Lifeboat Foundation

Reservoir computing is a promising computational framework based on recurrent neural networks (RNNs), which essentially maps input data onto a high-dimensional computational space, keeping some parameters of artificial neural networks (ANNs) fixed while updating others. This framework could help to improve the performance of machine learning algorithms, while also reducing the amount of data required to adequately train them.

RNNs essentially leverage recurrent connections between their different processing units to process sequential data and make accurate predictions. While RNNs have been found to perform well on numerous tasks, optimizing their performance by identifying parameters that are most relevant to the task they will be tackling can be challenging and time-consuming.

Jason Kim and Dani S. Bassett, two researchers at University of Pennsylvania, recently introduced an alternative approach to design and program RNN-based reservoir computers, which is inspired by how programming languages work on computer hardware. This approach, published in Nature Machine Intelligence, can identify the appropriate parameters for a given network, programming its computations to optimize its performance on target problems.

Using new palm-sized devices, RIKEN researchers may have finally harnessed the terahertz band of the electromagnetic spectrum to effectively ‘X-ray’ things without using harmful ionizing radiation.

Countless technologies—from smartphones and TVs to infrared instruments on the James Webb Space Telescope.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST or Webb) is an orbiting infrared observatory that will complement and extend the discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope. It covers longer wavelengths of light, with greatly improved sensitivity, allowing it to see inside dust clouds where stars and planetary systems are forming today as well as looking further back in time to observe the first galaxies that formed in the early universe.

How do you make space images more accessible? Turn celestial data into sonic compositions that don’t have to be seen to be enjoyed.

A team of Brown brain and computer scientists developed a new approach to understanding computer vision, which can be used to help create better, safer and more robust artificial intelligence systems.

Scientists have found a group of ancient stars orbiting close to the center of our galaxy that may have formed in just the first billion years of the universe. That’s news because old stars are generally only found around the very edges of the Milky Way within the 150+ globular clusters—also called “galactic wanderers”—which may be linked to supermassive stars.

The Pristine Inner Galaxy Survey (PIGS), which reported their results at this week’s National Astronomy Meeting 2023 at Cardiff University in Wales, UK, were looking near the galaxy’s center because galaxy formation models suggest that there ought to be ancient stars there—though very few have ever been seen before.

Most ancient stars we know of are found around the halo of our Milky Way galaxy, but a new study has discovered many close to the galaxy’s heart.

Continue reading “Found: Stars Over 12 Billion Years At The Heart Of Our Galaxy” »

The sun emitted a solar flare this week that was strong enough to cause radio blackouts on Earth — and it reportedly did.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured an image of the event, which showed a bright flash in the top right area of the sun. The flare was classified as a X1.0 flare, which means it is in the most intense class of flares, according to the agency.

The flare peaked at 7:14 p.m. Eastern Time on July 2, NASA said. It erupted from a sunspot that is seven times the width of Earth, according to Space.com, a website that chronicles news and events in space.

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Our universe has been developing for about 14 billion years, but human-level intelligence, at least on Earth, has emerged in a remarkably short period of time, measured in tens or hundreds of thousands of years. What then is the future of intelligence? With the exponential growth of computing, will non-biological intelligence dominate?

Continue reading “Dimitar Sasselov — What is the Far Future of Intelligence in the Universe?” »

The US space agency continues to look toward the private sector as it plans for life beyond the International Space Station.

NASA has awarded a Space Act Agreement contract to Special Aerospace Services (SAS) to develop a commercial version of its Autonomous Maneuvering Unit (AMU) astronaut jetpack.

The move comes as the US space agency looks ahead to a future without the International Space Station (ISS), in which private companies will build and lift a series of commercial space stations to low Earth orbit.

What lies underneath Mars’ surface? Space scientists have long been curious about whether Mars’ core is solid or liquid.

What lies underneath Mars’ surface? Space scientists have long been curious whether Mars’ core is solid or liquid.

A team of experts led by the Royal Observatory of Belgium has discovered that Mars most likely has a liquid core.