will focus its efforts on establishing a "hotspot" map of areas in the ocean with "intense plastic accumulation."

LINK

Are they also made of plastic ??

This tech company thinks we'll be wearing screens one day

Tech company LG Display have unveiled what they say are the world's first stretchable high-res screen panels at Seoul Fashion Week, with other futuristic design applications on the horizon. (LINK)

Makes me emotional ...

AI Is Learning To Read Your Emotions: Here’s Why That’s a Good Thing

Researchers are developing AI technology to better quantify human emotions, combining traditional psychology with advanced tools like facial recognition and EEG. This technology promises to revolutionize fields like healthcare and education, but it must prioritize privacy, cultural sensitivity, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Researchers aim to revolutionize the field of emotion quantification by combining traditional techniques with innovative technologies to achieve more accurate measurements of emotions. An artificial intelligence that understands human emotion and can appropriately interact given the emotional input of the human can be revolutionary for human-computer interactions and can be a key in assessing the mental health status of an individual. This isn’t done through just one form of input, but instead can also take physiology into account. For example, some techniques can take input from the electrical activity of the brain through an EEG scan and combine that with eye movement technology to monitor people’s expressions. Other measurements of emotional arousal such as heart-rate variability and electrical skin response are also tools that are used to convert the intangible “emotion” into patterns and recognizable, readable data for AI to learn from and improve.

Multi-modal emotion recognition similarly combines different perceptual channels, such as sight, hearing and touch to gain a more complete picture of what emotions can entail. The combination of different fields and techniques is necessary to create an accurate and well-rounded representation of the complexities of human emotion.
LINK

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El Nino Finito

The Great Dying once wiped out 90% of life on Earth. A new theory may explain why

A cataclysm engulfed the planet some 252 million years ago, wiping out more than 90% of all life.

Known as the Great Dying, the mass extinction that ended the Permian geological period was the worst of the five global catastrophic events in Earth’s history, more devastating than the one caused by a giant asteroid that spelled doom for the dinosaurs. The most credible explanation put forward to date has been that carbon dioxide released by volcanic activity in a region known as the Siberian Traps caused a sudden warming of the planet. The emissions in the vast area in what’s now Russia that was about the size of Australia resulted in higher temperatures, acid rain and ocean acidification. However, a mega El Niño effect — similar but more intense and prolonged than how the climate phenomenon is experienced today — could have played a pivotal role, according to new research published Thursday in the journal Science.

“What we’re showing is that it was a climate-based extinction crisis. It wasn’t just the warming, it’s how the climate responded,” said study coauthor Paul Wignall, a professor of paleoenvironments at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom.

“If the conditions were bad but constant,life could have evolved to cope with it. But the fact is, it kept lurching from one extreme to the other over the decades.” ... as global temperatures rose, the El Niño events, a climate pattern that originates in the Pacific Ocean but affects weather all over the world, grew in magnitude and length. The phenomenon turbocharged temperatures and resulted in alternating periods of flooding and scorching drought that would have unleashed wildfires, devastating all manner of species across the globe over a period of around 100,000 years. ... He added that volcanic activity remained a major factor but wasn’t sufficient on its own to explain the scale of the biological catastrophe that unfolded. The planet had experienced similar episodes earlier but they hadn’t triggered a mass extinction. “It’s volcanism that was the main culprit here, but it had a feedback mechanism on ocean dynamics that led to these much stronger El Niños starting to develop and then (the two things) play in concert,” Wignall said. ...

“Whilst the oceans were initially shielded from the temperature rises, the mega-El Nino’s caused temperatures on land to exceed most species thermal tolerances at rates so rapid that they could not adapt in time,” co-lead author Yadong Sun, a researcher at China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, said in a news release. “Only species that could migrate quickly could survive, and there weren’t many plants or animals that could do that.” ... However, Wignall said the world 252 million years ago was geographically a different place — home to a huge supercontinent called Pangea and a massive ocean, which may have made it more sensitive to the carbon dioxide expelled by supervolcanoes.

“The end-Permian is the biggest crisis in Earth’s history from life’s standpoint, but I don’t think we’ll ever get anywhere near those conditions again, because (Earth back then) was a really strange planet with a continent on one side and gigantic ocean on the other,” he said.

(LINK)

MUSK SMOKE ...

Elon Musk’s Huge AI Supercomputer Visibly Spewing Fumes Into Surrounding Community

The facility Elon Musk is using to power his massive AI "supercomputer" is visibly emitting fumes into an area of Memphis already disproportionately impacted by harmful environmental pollution, NPR reports. Musk announced the AI-focused supercomputer, dubbed Colossus, in an X-formerly-Twitter post last week. Built to power his AI venture xAI, the supercomputer is said by Musk to run on 100,000 powerful Nvidia H100 graphics processing units (GPUs), or the chips largely used by AI companies to power their AI models. ... According to NPR, Musk's Colossus facility is powered in part by 18 methane gas generators, none of which the billionaire obtained a permit for. Already, these gas generators are spewing smoky fumes into the surrounding area's air — ringing major alarm bells for a community already suffering from disproportionately high rates of cancer and much lower life expectancy than surrounding areas due to outsized levels of pollution. ... (LINK)

He is not alone ...

AI Datacenters More Than 600 Percent Worse for Environment Than Tech Companies Claimed: If these companies were one country, their actual emissions would rank them as the 33rd biggest emitter in the world.

The Guardian reports that the actual emissions made by data centers owned by AI leaders including Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Apple, are about 662 percent higher than what they've officially reported. And this may just be the tip of the iceberg: the newspaper's analysis was limited to emissions made between 2020 and 2022, a window that captures the cusp of the AI boom but not the staggering heights that it's reached now.

According to the analysis, Amazon was overall the largest emitter by far, but couldn't be included in the above figure because data center-specific emissions weren't available. Still, it's just as guilty as all the rest for obfuscating its environmental impact. All five of the tech companies, The Guardian notes, have at various points claimed — laughably — to be carbon neutral. "It's down to creative accounting," a representative from the advocacy group Amazon Employees for Climate Justice told the newspaper. LINK

Musk Smoke & Mirrors ...

Godfather of AI Says Elon Musk Is Lying About Self-Driving Teslas

Yann LeCun, the so-called "Godfather of AI" who currently serves as Meta's AI czar, accused the billionaire of lying "again and again" about when fully-automated Teslas would arrive.

"Elon: 'I've kept lying to you again and again about Tesla's 'Full Self Driving' capabilities for the last 8 years," the AI aficionado wrote, "'but you should believe everything I say about politics and everything else.'" LINK

Protecting reporters ...

In Venezuela, AI news anchors aren’t replacing journalists. They’re protecting them

“Hello,” says the news presenter, as she effortlessly switches from Spanish to English to give her audience a summary of the day’s biggest stories.

With her clear intonation, smart appearance, and friendly-yet-serious expression, she seems the very image of a news anchor. Except, perhaps, for her name.

As she introduces herself as The Girl (“La Chama”) – and her co-presenter announces himself as The Dude (“El Pana”) – the viewer gets the first hint there is more to this newscast than meets the eye. Then she adds, “Before we continue, in case you haven’t noticed, we want to tell you that we are not real.”

Welcome to “Venezuela Retweets,” an AI-anchored news show created by a group of media organizations who want to shelter their real-life journalists from a crackdown launched by strongman Nicolas Maduro’s government following July’s disputed election.

While in much of the world, journalists view the use of artificial intelligence as a looming threat to livelihoods, in Venezuela – where showing your face on a news report can conceivably land you in jail – many view it more favorably; as protection. ... According to Espacio Publico, a Venezuelan organization that tracks freedom of the press, at least 16 journalists have been detained in the government crackdown that followed the vote and the nationwide protests that erupted after it. All except four of them remain behind bars, some facing charges spanning from terrorism and incitement to hatred, while others are unsure even of what they are accused. Others still have seen their passports suspended. (LINK)
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Leaky boat ...

NASA Inspector Issues Warning About Growing Cracks Leaking Air From Space Station

According to a new report by NASA's inspector general, the space agency is growing significantly concerned over leaks in a tunnel connecting the International Space Station's Russian segment to a docking port. "On-going cracks and air leaks in the Service Module Transfer Tunnel are a top safety risk," the report reads. "And NASA and Roscosmos are collaborating to investigate and mitigate the cracks and leaks, determine the root cause, and monitor the Station for new leaks."

In April, NASA "identified an increase in the leak to its highest level to date," releasing 3.7 pounds of atmosphere a day, a massive increase compared to just under 1 pound in February, as Ars Technica reports.

"Although the root cause of the leak remains unknown, both agencies have narrowed their focus to internal and external welds," the report reads.

LINK

Google God makes Life ...

Google Researchers Say They Simulated the Emergence of Life

In an experiment that simulated what would happen if you left a bunch of random data alone for millions of generations, Google researchers say they witnessed the emergence of self-replicating digital lifeforms. And their findings, published as a yet-to-be-peer-reviewed study, could mirror — or at least shed light on — the emergence of actual biological life.

"Managing to evolve self-replicating programs from random starting points is a great achievement," Susan Stepney at the University of York, UK, who was not involved in the study, told New Scientist. "This is definitely a great step towards understanding potential routes to the origin of life, here in a medium quite removed from the standard 'wetware' of biology." ... Laurie told New Scientist that he believes the findings show that there are "inherent mechanisms" that allow life to form. But self-replication in itself is not life — we should also be seeing an increase in the complexity of the organisms, according to experts.

"The complexity, as they measure it, goes up after the onset of the self-replicator. But it's not clear that it 'takes off' in an interesting way," Richard Watson at the University of Southampton, UK, who was not involved in the study, told New Scientist. "Self-replication is important, but it would be a mistake to believe it's a magic bullet from which everything else that's exciting about life follows automatically".

Some of that may be due to practical limitations. Laurie believes that, given enough computing power — they were already pushing it with billions of steps per second on a laptop — they would've seen more complex programs pop up. Give it another go with beefier hardware, and we could well see something more lifelike come to be.
(LINK)

Mega-Vibe ...

Last September ... A landslide triggered a 650-foot mega-tsunami in Greenland. Then came something inexplicable

It started with a melting glacier that set off a huge landslide, which triggered a 650-foot high mega-tsunami in Greenland last September. Then came something inexplicable: a mysterious vibration that shook the planet for nine days. Over the past year, dozens of scientists across the world have been trying to figure out what this signal was.

... The subsequent mega-tsunami — one of the highest in recent history — set off a wave which became trapped in the bendy, narrow fjord for more than a week, sloshing back and forth every 90 seconds. The phenomenon, called a “seiche,” refers to the rhythmic movement of a wave in an enclosed space, similar to water splashing backwards and forwards in a bathtub or cup. One of the scientists even tried (and failed) to recreate the impact in their own bathtub. While seiches are well-known, scientists previously had no idea they could last so long. “Had I suggested a year ago that a seiche could persist for nine days, people would shake their heads and say that’s impossible,” said Svennevig, who likened the discovery to suddenly finding a new color in a rainbow.

... No one was injured in the tsunami, although it washed away centuries-old cultural heritage sites and damaged an empty military base. But this stretch of water is on a commonly used cruise ship route. If one had been there at the time, “the consequences would have been devastating,” the study’s authors wrote.

Eastern Greenland had never experienced a landslide and tsunami like this before, Svennevig said. It shows new areas of the Arctic are “coming online” for these kinds of climate events, he added.

As the Arctic continues to warm — over the past few decades, the region has warmed four times faster than the rest of the world — landslide-triggered mega-tsunamis may become more common and with deadly consequences. (LINK)

Artificial wonder ...

“It Feels Like I’m Moving My Own Hand” – Science Fiction Comes to Life With Magnetic Prosthetic Hands

Researchers have developed the first magnetically controlled prosthetic hand that allows amputees to reproduce all hand movements by simply thinking. The revolutionary system requires no wires or electrical connections, relying solely on magnets and muscles to control the movements of the fingers for everyday tasks such as opening jars, shaking a hand, or holding a glass. ... The system involves implanting small magnets into the muscles of the forearm. The implant, integrated with the Mia-Hand robotic hand developed by the spin-off Prensilia, was successfully tested on the first patient, a 34-year-old Italian named Daniel, who used the prosthesis for six weeks. The results of the trial were presented in the scientific journal Science Robotics and represent a significant step forward for the future of prostheses. ...
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LINK

But the tech fails someone ...

Paralyzed Man Unable to Walk After Maker of His Powered Exoskeleton Tells Him It's Now Obsolete

A former jockey who was left paralyzed from the waist down after a horse riding accident was able to walk again thanks to a cutting-edge piece of robotic tech: a $100,000 ReWalk Personal exoskeleton.

When one of its small parts malfunctioned, however, the entire device stopped working. Desperate to gain his mobility back, he reached out to the manufacturer, Lifeward, for repairs. But it turned him away, claiming his exoskeleton was too old, 404 media reports.

LINK

Anus Breath ...

Scientists who discovered mammals can breathe through their anuses receive Ig Nobel prize

We now know that many mammals can breathe through their anuses, that there isn’t an equal probability that a coin will land on head or tails, that some real plants somehow imitate the shapes of neighboring fake plastic plants, that fake medicine which causes painful side-effects can be more effective than fake medicine without side-effects, and that many of the people famous for reaching lofty old ages lived in places that had bad record-keeping. ... James C. Liao won the physics prize for demonstrating and explaining how a dead trout swims, and a French-Chilean research team won the anatomy prize for studying whether hair swirls in the same direction on the heads of people in the northern hemisphere as in the southern hemisphere. ...

The awards – which have no affiliation to the Nobel Prizes – aim to “celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative – and spur people’s interest in science, medicine, and technology” by making “people laugh, then think.” ... (LINK)

Gassho, J

[Matt Johnson]

*toot*

It wasn't a fart, I was just sighing...

But seriously concerned about all that plastic... We have tried our best to make our Cafe plastic free. We recycle and compost, but I have been noticing little bits of plastic sometimes make it into the compost and then that compost is making it into our garden and then we're eating that plastic...

_/\_
sat/ah
matt

[BikeZen]

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/evidence-of-negative-time-found-in-quantum-physics-experiment/

A small contribution to the discussion. Just in time.

Gassho,
Bill

Sat